INDIANAPOLIS, IND. – The Villanova Wildcats traveled to Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon where they lost a closely contested 63-61 game to the Butler Bulldogs. With the loss, Villanova falls to 13-11 overall and 7-6 in Big East Conference play, while Butler improves to 17-6 overall and 9-3 in conference action.
The game was tied 18-18 after one, 35-35 at halftime and Villanova held a 51-50 after three quarters of play.
With the score tied 57-57 with 2:35 remaining, the Wildcats grabbed a 59-57 lead on a fast break lay-up by redshirt freshman forward Maddy Siegrist. On the game's next possession, Butler evened the game at 59-59 on a lay-up by Shay Brey.
After a Villanova turnover on its next trip down the court, Butler took a 61-59 lead with 1:20 to play on a short jumper by Naira Caceres. The Wildcats then broke the Bulldog press and senior forward Mary Gedaka pushed the ball up the court and had Siegrist open in the corner from behind the arc. As Gedaka attempted to feed Siegrist, a Butler defender tipped the ball and the Bulldogs had possession with a two point lead at the 1:11 mark.
Villanova got the stop it needed as Caceres misfired on a three, but Bulldog guard Oumou Toure came up with the offensive rebound for the Bulldogs with 39 seconds remaining. Butler ran the clock down and got the ball to leading scorer Kristen Spolyar who attempted a running one hander that hit the back of the rim. Toure was once again in the right place at the right time as she came up with a second straight offensive rebound.
Trailing 61-59 with the shot clock off, the Wildcats were forced to foul Spolyar with 5.1 seconds remaining. Spolyar stepped to the line and calmly sank both foul shots to seal the win for the Bulldogs.
In the loss, Gedaka tallied her second straight double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds and Siegrist finished with 21 points and eight rebounds. Senior forward Bridget Herlihy added nine points and six caroms.
Butler was paced by Spolyar who had 25 points, eight rebounds and six steals and Toure who registered 13 points, seven rebounds and four steals.
For the game, Villanova was 20-of-50 from the field (40.0%), 9-of-28 from three-point range (32.1%) and 12-of-13 from the foul line (92.3%), while Butler shot 36.7 percent from the floor (22-of-60), 41.7 percent from long distance (5-of-12) and 66.7 percent from the charity stripe (14-of-21). The Wildcats owned a 39-29 advantage on the backboards.
Villanova returns to action on Sunday, Feb. 16, with a game at Georgetown.
NOTES: Maddy Siegrist set the Villanova freshman record today for 20 points games by a freshman with 13…Mary Gedaka now has 12 career double-doubles, including five this season…This was the fifth time this year that Mary Gedaka and Maddy Siegrist have had 20 or more points in the same game…Today marked the 10th time this season that Mary Gedaka has played every minute of the game…Villanova falls to 3-3 in Big East road games.
