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St. John’s basketball defeated by Seton Hall in Wednesday matinee

By Kevin Connelly

The scene at the Prudential Center prior to the Seton Hall Pirates and the St. John's basketball team. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
The scene at the Prudential Center prior to the Seton Hall Pirates and the St. John's basketball team. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /
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St. John’s basketball fell to Seton Hall in a Wednesday matinee. 

The struggles continue for the St. John’s basketball program as the Red Storm (4-8, 1-6 Big East) third straight game with a loss to Seton Hall (7-3, 5-2 Big East) on Wednesday afternoon, 87-64.

Wednesday marked the first game of a three game road trip for the Johnnies, one that does not get any easier going forward with a trip to Pennsylvania to face the Villanova Wildcats on Monday night, a team that had already defeated St. John’s this season.

St. John’s could not get its two stars, Qadashah Hoppie and Leilani Correa going, as the senior posted 18 points on 6-of-16 shooting while the sophomore chipped in 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting.

Junior forward Kadaja Bailey continued her hot streak as the only other player for the Johnnies to reach double-figures with 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field.

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However, the Red Storm had no answers for the stars of Seton Hall, Andra Espinoza-Hunter and Desiree Elmore.

Espinoza-Hunter exploded for 22 points in the first half, finishing with 30 points in the victory while adding eight rebounds and three assists to her stat line on 12-of-26 shooting, 4-of-9 from three-point range.

Elmore was the one who carried the Pirates in the second half, finishing the last two quarters with 16 points as she exited with 26 points and nine rebounds on 12-of-16 shooting.

Head coach Tony Bozzella’s team out-rebounded St. John’s 47-30 as the Pirates were able to grab 25 offensive rebounds and forced the Johnnies to turn the basketball over 17 times.

St. John’s basketball still faces daunting challenges to turn around season.

As things continue to trend in the wrong direction for the Red Storm, the Johnnies must try and turn things around quickly still with two matchups against No. 3 UConn and one meeting with No. 18 DePaul left on its schedule.

ALSO READ: St. John’s can still win without production from best player

Villanova came away with a 74-65 victory in Queens on December 6 in its first matchup with St. John’s and the Johnnies will be looking to avoid a season series sweep from the Wildcats on Monday night.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00pm EST (Fox Sports 1) from the Finneran Pavilion.

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