St. John’s Women’s Basketball Team Huddle. Photo by: Stacy Podelski/1495Sports
After trailing by as many as 14 in the third quarter, the St. John’s Women’s Basketball team mounted a comeback to pick up its first BIG EAST win on Saturday, defeating Butler, 64-56, inside Carnesecca Arena.
Leilani Correa led the way for the Red Storm, recording her second double-double in as many games. The Manchester, N.J., native scored a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds in 37 minutes of action. Dating back to last season, Correa has now scored 20 or more points in five of her last 10 games.
Qadashah Hoppie finished with 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor. With a pair of triples on the afternoon, the senior guard moved into second on the program’s all-time list for three-pointers made with 174.
Rayven Peeples rounded out the trio of St. John’s scorers in double figures, registering 13 points. The junior forward was perfect from the floor, knocking down all five of her attempts from the field and went 3-of-3 from the charity stripe.
As a team, the Red Storm (4-5, 1-3 BIG EAST) shot 51.9 percent from the floor. The Johnnies also converted on all 10 of their tries from the free-throw line.
Correa kicked off the scoring for the Red Storm, draining a shot from deep to give the Johnnies an early lead. The visiting Bulldogs responded with a pair of buckets before Hoppie made a drive to the basket, putting St. John’s back on top, 5-4. The layup ignited a 9-0 run for the Johnnies as they grew their lead to eight, 12-4, with three-and-a-half minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
The two teams traded buckets over the remainder of the first frame, with St. John’s leading, 14-9, after 10 minutes of action.
Neither program managed to generate much offense in the early going of the second quarter. The Bulldogs finally broke through at the 8:11 mark to trim their deficit down to two, 14-12. Hoppie responded for the Red Storm, converting on a shot from beyond the arc to keep St. John’s ahead, 17-12.
The visiting team continued to pose a threat for the Red Storm, using a 10-2 run to take their first lead of the game, 22-19, midway through the second stanza. Seconds later, Raven Farley finished at the rim to keep St. John’s within one, 22-21. The Bulldogs unleashed six unanswered points over the next few minutes, growing their lead to seven, 28-21.
With 1:30 remaining in the first half, an and-one from Unique Drake put St. John’s back within four, 28-24, at the intermission. Hoppie paced the Johnnies into the locker room with seven points on 3-of-6 shooting from the floor.
Butler (0-6, 0-5 BIG EAST) fired off a 12-2 run to open the third quarter, growing its lead to 14, 40-26. After going four minutes without a field goal, Peeples broke through for St. John’s. This jump started a much-needed 16-2 offensive surge for the home team, as the Johnnies knotted the game at 42 with just under two minutes to play in the third quarter.
Butler’s Upe Atosu converted on a three to put the visiting team back on top, 45-42. With just over a minute remaining in the quarter, Peeples and Bailey used consecutive layups to give the Johnnies their first lead since the early in the second quarter, 46-45.
Butler found the bottom of the net in the opening seconds of the fourth frame to take its final lead, 47-46. The Johnnies controlled the remainder of the game, outscoring the Bulldogs 18-9 to secure the victory.
The Johnnies will return to action on Wednesday when the team travels to Chicago for a 7 p.m. ET showdown with No. 20/22 DePaul.
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