The St. John’s Women’s Basketball team huddle. Photo by: Stacy Podelski/1495Sports
Despite a 31-point performance from sophomore guard Leilani Correa, the St. John’s Women’s Basketball team fell to Marquette, 66-62, on Wednesday afternoon.
Correa finished with over 30 points for the second time this season and the fifth time in her young St. John’s career. With that, Correa becomes the first player in program history to notch 30-plus points on five different occasions for the Johnnies. The Manchester, N.J., native converted on 11 of her 21 attempts from the floor, knocking down all eight of her tries from the charity stripe. Correa also grabbed six rebounds, to go along with a team-high four steals.
Kadaja Bailey and Raven Farley each pulled down six boards on the afternoon. Bailey also chipped in 11 points for the Johnnies.
Sophomore forward Emma Nolan finished just shy of double figures with nine points, including a pair of triples.
Marquette fired off five early points to start the game before Correa snapped the Johnnies’ scoreless streak at the 8:33 mark. The sophomore guard converted on back-to-back drives to put the Johnnies within one, 5-4, two minutes into the opening frame.
The Golden Eagles responded with a 7-0 run to build their lead up to eight, 12-4, with seven minutes remaining in the opening quarter. That was the largest lead Marquette would take over the remainder of the contest, as the Johnnies locked in on both ends of the floor. Behind a stellar shooting effort from Correa, the Red Storm took off on a 15-4 offensive surge to take a 19-16 lead after 10 minutes of action. Correa accounted for 10 of the Red Storm’s 15 points during the run.
Nolan opened up the second stanza with a bang, draining a shot from deep to grow the Johnnies’ lead to six, 22-16. Seconds later, the Golden Eagles converted on a layup to make it a two-possession game, 22-18.
On the Johnnies next drive, Bailey drew a foul to take a trip to the charity stripe. Bailey, who had a 64 percent shooting percentage from the line heading into today’s game, converted on both attempts. Seconds later, Unique Drake drained a jumper to stretch the Johnnies’ lead up to eight, 26-18.
With under eight minutes remaining in the half, Marquette used six unanswered points to trim its deficit down to two, 26-24. The two programs traded blows for the next five minutes until Correa netted a pair of free throws, followed by a buzzer-beating jumper, to send St. John’s into the locker room with a 37-31 advantage.
Correa was untouchable through the first 20 minutes of action, leading the way for the Red Storm with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor. The Manchester, N.J., native also drained all four of her attempts from the free-throw line.
After both programs went scoreless over the first two minutes of the third quarter, Marquette snapped the scoring drought, converting on back-to-back buckets to cut into the Red Storm’s lead, 37-33. Correa finally broke through for St. John’s with a pair of free throws. This jumpstarted a 7-2 run for the Red Storm’s star shooter, growing the Johnnies’ lead to seven, 44-37.
Marquette began to chip away at the Red Storm’s lead over the final minutes of the third quarter, managing to inch back within one, 48-47, after 30 minutes of action.
The Golden Eagles opened up the final frame with a pair of layups to regain the lead for the first time since the opening quarter, 51-48. The two programs battled back-and-forth over the next few minutes before St. John’s unleashed a 6-0 run to regain the lead, 57-56.
The tradeoff continued down the stretch with Marquette using five unanswered points, including a trio of free throws, to solidify the win.
The Red Storm will return to action on Saturday, when the team travels to Providence for a showdown with the Friars. The two programs are scheduled to tip off at 1 p.m. on FloHoops.
For more information on the St. John’s Athletics Department fans are encouraged to click on the link seen here:
Fan Cutout – St. John’s University Athletics – Official Athletics Website (redstormsports.com)