CINCINNATI, OHIO – The Villanova Wildcats traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio on Friday evening where they tallied a 68-63 win over the Xavier Musketeers. With the victory, Villanova improves to 18-10 overall and 9-8 in Big East play, while the Musketeers fall to 11-17 overall and 2-15 in conference action.
Villanova led 29-20 midway through the second quarter, when Xavier ran off eight straight points to cut the Wildcat advantage to 29-28 with 2:58 remaining. With momentum on Xavier's side, Villanova responded by scoring the final eight points of the half to take a 37-28 lead into intermission. The eight points included back-to-back threes by senior guard Adrianna Hahn and a reverse lay-up by sophomore guard Cameron Onken at the second quarter buzzer.
After Xavier used an 8-1 run to slice the Villanova lead to 52-44 at the 2:23 mark of the third quarter, senior forward Jannah Tucker drained a three from the left wing to push her team's lead back to double figures at 55-44 after three.
The Musketeers controlled the first part of the fourth quarter and used a 10-3 spurt to make it a 58-55 game with 5:20 on the clock. Wildcat junior guard Kelly Jekot answered the Xavier run with a pull-up jumper in the lane to increase the lead to 60-55. Following a defensive stop, Tucker connected on a 15-foot jumper and Villanova led 62-55 with 3:28 remaining.
A lay-up by Xavier sophomore forward A'riana Gray made it a one possession game at 62-59 with 1:04 to play. The Wildcats took a timeout on the next trip down the court and ran a sideline out of bounds play. Villanova ran the play to perfection and junior forward Mary Gedaka drove baseline and scored on a reverse lay-up to give the Wildcats a 64-59 lead with 30 seconds to play.
On Xavier's next possession, Musketeer guard Princess Stewart scored on a driving lay-up to make it a 64-61 game with 19 seconds to play. Xavier had no team fouls and with the shot clock off, the Musketeers were forced to foul to get Villanova in the bonus.
As Villanova inbounded the ball after the third foul, Xavier came up with the steal and had possession trailing by three. With the clock ticking down, the Musketeers called a timeout that they did not have and were given a technical foul with nine seconds to play. Hahn made both technical foul shots to give Villanova a 66-61 advantage. Villanova then in bounded the ball to Tucker who went two-of-two from the foul line to seal the win.
Tucker led Villanova in the victory with a career-high tying 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including a 6-of-10 effort from three-point range. The six triples tie a career-best effort for her. Gedaka registered her second straight and fourth double-double of the year with 12 points and 12 rebounds to go along with three blocks and two steals. Hahn finished with 11 points, five assists and four rebounds, while Jekot added 10 points, five rebounds and three steals.
Xavier was paced by Gray who had game-highs of 20 points and 21 rebounds. Princess Stewart also reached double figures with 13 points.
For the game, the Wildcats were 23-of-56 from the field (41.1%), 13-of-39 from three (33.3%) and 9-of-12 from the foul line (75.0%), while Xavier shot 41.7 percent from the floor (25-of-60), 25.0 percent from behind the arc (6-of-24) and 70.0 percent from the charity stripe. Each team had 36 rebounds.
Villanova returns to action on Sunday, March 3, when the Wildcats travel to Butler to close out the 2018-19 regular season. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
NOTES: The Wildcats now lead the all-time series over Xavier by a 12-1 count…Villanova improves to 8-5 on the road this year…Mary Gedaka is 98-of-133 from the field over the last 13 games for 73.6 percent shooting…Jannah Tucker is 22-of-39 from three over her last five games for 56.4 percent…Kelly Jekot has now reached double figures in 22 of the 28 games this season…Tonight was Mary Gedaka's second straight double-double, fourth of the season and seventh of her career…Mary Gedaka currently ranks third in the country in field goal percentage.
