BETHLEHEM, PA. – The Villanova Wildcats traveled to Bethlehem, Pa., on Friday evening where they tallied a 70-48 win over the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 2-0 on the young season, while Lehigh falls to 3-1.
Villanova raced to a 10-0 lead just four minutes into the game on three-point field goals by junior Kelly Jekot and senior forward Jannah Tucker and lay-ups by junior forward Mary Gedaka senior guard Adrianna Hahn. The Wildcats would use the quick start to propel them a 13-5 lead after one quarter of play.
The Wildcats used a 12-3 second quarter run to increase a nine point lead to an 18 point advantage at the 5:02 mark. Jekot highlighted the spurt with a three-ball and a lay-up, while Hahn buried a deep three.
Villanova made six first half three-point field goals en route to a comfortable 32-18 halftime lead. Jekot led all scorers in the first 20 minutes with 14 points.
After Lehigh's Camryn Buhr connected on a three to slice the Villanova lead to 37-22 with 7:20 to play in the third quarter, the Wildcats scored the next nine points to open up a 46-24 advantage at the 2:03 mark. Sophomore guard Raven James had three free throws in the nine point spurt, while Gedaka had a lay-up, Tucker a free throw and Jekot a triple from the left wing.
The Wildcats would take a 51-27 lead into the fourth quarter. In the fourth stanza, Villanova would lead by as many as 28 and Lehigh would not get within 24.
In the win, Jekot had 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including a 5-of-7 effort from three-point range. She also added six rebounds and two assists. Gedaka reached double figures with 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting, while Hahn finished with eight points, a career-high six steals and no turnovers.
Lehigh was paced by Buhr with 13 points and Mary Clougherty who added 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
For the game, Villanova was 27-of-63 from the field (42.9%), 11-of-33 from three-point range (33.3%) and 5-of-11 from the foul line (45.5%), while Lehigh shot 28.6 percent from the floor (16-of-56), 33.3 percent from behind the arc (7-of-21) and 69.2 percent from the charity stripe (9-of-13). The Wildcats owned 41-39 advantage on the backboards.
Villanova returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 20, when the La Salle Explorers visit the Finneran Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
NOTES: Villanova improves to 10-1 all-time versus Lehigh…The Wildcats are now 26-7 all-time versus Patriot League competition…Villanova had 20 assists on 27 field goals…Mary Gedaka is 14-of-19 from the field for a .737 shooting percentage after two games.
