Jennifer (Big Love) Blanding knows what basketball at Dyckman is all about.
“I come to Dyckman all the time to watch the boys play. It’s always packed,” the St. John’s rising senior forward said. “They always talk about the boys.”
They were talking about the girls Friday night at Monsignor Kett Park. The city’s top female streetball players took the court for the She Got Game All-Star game. Blanding wasn’t the only Red Storm player in attendance — so was former St. Michael Academy star and classmate Shenneika Smith, who led the Purple team to a 56-51 win over Blue. The two, both Brooklyn products, played on the same Exodus travel team growing up.
“Dyckman gave us a chance to show that girls can play, too,” Smith said
The All-Big East first team selection has made a habit of that over the years. A 6-foot-1 wing, Smith led St. John’s to its best season in program history over the winter. She averaged 12.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and had 40 blocks as the Red Storm reached their first ever NCAA Sweet 16. She also hit a game-winning 3-pointer to end Connecticut’s 99-game home winning streak and scored a season-high 24 points in the Big East quarterfinals against Louisville.
“That shot was remarkable,” she said of her trey with eight seconds left in front of more than 9,000 people at Gampel Pavilion. “Being that I hadn’t hit a three in three months made it even more special.”
When Smith and Blanding return to St. John’s, the circumstances will be different. Head coach Kim Barnes Arico left after a decade-long run with the Red Storm to take the head job at Michigan. Top assistant Joe Tartamella has taken the reigns and brought in a new staff. The players haven’t gotten to spend much time with the new coaches as they have been on the road recruiting, but the transition has been seamless so far.
“I’m so proud of him,” Smith said of Tartamella. “We have a great coaching staff. I appreciate all of them coming. We are just looking forward to getting ready. … We have a lot to live up too.”
For one night, though, it was about having fun and putting on a good show for the fans, Blanding, a reserve hoping for a big final season, scored inside to pull the Blue team within a point late. Smith helped seal the win with a key defensive stop and later joked that she even got to guard the powerful 6-foot-3 Blanding.
“She used to never guard me,” Blanding said. “I had fun with her. She’s actually kind of strong.”