Sports

Perez leads SJU women past Farmingdale in exhibition

Freshman Ashley Perez scored 22 points and Shenneika Smith added 20 to help No. 14 St. John’s rout Farmingdale 99-24 on Saturday in an exhibition game.

The game marked the debut of new Red Storm coach Joe Tartamella, who took over the program when former coach Kim Barnes Arico left for Michigan last spring.

St. John’s raced out to a 50-12 halftime lead behind Perez and Smith, who also had 15 rebounds.

The Red Storm will open the regular season against Texas on Friday in the WBI Tipoff Invitational in Florida.

Nikita Green scored 12 to lead Farmingdale, a Division III school. Her 3-pointer with 11:53 left in the game was the first basket of the second half for the Rams and made the score 77-15.