No. 20 Storm women get shot of confidence
St. John's Nadirah McKenith, right, brings the ball down the floor as Connecticut's Tiffany Hayes tries to guard her in the second half. St. John's defeated Connecticut 57-56. (Feb. 18, 2012) Credit: AP
Down by two points at UConn with 16 seconds to play Saturday night, against a team that had won 99 consecutive home games, St. John's basketball coach Kim Barnes Arico called a single-screen play to free junior Shenneika Smith for a three-point attempt.
At 3-for-22, Smith had the worst three-point percentage among St. John's regularly used players. Barnes Arico couldn't remember the last time she made a shot from behind the arc. Still . . .
"Some players have ice in their veins," Barnes Arico said. "The kid wanted the ball. She asked for the ball. I believed she'd knock it down."
Smith did, of course, and St. John's 57-56 upset of the nation's No. 2 team still was reverberating for a sleepy Barnes Arico and her giddy players Monday.
Tuesday night, St. John's (18-8, 10-3 Big East and, at No. 20, ranked for the first time this season) must move on, with an important conference home game against West Virginia (19-7, 9-4).
In the meantime, though, Barnes Arico, a native of Mastic Beach who played for Floyd High School, estimated that she had received "a hundred emails and a hundred text messages" of congratulations from fellow coaches, St. John's alums and former players, school administrators, family and friends. Even UConn fans, who hadn't seen their team lose to St. John's in 26 games over 18 years. And UConn coach Geno Auriemma, too.
For 10 years, Barnes Arico has been building a perennial conference contender and has won more games -- 170 -- than any other coach in the history of the St. John's women's basketball program. And her current team -- led by top scorers Smith and North Babylon High grad Eugeneia McPherson, assists leader Nadirah McKenith and all-around senior Da'Shena Stevens -- has reached the point "they believe they can beat anybody," Barnes Arico said.
"But you can say that and still go to Connecticut and lose by 20 or 30. It's just that the more we hung around, the more confident we got. Every time we had a timeout, the players would come over and say, 'All we need is a stop and score.' I preach that all the time, but I was thinking, 'Holy cow, I don't even have to say that now.'
"We were making plays all day long."
Just over a year ago, the last time the teams met, the site was Madison Square Garden in the late second game of a doubleheader, which started after 9 p.m., and UConn cruised by 32 points. Barnes Arico kidded that it was "after my bedtime; that's my excuse for us playing so poorly."
This time, nobody minded staying up most of the night for the bus ride home from Storrs, Conn.
That's what happens when one calls the perfect play.
