November 15, 1998

Philadelphia, Pa.-- The Villanova women's basketball opened up the 1998-99 in fine fashion on Saturday night with a 64-54 win over the University of Pennsylvania Quakers. The win marked the 23 straight time that the Wildcats have beaten the Quakers.

After playing to a 26-26 tie in the first half, the two teams played even for the first five minutes of the second stanza. With the scored 34-34 at the 14:44 mark, Villanova used a 9-2 run to take a 43-36. The spurt was paced by junior Jenea Skeeters who nailed a three-pointer and scored on a driving lay-up.

The Wildcats would control the game the rest of the way. Penn managed to cut the deficit to 50-45 at the 5:55 mark, before the Wildcats scored nine of the game's next 12 points to lead 59-48 with 1:16 remaining in regulation.

Villanova played superb defense all night long, holding the Quakers to just 38 percent from the field. The Wildcats played particular attention to Quaker guard Mandy West who is an outstanding long range shooter. West did manage to lead Penn in scoring with 16 points, however she was just 3-of-12 from the field and 0-for-7 from three-point range.

Leading the way for Villanova was senior point guard Shanette Lee who had 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting and sophomore guard Lauren Pellicane who netted 12 points. Skeeters finished the game with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Sophomore center Brandi Barnes led the Cats on the boards with eight rebounds.

Diana Caramanico tallied a double-double for Villanova with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

The Wildcats return to action on Friday, Nov. 20 when they host Maryland Eastern Shore in the first round of the PNC Wildcat Classic at 8 p.m. The other first round game of the classic features Pepperdine and James Madison.