VILLANOVA, PA. – In the 2019-20 season opener on Wednesday night, the Villanova Wildcats fell to the George Washington Colonials by a score of 68-56.

George Washington raced to a 9-2 lead, before the Wildcats ran off six straight points to make it a 9-8 game. The six Villanova points came off of three-point field goals by Bridget Herlihy and Sam Carangi. After Sydney Zambrotta scored three straight Colonial points to put George Washington up 12-8, Wildcat senior forward Mary Gedaka scored on a driving lay-up to make it a 12-10 game. Tori Hyduke closed out the first quarter scoring when she connected on a five-foot jumper to give George Washington a 14-10 advantage after one.

A three-ball by junior forward Brianna Herlihy pulled Villanova within two at 25-23 with 4:20 left in the second quarter, before George Washington closed the half on a 13-2 run to take a 38-25 lead into intermission.

The issue for Villanova in the opening 20 minutes was the 12 turnovers that the Colonials converted into 12 points. George Washington was efficient in the first half, making 15-of-35 from the field for 42.8 percent.

George Washington took complete control of the game in the opening 3:47 of the third quarter when the Colonials out scored the Wildcats by an 8-0 margin to open up a commanding 46-27 advantage. Four different Colonials scored during the spurt.

The Colonials would use the opening run to take a 53-36 lead after three quarters.

George Washington led by as many as 22 in the fourth quarter and cruised to the win.

In the loss, redshirt freshman Maddy Siegrist led the Wildcats with 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Brianna and Bridget Herlihy each tallied 12 points with Brianna also grabbing seven rebounds.

George Washington was paced by Zambrotta with 17 points and Alexandra Maund who had 12 points and six rebounds.

For the game, the Wildcats were 21-of-61 from the field (34.4%), 7-of-31 from three-point range (22.6%) and 7-of-11 from the foul line (63.6%), while George Washington shot 43.8 percent from the floor (28-of-64), 41.7 percent from long distance (5-of-12) and 70.0 percent from the charity stripe (7-of-10). The Colonials owned a slight 40-39 advantage on the backboards.

Villanova returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 9, when the James Madison Dukes visit the Finneran Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

NOTES: Villanova falls to 31-20 all-time in season openers…The Wildcats received 20 points from their bench players in tonight's loss…GW is one of four Atlantic 10 opponents Villanova will face this year…Kenzie Gardler and Maddy Siegrist both made their Villanova debuts tonight.