VILLANOVA, PA. – In women's basketball action on Tuesday afternoon, the Villanova Wildcats fell to the visiting Creighton Bluejays by a score of 58-42. With the loss, the Wildcats are now 6-6 overall and 1-1 in Big East play, while Creighton improves to 10-3 overall and 2-0 in conference action.
 
Creighton led 11-7 with 5:17 remaining in the opening quarter, when the Bluejays scored five straight points to open up a 16-7 advantage. Wildcat redshirt freshman forward Maddy Siegrist scored back-to-back buckets to make it a 16-11 game, before Creighton forward Jaylyn Agnew scored the final points of the quarter to give the Bluejays an 18-11 lead after one.
 
After a running lay-up by Wildcat senior forward Mary Gedaka on the first possession of the second quarter made it an 18-13 contest, the Bluejays ran off 11 straight points to open up a 29-13 lead at the 6:09 mark. A three-ball by Wildcat guard Brie Wajer ended the Creighton run and the Bluejays led 26-13.
 
The Bluejays led 34-21 with 40 seconds left until halftime, when Creighton scored six straight points to take a 40-21 lead into halftime. The six Creighton points included a three by Agnew and three free throws by Olivia Elger who was fouled shooting a triple with under a second on the clock.
 
Three-point shooting was the story in the opening half, as Creighton was 8-of-18 from deep in the first 20 minutes and Villanova was just 2-of-17 from behind the arc.
 
Trailing 50-27 midway through the third quarter, the Wildcats went on a 9-3 run to slice the Bluejay lead to 52-36 after three. The nine Villanova points included a three-ball by freshman Brooke Mullin, two free throws by junior guard Raven James and a lay-up and two foul shots by Gedaka.
 
Creighton held a 58-39 advantage with 4:42 remaining, when Gedaka split a pair at the line. Following a defensive stop, Gedaka scored on jumper in the lane and Villanova trailed 58-42 at the 3:52 mark. That Gedaka jumper would prove to be the final points of the game, as each team managed just six fourth quarter points.
 
In the loss, Gedaka led Villanova with 18 points. She was 6-of-13 from the field, 1-of-2 from three and 5-of-9 from the foul line. Siegrist finished with 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
 
Creighton was paced by Agnew who scored a game-high 31 points to go with a game-best nine rebounds. Temi Carda also reached double figures with 12 points to go with eight assists.
 
For the game, Villanova was 15-of-50 from the field (30.0%), 4-of-24 from three-point range (16.7%) and 8-of-13 from the foul line (61.5%), while Creighton shot 35.2 percent from the floor (19-of-54), 33.3 percent from behind the arc (9-of-27) and 91.7 percent from the charity stripe (11-o-12). The Bluejays owned a 41-34 advantage on the backboards.
 
Villanova returns to action on Friday, Jan. 3, with a road game at Seton Hall. Tip-off at Walsh Gymnasium is set for 1 p.m.
 
NOTES: Creighton now leads the all-time series over Villanova by an 8-6 margin…Mary Gedaka has 64 career double figure scoring games to her credit…Maddy Siegrist has reached double figures in points in 11 of the 12 games this year…The Wildcats have made at least one three-point field goal in 505 consecutive games…Villanova was credited with an assist on 11 of its 15 made field goals…Grace Lange played a career-high 11 minutes in today's game…Raven James tied a career-high with six assists.