OMAHA, NEB. – The Villanova Wildcats traveled to Omaha, Neb., on Friday evening where they tallied a 54-52 road win over the Creighton Bluejays. With the victory, Villanova improves to 10-3 overall and 2-1 in Big East play, while Creighton falls to 7-7 overall and 1-2 in conference action.
Villanova led 48-44 with 5:52 to play, when Bluejay forward Aubrey Faber was fouled on a drive to the basket. Faber missed the first free throw and made the second to cut the Wildcat advantage to 48-45. On the Wildcats next possession, junior forward Mary Gedaka took advantage of an isolation play and scored on a driving lay-up to put her team up 50-45 with 5:34 on the clock.
After Faber split another pair of foul shots to make it a 50-46 game, neither team was able to score for the next 2:27. Villanova senior guard Adrianna Hahn ended the scoreless stretch when she connected on a pull-up jump shot in the lane with 1:59 remaining to increase the Wildcat lead to 52-46.
On Creighton's next possession, the Bluejays made it a one possession game at 52-49 when Olivia Elger drained a three from straight away with 1:37 to go.
Neither team was able to score on their next two possessions, as Villanova had a missed shot and a turnover and Creighton misfired on two driving lay-ups. Following the second Creighton miss, Hahn grabbed the defensive rebound and was fouled with nine seconds remaining.
Hahn made both free throws to give the Wildcats a 54-49 lead, before Creighton guard Temi Carda buried a triple to cut the Villanova advantage to 54-52 with five seconds to play. Villanova called a timeout and advanced the ball to the front court where they inbounded the ball to senior guard Grace Stant who was fouled with 2.8 seconds left. Stant missed both free throws, but Creighton was unable to get a shot off and the Wildcats earned the victory.
Creighton jumped out to an early 12-2 lead, before Gedaka scored six straight points and junior forward Bridget Herlihy added a three to get the Wildcat back in
the game. The Bluejays made 4-of-8 from three in the opening quarter to propel them to an 18-11 lead after one.
The Wildcats trailed 23-15 when they went on a 10-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 25-23 with 3:56 to play in the second quarter. Junior guard Kelly Jekot and redshirt freshman guard Emily Esposito both hit triples in the spurt. Villanova would use the momentum from the run to take a 30-29 halftime lead.
In the win, Gedaka led Villanova with 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Hahn and Herlihy had 11 points each, while James finished with a career-high eight points. Jekot added seven points and six rebounds.
Creighton was paced by Faber who had a game-high 20 points, while Carda had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
For the game, Villanova was 20-of-53 from the field (37.7%), 6-of-19 from three-point range (31.6%) and 8-of-11 from the foul line (72.7%), while the Bluejays shot 37.0 percent from the floor (17-of-46), 39.1 percent from behind the arc (9-of-23) and 75.0 percent from the charity stripe (9-of-12). The Wildcats owned a slim 33-32 advantage on the backboards. Villanova was charged with just six turnovers.
Villanova returns to action on Sunday, Jan. 6, with a road game at Providence. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.
NOTES: Villanova had an assist on 15 of its 20 made field goals...Villanova is now 4-1 in road games this season…With her 11 points tonight, Adrianna Hahn moved past Helen Koskinen and Katie Davis and into 13th place on Villanova's all-time scoring list with 1,294 career points... The Wildcats have now won seven of their last eight games…24 of Villanova's 54 points came in the paint…The Wildcat bench outscored the Creighton reserves by a 22-9 margin.
