Final Stats

BURLINGTON, VT. - The Villanova Wildcats tallied a 65-60 win over the American University Eagles in the championship game of the TD Bank Vermont Thanksgiving Tournament. With the victory, Villanova improves to 5-0 on the season, while American falls to 3-3 overall.

For their efforts in the two-game tournament, sophomore guard Kelly Jekot was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, while junior guard Adrianna Hahn earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team.

Villanova took control of the game early, as the Wildcats raced to a 13-2 lead. Three different Wildcats, including Megan Quinn, Bridget Herlihy and Hahn connected on three-point field goals to account for nine of the 13 points. The Wildcats would make 5-of-10 from behind the arc to lead, 20-6, after the first quarter. American was just 3-of-13 from the field and 0-for-6 from three-point land in the opening stanza.

Led by the play of Jekot, Villanova controlled the second quarter. After the Eagles scored the first basket to make it a 20-8 game, the Wildcats used an 8-3 spurt to grab a 28-11 lead at the 4:52 mark.

Villanova owned a 37-18 lead when the Eagles ran off six straight points to slice the deficit to 37-24 with 35 seconds remaining. Quinn sent the Wildcats to intermission with a 39-24 lead when she scored on a running hook shot on the final play of the half. Jekot finished the quarter scoring 10 of Villanova's 19 points.

The Wildcats used an 11-3 third quarter run to open up a 53-32 lead with 3:01 on the clock. Quinn was dominant in the run with two lay-ups and a three ball. Jekot and Herlihy also added lay-ups during the spurt. The run would propel Villanova to a 55-34 lead after three.

Villanova looked to be in complete control of the game with a 60-36 advantage at the 7:26 mark of the fourth quarter, before the Eagles made a furious comeback. American used a 20-2 run to cut the Wildcat lead to 62-56 with 55 seconds to play. After Hahn made one-of-two from the line to make it a 63-56 game, American's Emily Kinneston scored on a lay-up and it was back to a five point game at 63-58. Following Louin splitting a pair at the line to increase her team's lead to 64-58 with 45 seconds to go, Kinneston answered with another lay-up to make it a 64-60 contest with 26 seconds remaining. Villanova then inbounded the ball to Jekot who made one of two from the charity stripe. The Jekot foul shot with 25 seconds on the clock gave Villanova a 65-60 lead.

American forward Kaitlyn Lewis misfired on a three with nine seconds remaining and Villanova was able to dribble out the clock and escape with the victory.

In the win, Hahn led four players in double figures with 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting from three-point range. Jekot finished with 14 points and five rebounds, while Quinn had 12 points and seven caroms. Gedaka added 10 points off the bench for Villanova. Louin had eight points, seven rebounds, five assists and two blocks.

American was paced by Cecily Carl with 11 points and 14 rebounds and Kinneston who had 10 points and eight rebounds.

For the game, Villanova was 20-of-60 from the field (33.3%), 10-of-32 from three-point range (31.3%) and 15-of-23 from the foul line (65.2%), while American shot 35.4 percent from the floor (23-of-65), 26.9 percent from long distance (7-of-26) and 87.5 percent from the free throw stripe (7-of-8). The Eagles owned a slight 43-42 advantage on the backboards. The Wildcats were charged with nine turnovers.

Villanova returns to action on Wednesday, Nov. 29, when the Wildcats travel to Princeton. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.

NOTES: Villanova has now won 10 of the last 17 in season tournaments the Wildcats have participated inââ'¬Â¦The Wildcats improve to 90-42 all-time when playing in in-season tournamentsââ'¬Â¦Villanova improves to 3-0 all-time versus Americanââ'¬Â¦The Wildcats are 5-0 for the first time since 2013-14ââ'¬Â¦Kelly Jekot has scored double figures in four of the five games this yearââ'¬Â¦Alex Louin went over the 1,100 career point mark and now has 1,101 points to her creditââ'¬Â¦Villanova has committed 23 combined turnovers in the last three games.