CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Villanova Wildcats saw their 2020-21 season come to an end on Monday night with a 77-70 loss to the Delaware Blue Hens in the quarterfinal round of the WNIT. With the loss, the Wildcats end the year at 17-7 overall, while Delaware improves to 24-4 on the season. Delaware advances to the semifinal round on Friday where they will play Rice.
The first half saw six lead changes and two ties as Villanova went to intermission with a 31-30 lead. Villanova was 11-of-24 from the field in the first half and Delaware was 12-of-34 from the floor. Freshman Lior Garzon led the Wildcats in the opening half with 10 points and five rebounds.
Delaware led 53-50 early in the fourth quarter, when the Wildcats scored five straight points on a lay-up by senior forward Sarah Mortensen and a three-ball by sophomore Brooke Mullin that gave Villanova a 55-53 advantage. The lead was short lived, as Delaware guard Tyi Skinner scored on a pull-up jumper to tie the game at 55-55.
Leading 59-58 midway through the final stanza, the Blue Hens scored four straight points to open-up a 63-58 lead at the 4:27 mark. After getting a defensive stop, Delaware increased its lead to 65-58 when Ty Battle scored on short jumper in the lane.
On Villanova's next possession, Villanova leading scorer Maddy Siegrist was called for her fifth and final foul on an offensive charge with 3:32 to play in the game.
Following two free throws by freshman Bella Runyan that sliced the Blue Hen lead to 65-60 with 2:48 remaining, Delaware scored seven of the game's next nine points to put the game away and take a 72-62 lead with 1:35 on the clock.
In the loss, Siegrist and senior forward Brianna Herlihy had 15 points each, while Mortensen and Runyan had 12 points apiece. Garzon was the fifth Wildcat in double figures with 10 points.
Delaware was paced by Skinner and Jasmine Dickey who each tallied 22 points. Battle finished with a double-double of 17 points and 14 boards.
Villanova finished the game 23-of-55 from the field (41.8%), 5-of-23 from three-point range (21.7%) and 19-of-24 from the foul line (79.2%), while Delaware shot 38.8 percent from the floor (26-of-67), 25.0 percent from long distance (3-of-12) and 81.5 percent from charity stripe (22-of-27). Delaware owned a slim 38-37 advantage on the backboards.
For their efforts in the Charlotte Regional, Siegrist and Herlihy were named to the Region's All-Tournament Team.
