UNCASVILLE, CONN. – In the semifinal round of the BIG EAST Tournament on Sunday afternoon, the Villanova Wildcats lost to the No. 1 Connecticut Huskies by a score of 84-39. With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 15-6 on the season, while the Huskies improve to 23-1.
 
The Huskies took control of the game early racing to a 7-0 lead. After a conventional three-point play by Villanova sophomore Maddy Siegrist that made it a 7-3 game, the Huskies outscored the Wildcats by an 18-7 margin the rest of the quarter to lead 25-10 after one.
 
Connecticut scored the first 17 points of the second quarter to take a commanding 42-10 lead. The Husky defense was outstanding holding Villanova scoreless for the first 8:45 of the quarter. Wildcat senior forward Brianna Herlihy ended the scoreless stretch when she connected on a three-ball that made it a 42-13 game with 1:15 remaining until halftime. Connecticut tallied the last three points of the half and went to intermission with a 45-13 advantage.
 
Cold shooting plagued the Wildcats in the opening 20 minutes, as the Wildcats were 5-of-33 from the field (15.2%) and 2-of-20 from three-point range (10.0%), while Connecticut was 17-of-30 (56.7%) and 2-of-5 (40.0%) from long distance.
 
Villanova would not get within 30 in the second half and Connecticut would cruise to the win.
 
In the loss, senior forward Sarah Mortensen led the Wildcats with 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting to go with a team-high five rebounds. Herlihy chipped in with nine points.
 
Connecticut was paced by Christyn Williams who had 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting, while Paige Bueckers tallied 18 points and eight assists. Olivia Nelson-Ododa was the third Husky in double figures with 13 points.
 
For the game, Villanova was 15-of-61 from the field (24.6%), 6-of-33 from three-point range (18.2%) and 3-of-3 from the foul line, while the Huskies shot 55.6 percent from the floor (30-of-54), 44.4 percent from behind the arc (4-of-9) and 87.0 percent from the charity stripe (20-of-23). The Huskies owned 47-24 advantage on the backboards.
 
       
NOTES: Villanova falls to 4-10 all-time in the Big East semifinal round…The Wildcats are now 2-5 versus UConn in the Big East Tournament…Villanova is 5-5 all-time as the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament…The Wildcats have made a three-point field goal in 545 straight games…Tonight was the 13^th double figure scoring game of the year for Sarah Mortensen.