VILLANOVA, PA. – In BIG EAST women's basketball action on Sunday afternoon at the Finneran Pavilion, the Villanova Wildcats tallied a 74-64 win over the visiting Creighton Bluejays. With the victory, Villanova improves to 11-6 overall and 5-3 in BIG EAST play, while Creighton falls to 14-5 on the season and 9-2 in league action.
The Wildcats led 56-51 early in the fourth quarter, when Creighton ran off seven straight points to grab a 58-56 advantage at the 5:25 mark. Molly Mogensen sparked the run scoring five of the seven Bluejay points.
With momentum on the Creighton side, Villanova sophomore Bella Runyan drained a three from the left corner that ended a three-minute scoreless drought for the Wildcats and gave Villanova the lead for good at 59-58 with 5:07 to play. After junior Maddy Siegrist made one-of-two from the foul line to increase the lead to 60-58, the Wildcats got a defensive stop and went up 62-58 with 3:44 on the clock on a 15-foot jumper by sophomore Lior Garzon.
Villanova came up with another strong defensive stop and took advantage when Siegrist went two-of-two from the line to give the Wildcats a 64-58 lead. After each team made one-of-two from the line, Siegrist put the game away when she connected on a triple from straight away with 1:24 remaining. The Siegrist trifecta gave Villanova a 68-59 lead.
Siegrist would go six-for-six from the line over the final 59 seconds to seal the victory.
In the win, Siegrist registered her second consecutive double-double with 31 points and 12 rebounds, while Brianna Herlihy added 17 points and seven rebounds. Garzon finished with 15 points and seven caroms.
Creighton was paced by Emma Ronsiek with 16 points and Morgan Maly who had 12 points. Two other Bluejays reached double figures, including Tatum Rembao with 11 and Lauren Jensen who had 10.
For the game, Villanova was 22-of-51 from the field (43.1%), 9-of-21 from three (42.9%) and 21-of-24 from the foul line (87.5%), while Creighton shot 39.7 percent from the floor (25-of-63), 29.6 percent from behind the arc (8-of-27) and 6-of-10 from the charity stripe (60.0%). The Wildcats owned a 39-31 advantage on the backboards.
The Wildcats are scheduled to return to action on Friday, Jan. 28, when the Butler Bulldogs visit the Finneran Pavilion. Tip-off time is set for noon.
NOTES: Today was the 11th career 30-point game for Maddy Siegrist and third of the season…The Wildcats have won five straight at home…With her 31-point performance, Maddy Siegrist moved into 10th on Villanova's all-time scoring list with 1,397 points…The Wildcats have made at least one three-point field goal in 565 straight games…The Creighton bench out scored the Wildcat reserves by a 25-7 margin.
