PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Villanova Wildcats closed out the 2019-20 regular season on Sunday afternoon with a 74-63 road win over the Providence College Friars. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 17-12 overall and 11-7 in BIG EAST play, while the Friars fall to 12-18 overall and 3-15 in league action.
 
Cold shooting doomed Villanova in the first half, as the Wildcats were 10-of-34 from the floor (29.4%) and 4-of-18 from three-point range (22.2%) in the game's first 20 minutes. By comparison, Providence shot 50.0 percent from the field (14-of-28) and 71.4 percent from long distance (5-of-7) in the opening half.
 
The Friars used their hot shooting to take a 37-24 halftime lead.
 
After Providence took its largest lead of the game at 38-24 on the first possession of the third stanza, the Wildcats went on a 18-2 run to take a 42-40 lead with 3:20 to play in the quarter. Back-to-back three-balls by redshirt freshman Maddy Siegrist and junior guard Raven James jump started the Wildcat spurt. Senior forwards Mary Gedaka and Bridget Herlihy added four points each, while Siegrist drained a second triple in the run.
 
Trailing 44-42, the Friars sent the game into the fourth quarter tied at 44-44 on a lay-up by Alyssa Geary.
 
With the score tied at 47-47 with 8:31 to play, the Wildcats used a 10-4 run to open up a 57-51 advantage at the 6:05 mark. Herlihy and Gedaka accounted for all 10 points with each scoring five on a three and a lay-up. Following a 10-foot jump shot by Chanell Williams that pulled the Friars within four at 57-53, Villanova scored five straight points on a three-ball by Herlihy and a short jumper by Siegrist that increased the Wildcat lead to 62-53 with 4:25 on the clock.
 
On Providence's next possession, Friar sophomore forward Mary Baskerville scored on an offensive rebound put back to cut the Wildcat advantage to 62-55 with 4:09 remaining. Villanova answered on its next trip down the court when Gedaka drained a three from straight away to put her team up double digits at 65-55. After getting a defensive stop, Gedaka scored on an uncontested lay-up and Villanova held a 67-55 lead at the 2:57 mark.
 
Following the Gedaka basket, Providence would not get within nine the rest of the way.
 
Villanova scored 50 points in the second half, including 30 in the fourth quarter. The 30 point outburst is the most that the Wildcats scored in a quarter this season.
 
In the win, Gedaka led the Wildcats with 26 points, a career-high tying 16 rebounds, six assists and three steals. Herlihy finished with 14 points, while Siegrist added 14 points and seven rebounds. James chipped in with eight points and four assists.
 
Providence was paced Williams who had 14 points and Kaela Webb who had 12 points on four, three-point field goals.
 
For the game, Villanova was 27-of-65 from the field (41.5%), 12-of-37 from three-point range (32.4%) and 8-of-10 from the foul line (80.0%), while the Friars were 23-of-55 from the floor (41.8%), 6-of-14 from long distance (42.9%) and 11-of-13 from the charity stripe (84.6%). Villanova owned a 37-34 advantage on the backboards.
 
NOTES: Villanova now leads the all-time series with Providence by a 50-27 count and have won 28 of the last 34 versus the Friars…Mary Gedaka became just the eighth player in program history to score 1,500 career points in today's win. Gedaka moves past Adrianna Hahn and into seventh place on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,523 career points…Mary Gedaka has reached double figures in points in 14 straight games and she has 80 career double figure scoring game, including 27 this season…Today was the 11th game this year that Mary Gedaka has played every minute of the game… Harry Perretta finishes his career with 345 Big East wins. The only other Big East coaches with 300 league wins are Jim Boeheim 416, Geno Auriemna 402 and Jim Calhoun 309...Today was Harry Perretta's 50th all-time win at Providence's Alumni Hall…Maddy Siegrist has scored double figures in 27 of the 29 games this season…Villanova is now 10-2 when Bridget Herlihy scores double figures and the Wildcats have won 10 straight when Herlihy reaches double figures.