The St. John’s Women’s Basketball team will take on Seton Hall at Walsh Gymnasium in a BIG EAST battle on Wednesday night.
Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. on the BIG EAST Digital Network with John Fanta and Kim Adams on the call. Meghan Caffrey will serve as the sideline reporter.
The Red Storm (5-10, 1-4 BIG EAST) dropped a close 86-80 contest on the road to Creighton on Sunday afternoon. St. John’s shot 53.2 percent overall and 34.8 percent from three during the loss. The team held the 46-38 advantage in the paint but gave up 23 second chance points.
Leilani Correa led the Johnnies with 26 points as Manchester, N.J., native shot 11-for-19 from the field and went 4-for-9 from three. Kadaja Bailey followed closely behind Correa, scoring 22 by going 10-for-13 from the floor and 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. Danielle Patterson was the third Johnnie to score in double figures, notching 15 points.
Head Coach Joe Tartamella enters the game with a record of 175-125 in his 10th season leading the Red Storm, one victory shy of tying his mentor, Kim Barnes Arico, for first place on the program’s all-time wins list. Tartamella spent nine seasons on Barnes Arico’s staff, starting as a graduate assistant in 2002 before serving three years as an assistant coach and four seasons as the program’s associate head coach. Tartamella has been to six postseasons as the Red Storm’s head coach, including a trio of NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2016, his Johnnies won the program’s first BIG EAST title since 1988.
The Johnnies enter the midweek tilt ranked second in the BIG EAST for scoring offense (73.8) and third for 3-pointers per game (7.9). Correa paces the league, averaging 20.5 points per game. The junior’s 36.8 minutes per game puts her third in the league. Bailey sits sixth in the conference with 14.7 points per outing.
During BIG EAST play alone, the Red Storm ranks third in scoring offense (75.6), field goal percentage (45.8) and blocked shots (4.0). Correa is averaging 23.6 points against conference opponents to lead the league. Bailey’s 15.6 points per game puts the senior eighth in the conference.
Seton Hall enters the game at 7-7 this season and 2-4 against BIG EAST opponents. During the first meeting between the team’s St. John’s walked away with the 88-75 victory over the Pirates. The Red Storm’s Correa led all players with 24 points during the win for the Johnnies. Seton Hall was led by Lauren Park-Lane, who tallied 23 points and seven assists.
As a team, the Pirate average 7.7 points per game while shooting 40.2 percent from the floor. Seton Hall forces 7.9 turnovers per game to rank fifth in the league, and the squad’s +1.64 turnover margin in second-best in the conference.
The Pirate have four players averaging double-figure scoring with Park-Lane pacing the team at 17.2 points per outing. Andra Espinoza-Hunter posts 16.1 points while Sidney Cooks comes into the game with 13.5 points per game. Mya Jackson rounds out the leaders with 10.0 points per game during her junior campaign
St. John’s and Seton Hall will meet for the 85th time in the history of the two programs. The Red Storm leads the all-time series, 50-34, including the aformentioned victory at Carnesecca Arena earlier this season.
The Johnnies return home for the first time in 2022 when the Red Storm welcomes No. 9 UConn to Queens on Sunday. Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m. on SNY.
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