NEW YORK - What a difference a year makes for the St. John's women's basketball team.
A year ago, they were an up-and-coming team in the Big East - they finished 22-8, 11-5 in league play last year - with a solid, contending lineup. Red Storm head coach Kim Barnes-Arico was the toast of the league, having brought a moribund St. John's program to the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2006.
That earned her Big East Coach of the Year honors and led to St. John's No. 6 ranking in the preseason Big East coaches poll. But things fell apart between then and now.
"It's been a difficult year for us," said Barnes-Arico. "We've had our ups and downs, we've had our injuries. The one thing I can say I'm most proud of with this team is that they haven't quit yet."
Barnes-Arico, who gave her press conference while holding her young child, has seen the departure of star Angela Clark and a season-ending injury for guard Lisa Claxton, as well as missing Kia Wright and Monique McLean for much of the early part of the season.
The result is that St. John's, now 1-5 in conference and last among 16 teams, has changed expectations.
"We just want to focus on getting into the Big East Tournament," Barnes-Arico said. "And then we can be like West Virginia."
West Virginia, as the No. 12 and lowest seed in the Big East Tournament last year, upset three teams before falling narrowly to UConn, 50-44, in the final.
Swanier On a Roll
Ketia Swanier continued her streak of quality games off the bench with a line of eight assists to one turnover in UConn's 84-63 win over St. John's.
"Ketia hasn't had a bad game in a long time," said head coach Geno Auriemma.
Swanier has dished out 32 assists in five games, going back to a 106-58 win over Seton Hall Jan. 9. Sunday saw her hand the ball off for several highlight-reel passes, including back-to-back assists to Tina Charles and Kalana Greene midway through the second half.
Despite this, there are no indications that Swanier's role will change - five Huskies are averaging double figures and Renee Montgomery is a top Big East point guard.
"Right now, our guards are playing very well." Auriemma said. "And if our guards play well, we can be really, really good every night."
The Wright Stuff
St. John's senior guard Wright reached the 1,000-point milestone in the first half of Sunday's game.
A UConn commit prior to the 2003 school year, Wright left before she got started in Storrs and ended up one of the better players in the conference over the last two seasons. She averaged 14.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game en route to being named to the all-Big East First Team in 2006.
"I'm glad that I got it at home, even though I would've liked the win," Wright said. "But it was good to get it here."
Wright finished with 19 points.
Next Up
The Huskies return home Wednesday when they host DePaul (13-6, 3-3 Big East) at Gampel Pavilion. Game time is 7:30 p.m. and it can be seen on CPTV.
- Kevin Meacham
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