Box Score PHILADELPHIA, PA. – In women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon, the Villanova Wildcats traveled to Philadelphia where they tallied a 77-69 win over the La Salle Explorers. With the victory, Villanova improves to 5-5 overall and 2-1 in Big Five play, while La Salle falls to 6-6 overall and 0-2 in City Series action.
 
The story of the game was the play of Villanova redshirt freshman forward Maddy Siegrist who set a Villanova freshman record for points in a game with 41. The 41 points included a 13-of-19 effort from the field, a 6-of-10 effort from three-point range and a 9-of-10 performance from the foul line. The previous freshman record was 35 by Shelly Pennefather against Notre Dame on Feb. 11, 1984. Siegrist's 41 points are the most by a Division I rookie this year and the most by a rookie since the 2017-18 season. She also set the Tom Gola Arena record for points by a women's player and the 41 points represent the second most ever scored in a women's Big Five game.
 
Siegrist hit back-to-back threes to start the third quarter and increase the Wildcat advantage to 48-39. With the momentum in Villanova's favor, La Salle came right back with a 13-3 run to take a 52-51 lead with 4:33 remaining in the third. The score was tied at 54-54 when Villanova senior Mary Gedaka scored the final points of the third stanza on a driving lay-up with 10 seconds on the clock. The Gedaka bucket gave Villanova a slim 56-54 lead after three.
 
Villanova led 59-57 with 7:13 remaining, when the Wildcats took advantage of a five point play to open up a 64-57 lead. The five points included a technical foul on the Explorer bench that allowed Siegrist to make two free throws. Following the foul shots, Villanova ran a set play to perfection and junior guard Raven James buried a three-ball.
 
After La Salle guard Claire Jacobs scored on a lay-up to slice the Wildcat lead to 66-62 with 4:16 on the clock, Villanova ran off seven straight points to open-up a 73-62 lead at the 1:56 mark. The run started with two foul shots by Siegrist, followed by a three by James and two free throws by Gedaka.
 
The Explorers made one last run and scored five straight points to make it a 73-67 game with 41 seconds to play. Facing a full court Explorer press, Bridget Herlihy hit Gedaka with a length of the court pass for an uncontested lay-up to increase the Villanova advantage at 75-67 and put the game away with 38 seconds on the clock.
 
In addition to Siegrist, three other Wildcats reached double figures today, including Gedaka with 15, James with 11 and Herlihy with 10. Siegrist grabbed a game-high tying 10 rebounds to go with three blocks, three assists and a steal. Herlihy added eight rebounds, four assists and a block, while Gedaka chipped in with seven assists, five rebounds and a block.
 
La Salle was paced by Jacobs who had 25 points and Jordon Lewis who tallied 11 points and eight rebounds. Shalina Miller added eight points and 10 rebounds.
 
For the game, Villanova was 26-of-63 from the field (41.3%), 12-of-35 from three-point range (34.3%) and 13-of-14 from the foul line (92.9%), while the Explorers shot 37.1 percent from the floor (26-of-70), 35.3 percent from long distance (35.3%) and 11-of-14 from the charity stripe (78.6%). La Salle owned a 47-36 advantage on the backboards. The Wildcats were charged with just nine turnovers.
 
Villanova returns to action on Sunday, Dec. 29, when the Providence Friars visit the Finneran Pavilion for the Big East opener. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
 
NOTES: Villanova improves to 121-40 all-time in Big Five play (.751)…The Wildcats are 30-6 in their last 36 Big Five games…Villanova has won 11 straight over La Salle and lead the all-time series by a 40-9 count…Today was the third double-double of the season for Maddy Siegrist who has now scored 20 points or more in six of her first 10 college games…Mary Gedaka has 62 career double figure scoring games…Gedaka is 6 for her last 11 from three-point range…The Wildcats were credited with an assist on 23 of their 26 field goals.