VILLANOVA, PA. – The Villanova Wildcats tallied their seventh win in the last eight games with a convincing 71-56 victory over the visiting Providence College Friars. With the win, Villanova improves to 10-6 overall and 4-3 in BIG EAST play, while Providence falls to 8-9 on the year and 3-5 in league play.
 
Villanova connected on 9-of-22 from the field, including a 3-of-5 effort from three-point range and junior forward Maddy Siegrist had nine points in the first quarter to propel the Wildcats to a 22-14 lead after one.
 
The Wildcats started the second quarter on a 10-0 run to open-up a 32-14 lead. The 10 Villanova points included two free throws and short jumper by grad forward Brianna Herlihy, a three-ball by Siegrist and a short jumper by freshman Kaitlyn Orihel.
 
After Providence scored four straight points to make it a 32-18 game, Siegrist scored five straight points on a three-pointer and two free throws to put the Wildcats back up 19 at 37-18 with 3:17 remaining in the second quarter. Villanova would go to halftime with a 40-22 advantage.
 
Providence used a 7-0 spurt to slice a 23 point deficit to 49-33 with 5:28 left in the third quarter. With momentum on the Friars side, Villanova responded by scoring nine of the game's next 10 points to take its biggest lead of the game at 58-34 at the 2:45 mark.
 
Villanova emptied its bench throughout the fourth quarter and cruised to the 71-56 win.
 
In the victory, Siegrist led the way with 25 points and 10 rebounds. She was 10-of-19 from the field, 3-of-7 from three and 2-of-2 from the foul line. Herlihy tallied nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while sophomore Lior Garzon added nine points, four rebounds and three assists. Orihel finished with eight points and five caroms.
 
The Friars were paced Kylee Sheppard with 11 points. Mary Baskerville and Alyssa Geary had eight points each.
 
For the game, Villanova was 26-of-64 from the field (40.6%), 9-of-25 from three (36.0%) and 10-of-11 from the foul line (90.9%), while Providence shot 36.2 percent from the floor (21-of-58), 28.6 percent from long distance (2-of-7) and 57.1 percent from the charity stripe (12-of-21). The Wildcats owned a 41-36 advantage on the backboards.
 
Villanova returns to action on Sunday, Jan. 23, when the Creighton Bluejays visit the Finneran Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.
 
NOTES:  Tonight was Villanova's 11th straight home win over Providence. The Friars last win at the Finneran Pavilion came on Jan. 19, 2011…Villanova has defeated Providence in 15 of the last 18 meetings between the schools and leads the all-time series by a 53-28 margin…Maddy Siegrist moved past Caroline Coyer and Wildcat head coach Denise Dillon and into 12th place on Villanova's all-time scoring list with 1,366 career points…Maddy Siegrist now has 38 career 20-point games and 28 career double-doubles…Lucy Olsen has 17 assists and just three turnovers in the last five games.