VILLANOVA, PA. – The Villanova Wildcats gave a valiant effort, but came up short in a 66-59 overtime loss to the DePaul Blue Demons. With the setback, the Wildcats fall to 10-6 overall and 2-4 in Big East play, while DePaul improves to 12-5 overall and 3-2 in conference action.
 
After a lay-up by Wildcat redshirt freshman Emily Esposito gave Villanova a 53-47 lead with 5:07 to play in the fourth quarter, the Blue Demons scored the game's next five points to make it a 53-52 game at the 2:49 mark. Chante Stonewall scored three of the five points from the foul line.
 
Villanova went up three at 55-52 with 1:05 on the clock when junior guard Kelly Jekot scored on a driving lay-up. On DePaul's next possession, the Blue Demons tied the game at 55-55 when Mart'E Grays drained a three from the right wing with 48 seconds to play.
 
On the next trip down the court, Villanova senior forward Jannah Tucker misfired on a good look from three and DePaul grabbed the defensive rebound with 22 seconds remaining. The Blue Demons held for the last shot and got a look at the game winner but Gray's shot would not fall.
 
DePaul scored on its first two possessions of overtime on a short jumper by Stonewall and a lay-up by Tanita Allen to grab a 59-55 advantage. The Wildcats scored their first points of the extra session when junior forward Mary Gedaka converted a lay-up to slice the lead to 59-57.
 
Following two free throws by Allen that increased the DePaul lead to 61-57, Wildcat senior guard Adrianna Hahn turned the ball over in the front court. DePaul took advantage of the miscue and made it a 63-57 game on a 15-foot jumper by Stonewall.
 
DePaul put the game away at the foul line by going 4-of-6 from the stripe in the last 43 seconds of overtime.
 
In the loss, Gedaka led the Wildcats with 22 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Her 22 points came on 11-of-15 shooting from the field. Jekot tallied 17 points and five rebounds. Junior forward Bridget Herlihy added nine points, four assists, three rebounds and two blocks.
 
DePaul was paced by Stonewall with 14 points and Grays who had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
 
For the game, Villanova was 26-of-61 from the field (42.6%), 5-of-21 from three (23.8%) and 2-of-5 from the foul line (40.0%), while DePaul shot 31.0 percent from the floor (22-of-71), 22.6 percent from behind the arc (7-of-31) and 75.0 percent from the charity stripe (15-of-20). DePaul owned a 53-35 advantage on the backboards.
 
Villanova returns to action on Wednesday, Jan. 16, with a road non conference game at Penn. Tip-off at The Palestra is set for 7 p.m.
 
NOTES: Villanova is in a stretch of playing four games in eight days…The Wildcats out scored DePaul in the paint by a 38-20 margin…Mary Gedaka scored 18 of her game-high 22 points in the first half…Today was the 12^th double figure scoring game of the year for Kelly Jekot…Villanova was credited with an assist on 17 of its 26 made field goals.