VILLANOVA, PA. – The Villanova Wildcats improved to 6-0 on Sunday afternoon with a 48-46 win over the visiting Drexel Dragons. With the loss, Drexel falls to 2-1 on the season.
Villanova was out of sync early committing six turnovers over the first five minutes and connecting on just 2-of-12 from the field as Drexel raced to a 15-3 lead. Dragon senior guard Hannah Nihill led the early charge scoring nine of her team's 15 points.
Drexel led 21-15 with 1:43 to play in the second quarter, when the Wildcats scored the last six points of the half to send the game to intermission tied at 21-21. Senior forward Brianna Herlihy scored four of the six on a short jumper and two free throws, while freshman Lior Garzon scored on a lay-up.
Villanova was 8-of-29 from the field, including a 2-of-16 effort from three-point range in the game's first 20 minutes, while Drexel was 9-of-33 and 1-of-10 from three.
The third quarter went back and forth with neither team able to open-up more than a five-point lead and Drexel led 39-37 entering play in the fourth stanza.
Neither team was able to score for the first 2:41 of the final quarter, before the Dragons broke the scoreless stretch on a driving lay-up by Nihill and Drexel led 41-37. After failing to score for the first 4:06 of the fourth, Wildcat senior guard Raven James drained a three-ball from the right wing to slice the Drexel advantage to 41-40 with 5:54 to play.
On Drexel's next possession, the Dragons answered with a triple of their own when Keishana Washington connected from long distance to put Drexel up 44-40 at the 5:31 mark. Villanova had three straight scoreless possessions, before sophomore Maddy Siegrist buried a triple and the Drexel lead was down to one at 44-43 with 2:46 remaining.
Villanova took its first lead of the fourth quarter at 46-44 with 1:24 remaining when James hit her second three-point field goal. Following an offensive rebound by Washington, Drexel called timeout with 54 seconds on the clock. The Dragons ran their set play to perfection and tied the game at 46-46 on lay-up by Kate Connolly. Villanova then took a timeout and advanced the ball to the front court.
Out of the timeout, James got the ball on the right wing and drove baseline where she converted a tough driving lay-up to give the Wildcats a 48-46 lead with 26 seconds remaining.
After a timeout Drexel got the ball to Washington who missed a short jumper. Dragon senior guard Kayla Bacon came in and forced a tie up on the rebound and with the possession arrow favoring Drexel the Dragons had one last opportunity with three seconds on the clock.
Washington got off a good look at a potential game-winning three, but the shot hit the back of the rim and Villanova escaped with the two-point victory.
In the win, Herlihy led the way with 13 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Two other Wildcats reached double figures in points, including Siegrist with 11 points and nine rebounds and Garzon who had 10 points and eight rebounds. James finished with eight points.
Drexel was paced by Washington with 16 points to go with nine rebounds and Nihill who netted 13 points. Connolly added 11 points.
For the game, Villanova was 19-of-57 from the field (33.3%), 7-of-27 from three-point range (25.9%) and 3-of-3 from the foul line, while Drexel shot 29.0 percent from the floor (18-of-62), 22.2 percent from long distance (4-of-18) and 85.7 percent from the charity stripe (6-of-7). The Dragons owned a slim 42-41 advantage on the backboards.
Villanova returns to action on Wednesday, Dec. 16, with a road game at Providence. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
NOTES: Today was the second double-double of Brianna Herlihy's career…Brianna Herlihy has reached double figures in points in five of the six games this season…Villanova finishes the non conference portion of its schedule with a 5-0 record…The Wildcats now lead the all-time series with Drexel by a 9-2 margin…Villanova led for just 1:54 of today's game…This is the second straight year that Villanova and Drexel have played to a two-point game.
