Junior center Vanessa Gidden (Stamford, CT - pictured) had 20 points and 12 rebounds, but it was not enough as the St. John's Women's Basketball team held off Hofstra down the stretch for a 71-65 road win at Hofstra Arena on Sunday afternoon.
With the win, St. John's improves to 8-1 so far on the season after suffering its first loss on the year in its last game on Tuesday at Marquette. Hofstra sees its record slip to 4-3 overall with the loss.
Angela Clark led the way for St. John's with 16 points and 10 rebounds, including a pair of clutch baskets in the final 1:08 of play to give the Red Storm four-point leads on both occasions. After Gidden hit a pair of foul shots to pull Hofstra within 65-63, Clark hit a tough turnaround jumper from 10 feet to put the Red Storm ahead 67-63 with 1:08 to go.
Gidden answered back with a short jumper with 42 seconds remaining, but St. John's called a timeout and worked the ball inside the paint to Clark, who's eight-foot jumper bounced around the rim before falling through with 20 seconds left. Hofstra got a good look with 10 seconds remaining, but junior guard Cigi McCollin's (Long Island City, NY) three-pointer bounced off the back rim and St. John's earned the defensive rebound. Andrea Patterson sealed the win with two foul shots with nine seconds left to provide the final margin of victory.
St. John's led by as many as 10 points in the first half at 24-14, but the Pride rallied back to tie the score at 27-27 on a pair of foul shots from junior forward Lana Harshaw (Wildwood, NJ). The Red Storm surged back in front 37-32 at the break, and the lead was never more than five points either way in the second half until the final margin of six points.
Hofstra took its final lead of the game at 52-51 on a lay-up from senior forward Amaka Agugua (Herndon, NJ) with 8:09 left, but a Clark foul shot and a three-pointer from freshman guard Lisa Claxton, sister of former Hofstra Men's Basketball standout Craig "Speedy" Claxton, gave St. John's the lead for good.
Harshaw was the only other player besides Gidden to score in double figures for the Pride, tallying 10 points off the bench, including a perfect 6-6 at the free throw line. Danielle Chambers added 12 points, Kia Wright had 11 and Monique McLean had 10 (all in the first half) for the Red Storm.
Hofstra will next be in action after a long break for final exams when it travels to Hartford, Connecticut to take on national power UConn on Thursday, Dec. 22.
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