Drake scores 24, including the final nine, to help St. John's women top No. 19 Marquette 57-56

Jan 3, 2024, 11:35 pm

NEW YORK -- — Unique Drake scored 24 points, including the final nine for St. John's in the Red Storm's 57-56 win over No. 19 Marquette on Wednesday night.

Drake's jumper with 1:21 left in the game gave St. John's (8-7, 2-1 Big East) its first lead in the second half. The team's traded empty possessions before Marquette (12-2, 1-2) had the ball with 30 seconds left.

Liza Karlen's shot in the lane was blocked by Jillian Archer with 13 seconds left. The ball went out-of-bounds giving the Golden Eagles one final chance. After a timeout, Karlen caught the ball in the lane and shot it, but it rolled off the rim with just over a second left.

There was a jumpball on the ensuing rebound and the possession arrow went to St. John's. The Red Storm then ran out the clock.

Frannie Hottinger led Marquette with 15 points and Karlen added 14. The Golden Eagles turned it over 23 times.

Drake rallied the Red Storm, who trailed by eight late in the third quarter. Her jumper with 7:15 left tied the game at 50 and then both teams struggled to score. Marquette led 56-52 on Karlen's shot with 2:51 remaining.

Drake then hit a 3-pointer just ahead of the shotclock buzzer to get St. John's within one. Her jumper with 1:21 left was the final basket of the game.

Marquette was trying to get coach Megan Duffy her 100th win at Marquette. She's 99-39 in five years as head coach at the school, which is the best winning percentage (71.7) in Marquette history.

It was a back-and-forth first half with St. John’s slowing the pace down against the Golden Eagles, who came into the game averaging 79.6 points. The Red Storm led 28-26 at the half behind Drake’s 13 points. The teams combined for 22 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.

The game was tied at 34 with 4:22 left in the third before Hottinger hit two free throws — the Golden Eagles' first attempts of the game. That started a 13-5 run by Marquette that gave the Golden Eagles a 47-39 advantage — their biggest lead of the game.

St. John's scored the final four points of the third to get within 47-43 heading to the final period. The Red Storm tied the game at 50 with 7:15 left and didn't score for nearly three minutes until Drake hit a baseline pull-up jumper.

Marquette came to New York on Tuesday and went to see “Back to the Future” on Broadway as the school is on winter break so the players had no classes.

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