Providence College Athletics
Providence College
St. John's
Women's Basketball Game Notes vs. St. John's
2/19/2022 3:14:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Friars close out three-game road trip on Feb. 20 at St. John's.
PROVIDENCE CONCLUDES THREE-GAME ROAD TRIP AT ST. JOHN'S... Providence will conclude a three-game road trip against St. John's at Carnesecca Arena on Feb. 20. Tip-off is slated for 1:00 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on the BIG EAST Digital Network via FloSports.
PROVIDENCE VS. ST. JOHN'S ALL-TIME... Sunday's game between Providence and St. John's will mark the 76th meeting all-time between the two programs. The Red Storm lead the all-time series, 43-32. In each of the last three years, the two teams have split the season series.
THE FIRST MEETING OF THE YEAR... Providence claimed a 56-49 victory over St. John's on Jan. 14 at Alumni Hall in Providence, R.I. The Friars jumped out to an 18-11 lead through the first 10 minutes of action and held off the Red Storm down the stretch. The Providence defense was strong throughout the game, holding St. John's to 26.2-percent shooting from the field (17-65), including a lock-down effort in the second and third quarters during which time St. John's hit just four field goals (4-30). Mary Baskerville recorded a double-double on 20 points and 11 boards and also collected three blocked shots. Janai Crooms finished with 16 points, eight boards, three assists, three blocked shots and two steals. Kadaja Bailey (19) and Leilani Correa (13) each reached double figures in the scoring column, while Rayven Peeples posted eight points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR... The Friars and Red Storm split the season series, with each team winning on its home court. On Dec. 19, 2020, Providence earned a dominate 76-53 win over St. John's at Alumni Hall. The Friars 76 points were the most the team has scored against St. John's since dropping 93 on the Johnnies during the 2006-07 season. On Feb. 21, 2021, the Red Storm avenged their early-season loss to the Friars with a 65-47 victory at Carnesecca Arena.
OLIVIA OLSEN EARNS HER WAY INTO THE STARTING LINE-UP... Freshman Olivia Olsen has been providing a spark for Providence off the bench this season, and finally cracked the starting line-up in each of the last two games. In 26 games overall, she is shooting an impressive 58-percent from the field (78-134) and averaging 7.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Olsen has reached double figures in the scoring column in four of the last five games. During the five-game stretch, she has averaged just shy of a double-double with 11.8 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots per game, while shooting 25-44 from the floor (.568).Â
FRIARS IN OVERTIME... Providence is 2-1 in overtime games this season. Both of their wins during overtime have come on the road against Maine (66-61) and Georgetown (66-58). The Friars lone loss in OT came at home against Yale (63-57) in the 2021-22 season opener.
FRIARS HAVE RECORDED MOST WINS IN BIG EAST PLAY SINCE 2018-19... Providence enters Sunday's game against St. John's with a 6-11 record in the BIG EAST. It marks the most league wins for PC since the 2018-19 campaign, when it claimed an 8-10 mark. Four of the Friars' 11 losses in BIG EAST play this season have been decided by single digits, including two games by three-points-or-less.
JANAI CROOMS IN THE BIG EAST... Janai Crooms entered the weekend as the only player in the BIG EAST who is ranked inside the top-15 in the league in scoring (13th) and inside the top-10 in each of the following categories: blocked shots (4th), rebounding (5th), assists (7th), steals (7th). UConn's Olivia Nelson-Ododa is the closest to matching that type of statistical impact, but falls short in the scoring category (t-27). Otherwise, she ranks first in blocked shots, sixth in assists and steals and fourth in rebounding.
DEFENSE... The Friars have held seven opponents to 50 points or less this season, including four BIG EAST opponents: Villanova (47), Xavier (49), St. John's (49) and Butler (41). The Friars are 7-0 in those games overall, with a 4-0 mark in the BIG EAST Conference.Â
FRIARS TIED FOR FIRST IN THE BIG EAST IN FIELD-GOAL PERCENTAGE DEFENSE... The Friars are tied with UConn for first place in the BIG EAST in field-goal percentage defense (.370). They have held 16 of their 26 opponents below 40-percent from the field this season and have compiled a 10-6 record in those games.
CLEANING THE GLASS... Providence has recorded 40+ rebounds in 12 of its 26 games, including two games with 50+ boards. Last year, Providence eclipsed 40 rebounds in just one game (49 vs. Butler, 3/5/21).Â
DOUBLE-TROUBLE... Janai Crooms leads the Friars and ranks fourth in the BIG EAST with six double-doubles. Mary Baskerville (2), Olivia Olsen (2) and Alyssa Geary (1) also have recorded double-doubles for the Friars this season. Additionally, Baskerville has 19 double-doubles in her career, which ranks fifth in the BIG EAST among active players.
FRIARS AMONG THE TOP SHOT-BLOCKING TEAMS IN THE NATION... The Friars lead the BIG EAST and rank third in the nation in blocked shots per game (6.1 bpg) and second in the nation in total blocks (158). Mary Baskerville leads the Friars with an average of 2.1 rejections per game. Five players on the team have cracked double-digits in blocked shots and have combined for 130 of the Friars' 158 rejections overall: Baskerville (39), Janai Crooms (30), Alyssa Geary (29), Olivia Olsen (23) and Emily Archibald (11).Â
FRIARS' HAVE RECORDED SECOND HIGHEST BLOCK TOTAL IN PROGRAM HISTORY... The Friars have recorded 158 blocked shots this season, with three regular-season games left on the schedule. The Friars' 158 blocked shots are the second-highest total in program history for a single season. The single-season record for blocked shots was set in 1977-78 (190).Â
190 Â Â Â 1977-78
158Â Â Â 2021-22
152 Â Â Â 1983-84
151 Â Â Â 2008-09
MORE REJECTION... The Friars recorded a season-high 11 blocks against Xavier on Jan. 11. It marked the second time this year that the team has registered double-digit blocks. Prior to this season, the last time the Friars recorded double-digit blocks in a game was on Nov. 12, 2013 against Bryant.
MARY BASKERVILLE RANKS AMONG NCAA DIVISION I ACTIVE CAREER LEADERS IN BLOCKED SHOTS... Mary Baskerville ranks 23rd among NCAA Division I active career leaders in blocked shots (179) and 25th blocks per game (1.75). She also ranks second among active career leaders in the BIG EAST Conference, only trailing UConn's Olivia Nelson-Ododa.
MARY BASKERVILLE WORKING HER WAY UP THE FRIARS' ALL-TIME SCORING LIST... Mary Baskerville currently owns 1,058 career points and ranks 29th on the Friars' all-time scoring list. With her eight rebounds against Seton Hall on Feb. 18, she jumped ahead of Mary Ellen Buchanan '79 (1,055).
MARY BASKERVILLE RANKS 14th ALL-TIME AT PROVIDENCE IN CAREER REBOUNDS... Senior Mary Baskerville ranks 14th all-time in career boards at Providence with 701. She needs 10 rebounds to take sole possession of 13th place, currently held by Mary Casey '79 (710).
JANAI CROOMS RANKS 12TH AT PROVIDENCE CAREER ASSISTS... Janai Crooms owns 328 career assists and ranks 12th on the Friars' all-time list. In 107 career games, Crooms is averaging 3.0 assists per game.Â
1,000-POINT MILESTONE LOOMING FOR CROOMS... Janai Crooms enters Sunday's game at St. John's with 932 career points. She needs 68 points to become the 37th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point milestone. The Friars have three regular-season games and a minimum of one BIG EAST Tournament game remaining on the schedule. For Crooms to reach the milestone during the closing stretch, she would need to average 17.0 points per game. Crooms has one year of eligibility remaining after the 2021-22 season.
FLIRTING WITH THE PROGRAM'S FIRST TRIPLE-DOUBLE... Janai Crooms has narrowly missed out on a bid for a triple-double in four games this season. On Nov. 20 against Boston College, she finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Against Hartford on Dec. 1, she logged 25 points, 11 boards and eight assists. On Dec. 8 against Brown, Crooms put up 14 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Most recently, Crooms put up 10 points, eight rebounds and eight assists against Butler (Feb. 11). In the program's 48-year existence, a Friar has never recorded a triple-double.
ROOKIE IMPACT... Freshman point guard Kylee Sheppard missed nine of the Friars first 11 games while battling injury. She has appeared in each of the last 15 games for Providence and has played in 17 games overall. In a small sample size of the season, she has played a key role and currently ranks tied for second on the team in scoring (10.2 ppg), second in assists (2.3 apg) and first in steals (1.7 spg). She also contributes 3.5 rebounds per game. She has reached double digits in the scoring column eight times, including a career-best 22 points against DePaul. She eclipsed the 20-point mark for a second time in Providence's victory over Georgetown on Jan. 23. Sheppard drained 21 points against the Hoyas, including seven in overtime. For the season, Sheppard is shooting 43-percent from the floor (62-146), including 39-percent from three (23-59).
MARY BASKERVILLE NAMED TO ALL-BIG EAST SECOND TEAM AT THE CONCLUSION OF 2020-21 SEASON... Last season, Mary Baskerville led Providence College in scoring (12.7 ppg), rebounding (6.5 rpg), blocked shots (1.8 bpg), steals (1.4 spg) and field-goal percentage (.538, 112-208). For her efforts, she was named to the All-BIG EAST Second Team. It marked her first postseason honor since earning BIG EAST Freshman of the Year and BIG EAST All-Freshman Team accolades in 2019.Â
CLEARED FOR TAKE-OFF... The NCAA cleared Janai Crooms to play during the 2021-22 season on Nov. 4, prior to the Friars' exhibition game against Bentley. Crooms was a four-star recruit and ranked No. 36 in 2018 class by Prospect Nation coming out of St. Andrew's (Barrington, R.I.). She played two seasons at Ohio State (2018-20) before transferring to Michigan State for the 2020-21 campaign. Crooms has two years of eligibility remaining, including the current 2021-22 seasons.
PROVIDENCE PICKED TO FINISH EIGHTH IN BIG EAST PRESEASON COACHES' POLL... The Friars were picked to finish eighth in the 2021-22 BIG EAST Preseason Coaches' Poll, which was released at the league's annual media day at MSG in New York City. The Friars recorded 32 points in the poll and sit above Georgetown (27), Xavier (18) and Butler (17). Connecticut was a unanimous selection to win the league for a second-straight season.
FRIARS IN THE POSTSEASON... The Friars' last appeared in the postseason during the 2018-19 campaign, when their current senior class came on to the scene as freshmen. Providence's 2019 WNIT selection marked the program's 15th post-season appearance overall and first since 2010. In 2019-20, NCAA and WNIT Championships were canceled to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Friars did not qualify for postseason during the abbreviated 2020-21 campaign. Complete post-season breakdown follows (records in parentheses):
2018-19 WNIT Round of 16 (2-1)
2009-10 WNIT Quarterfinal Round (3-1)
1991-92 NCAA Tournament First Round (0-1)
1990-91 NCAA Tournament Second Round (1-1)
1989-90 NCAA Tournament East Regional (1-1)
1988-89 NCAA Tournament First Round (0-1)
1986-87 National Women's Invitational Tournament (1-2)
1985-86 NCAA Tournament First Round (0-1)
1981-82 EAIAW Regional Tournament (0-1)
1980-81 EAIAW Regional Tournament (0-1)
1979-80 EAIAW National Tournament (3-1)
1978-79 EAIAW Regional Tournament (0-1)
1977-78 EAIAW Regional Tournament (1-1)
1976-77 EAIAW Regional Tournament (2-2)
1975-76 EAIAW Regional Tournament (1-2)
WHAT'S NEXT... The Friars will host Marquette on Friday, Feb. 25 at Alumni Hall in Providence, R.I. It marks the final regular-season home game for Providence. The action is set to tip-off at 7:00 p.m. and the match-up will be broadcast live on the BIG EAST Digital Network via FloSports.
