Dec. 21, 2002

Box Score

VILLANOVA, PA. - On Saturday, Dec. 21, at The Pavilion, the Villanova women's basketball team defeated the Temple Owls, 66-54, to win the Big Five title for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign. The Wildcats finish City Series play with a perfect 4-0 record, after defeating Saint Joseph's, Penn and La Salle earlier this season. The win by the `Cats on Saturday improves their overall record to 7-1 on the year. Temple falls to 4-5 on the season with the loss.

Villanova found itself down early trailing 10-6 with just over 13 minutes remaining in the first half. The Wildcats rallied to take their first lead, 11-10, at the 11:13 mark on a short jumper by freshman guard Betsy McManus. From there, Villanova went on a 14-2 run in the next 5:15 to take a 25-14 advantage. Senior forward Katie Davis scored six of the team's 14 points during the run. The Wildcats would go into the half holding a 36-22 lead.

Senior guard Trish Juhline had nine points for the `Cats in the first half, while Davis added eight points. Owl forward Ari Moore led Temple with seven points in the first half.

Villanova remained in control to start the second half and opened up its biggest lead of the contest, 46-26, at the 15:36 mark.

With the Wildcats leading 62-41 with 6:36 left in the game, Temple went on an 8-0 to trim the Villanova lead to 62-49 with 2:50 remaining. The Owls would get to within 12 points, but that was as close as they came as the Wildcats cruised to the 66-54 victory.

Juhline and Davis led the way for Villanova with 18 points apiece. Davis has been extraordinary in Big Five play this season. In four games, she averaged 21.2 points per game, and shot 28-of-48 from the field, 16-of-33 from three-point range, and 14-of-15 from the foul line.

Junior guard Courtney Mix also scored in double figures for the `Cats, posting 12 points in addition to three rebounds, six assists, two steals and one block. Winding down the scoring for Villanova was freshman Kate Dessart Mager with six points, senior forward Nicole Druckenmiller and McManus with three points apiece, and sophomore center Jeanine Johnson, sophomore guard Jennifer Hilgenberg and freshman guard Jenna Viani with two points each.

For Temple in the loss, guard Khadija Bowns scored a team-high 12 points, while Moore added 11 points.

Villanova shot 45.8 percent (22-of-48) from the field for the game, two-for-10 from three-point range (20.0 percent) and 20-of-26 (76.9 percent) from the foul line. The Wildcat defense held the Owls to 39.8 percent shooting (23-of-58) for the game, and forced them into 17 turnovers.

Villanova will get back into action on Sunday, Dec. 29, playing Brown in the first round of the Wildcat Classic at 4:00 p.m., at The Pavilion.