Jamaica, N.Y.  The St. Johns womens basketball team fell to West Virginia University, 47-69, this afternoon at Alumni Hall. The Red Storm were down just three at the half, before the Mountaineers put up a 38 point second half.

West Virginia jumped out to an early lead. At the 12:38 mark, the Mountaineers held a 20-5 advantage over St. Johns. The Red Storm then made their move. Two free throws by freshman Mary Pat Statler (New Cumberland, W.Va.), followed by a Shemika Stevens (New York, N.Y.) three, cut the lead to 11. Statler would add two three-pointers and two more free throws to pull the Red Storm to within one. West Virginia closed the first 20 minutes with two free throws, going into the break with a 31-28 advantage.

The Red Storm were unable to get any closer in the second half. The Mountaineers pulled ahead by 10 with eight points from Brandi Batch and never looked back. West Virginia took the game 69-47 and improved to 12-8 overall and 4-5 in the BIG EAST.

Statler led the Red Storm in scoring for the second time this week, putting up 17 points, including three baskets from behind the arc. Junior Amanda Rawson (Palos Park, Ill.) had a double-figure performance, chipping in 10 points and six rebounds. Freshman Patrycja Gulak (Olsztyn, Poland) had a team-high seven rebounds. Stevens added five and sophomore Nora Gyuris (Pecs, Hungary) had seven on the night.

Senior Kenyawna Hudgens (Washington, D.C.), usually the Red Storms defensive leader, had four points and five rebounds playing out of position today. The Red Storm were without the services of senior guard Rasheedah Brown (Newark, N.J.), who was attending to the unfortunate passing of her mother Kim Brown. Hudgens stepped in, and in a strong effort, tried to fill the void left by Brown. Sophomore walk-on Angie Leung (Richmond Hill, N.Y.) saw 20 minutes of action today for the Red Storm, who were playing with just seven players.

Kate Bulger recorded five three-point field goals this afternoon and finished with 22 points for the Mountaineers. Brandi Batch posted a double-double for West Virginia with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

The Red Storm return to action on Wednesday, February 6 at 4:30pm when they host the Providence College Friars at Alumni Hall.