St. John’s Tops Xavier in First Round of BIG EAST Tournament, 76-69

Friday, March 4

UNCASVILLE, CONN. (MOHEGAN SUN ARENA)

1:30 P.M.

St. John's University

12-18,7-12Big East

Xavier

9-21,4-16Big East

Xavier

St. John's (NY)

St. John’s Tops Xavier in First Round of BIG EAST Tournament, 76-69

3/4/2022 5:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Four players score in double figures during the tournament win

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (March. 4, 2022) – Trailing by as many as eight with 8:49 to go in the game, St. John's held Xavier scoreless for six crucial minutes on its way to a 76-69 win in the quarterfinal round of the BIG EAST Women's Basketball Tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Four Red Storm (12-18) players posted double figures with Kadaja Bailey leading the way with 17 points. The Long Beach, N.Y., native shot 5-of-12 from the field and 2-of-4 from beyond the arc while also going a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. Rayven Peeples posted a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Leilani Correa and Danielle Patterson rounded out the Red Storm's top scorers, chipping in 12 and 10 points, respectively.

The Johnnies locked in a back-and-forth battle from the jump, and at the first quarter media timeout, the Red Storm trailed the Musketeers (9-21),14-12. Coming out of the break, St. John's went off on a 7-0 run to lead 19-14 with 2:31 left in the period. Xavier added back-to-back buckets but a Patterson layup with three seconds left gave the Red Storm the three-point lead following 10 minutes of play.

The St. John's offense kept rolling in the second quarter with an 8-2 run that included triples by Camree Clegg and Unique Drake. The Musketeers looked to stop the rally by calling a timeout with 7:43 on the clock and the Johnnies leading 29-21. The teams went point-for-point until a 6-0 Xavier run cut the Johnnie advantage to a pair with 4:05 in the half.

Patterson snapped the run with a layup before four-straight by the Musketeers tied the game at 35. Despite Danielle Cosgrove giving the advantage back to the Johnnies, a 7-0 Xavier rally ended the half and sent St. John's to the locker room trailing 42-37.

Peeples had four early points after the break, including a layup to bring the Johnnies within three. Looking to regroup down 48-33, the Red Storm used a timeout with 6:16 remaining in the third. Xavier's Coutrney Prenger extended the Musketeers' lead to seven, but Peeples and Bailey cut the deficit to three with back-to-back baskets. Trailing 53-47 at the media timeout, Correa capitalized with a layup and Drake went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe to put the team within two. However, the Musketeers scored the final four points of the period to hold the 57-51 advantage.

Needing to rally, Correa started the Red Storm scoring with a pair of free throws and Patterson added a bucket with 8:05 remaining. Despite allowing a Prenger to add a pair for Xavier, Bailey sank her second triple of the game to put the Johnnies back within three and force the Musketeers to use a timeout. Following the break, Patterson scored the next four points for St. John's, including a 3-pointer with 5:56 on the clock, to give the Johnnies the 62-61 edge.

Taking care of business on the defensive end, the Red Storm forced a shot clock violation with 3:57 to play. On the following play, Peeples extended the St. John's lead to three as she drained a pair from the foul line. Back-and-forth the teams went with Xavier using another timeout following a 2-for-2 performance at the line from Drake with 2:01 remaining.

Coming out of the stoppage, Peeples extended the Johnnie lead five with a bucket, but the advantage was short-lived when Shaila Beeler sank a jumper on the other end of the floor. Leading by three, foul shots by Bailey extended the advantage once more with 22 seconds remaining. Ayanna Townsend added a second chance bucket for the final points for the Musketeers and Correa and Bailey went perfect from the line to seal the tournament win for St. John's.

Xavier's Townsend recorded a double-double with a team-high 18 points and 10 rebounds. Beeler scored 16 points and was an assist shy of dishing out double figures.

The Red Storm outscored Xavier 19-6 from the foul line and the Johnnie bench held the 22-4 scoring edge. The victory marked the 14^th-straight against the Musketeers, and the Johnnies have now won four-straight first round games in the BIG EAST Tournament.

St. John's will face second-seeded Villanova on Saturday in the quarterfinals. At the helm for the Wildcats is BIG EAST Coach of the Year Denise Dillon. Dillon's squad posted a 21-7 regular season record and a 15-4 mark against conference opponents.

BIG EAST Player of the Year Maddy Siegrist averaged a conference-best 26.5 points per game and 9.7 rebounds per contest in her 22 games played. In league games alone, Siegrist set a new BIG EAST record for average points per game at 27.9. She finished the regular season with 18 games of 20 points or more, including nine 30+ efforts.

Tip-off for tomorrow's clash against the Wildcats is slated for 7 p.m. on FS2.