Villanova pulls away from St. John’s basketball with shooting barrage

Villanova pulled away from St. John’s basketball in the second half thanks to its shooting performance.

It wasn’t for a lack of effort but St. John’s basketball couldn’t find a way to solve the Villanova (4-0, 1-0 Big East) offense on Sunday night in Queens.

Only five points separated the two teams at halftime but the Wildcats were able to distance themselves from the Johnnies in the second half, en route to a 74-65 victory.

Villanova had an answer for every run St. John’s (2-1, 0-1 Big East) would try and put together but the closest the home team could get was six after the Wildcats had opened its lead up to 19 midway through the third quarter.

After a first half where she was only able to muster four points on 1-of-7 shooting, reigning Big East Freshman of the Year Maddy Siegrist led Villanova with 19 points and 15 rebounds on 8-of-16 shooting despite battling foul trouble in the fourth quarter.

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Siegrist hit the 3-point dagger as the Red Storm tried to mount a comeback to push the Villanova lead to 74-65 with under 30 seconds to play.

Including Siegrist, the Wildcats saw four players reach double-digits as senior Sara Mortensen also posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

The Johnnies were pounded on the backboards, 42-31, something head coach Joe Tartamella did not anticipate, citing that Villanova looked like it was the team that had three days off and St. John’s looked like the squad that played on Friday.

Sophomore star Leilani Correa led the Red Storm with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-18 shooting with two rebounds, two assists, and four steals.

St. John’s basketball hits the road for a long stretch.

Following Sunday night’s loss, the Red Storm will hit the road for four game trip, heading back into non-conference play against Massachusetts and re-entering the Big East with trips to Marquette and Providence.

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St. John’s and UMass will tipoff Sunday, December 13 with a scheduled 2:00pm EST tip-off time.