The St. Johns University womens basketball team travels to Piscataway, N.J. on Saturday, January 25, in search of back-to-back BIG EAST conference wins, in a battle against No. 23 Rutgers (9-5, 3-2). Tip-off at the Louis Brown Athletic Center on the Rutgers campus is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. The Red Storm (7-10, 1-5) is coming off an upset victory at Providence on Wednesday night, 67-62, snapping their 24-game conference losing streak.

St. Johns hopes to build off Wednesdays success, notching consecutive BIG EAST wins for the first time since the end of the 1999-2000 season. Against Providence, the Red Storm welcomed back leading scorer Danielle Rainey, who had missed the previous two games with an abdominal strain. Rainey poured in 17 points in only 25 minutes, including critical free-throws down the stretch. Junior Shemika Stevens continued her strong play, notching her first career double-double with career highs in points (19) and rebounds (10). Classmate Reka Szavuly broke out of her recent slump scoring 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while dishing out a team-high three assists.

Rutgers is coming off a 66-64 overtime loss at Virginia Tech on Wednesday night. Sophomore Cappie Pondexter, a selection to the 2002-03 Preseason All-BIG EAST Second Team, leads the Scarlet Knights with 16.3 points and 4.9 assists per contest. Senior Mauri Horton is second with 13.0 points and 2.1 steals per game, adding a team-best 5.3 rebounds per contest. Rutgers leads the series with St. Johns 21-4, including wins in the last eight meetings.

A live radio feed of the broadcast will be available on www.scarletknights.com/basketball-women.

St. John's at Rutgers Pre-game notes