PHILADELPHIA, PA. – The Villanova Wildcats captured the 2018-19 Philadelphia Big Five title with a 58-50 road win at the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday evening. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 11-6 overall and a perfect 4-0 in Big Five play, while Penn falls to 9-3 overall and 2-1 in City Series action.
Villanova has now won 16 Big Five championships, including 10 with a perfect 4-0 mark. Tonight's win improves the Wildcats to 119-39 all-time in Big Five play. The 119 victories are the most by any Big Five women's program.
Despite shooting 33.3 percent from the field and 26.7 percent from three in the first half, Villanova was down just one at 25-24 at intermission. The Wildcats then started the third quarter on a 12-4 run to take a 36-29. Junior guard Kelly Jekot was dominant in the Villanova run scoring 10 of the 12 points, including two three-point field goals.
Following a Jekot three with 6:13 remaining in the third quarter, the Wildcats would go scoreless the rest of the quarter. Penn would take advantage of the Villanova dry spell and out score the Wildcats 10-0 to take a 39-36 lead after three. Quaker sophomore center Eleah Parker led the Penn spurt by scoring five of her team's 10 points.
Villanova trailed 45-44 with 6:36 to play in regulation, when the Wildcats scored nine straight points to open up a 53-45 advantage at the 4:22 mark. Senior forward Jannah Tucker started the run with a deep three from the right wing. After the Tucker triple, senior guard Adrianna Hahn drained a three, before Tucker hit another shot from behind the arc.
After the second Tucker trifecta, neither team was able to score for the next 3:27, before Jekot made two foul shots with 55 seconds on the clock to increase the Villanova lead to 55-45.
On the game's next possession, Quaker guard Phoebe Sterba connected on a three to make it a 55-48 game with 43 seconds to play. The Wildcats then in
bounded the ball to Hahn who was fouled. Hahn sank one of two from the line to increase the Wildcat lead to 56-48 with 41 seconds remaining.
Penn would make it a two possession game at 56-50 with 18 seconds to go on a Parker lay-up, before Villanova junior forward Bridget Herlihy sealed the win for the Wildcats with two free throws with 10 seconds to play.
Jekot led Villanova by tallying her first career double-double with 18 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. She was 6-of-13 from the field, 4-of-8 from long distance and 2-of-2 from the foul line. Hahn scored 12 points and dished out five assists, while Tucker added 11 points.
Penn was paced by Parker who had 25 points and 17 rebounds, while Sterba reached double figures with 12 points.
For the game, Villanova was 21-of-53 from the field (39.6%), 11-of-30 from three-point range (36.7%) and 5-of-8 from the foul line (62.5%), while Penn shot 30.3 percent from the floor (20-of-66), 38.5 percent from behind the arc (5-of-13) and 50.0 percent from the charity stripe (5-of-10). The Quakers owned a 46-37 advantage on the backboards. Villanova was charged with just nine turnovers.
Villanova returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 19, with a Big East game at Georgetown. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
NOTES: Villanova is 28-5 in its last 33 Big 5 contests…The Wildcats now lead the all-time series with Penn by a 43-3 count and have won 15 of the last 16 meetings against the Quakers…Villanova improves to 25-2 all-time in games played at The Palestra…The Wildcats are now 65-10 all-time against Ivy League competition…Villanova improves to 5-2 in road games this season…Adrianna Hahn moves past Kathie Beisel and into 12th place on Villanova's all-time scoring list with 1,334 career points…The Wildcats were credited with an assist on 15 of their 21 field goals…After starting the game 1-of-9 from three-point range, Villanova made 10 of its next 21 to finish 11-of-30 for the game.. Villanova shot a sizzling 66.7 percent from the field in the fourth quarter…Villanova finishes non conference play with a 9-2 record and are 20-4 versus non conference opponents the last two seasons.
