Box Score Feb. 23, 2018 Final Stats
VILLANOVA, PA. ââ'¬" The Villanova Wildcats improved to 21-7 overall and 11-6 in Big East Conference play with a convincing 70-43 home win over the Providence College Friars. With the loss, Providence falls to 10-19 on the year and 3-14 in league action.
Villanova trailed 10-6 midway through the first quarter when the Wildcats went on a 19-3 run to take a 25-13 lead after one period of action. The Wildcats made five threes in the spurt, including three by junior forward Jannah Tucker and one each by sophomore guard Kelly Jekot and senior guard Alex Louin. Tucker's last three came on the final play of the quarter when she connected on a shot from three quarter court.
The Wildcats continued their dominant play to start the second quarter, as they scored the first seven points to open up a 32-13 lead. The seven Villanova points included a lay-up by sophomore forward Mary Gedaka, a three-ball by sophomore forward Bridget Herlihy and a lay-up by redshirt freshman guard Cameron Onken.
Providence ended a scoreless streak that lasted 6:04 when Chanell Williams tallied a conventional three-point play to cut the Villanova lead to 32-16 with 6:46 remaining in the second quarter. Villanova then scored five straight points on a Gedaka lay-up, two Jekot free throws and a foul shot by redshirt freshman Raven James to take a 38-16 advantage.
Villanova led 38-19 with 3:47 left in the opening half and scored the last five points of the quarter to take a 43-19 lead into halftime. The five points included a three by Herlihy and two foul shots by Louin.
The story of the first half was Villanova's long distance shooting, as the 'Cats went 10-of-26 from behind the arc in the game's first 20 minutes.
Villanova scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter to take a commanding 64-35 lead. Gedaka led the way with four of the nine points on two driving lay-ups, while Jekot drained a triple and Louin went two-of-two from the free throw line.
Jekot led four Wildcats in double figures in the win with 15 points, while Gedaka and Louin had 12 points each. Tucker chipped in with 12 points on four three-point field goals. Senior center
Megan Quinn and Herlihy grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
Providence was paced by Andrea Cooper and Williams who had nine points apiece. Cooper also registered a game-high 10 rebounds.
For the game, Villanova was 23-of-60 from the field (38.3%), 13-of-38 from three-point range (34.2%) and 11-of-15 from the foul line (73.3%), while the Friars were 17-of-53 from the floor (32.1%), 2-of-7 from long distance (28.6%) and 7-of-11 from the charity stripe (63.6%). The Wildcats owned a 45-30 advantage on the backboards.
Villanova returns to action on Sunday, Feb. 25, when the Wildcats play host to the Creighton Bluejays on Senior Day in the regular season finale. Tip-off at the Jake Nevin Field House is set for 2 p.m.
NOTES: Villanova now leads the all-time series over Providence by a 47-26 count and have won 25 of the last 30 meetingsââ'¬Â¦The Wildcats improve to 8-3 at home this seasonââ'¬Â¦Mary Gedaka has tallied double figures in points in 11 of the last 13 gamesââ'¬Â¦Alex Louin moved into 8th place on Villanova's all-time scoring list with 1,391 career pointsââ'¬Â¦Villanova had an assist on 17 of its 23 made field goalsââ'¬Â¦The Wildcats had eight turnovers and now have 13 single digit turnover games this year.
