Della9250
01-31-2006, 02:50 AM
http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... 2/SPORTS10 (http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060131/SPORTS07/601310335/1012/SPORTS10)
The St. John's women's basketball team no longer can creep up on opponents.
"I know. I hate that," St. John's coach Kim Barnes Arico said Monday.
Arico coached St. John's to its first winning season in 10 years in 2004-05. This year they are 17-3, in third place in the Big East Conference and Monday joined the elite as the No. 25 team in The Associated Press poll.
It's the Red Storm's first ranking in 22 years (they were ranked 18th in the AP poll on Feb. 4, 1984 when Barnes Arico was 13 years old), and they're one of four Big East teams this week in the Top 25.
"We've gotten some girls who wanted to put St. John's on the map," said the coach, whose team will face No. 9 Rutgers on Wednesday night at the Louis Brown Athletic Center in Piscataway.
"I'm sort of like the kids in the program. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here. They took a chance on a Division II coach, but a lot of other people thought this job was a dead end."
She came over from Adelphi, where she took her team to the NCAA Sweet 16 with a 20-2 record. She previously coached at NJIT and FDU-Madison. And it was there she met her husband, Larry, now the head football coach and athletics director at Marist High School in Bayonne.
But that's another story.
When she was graduating from Montclair State in 1993, St. John's was 12-16 and beginning an 11-year stretch that produced an overall record of 105-229.
Then Barnes Arico arrived.
Her first two seasons were 8-19 and 10-18, but last year they won 20 for the first time since 1988.
The core of her roster is from New York City and Long Island. Three of her top players are transfers.
Junior guard Kia Wright left Connecticut to come to Queens. At 5-foot-7, she averages 13 points and is second in the conference in steals.
Senior forward Danielle Chambers transferred in from George Mason a few years ago and is the second-leading rebounder in the conference. She played her high school ball in Brooklyn.
Mercedes Dukes, a senior guard out of the Bronx, transferred in from Long Island University.
"Being a Long Island girl, I believed in what I could do," Barnes Arico said.
"I love the game, I'm passionate about it, and I'm trying to get my teams to feel the same. "We're not that big, but we're strong and athletic. I knew we had some people back from last year, and we've been winning some close games. Being close and winning are two different things."
"Rutgers is tough. On any night they can be the best team in the country. If we play our best game and they have a night off, beating Rutgers or Connecticut could happen. In one game," she added, "if you position yourself anything can happen. I certainly hope so."
Time to play
The St. John's women's basketball team no longer can creep up on opponents.
"I know. I hate that," St. John's coach Kim Barnes Arico said Monday.
Arico coached St. John's to its first winning season in 10 years in 2004-05. This year they are 17-3, in third place in the Big East Conference and Monday joined the elite as the No. 25 team in The Associated Press poll.
It's the Red Storm's first ranking in 22 years (they were ranked 18th in the AP poll on Feb. 4, 1984 when Barnes Arico was 13 years old), and they're one of four Big East teams this week in the Top 25.
"We've gotten some girls who wanted to put St. John's on the map," said the coach, whose team will face No. 9 Rutgers on Wednesday night at the Louis Brown Athletic Center in Piscataway.
"I'm sort of like the kids in the program. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here. They took a chance on a Division II coach, but a lot of other people thought this job was a dead end."
She came over from Adelphi, where she took her team to the NCAA Sweet 16 with a 20-2 record. She previously coached at NJIT and FDU-Madison. And it was there she met her husband, Larry, now the head football coach and athletics director at Marist High School in Bayonne.
But that's another story.
When she was graduating from Montclair State in 1993, St. John's was 12-16 and beginning an 11-year stretch that produced an overall record of 105-229.
Then Barnes Arico arrived.
Her first two seasons were 8-19 and 10-18, but last year they won 20 for the first time since 1988.
The core of her roster is from New York City and Long Island. Three of her top players are transfers.
Junior guard Kia Wright left Connecticut to come to Queens. At 5-foot-7, she averages 13 points and is second in the conference in steals.
Senior forward Danielle Chambers transferred in from George Mason a few years ago and is the second-leading rebounder in the conference. She played her high school ball in Brooklyn.
Mercedes Dukes, a senior guard out of the Bronx, transferred in from Long Island University.
"Being a Long Island girl, I believed in what I could do," Barnes Arico said.
"I love the game, I'm passionate about it, and I'm trying to get my teams to feel the same. "We're not that big, but we're strong and athletic. I knew we had some people back from last year, and we've been winning some close games. Being close and winning are two different things."
"Rutgers is tough. On any night they can be the best team in the country. If we play our best game and they have a night off, beating Rutgers or Connecticut could happen. In one game," she added, "if you position yourself anything can happen. I certainly hope so."
Time to play