ATHENS, GA. – The Villanova Wildcats traveled to Athens, Georgia, on Sunday evening where they tallied an impressive 63-58 road win over the Georgia Lady Bulldogs. Villanova has now won three in a row and improve to 3-3 on the season. Georgia falls to 3-2 on the year.
With the score tied at 54-54 with 1:40 to play in regulation, junior guard Raven James drove to the basket as was fouled. James calmly sank both free throws to give the Wildcats a 56-54 lead. Georgia would keep possession alive on the next trip down the court by coming up with two offensive rebounds. The Lady Bulldogs took advantage of the extra possession and tied the game at 56-56 on two free throws by Jenna Staiti with 54 seconds on the clock.
Villanova took a timeout with 39 seconds remaining to set-up a sideline inbounds play. The Wildcats got the ball to senior forward Mary Gedaka who drove to the basket and made a nice pass to a wide open James who connected on a three-ball from straight away. The James trifecta gave Villanova a 59-56 advantage.
After Gabby Connally cut the Wildcat lead to 59-58 on a short jumper with 26.7 seconds remaining, Villanova in bounded the ball in the front court to Bridget Herlihy who was immediately fouled. Herlihy made both free throws and the Wildcats led 61-58.
The Villanova defense came up with two big defensive stops in the final 17 seconds of the game to secure the win. Junior Cameron Onken had a block on a potential game-tying three by Connally and the Villanova team defense forced Connally into a rushed three with seven seconds to go.
Villanova went to halftime with a 28-27 lead, but Georgia started the third quarter on a 10-5 run to open up a 37-33 lead. The Wildcats finished the quarter on an 11-5 run to take a 44-41 lead after three quarters of play. Gedaka started the spurt with a driving lay-up and a three-point field goal, before freshman Brooke Mullin and James buried triples.
In the win, Gedaka was sensational with a game-high 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including a 3-of-4 effort from three-point range. She also added five assists and two rebounds. James registered a career-best 12 points to go with a career-high tying five rebounds and four assists. Freshman Maddy Siegrist chipped in with eight points and eight rebounds.
Georgia was paced by Staiti with 17 points and eight rebounds and Kaila Hubbard who had 10 points.
For the game, Villanova was 23-of-53 from the field (43.4%), 9-of-22 from three (40.9%) and 8-of-10 from the foul line (80.0%), while Georgia shot 37.5 percent from the floor (24-of-64), 5.0 percent from long distance (1of-20) and 64.3 percent from the charity stripe (9-of-14). Georgia owned a 41-28 advantage on the backboards. The Wildcats were charged with just 10 turnovers.
Villanova will be off until Wednesday, Dec. 4, when the Wildcats will play at Drexel. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.
NOTES: The Wildcats have defeated Georgia in two straight seasons and lead the all-time series by a 2-1 count…Kenzie Gardler made two three-point field goals tonight for a career-high six points…Cameron Onken played 39 minutes and tied a career-high with six points to go with five rebounds, two assists and two blocks…The nine threes made by Villanova tonight are a season-high…Mary Gedaka now has 58 career double digit scoring games and 13 career 20-point efforts…Villanova is now 6-9 all-time versus SEC competition.
