VILLANOVA, PA. – The Villanova Wildcats improved to 3-0 on the season with an 81-68 home win over the La Salle Explorers. With the victory, Villanova is 1-0 in Philadelphia Big 5 play, while La Salle falls to 0-5 overall and 0-1 in City Series action.
 
After La Salle's Jeryn Reese scored on a short jump shot to start the third quarter and pull the Explorers within three at 40-37, Villanova ran off six straight points to grab a 46-37 advantage. The six points included a lay-up by senior forward Bridget Herlihy, and two short jumpers by junior forward Mary Gedaka.
 
A Shayla Sweeney lay-up cut the Villanova lead to 58-52, before Wildcat senior Grace Stant answered on the next possession with a three from the wing to increase her team's lead to 61-52 with 50 seconds remaining in the third. Following a Reese lay-up, Stant scored again for the Wildcats on an offensive rebound tap in which gave Villanova a 63-54 lead heading into the final quarter.
 
Villanova controlled the majority of the fourth quarter to earn the win. La Salle's Shalina Miller converted a conventional play to make it a 65-58 game, before Wildcat junior guard Kelly Jekot drained a triple form the corner to increase the lead to 68-58 with 7:43 to play.
 
Miller scored again on La Salle's next trip down the court to draw the Explorers within eight at 68-60. After neither team was able to score on its next possession, senior forward Jannah Tucker connect on a three and Villanova led 71-60 with 6:29 remaining. La Salle would make it a single digit lead for the last time at 71-62 when Michelle Nicholls converted a lay-up on post move in the paint. Tucker answered on Villanova's next possession when she drained another three-ball to give the Wildcats a 74-62 lead at the 4:45 mark.
 
In the win, Jekot led three Wildcats in double figures with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and a 3-of-5 effort from three-point range. Gedaka tallied 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting, while senior guard Adrianna Hahn added 15 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals. Tucker and Stant finished with nine points each. Bridget Herlihy led the Wildcats on the boards with a game-high tying eight rebounds.
 
Miller paced La Salle with 15 points, while Reese finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
 
For the game, the Wildcats were 30-of-66 from the field (45.5%), 12-of-35 from three (34.3%) and 9-of-15 from the foul line (60.0%), while the Explorers shot 39.4 percent from the floor (26-of-66), 22.2 percent from behind the arc (4-of-18) and 85.7 percent from the charity stripe (12-of-14). La Salle owned a 47-32 advantage on the backboards. Villanova was credited with nine turnovers.
 
Villanova returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 24, when the Wildcats take on Virginia Tech in the first round of the UCF Thanksgiving Classic in Orlando, Fla. Tip-off is set for noon.
  
NOTES: Villanova has defeated La Salle 10 straight times and leads the all-time series by a 39-9 margin…The Wildcats improve to 116-39 all-time in Big 5 play…Villanova is 25-5 in its last 30 Big 5 contests…Kelly Jekot has scored 43 points in the last two games…Adrianna Hahn has dished out 12 assists in the last two games…Raven James had a career-high five assists in tonight's victory.