Aaliyah Edwards scored a career-high 33 points, Paige Bueckers added 26 and No. 11 UConn defeated St. John's 78-63 on Sunday.
Edwards and Bueckers combined to score the first 17 of Connecticut’s 18 points in the fourth quarter. The string was broken by a free throw from KK Arnold with 96 seconds remaining.
After leading by 13 points at halftime, the Huskies (19-4, 11-0 Big East) extended their lead to 57-37 late in the third quarter. But Ber’Nyah Mayo helped keep the Red Storm in the game, scoring seven points in a 12-3 run that got them within 60-49 heading to the fourth quarter.
Unique Drake and Jillian Archer opened the fourth quarter with layups and St. John's trailed 60-53 with nine minutes remaining. Bueckers responded with a personal 7-0 run for a 67-53 lead with six-and-a-half minutes to go. Edwards and Bueckers split the next eight points for UConn and the Huskies were up by 16 with two minutes remaining.
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Mayo scored 16 points, Drake 14, and Archer and Jailah Donald 10 each for St. John's (14-10, 8-4).
The Huskies built a seven-point lead late in the first quarter but a 3-pointer by Skye Owen got the Red Storm within 21-17 at the end of the period. Edwards scored 10 points in the second quarter and UConn led 42-29 at halftime.
UConn hosts Seton Hall at Hartford on Wednesday. St. John's visits Butler on Friday.
