Dec. 4, 2002
VILLANOVA, PA. - On Wednesday night, Dec. 4, at the historic Palestra in Philadelphia, the Villanova women's basketball team rallied from seven-point second half deficit to defeat the University of Pennsylvania, 65-54, to remain perfect on the season at 5-0. The Wildcats, now 2-0 in Big Five play this season, were led in the game by senior forward Katie Davis who netted a game-high 26 points. The Quakers fall to 1-2 overall and 0-2 in Big Five play with the loss.
Villanova started the game strong opening up a 15-8 lead with 9:33 to go in the half. Penn would rally to tie the game at 19-19 with 4:21 remaining in the first half, and took a 27-25 advantage into intermission.
In the second half, neither team led by more than three points for the first 10 minutes of the half. With the Quakers leading 42-39 with 10:13 remaining, Penn went on a 6-2 run to taking its largest lead of the contest, 48-41, with seven minutes to go in the game.
Villanova began to rally at the seven-minute mark, hitting three straight three-pointers. Senior forward Nicole Druckenmiller hit the first three and was followed by freshman guard Betsy McManus who brought the `Cats within one point. A three by Davis with 5:22 left gave Villanova a 50-48 lead.
With the scored tied at 52-52 with 4:08 to go, junior guard Courtney Mix made a layup to give the Wildcats a 54-52 lead. After a defensive stop, senior guard Trish Juhline hit a three from the corner to extend Villanova's lead to 57-52. Following the Wildcats' second straight stop on the defensive end, Davis hit a jumper to give Villanova a 59-52 advantage.
Down the stretch, Davis hit six straight free throws to seal the victory for the Wildcats, 65-54.
Davis shot seven-for-15 from the field for the game, six-of-13 from three-point range and six-of-six from the foul line to finish with 26 points. Mix had a tremendous all-around game for the `Cats posting 12 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Winding down the scoring for Villanova were Juhline with nine points to go along with eight rebounds, Druckenmiller with six points, freshman Jenna Viani with five points, McManus with three points, and sophomore Jennifer Hilgenberg and freshman Kate Dessart-Mager with two points each.
For Penn in the loss, Katie Kilker had a team-high 18 points while Jewel Clark added 14 points and 13 boards.
The Wildcats shot 21-of-65 (32.0 percent) from the field for the game, 11-of-31 (35.0 percent) from three-point range and 12-of-13 from the foul line (92.0 percent).
The Villanova defense held an opponent under the 60-point mark for the fifth time in five games this season. The Quakers shot only 33 percent (19-of-57) from the floor for the contest.
The Wildcats will get back into action on Saturday, Dec. 7, hosting La Salle at 7:30 p.m.
