The St. John’s women’s basketball team, seeded sixth, will begin its 2026 BIG EAST Tournament campaign against 11th-seeded Xavier on Friday at 4 p.m. The game will take place at Mohegan Sun Arena and be streamed live on Peacock, with Adam Giardino and Meghan Culmo providing commentary and Meghan Caffrey reporting from the sidelines. The winner of this matchup will advance to face third-seeded Seton Hall in the quarterfinals on Saturday night.
St. John’s enters the tournament with a 21-10 overall record and an 11-9 mark in conference play. This year marks the program’s first time as the sixth seed in its history. The Red Storm have participated in the BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Tournament 41 times, holding a cumulative record of 33-36 and winning four titles (1983, 1984, 1988, and 2016). They have reached at least the quarterfinal round for each of the past fifteen tournaments.
Brooke Moore was named to the All-BIG EAST Second Team after her first season with St. John’s following two years at Liberty. Moore led her team by averaging 12 points per game while shooting over 51% from the field and more than 75% from the free throw line. She scored in double figures in twenty games this season, achieved three double-doubles, surpassed twenty points five times, and recorded ten or more rebounds in four contests.
Moore received multiple recognitions during the season: “The Liberty transfer was named BIG EAST Player of the Week on Dec. 1 and was tabbed to the honor roll three times.” She was one of only three St. John’s players honored by the league this year.
Sa’Mya Wyatt also earned All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention honors for her performance throughout her sophomore season. Wyatt started all thirty-one games for St. John’s, averaging eleven points per game along with nearly five rebounds and just over one assist per contest. She scored at least ten points seventeen times and had a standout performance against Xavier on January 17 with a career-high twenty-eight points.
Wyatt previously received conference recognition as ASUN Freshman of the Year while playing for Austin Peay last season.
In their final regular-season game, St. John’s lost to top-ranked UConn at Madison Square Garden before a crowd of over nine thousand—setting a new single-game attendance record for their program during their first standalone appearance at that venue.
Jailah Donald led scoring for St. John’s in that game with eight points; Daniela Abies contributed six rebounds; Shaulana Wagner tallied three assists—her twenty-fourth such performance this season—and currently ranks third in assists per game within the conference.
Friday’s contest will be St. John’s third meeting with Xavier this season; they previously defeated Xavier twice—in January (66-64) and February (71-52). Overall, St. John’s has won its last twenty-two games against Xavier.
Xavier comes into Friday’s tournament opener with an overall record of eleven wins and eighteen losses (4-16 BIG EAST). In their last regular-season outing, they narrowly lost to Creighton despite four players reaching double-digit scoring figures; Meri Kanerva led with nineteen points while Savanah White posted thirteen rebounds alongside seven assists.
Xavier is led by Mariyah Noel—a junior who earned All-BIG EAST Second Team honors—averaging fifteen points per game (fifth best in conference), over six rebounds, more than two assists per contest, shooting thirty-eight percent from field goal range and thirty-one percent from beyond-the-arc.
