BRONX, N.Y. – The Villanova Wildcats earned their first win of the season with a 73-66 road win at Fordham on Sunday afternoon. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 1-3 on the young season.
Redshirt freshman forward Maddy Siegrist was the story of the first quarter. Making her first career start, Siegrist went 7-of-9 from the field for 15 opening quarter points. The Siegrist offensive outburst propelled the Wildcats to a 20-14 lead after one.
Villanova led 33-23 early in the second quarter when the Rams used a 12-2 run to tie the game at 35-35. Forward Kaitlyn Downey led the Rams with six of the 10 points.
The Wildcats owned a 26-21 advantage midway through the third quarter, when Villanova scored the last five points of the half to take a 31-21 advantage at intermission. Senior forward Mary Gedaka accounted for all five points on two field goals in the paint and a free throw.
Leading 39-38 with 3:36 remaining in the third quarter, the Wildcats scored nine of the game's next 11 points to open up a 48-40 lead. The nine Villanova points included three-balls by Siegrist and freshman Brooke Mullin and a conventional three-point play by Gedaka. Fordham closed out the third quarter scoring with a bucket by Anna DeWolfe that sent the teams into the final stanza with Villanova leading 48-42.
Villanova led 53-49 with 5:16 remaining when the Rams scored five consecutive points to take their first lead of the second half at 54-53 at the 4:47 mark. On the game's next possession, the Wildcats regained the lead at 55-54 on a Siegrist jumper in the lane. Following a defensive stop, Mullin buried a three from straight away to increase her team's lead to 58-54.
After Fordham split a pair at the line to make it a 58-55 game, Gedaka scored on a driving lay-up to make it a 60-55 contest. The Wildcats then took advantage of a
Fordham turnover when Siegrist connected on a three from the corner to increase the Villanova lead to 63-55 with 2:39 on the clock.
Fordham would not get within six after the Siegrist three and the Wildcats would come away with the road win.
Siegrist and Gedaka were sensational in the win with Siegrist scoring 29 points and Gedaka tallying 27 points. Siegrist was 13-of-16 from the field and 3-of-5 from three, while Gedaka was 11-of-16 from the floor and 5-of-9 from the foul line. Mullin finished with nine points and junior Cameron Onken had a career-high tying eight rebounds and a career-best six assists.
Fordham was paced by Bre Cavanaugh who had 23 points and DeWolfe who finished with 15 points. Kendell Heremaia was the third Ram in double figures with 13 points.
For the game, Villanova was 30-of-48 from the field (62.5%), 5-of-13 from three (38.5%) and 8-of-17 from the foul line (47.1%), while Fordham shot 43.9 percent from the floor (25-of-57), 28.6 percent from three (6-of-21) and 71.4 percent from the charity stripe (10-of-14). Each team was credited with 27 rebounds.
Villanova returns to action on Thursday, Nov. 21, when Manhattan College visits the Finneran Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
NOTES: Villanova now leads the all-time series with Fordham by a 6-0 count…Maddy Siegrist and Mary Gedaka combined to score 56 of Villanova's 73 points…Siegrist and Gedaka were a combined 24-of-32 from the field (.750)…Cameron Onken set a new career-high with six assists and tied a career-high with eight rebounds…The Wildcats out scored Fordham by a 44-20 advantage in the paint.
