Duke ousts St. John's

FRESNO, Calif. -- There would be no new hero for St. John's in the round of 16. Duke's baseline-to-baseline pressure and extending 3-2 zone ensured that.

The Blue Devils advanced to their third consecutive women's NCAA Tournament Elite Eight with a 74-47 win over the Red Storm Saturday night at the Save Mart Center.

From the 6:20 mark in the first half to the 16:45 mark in the second half, the Blue Devils went on a 23-2 run to go from down two to up 46-27. Duke's decided height advantage on the interior and point guard Chelsea Gray helped key the run.

Duke scored on five consecutive easy layups to start the streak, with Gray running the fast break and half-court offense to perfection. Gray, playing two hours south of her hometown of Stockton, Calif., finished with 13 points, eight steals and four rebounds.

The Blue Devils' Tricia Liston made a three-pointer at the hafltime buzzer to put Duke ahead 36-25. The run stood at 13-0 at that point.

And the Blue Devils did not leave the pressure in the locker room. They opened the second half with fast-break layups by Shay Selby, Tricia Liston and Elizabeth Williams.

Selby finished with 18 points, Liston 15 and Williams 10.

"They are playing exceptionally well right now,'' St. John's coach Kim Barnes Arico said. "We really stressed their point guard and big, but their others are playing well right now, and that makes it tough for anyone.''

St. John's inability to find easy offense and hit from the outside proved to be its downfall. The Red Storm (24-10) finished the game shooting 34.5 percent from the field and was 2-for-12 from three-point range. The Storm also committed 19 turnovers.

"They did an excellent job on defense,'' St. John's point guard Nadirah McKenith said. "We just couldn't get into our offense.''

Senior Da'Shena Stevens finished her career by scoring 19 points, but no one else reached double figures for St. John's after consecutive games of having four players reach double-digits.

"This season meant a lot to me, not getting to play at the beginning [because of a knee injury], then coming back and making it here,'' Stevens said. "I'm really proud of that.''

At one point, St. John's led 25-23, had shot 11-for-23 and had committed only three turnovers.

Stevens shot 5-for-7 and scored 12 points during that opening run, but she was forced out of the game with two fouls and sat for much of the first half after that.

"Da'Shena is our strength against the zone,'' Barnes Arico said. "She is our go-to person and she opens everything up. Our other two [interior players] are young kids with not a lot of experience.''

If St. John's advances to the NCAA Tournament next season, it will not have to worry about traveling because it is hosting first- and second-round games.