VILLANOVA, PA. – The Villanova Wildcats gave a valiant effort on Friday evening, but the St. John's Red Storm came away with a 66-62 win. With the loss, Villanova falls to 16-10 overall and 7-8 in Big East play, while St. John's improves to 14-13 overall and 7-9 in conference action.
St. John's led 37-36 midway through the third quarter, when the Wildcats went on an 11-2 run to take a 47-39 advantage at the 2:42 mark. Junior guard Kelly Jekot led the Villanova charge by connecting on two threes in the spurt. The other five points came via a three-ball by senior guard Adrianna Hahn and two free throws by junior forward Mary Gedaka.
The Red Storm responded by scoring nine of the last 10 points of the quarter to tie the game at 48-48 after three. The final three points of the quarter came on a three at the buzzer from St. John's sophomore guard Tiana England.
Villanova trailed 60-56 with 2:45 remaining in regulation when Jekot scored on an offensive rebound put back and was fouled. The Jekot free throw sliced the St. John's lead to 60-59. After each team failed to score on its next possession, England gave the Red Storm a 62-59 lead with 1:33 on the clock when she scored on a driving lay-up.
Following a turnover by each team, Villanova had possession down three. The Wildcats ran on offensive set to perfection and tied the game at 62-62 with 37 seconds remaining when Jannah Tucker found Hahn wide open in the corner for an uncontested three-point field goal.
On the Red Storm's next possession, St. John's took the lead for good when Alisha Kebbe drove to the basket and scored on a lay-up. Villanova then took a timeout and advanced the ball to the front court. The Wildcats got the ball to Gedaka who turned the ball over on a drive to the rim.
St. John's put the game away when Kebbe made two free throws with 10 seconds to play.
In the loss, Hahn led Villanova with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-18 shooting, including a 5-of-12 effort from three-point range. Gedaka finished with 17 points, while Jekot was the third Wildcat in double figures with 13 points.
St. John's was paced by Kebbe with 16 points, five rebounds and four steals and England who added 15 points and seven assists.
For the game, Villanova was 23-of-50 from the field (46.0%), 11-of-24 from three-point range (45.8%) and 5-of-6 from the foul line (83.3%), while St. John's shot 54.7 percent from the floor (29-of-53), 25.0 percent from behind the arc (2-of-8) and 100.0 percent from the charity stripe (6-of-6). Villanova owned a 27-24 advantage on the backboards.
Villanova returns to action on Sunday, Feb. 24, when the Wildcats will play host to the Seton Hall Pirates on Senior Day. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.
NOTES: With her 19 points tonight Adrianna Hahn moved past Alex Louin and into seventh place on Villanova's all-time scoring list with 1,438 career points…Kelly Jekot has scored double figures in 21 of the 26 games this season…Villanova has now made double digit threes in 14 of the 26 games this season…The Wildcats fall to 9-4 at home this season…With tonight's outcome Villanova and St. John's split the season series. The Wildcats lead the all-time series by a 39-28 margin.
