Hart spurs St. John's women in rout of Columbia

Coco Hart had 16 points and 12 rebounds as No. 20 St. John's used a stingy defense to run away from Columbia, 65-41, in a non-conference women's basketball game at Carnesecca Arena on Friday night.

St. John's (3-1) got contributions from Da'Shena Stevens with 12 points and 11 rebounds and Shenneika Smith and Nadirah McKenith, who chipped in nine points each.

But it was the St. John's defense that ruled the night.

The Red Storm won the battle of the boards 49-27, forced 24 turnovers and limited Columbia to 26 percent shooting.

Trailing 33-18 at the half, Columbia went on an 8-3 run and cut the Red Storm's lead to 36-26 with 16:08 left.

But Hart hit consecutive layups and sparked a 14-3 run that made it 50-29 with 11:10 left.

Diana Lee led Columbia (0-3) with eight points.

Millersville 72, Molloy 58: Jessica DeNicola had 15 points and eight rebounds and Christina Marra and Courtney Dolnick each had 11 points for Molloy (0-3) at the ECC / Northeast-10 Challenge at Millersville.

Molloy took a 48-47 lead on a three-pointer by Marra at the 11:12 mark. But Millersville came back with an 18-7 run for a 65-55 lead with 2:07 to go.

Aurielle Mosley had 22 points and 14 rebounds and Mashira Newman 12 points and seven steals to lead Millersville.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Adelphi 62, Molloy 46: David Akinyooye had 16 points and 11 rebounds and Chris Ranglin added 11 points and seven rebounds to lead Adelphi (2-0) in non-conference.

Richard Byrd chipped in nine points and 11 rebounds and Richie Harkins had eight assists in the win.

Brian Hutchinson led Molloy (0-1) with 19 points and five rebounds.

Hampton 58, Fordham 48: Darrion Pellum scored 19 points and Hampton (2-1) went on an 11-1 run with 8:17 left. The host Rams (1-2) had 21 turnovers and shot 32 percent. Chris Gaston led Fordham with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

Staff and wire reports