VILLANOVA, PA. – In women's basketball action on Sunday afternoon, the Villanova Wildcats improved to 7-2 overall and 3-0 in Philadelphia Big 5 play with a 76-68 win over the Temple Owls. With the loss, Temple falls to 3-6 overall and 1-1 in City Series action.
Villanova led 33-23 with 5:01 remaining in the second quarter, when Temple went on an 11-0 run to take a 34-33 halftime advantage. Owl sophomore forward Mia Davis was dominant in the run scoring nine of the 11 points.
Despite shooting 52.0 percent in the first half, Villanova trailed by one at the break due to 12 first half turnovers.
With the score tied at 46-46 with 2:44 left in the third quarter, the Wildcats went on a 9-2 run to take a 55-48 advantage after three. The nine Villanova points included four points by senior guard Adrianna Hahn, a three-point field goal by redshirt freshman Emily Esposito and a driving lay-up by junior forward Mary Gedaka.
The Wildcats put the game away during a three minute stretch in the fourth quarter when they used an 8-1 spurt to take a 70-58 lead at the 2:35 mark. Gedaka was sensational
during the stretch with two lay-ups and a short jumper.
In the win, Gedaka led Villanova by recording a double-double with 22 points and 13 rebounds. The 22 points came on 7-of-7 shooting from the field, a 1-of-1 effort from three-point range and a 7-of-9 performance from the foul line. Senior forward Jannah Tucker had 12 points on four three-point field goals and junior guard Kelly Jekot finished with 11 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Temple was paced by Davis and Alliya Butts who had 22 points each. Marissa Mackins also reached double figures with 12 points.
For the game, Villanova shot 53.1 percent from the field (26-of-49), 43.3 percent from three-point range (13-of-30) and 64.7 percent from the foul line (11-of-17), while the Owls were 26-of-62 from the floor (41.9%), 2-of-13 from behind the arc (15.4%) and 14-of-19 from the charity stripe (73.7%). The Wildcats owned a 35-30 advantage on the backboards.
Villanova returns to action on Friday, Dec. 14, when the Georgia Bulldogs visit the Finneran Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
NOTES: The Wildcats are now 3-0 in Philadelphia Big Five play and improve to 118-39 (.751) all-time in Big Five play…Villanova has won 27 of its last 32 Big Five games…The Wildcats improve to 4-0 at home this season…Villanova has now made a three-point field goal in 470 consecutive games…Villanova leads the all-time series over Temple by a 31-14 count…Mary Gedaka was 7-of-7 from the field today. It was her second career game of having a perfect shooting game. She was also a 6-of-6 from the floor versus Lehigh last season.
