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VILLANOVA, PA. - In women's basketball action on Tuesday evening, the Villanova Wildcats used a strong defensive effort to defeat the Saint Joseph's Hawks by a score of 55-49. With the win, the Wildcats improve to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in Philadelphia Big Five play, while the Hawks fall to 0-3 on the season and 0-1 in City Series action.

With a driving lay-up at the 4:46 mark of the third quarter, senior guard Caroline Coyer became the 25th player in program history to score 1,000 career points.

A Coyer lay-up early in the fourth quarter gave Villanova its largest lead of the game at 48-38. With the Wildcats poised to break the game open, Hawk senior guard Ciara Andrews scored four straight points to pull her team within six at 48-42 with 7:31 on the clock.

Alex Louin and Adrianna Hahn would both make one-of-two from the foul line on consecutive possessions and Villanova held a 50-42 advantage. The Wildcats had two chances to push their lead to double figures, but Samantha Wilkes misfired on a three-ball and Louin could not connect on a running lay-up.

Saint Joseph's made it a five point game when senior forward Sarah Fairbanks converted a conventional three-point play. The Hawks got a defensive stop and sliced the Wildcat lead to 50-47 with 4:11 remaining on an Andrews lay-up.

On Villanova's next possession, Louin scored on a lay-up off a pretty feed from Coyer and the Wildcats led 52-47 at the 3:55 mark. Following the Louin bucket, neither team was able to score for the next 3:15. Villanova broke the scoreless drought when Coyer made a driving lay-up as the shot clock expired with just 40 seconds to play.

After Fairbanks made two free throws with 21 seconds remaining to make it a 54-49 game, Louin made one of two from the charity stripe to finish the game's scoring.

The first quarter went back and forth before the Hawks entered play in the second stanza with a 12-11 lead. Villanova started the second quarter on an 8-2 run to grab a 19-14 advantage. Sophomore center Megan Quinn hit back-to-back three-point field goals to lead the Wildcat spurt.

A 15-foot jumper by Hawk rookie guard Alyssa Monaghan with 4:22 remaining in the first half cut the Villanova lead to 21-20. The Wildcats would then score seven of the last nine points of the quarter and head to intermission with a 28-22 lead. Wilkes highlighted the run for Villanova with two three-point field goals.

In the win, Coyer led the way with 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals. Quinn also reached double figures with 10 points to go with six rebounds. Louin added nine points, while Hahn and Wilkes chipped in with eight.

Saint Joseph's was paced by Andrews with a game-high 18 points. Fairbanks had nine points and a game-best 11 rebounds.

For the game, Villanova was 23-of-56 from the field (41.1%), 5-of-21 from long distance (23.8%) and 4-of-9 from the foul line (44.4%), while the Hawks shot 37.9 percent from the floor (22-of-58), were 0-for-10 from three and a perfect 5-of-5 from the foul line. Saint Joseph's owned a 41-31 advantage on the backboards. The Wildcats were charged with just seven turnovers.

Villanova returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 28, when the Wildcats play the Drexel Dragons in the first round of the Lehigh Thanksgiving Tournament. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. The other first round match-up will feature Montana against host Lehigh.

NOTES: Villanova now has 107 all-time Big Five wins which are the most victories by any Big Five women's program (Saint Joseph's is second with 105)ââ'¬Â¦The team's all-time Big Five mark is now 107-36ââ'¬Â¦Caroline Coyer has just one turnover in 115 minutes of action this seasonââ'¬Â¦Freshman guard Adrianna Hahn is 11-of-17 from the field (.647) in the first three games of the seasonââ'¬Â¦The 'Cats had an assist on 15 of their 23 made field goalsââ'¬Â¦Villanova will not play at home again until Jan. 3.