Huskies Return to Gampel and Face St. John's

The UConn women’s basketball team returns to Gampel Pavilion on Saturday, January 31 to face BIG EAST opponent St. John’s. Game time is set for 12:00 pm and will be televised locally on CPTV.

The Huskies are atop of the BIG EAST standings as the only team to have just one loss in conference action. Ranked fourth in the Associated Press poll and third in the coaches poll, UConn owns a record of 15-2 overall, and 6-1 in the BIG EAST. The Red Storm currently stand in 12th place in the BIG EAST and hold a record of 8-10 overall and are 2-5 in the conference.

The game marks the 46th meeting between Connecticut and St. John’s dating back to the 1978-79 season. UConn holds the 29-16 advantage in the series over St. John’s. The Huskies have won the last 19 outings and 28 of the last 29 games. At the start of the series, the Red Storm claimed 15 of the first 16 wins and only one other victory since then on January 6, 1993, a 54-51 win at home. UConn head coach Geno Auriemma owns all of Connecticut’s 29 wins over St. John’s and has only seven losses to the Red Storm.

UConn looks to extend its 104-game BIG EAST win streak at home in Saturday’s game. The Huskies have also won 47 straight games in Gampel Pavilion and has sold out their last 78 contests in the building. UConn had a three-week hiatus from Gampel Pavilion having not played there since January 13, a 69-51 win over Georgetown. Since the Huskies loss at Notre Dame on January 13, UConn has won its last four games.

Entering Saturday’s game, senior Diana Taurasi is two 3-pointers shy of tying Wendy Davis’ (1989-92) UConn career record for 3-pointers. Taurasi currently boasts 277 career 3-pointers over 126 games, while Davis reached her mark of 279 having played in 127 games. Taurasi is also 279 points shy of becoming the all-time career leading scorer at Connecticut. Taurasi is 234 points out of fourth place behind Rebecca Lobo’s (1992-95) 2,133 points. Nykesha Sales (1995-98) currently holds the top spot with 2,178 points.

Taurasi leads the team in all categories except rebounding. She is averaging 18.4 points, 4.65 assists, 1.71 steals and 0.94 blocks per game, while shooting .814 percent from the free throw line (48-for-59). Junior Jessica Moore has grabbed 6.5 rebounds per game, including 85 defensive boards. As a team through all 17 games, UConn leads the BIG EAST in scoring offense (75.4 ppg), scoring margin (+21.6), 3-point field goal percentage (.385) and blocked shots (4.76 bpg). In conference action, the Huskies head scoring offense (68.9 ppg) and scoring margin (+12.4).

The Red Storm fell 63-52 to Seton Hall on Wednesday night in Jamaica, N.Y. Senior guard Kim MacMillan scored a game-high 17 points and freshman forward Angie Clark added 10 points and six rebounds. St. John’s two conference wins came over Syracuse (78-61) on January 10 and Pittsburgh (83-72) on January 24. St. John’s win over Pittsburgh snapped the team’s 19-game losing streak in homes games.

Three players for St. John’s are averaging double-figures in scoring. MacMillan is scoring 15.9 points per game, junior guard Secrett Stubblefield is averaging 13.9 and Angie Clark is adding 13.2 points per game. Clark is currently second in the BIG EAST in double-doubles this season with eight in 18 games played. MacMillan leads the nation in 3-pointers per game averaging four per contest.

St. John’s is coached by Kim Barnes Arico, who is in her second season with the Red Storm and her eighth year as a head coach. She holds a two-year record at St. John’s of 16-29 and an overall record of 110-101.