VILLANOVA, PA. – The Villanova Wildcats suffered their first loss of the season on Tuesday night with a 90-52 setback to the No. 3 Connecticut Huskies. With the loss, Villanova falls to 7-1 overall and 2-1 in Big East Conference play, while Connecticut improves to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in league action.
A three-ball by sophomore forward Maddy Siegrist gave Villanova a 13-12 lead with 3:42 remaining in the opening quarter, before the Huskies scored the next eight points to open-up a 20-13 lead. Back-to-back conventional three-point plays by Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Evina Westbrook highlighted the Husky spurt.
Wildcat senior forward Sarah Mortensen tallied consecutive buckets to slice the Connecticut lead to 20-17. The final points of the game's first 10 minutes came on a three-ball by Christyn Williams that gave the Huskies a 23-17 lead after one.
After a three from Mortensen cut the Connecticut lead to 32-29 with 3:28 to play in the first half, the Huskies finished the quarter on a 10-0 run to take a 42-29 lead into intermission. Freshman guard Paige Bueckers led the UConn charge with seven of her team's 10 points.
Siegrist and Mortensen led the way for Villanova in the first half with Siegrist scoring 13 and Mortensen 11. Bueckers and Williams had 11 points each in the first half for the Huskies.
Connecticut took control of the game over the first 3:14 of the third quarter with a 10-2 run to take a 52-31 advantage at the 6:46 mark. Nelson-Ododa was dominant in the run with eight points. The Huskies would use the spurt to propel them to a 61-37 lead after three.
The Huskies would lead by as many as 38 and Villanova would not get within 26 in the fourth quarter as Connecticut cruised to the victory.
In the loss, Mortensen led Villanova with 17 points and nine rebounds. She was 7-of-14 from the field and 3-8 from three-point range. Siegrist finished with 15 points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists. Senior forward Brianna Herlihy added nine points and 11 rebounds.
Connecticut was paced by Bueckers and Nelson-Ododa who had 19 points each, while Williams tallied 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Westbrook was the fourth Husky in double figures with 17 points.
For the game, Villanova shot 29.0 percent from the field (20-of-69), 28.2 percent from three-point range (11-of-39) and 50.0 percent from the foul line (1-of-2), while Connecticut was 35-of-64 from the floor (54.7%), 5-of-17 from long distance (29.4%) and 15-of-21 from the charity stripe (71.4%). The Huskies owned a 47-35 advantage on the backboards.
Villanova returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 2, when the Wildcats play host to the Georgetown Hoyas. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.
NOTES: Tonight was the first game between Villanova and Connecticut since Jan. 29, 2013…The Huskies lead the all-time series by a 36-17 count…The Wildcats were credited with an assist on 19 of the 20 made field goals…Tonight was the second double figure rebound game of the year for Brianna Herlihy…The Wildcats fall to 4-1 at home this year with tonight's loss.
