VILLANOVA, PA. – Despite having just six scholarship players available for today's game, the Villanova Wildcats turned in a valiant effort and tallied a 60-44 home win over the visiting Saint Joseph's Hawks. With the victory, Villanova improves to 4-4 overall and 1-0 in Philadelphia Big Five play, while the Hawks fall to 4-5 overall and 1-2 in City Series action.

After Nailah Delinois connected on a three-point field goal to put the Hawks up 32-26 with 7:24 left in the third quarter, Villanova ran off nine straight points to take a 35-32 advantage at the 4:00 minute mark. Redshirt freshman Maddy Siegrist started the run with a basket in the paint, before senior forward Bridget Herlihy drained a three from the right wing. The last five points included a lay-up by Siegrist and a three-ball by freshman Brooke Mullin.

With the score tied at 36-36 with 1:45 remaining in the third, junior guard Cameron Onken and Mullin hit back-to-back threes to put Villanova up 42-36. Following a short jumper by Hawk forward Claire Melia that made it a 42-38 game, Onken hit another trifecta to finish the third quarter scoring and give Villanova a 45-38 lead.

Saint Joseph's scored four of the first five points to start the fourth quarter to slice the Wildcat lead to 46-42. With the Hawks starting to gain momentum, Wildcat senior forward Mary Gedaka took over the game. Gedaka scored on a driving lay-up and was fouled. The made free throw increased her team's lead to 49-42. Gedaka would score again on Villanova's next possession and the Wildcats had their biggest advantage of the game at 51-42 with 4:49 on the clock.

Neither team was able to score for the next two minutes, before Hawk guard Lula Roig made two free throws and Villanova led 51-44 with 2:56 remaining. Facing a Saint Joseph's full court press with a little over two minutes left, Onken hit Gedaka on a full court pass in stride and the uncontested Gedaka lay-up increased the Villanova advantage to 53-44. The lay-up was Gedaka's seventh straight point.

Following a defensive stop, the Wildcats put the game away when Siegrist scored on a lay-up at the 1:44 mark.

The Villanova defense was sensational in the fourth quarter holding Saint Joseph's to just two points over the last 6:06.

Siegrist led the Wildcats in the win with a game-high 23 points on 10-of-19 shooting to go with eight rebounds. Gedaka tallied 19 points, while Onken played 40 minutes and recorded a career-high eight points, a career-best 13 rebounds and a career-high seven assists. Herlihy finished with five points, a career-high 11 rebounds, four blocks and three assists.

The Hawks were paced by Melia who had 22 points and 15 rebounds. She was the only Saint Joseph's player to reach double figures.

For the game, Villanova 24-of-59 from the field (40.7%), 7-of-27 from three-point range (25.9%) and 5-of-8 from the foul line (62.5%), while the Hawks shot 23.7 percent from the floor (14-of-59), 26.7 percent from behind the arc (4-of-15) and 85.7 percent from the charity stripe (12-of-14). The Hawks owned a slim 43-41 advantage on the backboards. Each team was charged with 10 turnovers.

Villanova returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 10, when the Wildcats travel to Temple. Tip-off at McGonigle Hall is set for 5 p.m.

NOTES: Today was the fifth straight win for Villanova over Saint Joseph's…Maddy Siegrist has scored 20 points or more in five of the eight games this year…The Wildcats improve to 120-39 all-time in Philadelphia Big 5 play. The 120 wins are the most by any Big 5 women's program…Villanova is now 29-5 in its last 34 Big 5 games…Mary Gedaka's 19 point performance was the 60th double figure scoring game of her career…Sam Carangi and Kenzie Gardler missed today's game with injury/illness…Bridget Herlihy has 10 blocked shots in the last two games…The Wildcats were credited with an assist on 16 of their 24 field goals.