Final Stats

SOUTH BEND, IND. - The No. 9 seed Villanova Wildcats tallied a thrilling 81-74 overtime win over the No. 8 seed South Dakota State Jackrabbits in the first round of the NCAA Tournament played in South Bend, Ind., on Friday night. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 23-8 on the season, while the Jackrabbits end their year at 26-7.

Villanova will now advance to the second round and will play No. 1 seed Notre Dame on Sunday, March 18. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

Two free throws by junior guard Adrianna Hahn gave Villanova a 68-65 lead with 7.1 seconds left in regulation. On the ensuing possession, South Dakota State pushed the ball up the court and tied the game at 68-68 when Madison Guebert banked in a three as time expired and sent the game to overtime.

After each team traded lay-ups in overtime, the Wildcats took the lead for good when junior forward Jannah Tucker drained a three from straight away with 3:04 on the clock. Following a defensive stop, Tucker buried a triple from the corner to increase the Villanova advantage to 76-70 at the 2:22 mark. The Wildcats put the game away with 55 seconds to play when Hahn made good on her sixth triple of the contest to give Villanova a 79-70 lead.

Villanova started the game fast and raced to an early 14-4 lead. The 14 points included three triples by Hahn to go with a three and two free throws by Tucker. The Wildcats made 6-of-11 from three-point range in the opening quarter en route to a 26-11 advantage after one.

Following a lay-up by South Dakota State's Ellie Thompson with 8:04 to play in the second quarter, neither team was able to score for the next 3:27. The Jackrabbits put an end to the scoreless streak when Rylie Cascio Jensen scored on a lay-up to make it a 29-20 game.

Villanova ended its scoreless stretch at 6:03 when senior center Megan Quinn connected on a corner three. The Quinn trifecta put the Wildcats up 32-21 with 3:17 left in quarter number two. After a Tucker three gave Villanova a 38-25 advantage with 13 seconds on the clock, the Jackrabbits closed out the first half scoring when Macy Miller beat the buzzer with a running lay-up and Villanova led 38-27 at intermission.

South Dakota State started the third quarter on an 8-3 spurt to slice the Villanova lead to 41-35. The Wildcats responded with a 9-3 run of their own to take back momentum and lead 50-38 late in the third stanza. Sophomore forward Mary Gedaka led the Villanova charge with five points on a lay-up and a short jumper in the lane. A driving bank shot with two seconds on the clock by Hahn sent Villanova to the fourth quarter with a 52-42 lead.

Two free throws by Miller pulled the Jackrabbits within one at 56-55 with three minutes remaining in regulation. With her team clinging to one point lead, Hahn buried a three from the right wing to give the 'Cats a 59-55 advantage.

The Wildcats led 62-58 with 33 seconds to go and despite going 6-of-8 from the foul line it wasn't enough to seal the win as Guebert's desperation three sent the game to an extra period.

In the victory, Hahn led the Wildcats with a season-high 24 points which included a 6-of-12 effort from behind the arc. She also did not commit a turnover in 42 minutes of action. Tucker scored a season-best 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting from three. The six triples represent a career-high. Gedaka came off the bench to score 15 points on a 7-of-11 shooting effort. Louin missed a triple double by two assists with 10 points, a game-high 14 rebounds and eight assists.

South Dakota State was paced by Miller with 25 points and eight rebounds, while Guebert had 21 points. Thompson chipped in with 16 points and seven boards.

For the game, Villanova was 25-of-61 from the field (41.0%), 16-of-38 from three-point range (42.1%) and 15-of-25 from the foul line (60.0%), while the Jackrabbits shot 47.4 percent from the floor (27-of-57), 18.8 percent from behind the arc (3-of-16) and 77.3 percent from the charity stripe (17-of-22). The Wildcats owned a 41-34 advantage on the backboards. Villanova was charged with nine turnovers.

NOTES: The Wildcats improve to 2-2 all-time as the nine seed in the NCAA Tournamentââ'¬Â¦After tonight's win, Villanova is 8-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournamentââ'¬Â¦Villanova improves to 2-0 all-time versus South Dakota Stateââ'¬Â¦Tonight was Alex Louin's sixth double-double of the seasonââ'¬Â¦Mary Gedaka has reached double figures in 14 of the last 16 games...Jannah Tucker is 40-of-85 from three for 47.0 percent in her last 14 gamesââ'¬Â¦Villanova never trailed in tonight's winââ'¬Â¦.The Wildcats improve to 3-0 all-time versus Summit League competition.