VILLANOVA, PA. – The Villanova Wildcats improved to 5-0 on the season with a 78-52 win over the visiting La Salle Explorers. With the loss, the Explorers fall to 2-2 overall. 
 
Wildcat senior forward Brianna Herlihy led the early Wildcat charge by scoring eight points to propel Villanova to a 13-6 lead. The Explorers would score seven of the last nine points of the opening quarter and Villanova led 15-13 after one.
 
Villanova used six straight points early in the second quarter to take a 23-15 advantage. Sophomore forward Maddy Siegrist had four of the six points and freshman forward Lior Garzon added the other two. 
 
Following a 10-foot jumper by La Salle's Jordan Lewis that cut the Wildcat lead to 27-24, Villanova sophomore guard Kenzie Gardler closed out the first half scoring with a three from the left wing. The Gardler triple sent Villanova to halftime with a 30-24 advantage. 
 
Herlihy was outstanding in the first half registering 12 points, seven rebounds and five blocks.    
 
The Wildcats took control of the game over the first five minutes of the third quarter when they used a 16-2 run to open-up a 46-28 advantage at the 5:14 mark. Four different Wildcats scored in the spurt highlighted by Herlihy who had six of the 16 points. Siegrist added a conventional three-point play and a short jumper, while Gardler drained a trifecta and sophomore guard Brooke Mullin had two free throws.
 
Villanova would use the decisive run to control the rest of the quarter and lead 59-38 entering play in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats were extremely efficient offensively in the third stanza shooting 9-of-14 from the field for 64.3 percent. Villanova was also 10-of-13 from the foul line in the third.
 
La Salle would not get within 19 in the fourth quarter and Villanova would lead by as many as 27 en route to the convincing victory.
 
In the win, Siegrist scored 31 points on 11-of-19 shooting (1-of-5 from three) and an 8-of-8 effort from the foul line to go with 13 rebounds, a career-high five assists, two steals and a block. Herlihy registered a career-high for the second time in three games with 24 points, nine rebounds and a career-best six blocks. Gardler finished with a career-best 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including a 3-of-3 effort from long distance.
 
La Salle was paced by Claire Jacobs who had 16 points and a team-high seven rebounds and Molly Masciantonio who tallied 10 points.
 
For the game, Villanova was 27-of-68 from the field (39.7%), 5-of-25 from three-point range (20.0%) and 19-of-22 from the free throw line (86.4%), while La Salle shot 35.4 percent from the floor (17-of-48), 16.7 percent from long distance (2-of-12) and 76.2 percent from the charity stripe (16-of-21). The Wildcats owned a 40-36 advantage on the backboards.  Villanova committed just 10 turnovers.
 
Villanova is scheduled to return to action on Sunday, Dec. 13, when the Wildcats host the Drexel Dragons. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
 
NOTES: Villanova has won 12 straight over La Salle and lead the all-time series by a 41-9 count…The Wildcats are 33-6 in their last 39 games versus Big 5 competition…Maddy Siegrist has scored 72 points in her two career games versus La Salle for an average of 36.0 ppg…Maddy Siegrist has now registered a double-double in all five games this year and she has 16 for her career…Today was the fourth 20-point game of the year for Maddy Siegrist and 19th of her career…In her last three games, Brianna Herlihy is 22-of-42 from the field and has scored 59 points in the three contests…Villanova was credited with an assist on 19 of its 27 made field goals.