Leilani Anais Correa (born May 5, 2001) is an American basketball player who is a free agent. She was drafted by the

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Fever compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was founded for ...

in the

2024 WNBA draft The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s draft for the 2024 WNBA season, 2024 season, following the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season, was held on April 15, 2024, the WNBA draft, 29th draft in WNBA history. The draf ...

. She played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

St. John's Red Storm The St. John's Red Storm is the nickname used for the 17 varsity athletic programs of St. John's University, in the U.S. state of New York. St. John's 17 NCAA Division I teams compete in the Big East Conference, with the exception of the fencin ...

and the

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni an ...

Early life

Correa was born in

Lakehurst, New Jersey Lakehurst is a borough in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 2,636, a decrease of 18 (−0.7%) from the 2010 census count of 2,654, which in turn reflected an increa ...

, United States. She is of Puerto Rican descent and has family on the island. She has three younger brothers. She attended and played basketball for her senior year at

Manchester Township High School Manchester Township High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades in Manchester Township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, as the lone secondary school of the ...

Manchester Township, New Jersey Manchester Township is a township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is noted for containing the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, the site of the infamous Hindenburg disaster of May 6, 1937. As of the 2020 United State ...

, after transferring from

Rutgers Preparatory School Rutgers Preparatory School (also known as Rutgers Prep or RPS) is a private, coeducational, college preparatory day school established in 1766. The school educates students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, located on a campus along t ...

College career

Correa played three seasons at St. John's University and two seasons at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

. In her freshman season at St. John's, she averaged 12.8 points per game (

ppg PPG may stand for: Science and technology * Pacific Proving Grounds, a former US-operated nuclear test site * Photoplethysmograph, an optically obtained volumetric measurement of an organ * Pterygopalatine ganglion, one of the four Parasympathet ...

), which placed her second among rookies in the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

. She averaged 5.1

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

and 1.3 steals per game, and scored a season-high 33 points in the game against

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, tying the program's rookie record. By the end of the season, she was given the Big East Sixth-Woman Award and named unanimously to the Big East All-Freshman Team and All-Tournament Team, as well as the All-Met Third Team Selection. In the 2020–21 season, she set a program record of three consecutive 30-point performances, setting a new career-high of 387 points over 22 games. She was the 11th-highest single-season scoring average in the school history with 17.6 points per game. Correa became the only player in program history to record 30 or more points eight times, and the first to do so since the Big East realigned. She averaged 5.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game over the season. In her final year at St. John's, her junior season, she led the team with a 17.3 ppg average, along with 5.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. She was named to the All-Big East First team selection. After transferring to the University of Florida for her senior season in 2022–23, she started in 6 games and played in 27 total. She had a 32.55% rate of scoring from threes (37-in-144) and tallied up 98 rebounds that season. She recorded 41 steals and 8 blocks, and finished the season with 318 points at an average of 11.8 per game. In her final season, Correa led the

Southeast Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members include the flagship public universities of 12 states, 3 ...

(SEC) in scoring with an average of 21.4 points per game in conference play and 16.9 points overall. She was named the SEC Sixth Woman of the Year and second-team All-SEC. She holds the record for highest amount of career points in Florida basketball's history, across both men's and women's programs, with 2,132 combined points.

Professional career

Correa was selected in the third round, 27th overall, by the

in the

. She was the 20th Florida player to be drafted into the WNBA and the third to be selected by the Fever. Fever head coach Christie Sides had been watching Correa since early on in her fifth college season, and described her as, "She's long, she's athletic." On May 10, 2024, Correa was released by the Fever.

References

External links

WNBA profile

Leilani Correa – ESPN
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Correa, Leilani Living people 2001 births Basketball players from Ocean County, New Jersey People from Lakehurst, New Jersey Puerto Rican women's basketball players Florida Gators women's basketball players Guards (basketball) Indiana Fever draft picks Rutgers Preparatory School alumni 21st-century American sportswomen