VILLANOVA, PA. – The Villanova Wildcats closed out the 2020-21 regular season on Saturday night with a 67-55 home loss to the Seton Hall Pirates. With the setback, Villanova falls to 14-5 overall and 9-5 in BIG EAST play, while Seton Hall improves to 13-6 overall and 11-5 in conference action.
 
History was made early in the first quarter, when Wildcat sophomore forward Maddy Siegrist sank two free throws just 56 seconds into the game to give her 1,000 career points. Siegrist becomes just the third player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau in two seasons and she is the fastest to accomplish the feat in 50 games. Shelley Pennefather (1983-87) tallied 1,000 career points in 52 career contests and Laura Kurz (2007-09) did it in 62 career games.
 
With the score tied at 31-31 with 7:45 remaining in the third quarter, Seton Hall went on a 9-0 run to open-up a 40-31 advantage with 5:40 on the clock. Following a conventional three-point play by Siegrist that ended the Wildcat scoreless stretch and sliced the Pirate lead to 40-34, Seton Hall answered on its next possession when Lauren Park-Lane drained a triple from the right wing and the Pirates went back-up nine at 43-34.
 
Following the Park-Laine triple, Seton Hall would control play the rest of the quarter. The Pirates pushed their lead to double figures at 54-42 when Andra Espinoza-Hunter buried a deep three just before the third quarter buzzer.
 
After Siegrist started the fourth quarter scoring by connecting on a three to make it a 54-45 game, the Wildcats went 8:02 without making a field goal until senior forward Sarah Mortensen drained a three at the 1:43 mark. The only points scored by Villanova during that stretch were free throws by Brianna Herlihy and Brooke Mullin.
 
Seton Hall would lead by as many as 14 in the fourth quarter and Villanova would not get within nine as the Pirates would earn the road win.
 
In the loss, Siegrist led the Wildcats with 27 points and 10 rebounds, while Mortensen added 11 points and nine boards.
 
The Pirates were paced by Desiree Elmore with 21 points and 16 rebounds and Park-Lane who had 20 points. Espinoza-Hunter chipped in with 16 points.
 
For the game, Villanova was 19-of-53 from the field (35.8%), 5-of-22 from three-point range (22.7%0 and 12-of-16 from the foul line (75.0%), while Seton Hall shot 35.0 percent from the floor (21-of-60), 28.6 percent from long distance (6-of-21) and 73.1 percent from the charity stripe (19-of-26). Seton Hall earned a 42-38 advantage on the backboards.
 
NOTES:  Villanova had won eight of nine versus Seton Hall before tonight's loss…The Wildcats lead the all-time series over the Pirates by a 45-24 margin…Maddy Siegrist has now tallied 20 points or more in 13 of 19 games this season and in 28 of 50 career contests…Siegrist has tallied a double-double in three of the last four games and she now has a Big East leading 10 double-doubles on the season…Tonight was the 11th double figure scoring game of the year for Sarah Mortensen.