Final Stats

Providence, R.I. -

The Villanova Wildcats traveled to Providence, R.I., on Sunday afternoon where they tallied a 64-59 win over the Providence College Friars. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 6-8 overall and 2-2 in Big East Conference play, while the Friars fall to 9-7 on the season and 1-4 in conference action.

Providence guard Yoyo Nogic scored the first four points of the third quarter to break-up a 28-28 halftime tie and give the Friars a 32-28 lead. Villanova sophomore guard Adrianna Hahn then scored seven straight Wildcat points, including a three-ball and two lay-ups. The Hahn breakaway lay-up at the 6:16 mark gave the Wildcats a 35-32 advantage.

Villanova led 36-34 when freshman guard Kelly Jekot drained a three and junior guard Alex Louin scored on a lay-up and the Wildcats held a 41-34 lead. Following a lay-up by Friar guard Ny'Dajah Jackson that sliced the Villanova lead to 41-38, sophomore Jannah Tucker scored the last points of the third quarter when she buried a triple from straight away to give the Wildcats a 44-38 lead after three quarters.

On the first possession of the fourth quarter, Hahn connected on a deep three to increase her team's lead to 47-38. Providence would answer with a three of its own by Clara Che on the next trip down the court and it was back to a six point game at 47-41. Jekot pushed the lead back to eight at 49-41 when she scored on a running lay-up in the lane. On the Friars next possession, Aliyah Miller hit a 12-foot jumper to trim the Wildcat advantage to 49-43.

Following a Louin five-foot jump shot that gave Villanova a 51-43 lead, neither team was able to score for the next 2:06. Hahn would end the scoreless stretch with lay-up at the 5:14 mark. The Hahn bucket gave Villanova its first double digit lead of the second half at 53-43.

Leading 53-45 with 2:09 remaining, Louin was fouled on a drive to the basket. Louin sank both free throws to give Villanova a 55-45 advantage. Following the foul shots, Providence sophomore guard Maddie Jolin made four consecutive free throws on back-to-back possession to cut the Wildcat deficit to 55-49 with 54 seconds on the clock.

The Wildcats would go 9-of-12 from the foul line in the last 50 seconds to seal the win. Louin was 6-of-8 from the stripe, while Hahn was 2-of-2 and Tucker was 1-of-2 in the game's final minute.

Villanova raced to an early 12-4 lead to start the game. The Wildcats got a boost from redshirt freshman Bridget Herlihy who was making her first career start and scored five of Villanova's first 12 points. The Wildcats used the quick start to take a 16-10 lead after the first quarter.

The Wildcats scored the first five points of the second quarter on a three by Louin and a lay-up by senior forward Jordan Dillard to open up its biggest lead of the game at 21-10. Following a three by Hahn at the 7:24 mark of the second quarter that gave the Wildcats a 24-13 lead, Villanova managed just four points the rest of half.

Providence took advantage of Villanova's poor shooting to outscore the Wildcats, 15-4, over the last 7:05 to send the game to intermission tied at 28-28.

In the victory, Hahn recorded her second straight 20-point game with a game-best 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including a 3-of-6 effort from three-point range and a 4-of-4 effort from the foul line. Louin finished with 17 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.

Providence was paced by Jolin with 22 points and Nogic who had 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting.

For the game, Villanova was 21-of-53 from the field (39.6%), 8-of-29 from three-point range (27.6%) and 14-of-19 from the foul line (73.7%), while the Friars shot 44.4 percent from the floor (24-of-54), 33.3 percent from long distance (4-of-12) and 70.0 from the charity stripe (7-of-10). Providence owned a 35-32 advantage on the backboards.

Villanova returns to action on Tuesday, Jan. 10, with a road game at Creighton. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. eastern time.

NOTES: The Wildcats have now won 22 of 27 versus Providence and lead the all-time series by a 44-26 countââ'¬Â¦Villanova is in a stretch of playing four games in seven daysââ'¬Â¦Adrianna Hahn now has five 20-point scoring games to her credit this seasonââ'¬Â¦Adrianna Hahn is 23-of-50 from three-point range (.460) in her last five gamesââ'¬Â¦Alex Louin played all 40 minutes in today's win.