CINCINNATI, OHIO – The Villanova Wildcats traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio, on Friday evening where they escaped with a 55-54 win over the Xavier Musketeers. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 13-10 overall and 7-5 in BIG EAST play.
 
Two free throws by Villanova senior forward Bridget Herlihy tied the game at 42-42 with 1:01 remaining in the third quarter, before Xavier finished the quarter on a 6-0 run to take a 48-42 advantage after three. The six Musketeer points included a three-ball by Morgan Sharps and a conventional three-point play by Aaliyah Dunham. 
 
With the game slipping away, Villanova responded by opening the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 51-48 lead. Redshirt freshman forward Maddy Siegrist was sensational in the run scoring six of the nine points, including two jumpers and a lay-up. Junior guard Raven James also connected on a deep three in the spurt.
 
The Villanova defense tightened up in the final stanza and held the Musketeers scoreless for the first 5:37 of the fourth quarter. Xavier finally broke the scoreless stretch on a 10-foot jumper by Carrie Gross with 4:23 on the clock to make it a 51-50 contest.
 
After Wildcat junior guard Cameron Onken split a pair at the line with 3:24 remaining to put Villanova up 52-50, neither team was able to score for the next 1:36.  Xavier sophomore guard Lauren Wasylson ended the scoring drought and tied the game at 52-52 on a driving lay-up at the 1:48 mark.
 
Villanova misfired on three, three-point field goals on its next possession and Xavier had the ball with the game tied with under a minute to play. The Musketeers ran an offensive set and got Gross on a drive to the basket where she was fouled in the act of shooting. Gross calmly sank both free throws and Xavier led 54-52 with 48 seconds remaining.
 
The Wildcats took a timeout and advanced the ball to the front court. James penetrated to the paint and kicked the ball to Herlihy who drained a three from straight away to give Villanova a 55-54 advantage with 33.2 seconds to play.
 
Xavier got three looks at the basket on the game's next possession, but all three were off target. On the third miss, Siegrist came up with the loose ball and was immediately fouled. Siegrist went to the charity stripe where she missed both and the Musketeers had the ball down one with 7.1 seconds to go in the front court after a timeout.
 
The Musketeers got the ball to Dunham who drove to the basket, but her shot was blocked by Siegrist with 1.8 seconds on the clock. Following a timeout by Villanova to set-up its defense, Musketeer guard Deja Ross threw up a desperation shot that was no good as time expired.
 
In the win, Siegrist led the way with a game-high 21 points and seven rebounds. Senior forward Mary Gedaka registered a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds to go with three blocks, while Herlihy had 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four blocks. Onken grabbed nine rebounds and James finished with a career-high eight assists.     
 
Xavier was paced by Dunham and Gross who had 11 points each. Sharp was the third Musketeer in double figures with 10 points. Ross grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
For the game, Villanova was 20-of-59 from the field (33.9%), 8-of-33 from three-point range (24.2%) and 7-of-11 from the foul line (63.6%), while Xavier shot 32.3 percent from the floor (20-of-62), 23.5 percent from behind the arc (4-of-17) and 83.3 percent from the charity stripe (10-of-12). Xavier owned a slight 43-42 advantage on the backboards.
 
Villanova returns to action on Sunday, Feb. 9, with a road game at Butler. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.
 
NOTES: Tonight was the 12th, 20-point game of the year for Maddy Siegrist. This ties the Villanova freshman record for 20 points games by a freshman…The Wildcats have now won nine in a row over Xavier and lead the all-time series by a 14-1 count…Mary Gedaka becomes the ninth player in program history to score 1,400 career points. She now has 1,407 career points to her credit…Mary Gedaka now has 11 career double-doubles and four on the season…Tonight was the ninth double figure scoring game of the season for Bridget Herlihy…Villanova improves to 3-2 on the road in Big East games.  
 
 
 
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