Feb. 9, 2018
VILLANOVA, PA. - In women's basketball action on Friday afternoon, the Villanova Wildcats used hot fourth quarter shooting to propel them to a 69-52 win over the St. John's Red Storm. With the victory, Villanova improves to 19-5 overall and 9-4 in Big East play, while St. John's falls to 14-11 overall and 7-7 in league action.
Trailing 41-40 after three quarters of play, the Wildcats started the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 48-41 lead at the 7:51 mark. Senior guard Alex Louin led the charge with two three-point field goals. Sophomore guard Kelly Jekot added a 15-foot jumper.
Red Storm guard Andrayah Adams ended her team's scoreless stretch and made it a 48-43 game on 15-foot jumper. Following the Adams basket, Villanova outscored St. John's by an 8-2 margin over the next 1:47 to take a 56-45 advantage with 5:35 to play. The eight Villanova points included a conventional three-point play by Jekot, a three-ball by junior forward Jannah Tucker and a lay-up by sophomore forward Mary Gedaka.
St. John's cut the deficit to single digits on the game's next possession when Alisha Wellere drained a three from the right wing. The Wellere triple made it a 56-48 game with 5:08 on the clock. After each team failed to score on their next possession, the Wildcats pushed the lead back to 11 at 59-48 on a three by Louin.
Following the Louin trifecta, Villanova scored 10 of the final 12 points of the game to earn the win. The Wildcats were 11-of-14 from the field in the fourth quarter for 78.6 percent, including a 6-of-9 effort from three-point range (66.7%).
The Red Storm started the game fast and raced to an early 10-0 lead. St. John's made four of its first six shots, Including two baskets from behind the arc. Louin broke the ice for Villanova and scored her team's first points of the game with a three 4:44 into the game.
St. John's built a 14-3 lead, before the Wildcats used a 7-2 run to end the quarter. The Villanova spurt pulled Villanova within six at 16-10 after one.
The story of the second quarter was the play of Gedaka who scored 12 of Villanova's 20 second quarter points. She was 4-of-5 from the field in the second stanza. Gedaka's play helped the Wildcats to a 30-27 halftime lead.
In the win, Gedaka led all scorers with 21 points to go with five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Gedaka was 8-of-10 from the floor. Louin tallied her third double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Tucker added 13 points.
St. John's was paced Alisha Kebbe with 15 points and Tiana England who had 12 points. Maya Singleton registered a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 18 rebounds.
For the game, Villanova was 25-of-55 from the field (45.5%), 11-of-26 from three-point range (42.3%) and 8-of-10 from the foul line (80.0%), while St. John's shot 40.0 percent from the floor (22-of-55), 26.3 percent from behind the arc (5-of-19) and 42.9 percent from the foul line (3-of-7). The Red Storm owned a 35-31 advantage on the backboards. Villanova was charged with just five turnovers.
Villanova returns to action on Sunday, Feb. 11, when the Seton Hall Pirates visit the Jake Nevin Field House. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. The game can be seen live on FS2.
NOTES: Villanova now leads the all-time series with St. John's by a 38-27 countââ'¬Â¦ The Wildcats have won six of the last nine against the Red Stormââ'¬Â¦Mary Gedaka has scored in double figures in eight of the last nine games and is averaging 14.4 points per game in the last nine contestsââ'¬Â¦Alex Louin moved past Kathie Beisel and into 11th place on Villanova's all-time scoring list with 1,333 pointsââ'¬Â¦Villanova was charged with just five turnovers today. This is the team's 12th single digit turnover game of the seasonââ'¬Â¦The Wildcats have now won four in a row and five of the last sixââ'¬Â¦Adrianna Hahn moved past Kathy Straccia and Jenn Beisel and into 23rd on Villanova's all-time scoring list with 1,055 pointsââ'¬Â¦Villanova outscored the St. John's bench by a 24-2 margin.
