When teammates Kia Wright and Angela Clark run the give and go, it looks like they've done it a hundred times before.

Clark, a junior forward for the St. John's women's basketball team, stands high on the wing with her pipe-cleaner-thin arms holding the ball high in the air. Then a blur, Wright's white headband, flashes into the paint. The junior point guard receives the pass back and effortlessly scoops the ball into the air, off glass and in the basket.

And that isn't even their best play.

"You didn't see it today, but we have a special play," Wright said after the Red Storm's first round victory against California on Sunday. "I can't tell you about it, but it's an automatic score."

But the scores stopped coming for the duo yesterday, as Wright stood in the middle of the paint with her head down after sinking two freethrows. The hard-fought game was out of reach, as St. John's would fall to No. 2 seed

Maryland 81-74, ending the tournament run. The dream is over, but next season is soon to come.

Their connection on the court is rare, almost unexplainable. Both teamed for a state championship in high school, where Wright would throw no-look passes for Clark to subconsciously leap into the air for the ball, grab it and deliver points. At Copiague High School in Long Island, N.Y., they were both stars.

While Clark was a Division I prospect, Wright was a top-20 recruit. She had her pick of schools, including the other No. 2 seed at the Bryce Jordan Center -- Connecticut. In fact, when it came time to sign a national letter of intent, Wright chose the Huskies.

"It was the best school for me," Wright said. "I went on a visit and I watched one of their practices and it was like my style of play, and I thought I could play with them. I knew I could play with anybody."

Talent was the least of Wright's worries. She had averaged 24.4 points per game in high school, but also 9.3 rebounds at a height of 5-foot-7. Wright scored 1,992 points up until her junior year, and only an ACL injury limited her to 2,148 points for her career, second most in the history of Suffolk County.

But three days after graduation, she pushed the ball up court in practices at Connecticut, not thinking about the next pass, but going home. For the most part, Wright missed her parents, little brother and the city she called home.

The allure of being a national champ could not keep her mind from wandering outside of the court, and the dream died quickly. She was trapped. It did not take long for Wright to realize she had to find a way out.

"I tried, I tried to stick it out, but I just wanted to go home," Wright said. "Each day I stayed, it got harder."

If it weren't for one other game of give-and-go, Wright might still be a miserable point guard for a demanding Connecticut women's basketball coach in Geno Auriemma.

The ball was initially in Wright's hands, until she spun a knifing pass straight at Auriemma. He realized his 17-year-old player wasn't well and gave her back the ball, her happiness and permission to go.

Since it was still summer, long before Wright would ever throw on a Huskies uniform, Wright was obligated to fulfill her commitment to the school and was not allowed to speak with other coaches about a transfer. That is where Auriemma stepped in.

"I called Kim, the coach of St. John's, 'I have a homesick kid, why don't you take her in,' " Auriemma said. "And the rest is history I guess."

At the time, St. John's women's basketball coach Kim Barnes Arico had just completed her first year of a rebuilding job. The Red Storm was coming off an 8-19 season in 2003-04, 14th place in the Big East.

Barnes Arico had already recruited one piece of the puzzle in Clark. On the other hand, Barnes Arico tried to recruit Clark's teammate, but by the time she had the job, Wright had already been through most of the recruitment process with her list trimmed to a couple schools.

Then one day, out of the blue, Clark starting asking Barnes Arico if Wright was a possibility. Clark had received calls from Wright saying she wanted to come to St. John's and reunite the tandem. They were ready to "do damage" again, slang for winning basketball games.

That possibility wasn't something Barnes Arico thought was likely when she first heard it.

"I said, 'Ang, come on, Kia's at Connecticut,' " Barnes Arico said. "At that time, the Connecticut program was such that they were national champs, best coach in the country. Why would she want to come here?"

Shortly thereafter, Barnes Arico's secretary said, "Some guy named Geno called." Up to that point, Barnes Arico had very little interaction with Auriemma, just a few quick conversations.

"Geno called me and said, 'Kia, she wants to come home and you should give her a shot,' " Barnes Arico said.

There were some concerns, like, why would a conference rival want to hand over a prized recruit to a person he barely knew? But after talking to Auriemma about every possibility of Wright being damaged goods, Barnes Arico realized that the "wise-guy exterior" Auriemma exudes was just a mask for a caring individual.

"I've gotten to know him a lot more since that point, but that was really nice for him to do," Barnes Arico said. "He cared more about the kid as an individual then he did as a player and his program. He was looking out for Kia."

Wright sat out her freshman season, but at least got to see Clark, her teammate once again, average 12.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game in her first year of collegiate basketball.

As she sat on the bench, the Red Storm made a Big East Tournament appearance. The next year, with Wright in the lineup, St. John's improved to 20-11 and a victory in the first round of the WNIT.

This year, St. John's took another step in the right direction with a 21-7 record and a NCAA Tournament win against Cal on Sunday, 78-68. Before that game, each player on the Red Storm roster picked a number corresponding to a player and talked about the teammate.

Wright got Clark's No. 3, and instantly the memories from high school came rushing to her head.

"I expressed how it felt in high school to play with her and winning a state championship," Wright said. "I said, 'Lets not stop there. We got to keep going. We can't stop.' "

Those images come back when Wright and Clark are on the court together. The connection they have is unexplainable, but it may have never restarted if it weren't for Auriemma.

Wright also remembered that day in the Connecticut coach's office. Auriemma gave her the opportunity of a lifetime. A chance to leave.

"That is something I will never forget," Wright said. "That is what type of person he is, and I really appreciate it, what he did."

Because of that, the two high school teammates from Long Island are living their dream with every pick and roll, give-and-go, and every moment their season remained alive.

"Me and Kia always talk about a dream, you know, winning a NCAA Tournament, if not to win a championship just to make it to the NCAAs," Clark said. "That was our dream, and we are living our dream."