Coco Hart helps No. 20 Red Storm rout Lions 65-41

Published Nov. 20, 2010 2:09 a.m. ET

foxsports

Coco Hart had 16 points and 12 rebounds to help No. 20 St. John's beat Columbia 65-41 on Friday night in a sloppy game.

Da'Shena Stevens added 12 points, 11 rebounds and six steals for the Red Storm.

With the game tied at 4, St. John's (3-1) took over, going on a 17-2 run over the next 8 minutes to take a 15-point lead with 8:22 left in the first half. St. John's turned seven turnovers into easy layups on the other end as Columbia coach Paul Nixon implored his team just to make simple passes and get the ball up the court.

The Lions (0-3) missed 14 of their first 17 shots and had 14 turnovers by the time Kathleen Barry banked in a jumper from the lane that made it 21-8.

The Red Storm led 33-18 at the half.

St. John's could have been up a lot more, but the Red Storm missed a lot of easy lay-ins and had 12 turnovers at the break.

The two teams combined for 46 turnovers and neither had a great night shooting. St. John's was 21-for-61 (34 percent) from the field while Columbia was 14-for-55 (26 percent).

Trailing by 18 early in the second half, Columbia scored eight straight points - including consecutive 3-pointers to close to 36-26. Hart ended any hopes of a Lions comeback with back-to-back layups to kick off a 14-3 run that put the game away.

Diana Lee scored eight to lead the Lions. Columbia came into the season off its best year ever. The Lions finished last season 18-10 with a school-high nine wins in the Ivy League.

These two New York City schools played for the second straight year. Columbia lost 74-63 last season, but only trailed by two in that game with 5:45 left.

The two had never met before last season.