Behind a program-record 16 blocks, the St. John’s Women’s Basketball team downed Saint Peter’s, 85-47, on Tuesday afternoon at Carnesecca Arena.
Northwest Florida transfer Rayven Peeples led the Red Storm in rejections with a career-high five. The junior forward also paced the Johnnies in scoring with a career-best 22 points, converting on 10 of her 13 tries from the floor. Peeples fell just shy of recording a double-double, pulling down a team-high nine rebounds in 23 minutes of action.
All-BIG EAST Preseason selection Leilani Correa followed Peeples, turning in 19 points and a team-best five assists on the afternoon.
Sophomore guard Unique Drake registered a career-high 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor, converting on three of her four attempts from distance. The Columbia, S.C., native also dished out a career-best four dimes.
Junior guard Kadaja Bailey rounded out the quartet of St. John’s players to finish in double figures with 14 points, knocking down five of her nine attempts from the floor.
As a team, St. John’s held the Peacocks to 22.5 percent shooting from the field, allowing them to drain just two of their 22 three-point attempts.
One of those two triples came in the early seconds of the first quarter, as Saint Peter’s recorded the opening points to take its only lead of the game. The Johnnies responded under a minute later as Emma Nolan delivered from downtown. Nolan’s three began a 13-2 run for the Johnnies, as they took an eight-point lead at the 5:31 mark.
After nearly two minutes of scoreless action for either side, Saint Peter’s broke through with a layup to get within six of St. John’s, 13-7. The Red Storm outscored the visitors, 7-4, down the stretch to lead 20-11 after 10 minutes of action.
The Johnnies carried that early momentum over into the second quarter, as Drake converted on back-to-back layups, growing St. John’s lead back up to double-digits, 24-11. After drawing a foul, the Peacocks went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe to get back within 11, before St. John’s unleashed a 13-4 run to balloon its advantage to 22, 37-15, with just under three minutes remaining in the half.
Saint Peter’s continued to battle over the final minutes, but were no match for the Red Storm, as the Johnnies took a commanding 46-29 lead into the locker room.
Coming out of the break, the two teams traded buckets to open up the third quarter, until the Johnnies came up with another offensive surge. The Red Storm strung together 10 unanswered points to take a 35-point advantage, 60-25, midway through the third stanza.
The Peacocks responded, rattling off a 6-0 run to cut into the Johnnies’ lead, 62-31. That was as close as they would get over the remainder of the third period, as St. John’s led 66-31 heading into the closing 10 minutes of action.
Saint Peter’s continued to fight in the fourth quarter but could not mount a comeback as the Johnnies outscored the Peacocks, 19-16, over the final frame to cement the home-opening victory.
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