Villanova will hit the road for the second straight game on Friday afternoon, when the Wildcats travel into Philadelphia to take on the Temple Owls. The Wildcats are 2-0 on the young season, while this will be Temple's first game of the year. Tip-off is set for noon at McGonigle Hall and the game can be seen live on ESPN+.
 
The Wildcats are coming off a 63-60 road win at Quinnipiac on Sunday, Nov. 29. Sophomore forward Maddy Siegrist led the way in the win with 25 points and 10 rebounds. She was 9-of-18 from the field and 7-of-8 from the foul line. Senior Sarah Mortensen registered 16 points, while Brianna Herlihy had 10 points and seven caroms. Mackenzie DeWees led four Bobcats in double figures with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Rose Caverly and Sajada Bonner had 11 points each. Mikala Morris chipped in with 10 points. For the game, Villanova was 26-fo-59 from the field (44.1%), 2-of-16 from three-point range (12.5%) and 9-of-12 from the foul line (75.0%), while the Bobcats shot 34.5 percent from the floor (19-of-55), 38.9 percent from long distance (7-of-18) and 88.2 percent from the charity stripe (15-of-17). The Wildcats owned a 37-33 advantage on the backboards.
 
Entering play at Temple, Villanova is 31-6 in its last 37 games versus Philadelphia Big Five competition. Due to the COVID impacted season, the Temple game will not count as a Philadelphia Big 5 contest. With every Division I team allowed to play just five non-conference games and Penn not playing this year, the round robin Big 5 format is not possible for the 2020-21 season.
 
For her efforts in the first two games of the 2020-21, Siegrist has been named both the BIG EAST Player of the Week and the College Sports Madness National Player of the Week season. In victories over Rider and Quinnipiac, Siegrist averaged 26.5 points per game and 10.0 rebounds per contest, while shooting .594 from the field (22-of-37).
 
Siegrist is off to a fast start this season. She has tallied 20+ points in both games this year and she has a combined 53 points in those two contests. After scoring 28 points in the season opener versus Rider, she registered 25 points in game two at Quinnipiac. In 33 career games, Siegrist has scored 20 points or more in 17 of the 33 contests.
The Wildcats received a strong contribution from Mortensen in Sunday's road win at Quinnipiac. In 27 minutes of action, Mortensen tallied 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting (1-of-4 from three) to go with three rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. Mortensen sat out last year after transferring from the University of Miami.