St. John's women beat Pitt for 20th win

Da'Shena Stevens had 15 points and eight rebounds as host St. John's beat Pittsburgh, 72-63, Saturday in a Big East women's game on Senior Day at Carnesecca Arena.

It's the second straight 20-win season for the Red Storm (20-8, 9-6 Big East) and the fourth under coach Kim Barnes Arico, who picked up her 150th career win at the school. Barnes Arico is 150-121 in nine years at St. John's.

Senior Coco Hart had 13 points and six rebounds, Shenneika Smith added 12 points and Nadirah McKenith chipped in nine points and nine assists for St. John's.

It was the final home game for Hart and fellow senior Sky Lindsay, who added six points.

Lindsay and Hart finished their careers at home with a 46-15 record.

"Sky and I had a bet going who was going to cry first . . . so we were trying to hold it in," Hart said.

"But we both went into the game looking at it like we really needed this game to get where we got last year."

Added Lindsay: "I'm happy that I'm able to go out on a high note. St. John's basketball is doing great and I know that I was one of the first New Yorkers to come here and I'm graduating and now a lot of tri-state players have come."

Pittsburgh (13-15, 5-10) cut a 39-32 deficit to 41-38 on a three-pointer by Ashlee Anderson with 13:47 left.

But Hart helped sparked a 19-6 run with back-to-back jumpers in the paint that gave St. John's a 60-46 lead with 4:31 left.