VILLANOVA, PA. – In women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon, the Villanova Wildcats earned a 73-68 home win over the visiting Creighton Bluejays. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 7-0 overall and 2-0 in BIG EAST play, while Creighton falls to 2-5 overall and 1-2 in conference action.
 
Led by the forward tandem of Maddy Siegrist and Brianna Herlihy, the Wildcats dominated play early racing to a 16-2 lead.  Siegrist scored nine of the 16 points, while Herlihy registered the other seven. The Wildcats would control the game's first 10 minutes to take a 20-8 lead after one.
 
Creighton started the second quarter on a 12-3 run to cut the Villanova lead to 23-21. Four different Bluejays scored in the spurt highlighted by Temi Carda who had five of the 12 points. Wildcat senior guard Raven James ended the Creighton run when she drained a three from the right wing, before sophomore guard Brooke Mullin scored on a driving lay-up to put Villanova up 28-21.
 
Villanova led 32-22 with 2:00 minutes before halftime, when Creighton scored six straight points to slice the Wildcats advantage to 32-28. Herlihy closed out the first half scoring with a short jumper in the lane that sent Villanova to halftime with a 34-28 advantage.
 
Midway through the third quarter Creighton went on a 15-8 run to take its first lead of the game at 46-44 with 5:16 on the clock.  Following two free throws by Siegrist that tied the game at 46-46, Bluejay senior guard Tatum Rembao scored on a driving lay-up and Creighton was back up two at 48-46.
 
After neither team was able to score on its next two possessions, Siegrist drained a three-ball from the left wing to give the Wildcats a 49-48 advantage. The Siegrist triple started a stretch that saw her score eight straight points that sent the Wildcats to the fourth quarter with a 54-48 lead.     
 
A three-point field goal by freshman Bella Runyan increased the Villanova advantage to 59-53, before Creighton scored four straight points to make it a 59-57 game at the 5:29 mark. On Villanova's next two possessions, Siegrist split a pair at the line to make it a 61-57 Wildcat lead with 4:16 on the clock.
 
Following two Herlihy free throws that extended the Villanova lead to 63-57, Villanova got a defensive stop when Carda was forced into a tough shot. The Wildcats ran the shot clock down on the next trip down the court, before James buried a huge three to give Villanova a 66-57 lead with 3:14 to play. The James three-ball proved to be the dagger, as Creighton would not get within five the rest of the way.
 
Siegrist led the Wildcats in the win with 34 points and a career-high 19 rebounds to go with three assists, three blocks and a steal. She was 11-of-22 from the field, 2-of-7 from three and 10-of-14 from the foul line. Herlihy finished with 20 points, six rebounds and four assists. James chipped in with six points on two three-point field goals and Mullin added five points and seven rebounds.
 
Creighton was paced by Carda with 21 points and six rebounds and Rembao who had 10 points and five assists.
 
For the game, Villanova was 24-of-59 from the field (40.7%), 6-of-26 from three-point range (23.1%0 and 19-of-25 from the foul line (76.0%), while Creighton shot 42.2 percent from the floor (27-of-64), 27.3 percent from ling distance (6-of-22) and 80.0 percent from the charity stripe (8-of-10). Villanova owned a 42-36 advantage on the backboards.
 
The Wildcats return to action on Tuesday, Dec. 22, when the No. 3 Connecticut Huskies visit the Finneran Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
 
NOTES: Maddy Siegrist now has three career 30+ games, including two this season…Siegrist has now scored 20 or more points in five of the seven games this year and 20 times in her career…Today was the sixth double-double of the season for Siegrist and 17th of her career…With today's victory, Wildcat head coach Denise Dillon has tied Harry Perretta for most wins to start a career in Villanova women's basketball history with seven…Villanova improves to 4-0 at home this season.