PHILADELPHIA. PA. – The Villanova Wildcats traveled into Philadelphia on Friday afternoon where they tallied a convincing 90-72 win over the Temple Owls. With the victory, Villanova improves to 3-0 on the season, while Temple falls to 0-1.
 
Villanova led 31-21 midway through the second quarter, when the Wildcats went on an 11-1 run to open-up a 42-22 advantage with 1:35 to go until intermission. Senior forward Sarah Mortensen led the charge with six of the 11 Villanova points.
 
Temple closed out the first half scoring by tallying the last six points to send the game to halftime with Villanova leading 42-28. The six Owl points included back-to-back conventional three-point plays by Kash Ayuso and Emani Mayo.
 
The forward duo of Maddy Siegrist and Mortensen led the Wildcats in the first half with Siegrist scoring 13 points and Mortensen netting 12. Villanova was 16-of-35 from the field in the opening 20 minutes for 45.7 percent, while Temple was 11-of-33 for 33.3 percent.
 
Leading 54-37 with 6:15 to play in the third quarter, Villanova closed the quarter on a 21-8 run to open-up a commanding 75-45 lead after three quarters of play. Senior forward Brianna Herlihy was outstanding in the spurt scoring eight of the 21 points.   
 
A three-point field goal by freshman forward Bella Runyan gave Villanova its biggest lead of the game at 88-55 with 4:09 remaining. Following the Runyan triple, Temple outscored the Wildcats, 17-2, the rest of the way making the final 90-72.
 
In the win, Siegrist tallied her third-straight 20-point game and third consecutive double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Herlihy registered a career-high with 22 points, while Mortensen added 18 points, a career-best nine rebounds and a career-high five assists. Sophomore guard Brooke Mullin chipped in with a career-high tying nine points.
 
Temple was paced by Mia Davis who had 22 points and Jasha Clinton with 16. Davis and Emani Mayo had seven rebounds each.
 
For the game, Villanova was 34-of-67 from the field (50.7%), 6-of-27 from three-point range (22.2%) and 16-of-23 from the foul line (69.6%), while Temple shot 40.8 percent from the floor (29-of-71), 33.3 percent from behind the arc (3-of-9) and 55.0 percent from the charity stripe (11-of-20). The Wildcats owned a 48-36 advantage on the backboards.
 
Villanova returns to action on Sunday, Dec. 6, when the Wildcats open-up Big East Conference play at St. John's. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
 
NOTES: The Wildcats improve to 32-6 in their last 38 games versus Big 5 competition…Maddy Siegrist has tallied 20 points or more in 18 of her 34 career games…Today was the 14th career double-double for Maddy Siegrist…The Wildcats were credited with an assist on 21 of the 34 made field goals…Today was the most points by a Villanova team since scoring 89 versus Georgetown in the 2013 Big East Tournament