QUEENS, N.Y. – The Villanova Wildcats completed a weekend sweep with a 73-57 road win over the St. John's Red Storm. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 13-7 overall and 4-5 in Big East play, while the Red Storm falls to 9-11 overall and 2-7 in conference action. 

Villanova shot 51.8 percent from the field in the opening half (14-of-27) and went to intermission with a 34-23 halftime lead. Junior forward Mary Gedaka led the Wildcats in the opening 20 minutes with 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor. 

Wildcat junior guard Kelly Jekot drained a three from straight away on the first possession of the second half to increase the Villanova advantage to 37-23, before St. John's reeled off six straight points to make it a 37-29 game. Red Storm senior Akina Wellere scored all six St. John's points, including four free throws and a driving lay-up. 

With momentum swinging towards the Red Storm, the Wildcats responded with a 9-2 run to open up a 46-31 lead with 4:17 remaining in the third quarter. The nine Villanova points, included two three-point field goals by Jekot and a conventional three-point play by Gedaka. 

Leading 48-33 with 2:21 to go in the third, Villanova finished the quarter on a 9-2 spurt to open up a commanding 57-35 advantage. Senior guard Adrianna Hahn started the run with a deep three, followed by a free throw by sophomore guard Raven James and a 15-foot jumper and a three-ball by redshirt freshman Emily Esposito. 

Villanova would lead by as many as 24 in the fourth quarter and St. John's would not get closer than 16 as the Wildcats cruised to the victory. 

In the win, Gedaka was sensational with a game-high 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting. She also had four assists and three rebounds. Jekot finished with 17 points, five rebounds and three assists. Her 17 points came on 6-of-11 shooting, a 4-of-7 effort from three and a 1-of-2 effort from the foul line. Esposito was the 

third Wildcat in double figures with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Senior forward Jannah Tucker added nine points and a career-high six rebounds. 

St. John's was paced by sophomore guard Tiana England who had 18 points and Qadashah Hoppie who tallied 12 points. Wellere finished with 11 points. 

For the game, Villanova was 27-of-49 from the field (55.1%), 12-of-21 from three (57.1%) and 7-of-13 from the foul line (52.8%), while the Red Storm shot 40.0 percent from the floor (22-of-55), went 0-for-11 from three and 81.3 percent from the charity stripe (13-of-16). The Wildcats owned a 30-27 advantage on the backboards. 

Villanova returns to action on Friday, Feb. 1, with a home game versus Providence. Tip-off at the Finneran Pavilion is set for 7 p.m. 

NOTES: Villanova has made double digit threes in 12 of the 20 games this year, including the last four games in a row…The Wildcats now lead the all-time series with St. John's by a 39-27 count and are 7-3 in the last 10 games versus the Red Storm…Today was the second consecutive 20-point game by Mary Gedaka. She now has four 20-point games this year and eight for her career…Mary Gedaka is 28-of-32 from the field in the last three games (.875) and 41-of-52 (.788) over her last five contests…Kelly Jekot has reached double figures in 15 of the 20 games this year…The Wildcats improve to 7-3 on the road this year, including 3-2 in Big East games.