Retooled St. John’s women aiming to bounce back as season tipoff awaits

Redshirt junior forward Daniela Abies got a rare second chance with St. John’s.

After playing at Wichita State in her first two seasons, St. John’s tried recruiting Abies in the transfer portal ahead of the 2024-25 season.

She ultimately picked Miami.

But after suffering a season-ending injury after eight games in December, Abies decided to re-enter the portal, and she was relieved to learn St. John’s coach Joe Tartamella still saw her potential.

“I do regret not coming here the first time,” she told The Post last month.

Abies hasn’t played basketball in nine months. She was only cleared to return to basketball-related activities in August and is still getting acclimated to St. John’s style of play.

But Abies believes she can help the reloaded Red Storm bounce back after finishing eighth in the Big East last season.

St. John’s women’s basketball team, which opens its season Monday with a 2 p.m. game against Le Moyne at Carnesecca Arena, looks a lot different than it did a year ago.

Gone are 2024-25 Big East Defensive Player of the Year Lashae Dwyer and team captain Ber’Nyah Mayo — both of whom graduated after being the top two scorers last season.

But Tartamella returned six players, including guards Skye Owen and Jailah Donald.

“For Skye and Jaliah, we need them to be great and be great leaders, whether that’s communicative or in just how they play,” Tartamella said. “So they will be a big part of our success in terms of our ability to win games and if we don’t, it will probably be a reason for some of our failure.”

The Red Storm also added six newcomers, including four Division I transfers.

Key additions beyond Abies are sophomore guard Sa’Mya Wyatt, the reigning Atlantic Sun Conference Freshman of the Year, and junior guard Beautiful Waheed, a top-rated junior college recruit in the 2025 class out of Wabash Valley (Mount Carmel, Ill.).

Practice over the past few weeks had been described as “spirited,” but with so many new faces, it’ll take time for the group to establish chemistry.

“We like what we see in some areas,” said Tartamella, who’s entering his 14th season at St. John’s. “We feel like we’ve got some upgrades from where we were last year with the team that I thought we fell short, obviously.”

The Red Storm’s schedule gets increasingly more difficult following the opener. Harvard, which is coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance, and Quinnipiac, which played in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament, are on deck.

St. John’s is slated to play two more 2025 NCAA Tournament teams, including Oklahoma State in Queens on Nov. 19, and Georgia Tech to open the Cayman Island Classic on Nov. 28.

Tartamella said he was intentional about scheduling a tougher non-conference schedule to help the Red Storm gear up for a challenging 20-game Big East slate.

“I think [it] will be a great opportunity to see where we’re at, but we’re going to get tested early,” he said. “I think last year we didn’t see that as much right away.”

The reigning champions UConn, ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press’ preseason poll, remain on a tier of their own in the Big East, with every other conference opponent battling for spots after that.

Last season, St. John’s finished eighth in the conference standings after going an underwhelming 5-13 in Big East play.

Still, the Red Storm finished 72 in the NET rankings, thanks in part to a 10-1 start.

But Tartamella is aiming for better results this season.

“We were there right on the cusp in terms of being able to be in another postseason but, obviously, we didn’t get there,” Tartamella said. “So this group is certainly motivated to be back and to be vying to be in the top half of the Big East.”