HARRISONBURG, VA. – In women's basketball action on Thursday evening, the Villanova Wildcats traveled to James Madison where they tallied a 76-67 victory. With the win, the Wildcats improve to 4-5 overall, while the Dukes fall to 3-6 on the season.
The story of the night was the return of Wildcat star forward Maddy Siegrist who came back to the line-up after missing the last six games due to an injury. Siegrist was sensational in the win with a double-double of 36 points and 17 rebounds. She was 13-of-26 from the field, 1-of-3 from three-point range and 9-of-14 from the foul line.
After tonight's performance, Siegrist now has eight career games of 30 points or more and 25 double-doubles in 57 career contests.
Siegrist and sophomore Lior Garzon helped the Wildcats to a 42-33 halftime lead. In the first half, Siegrist and Garzon combined to score 29 of the team's 42 points with Siegrist tallying 19 points and Garzon 10. Villanova shot the ball well in the opening two quarters connecting on 17-of-36 for 47.2 percent and 6-of-16 from three for 37.5 percent. The Dukes were 10-of-27 for 37.0 percent and 1-of-6 for 16.7 percent. Free throw shooting kept James Madison in the game in the opening half, as the Dukes were 12-of-15 from the charity stripe.
Following an evenly played third quarter where Villanova held a 14-13 advantage, the Wildcats entered the fourth quarter with a 56-46 lead.
Villanova scored the first five points of the final quarter on a Siegrist lay-up and a three-ball by Garzon to take its largest lead of the game at 61-46. With the Wildcats ready to run away from the Dukes, James Madison responded with a 9-0 run to cut the Villanova advantage to 61-55 with 5:05 remaining. After going scoreless for 3:58, Wildcat forward Brianna Herlihy split a pair at the line to make it a 62-55 game.
James Madison went one-of-two at the line on its next possession, before Villanova junior guard Brooke Mullin drained a huge three from the wing to increase the Wildcat lead to 65-56 at the 3:46 mark. Villanova then got back-to-back defensive stops and put the game away when Siegrist connected on two free throws with 3:04 on the clock to up the lead to 67-56.
The Dukes would not get within seven over the last three minutes and Villanova would leave Harrisonburg with the victory.
Garzon joined Siegrist in double figures with 16 points to go with four rebounds, four steals and two assists. She was 6-of-15 from the field, 3-of-10 from three and 1-of-2 from the line.
James Madison was paced by Kiki Jefferson with 25 points and nine rebounds and Jamia Hazell who added 15 points.
For the game, Villanova was 27-of-61 from the field (44.3%), 9-of-26 from three-point range (34.6%) and 13-of-22 from the foul line (59.1%), while the Dukes shot 37.7 percent from the floor (23-of-61), 14.3 percent from long distance (2-of-14) and 70.4 percent from the charity stripe (19-of-27). James Madison owned a 43-39 advantage on the backboards.
The Wildcats will return to action on Sunday, Dec. 12, when the No. 23 ranked Oregon State Beavers are set to visit the Finneran Pavilion. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
NOTES: Villanova now leads the all-time series with James Madison by a 3-1 margin…The Wildcats improve to 3-3 on the road…Villanova was credited with an assist on 21 of its 27 made field goals…James Madison never led in tonight's game…The 76 points scored by Villanova represent a season-high…Villanova tallied 20 or more points in three of the four quarters.
