PHILADELPHIA, PA. – In women's basketball action on Wednesday evening, the Villanova Wildcats traveled to Drexel where they lost a hard fought 54-52 overtime game to the Dragons. With the loss, Villanova's three-game win streak comes to an end as the Wildcats fall to 3-4 overall, while Drexel improves to 5-3 on the season.

Villanova got back-to-back lay-ups from redshirt freshman guard Kenzie Gardler and senior forward Mary Gedaka to cut the Dragon lead to 42-34 after three quarters of play.

After Drexel guard Hannah Nihill scored the first points of the fourth quarter to push the Dragon lead back to double figures at 44-34, Villanova ran off six straight points to make it a 44-40 contest at the 4:15 mark. Gedaka had four of the six points and redshirt freshman forward Maddy Siegrist added the other two.

Two Aubrey Brown free throws gave Drexel a 46-40 advantage, before Siegrist made four free throws to pull her team within two at 46-44 with 49 seconds remaining. Following a defensive stop, Villanova had possession of the ball down two. The Wildcats ran a play and got Gedaka one on one in the paint where she scored on a post move to tie the game at 46-46 with 37 seconds to play.

Nihill drove the lane with six seconds remaining and had her shot blocked by Wildcat senior forward Bridget Herlihy. Villanova junior guard Raven James came up with the loose ball and raced the up the court and took a running 15 footer that was off target as time expired and the game was headed to overtime.

With the score even at 48-48 with 3:00 to play in the extra session, Siegrist made two free throws and the Wildcats led 50-48. On the game's next possession, Drexel senior Bailey Greenberg connected on a lay-up to tie the game at 50-50. After a Villanova turnover, Nihill was fouled on a drive to the basket. Nihill made one of two to put the Dragons up 51-50 at the 2:12 mark.

Villanova went back up one at 52-51 with 1:43 to play on the next trip down the court when Siegrist scored on a lay-up in the lane.

Trailing 52-51 with 36 seconds remaining, Drexel had a chance to take the lead Brown missed two foul shots after being fouled on a drive to the basket. The Wildcats then ran the shot clock down and got the ball to Siegrist who missed a short jumper. Gedaka attempted to tip in the miss, but it would not fall. Drexel came up with the rebound and immediately called timeout to advance the ball to the front court with 6.1 seconds on the clock.

The Dragons ran an out of bounds play and got the ball to Greenberg who scored on a lay-up and Drexel led 53-52 with 4.8 seconds to go. Villanova took its final timeout and advanced the ball to the front court. Gedaka got the ball at the top of the key and as she was driving to the basket she slipped and turned the ball over. Greenberg then made one of two from the line with 1.4 seconds to play.

In the loss, Siegrist had a game-high 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting, a 1-of-4 effort from three and a perfect 9-of-9 effort from the foul line. Gedaka finished with 16 points and a career-high 16 rebounds to go with a career-high tying four blocks. Herlihy added five points, 10 rebounds and a career-high six blocks.

Greenberg paced Drexel with 20 points, while Nihill finished with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists. Niki Metzel chipped in with eight points and 10 rebounds.

For the game, Villanova was 19-of-50 from the field (38.0%), 2-of-15 from three (13.3%) and 12-of-14 from the foul line (85.7%), while Drexel shot 30.9 percent from the floor (21-of-68), 17.6 percent from behind the arc (3-of-17) and 64.3 percent from the charity stripe (9-of-14). Villanova owned a 43-36 advantage on the backboards.

Villanova returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 7, when the Wildcats play host to the Saint Joseph's Hawks. Game time is set for 1 p.m.


NOTES: Villanova now leads the all-time series with Drexel by an 8-2 count…Tonight was Villanova's first game in 10 days…Maddy Siegrist has now scored 20 points or more in four of the seven games…Tonight was Mary Gedaka's 59th career double figure scoring game…Villanova has now made at least one
three-point field goal in 500 straight games…The Wildcats fall to 2-2 on the road this season.