Mosqueda-Lewis nets 19 as No. 3 Connecticut women down St. John’s

Jamaica, NY, United States (4E Sports) – Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis scored seven of her 19 points and Kelly Faris added a crucial triple in the last four minutes to carry No. 3 Connecticut to a hard-earned 71-65 victory over a tough St. John’s side Saturday at Carnesecca Arena.

After Shenneika Smith tied the game at 57 with a jumper, Mosqueda-Lewis took matters into her own hands, completing a three-point play and hitting four foul shots that gave the Huskies a 64-59 advantage.

Faris then added a triple to cap a 10-3 blast and put the Huskies ahead by 67-60 with 1:16 left in the game.

St. John threatened for the last time when Mary Nwachukwu buried a jumper but Kiah Stokes and Bria Hartley made four foul shots to seal the Huskies’ 20th win in 21 outings.

Mosqueda-Lewis also grabbed 10 boards while Faris finished with 17 points for the Huskies (20-1, 7-1 Big East), who won for the second straight time after losing to No. 5 Notre Dame Jan. 5.

Hartley scored 10 points while Stokes and Morgan Tuck added seven points each for Connecticut, which played without starting center Stefanie Dolson because of illness.

Shenneika Smith scored 21 points, Aliyyah Handford contributed a career-best 17 markers and Briana Brown had 16 for the Red Storm, who lost four of their last five games to drop to 10-10 (4-4 Big East).

Without Dolson, who scored 20 points in their last win over Villanova, the Huskies struggled against the Red Storm, who took a 45-39 lead early in the second half.

Connecticut then dropped an 11-2 bomb on the Red Storm capped by Faris’ jumper to grab a 57-53 edge with 5:25 remaining.

However, Smith buried consecutive jumpers to tie the count at 55.

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