As the minutes passed, nobody could have blamed Keylantra Langley if she thought her night's work was done when the St. John's freshman checked out of Saturday's Big East tournament second-round game with 8:47 to play.

With six players having previous Big East tournament experience and the Red Storm in a nailbiter with West Virginia, it seemed likely that the former Lauralton Hall star would be relegated to the role of reluctant spectator the rest of the way.

However, with the game stopped because of the final television timeout with 1:56 to play, St. John's coach Kim Barnes Arico not only summoned Langley off the bench but called a play for her.

Just 20 seconds later Langley took a pass at the top of the key and drove to the basket to push the Red Storm's two-point lead to four points en route to a 59-51 victory to end a four-game tournament losing streak for the Red Storm.

"Coach (Barnes Arico)set up a play and she told me to take it," Langley said. "Basically, I had nothing to worry about because the coaches were confident in me going to the basket."

Langley's freshman season started off with her playing at least 10 minutes in six of the first 10 games of the season. However, the last time she hit the double-digit mark in minutes was a Jan. 12 loss to UConn.

She did not play in four games and saw limited minutes until she played 10 minutes against Pittsburgh and although she didn't score, she did have a career-high four assists. In St. John's final game of the regular season Langley played 15 minutes and had a career-high six points.

"I went into the Pitt game and gave them good minutes so I think the coach felt I was contributing to the game, " Langley said. "From there, my minutes just went up.

"At the beginning I wasn't as comfortable. As the season has gone on, I have gotten more comfortable."

The time has allowed her teammates to develop more confidence in her as well.

"She is playing behind a really good point guard in Nadirah (McKenith) but I think towards the end, she knows her role more," St. John's junior forward Da'Shena Stevens said. "I am glad she came out tonight and had the impact she did. It means a lot to me, means a lot to the team just seeing her be as successful as she can be."

Barnes Arico never hestitated in putting the ball in Langley's hands even if she came into the game averaging just 1.1 points per game.

"She is coming in off the bench and in a timeout, I call a play for her," Barnes Arico said. "She sat on the bench for the last 20 minutes and I said 'Key, we are running this for you.' She did it and it was just tremendous for her.

"She has done a tremendous job. I think it was a challenge for her probably most of the year because she had been used to playing every minute of every game. I tried to talk about her about hanging in there because she is very talented kid and she has been playing extremely well but once you get into the Big East, it is a big jump and a drastic change. I thought the last couple of weeks, she has really been practicing well, really been playing well. She gives us something we don't have out there and the last three or four games has given us great minutes. She made the play of the game today, that was a big play."

Time will tell but it could be the win that secures St. John's a spot in the NCAA tournament.

"We are on the bubble and hopefully it gets us off it," Langley said. "This is the Big East tournament and we want to win it."