VILLANOVA, PA. – The Villanova Wildcats recorded their first home win of the season on Thursday evening with a 63-51 victory over the visiting Manhattan Lady Jaspers. With the win, the Wildcats improve to 2-3 on the season, while the Lady Jaspers fall to 1-3 on the year.

Villanova scored the first eight points of the second quarter to erase a one point deficit and take a 17-10 advantage. Senior forward Mary Gedaka started the spurt by connecting on a three-point field goal, before redshirt freshman forward Maddy Siegrist had two buckets in the paint and junior guard Raven James made two free throws.

Manhattan responded to the Villanova run by scoring four straight points, before James and Gedaka added back-to-back baskets to push the lead back to 21-14. Each team would add one more bucket the rest of the quarter and Villanova would take a 23-16 lead at intermission.

Siregrist drained a three-ball on Villanova's first possession of the second half as the Wildcats started the third quarter on an 11-3 spurt to open up their biggest lead of the game at 34-19 at the 4:34 mark. Siegrist was sensational in the run scoring nine of her team's 11 points.

The Wildcats controlled the third quarter and took a 40-29 lead into the final quarter.

Villanova led 46-39 with 6:15 to play, when the Lady Jaspers scored four of the game's next five points to cut the Wildcat lead to 47-43 at the 4:50 mark. On the game's next possession, Gedaka drove to the basket off an isolation play and was fouled. Gedaka would sink both free throws to make it a 49-43 game.

Following a Manhattan turnover, the Wildcats ran an offensive set to perfection and Gedaka scored on a driving lay-up to put Villanova up 52-43 with 3:31 remaining. The Wildcats would hold Manhattan scoreless for a 2:50 stretch and open up a double digit lead.
The Wildcats went 9-of-10 from the foul line over then final 1:30 to secure the victory. Sophomore guard Brie Wajer made four of the foul shots for her first career points.

In the win, Siegrist tallied her first career double-double with 28 points and 14 rebounds. She was 13-of-22 from the field and also added four blocks. Gedaka finished with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists, while James had seven points, five rebounds and two assists. Senior forward Bridget Herlihy tallied five points, a career-high tying 10 rebounds, a career-best six assists and two blocks.

Manhattan was paced by Emily LaPointe with 18 points and Julie Hoier with 11 points.

For the game, Villanova was 23-of-54 from the field (42.6%), 4-of-17 from three-point range (23.5%) and 13-of-16 from the foul line (81.3%), while Manhattan shot 30.3 percent from the floor (20-of-66), 17.6 percent from behind the arc (3-of-17) and 57.1 percent from the charity stripe (8-of-14). Villanova owned a 44-33 advantage on the backboards.

The Wildcats will return to action on Sunday, Nov. 24, with a game at Georgia. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.

NOTES: Manhattan is coached by former Villanova assistant Heather Vulin who is in her fourth year with the Lady Jaspers…Cameron Onken was credited with a career-high three steals in tonight's win…Villanova improves to 6-0 all-time versus Manhattan…Maddy Siegrist has scored 20 points or more in three straight games and has tallied 79 points in the three contests…The Wildcats were credited with an assist on 15 of their 23 field goals.