St. John’s Women’s Basketball Team Huddle. Photo by: Stacy Podelski/1495Sports

The St. John’s Women’s Basketball team dropped its BIG EAST contest with No. 3/5 Connecticut on Wednesday evening, falling 94-62 inside Gampel Pavilion.

For the second-straight game and fourth time this season, Leilani Correa eclipsed the 30-point plateau. The Manchester, N.J., native finished with a game-high 33 points on 11-of-21 shooting from the floor, including 27 points in the second half. The sophomore guard converted on five shots from beyond the arc, while draining all six of her attempts from the free-throw line.

Kadaja Bailey finished just shy of double figures, chipping in nine points to go along with a team-high five assists.

Rayven Peeples finished with eight points and a team-best seven rebounds.

The Huskies (12-1, 10-0 BIG EAST) opened up play on a 10-2 run to take an early eight-point lead. After three-and-a-half minutes of scoreless action for the Red Storm (5-10, 2-8 BIG EAST), Unique Drake and Raven Farley connected on back-to-back triples to pull the Johnnies back within two, 10-8.

St. John’s would cut UConn’s lead down to one with just under three minutes remaining in the first frame. The home team responded with 9-0 run to pull ahead by 10, 22-12 after 10 minutes of action.

Peeples finished at the rim to kick off the second stanza and trim the Johnnies’ deficit down to single digits, 22-14. From there, the Red Storm and the Huskies traded blows over the next two minutes before UConn uncorked a 15-4 run to lead by 20, 44-24, at the intermission.

The Huskies continued to dominate the Red Storm over the third quarter, ballooning their lead to as many as 26 before entering the final frame with a 73-47 advantage.

UConn put the game to bed over the final 10 minutes, outscoring the Johnnies, 21-15.

The Red Storm will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 10, when St. John’s welcomes No. 20/21 DePaul to Carnesecca Arena. The Johnnies and the Blue Demons will tip off at 6:30 p.m. on FS2.

For more information on the St. John’s Athletics Department fans are encouraged to click on the link seen here:

Scholarship Fund – St. John’s University Athletics – Official Athletics Website (redstormsports.com)