VILLANOVA, PA. – In women's basketball action on Sunday afternoon, the Villanova Wildcats tallied a convincing 82-57 win over the visiting Xavier Musketeers. With the victory, Villanova improves to 13-6 overall and 7-3 in BIG EAST play, while Xavier falls to 7-12 overall and 2-8 in league action.

Villanova took control of the game early racing to an early 13-4 lead. Junior forward Maddy Siegrist led the early charge scoring eight of the 13 points. The Wildcats would use the early momentum and lead 17-9 after one.

The Wildcats owned a 28-18 advantage midway through second quarter, when Villanova connected on three straight triples to open-up a 37-18 lead at the 2:51 mark. Siegrist buried the first two threes, before sophomore Lior Garzon drained one from the right wing. After Xavier split a pair at the line, Siegrist closed out the first half scoring on a driving lay-up in the paint. The Siegrist bucket sent the Wildcat into halftime with a 38-19 advantage.

Villanova outscored the Musketeers 11-6 over the first 3:32 of the third quarter to take a 49-25 lead. Garzon was dominant in the spurt scoring seven points including a three-ball, a 15-foot jumper and a lay-up.

The Wildcats would lead by as many as 30 and Xavier would not get within 19 the rest of the way as Villanova cruised to the win.

In the victory, Siegrist had 30 points and nine rebounds. She was 11-of-18 from the field, 4-of-8 from three-point range and 4-of-6 from the foul line. Garzon registered 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including a 5-of-10 effort from three-point range.

Xavier was paced by Nia Clark with 11 points. She was the only Musketeer in double figures.

For the game, Villanova was 28-of-62 from the field (45.2%), 13-of-32 from three-point range (40.6%) and 13-of-22 from the foul line (59.1%), while Xavier shot 38.9 percent from the floor (21-of-54), 37.5 percent from long distance (3-of-8) and 70.6 percent from the charity stripe (12-of-17). Villanova owned a 41-27 advantage on the backboards. The Wildcats committed just eight turnovers.

Villanova returns to action on Friday, Feb. 4, when the Wildcats travel to New York to take on the St. John's Red Storm. Game time is set for 2 p.m.

NOTES: Villanova has won eight straight home games and 10 of its 11 games overall…The Wildcats are now 8-2 at home this season…Villanova has won 11 straight over Xavier and lead the all-time series by a 16-1 count…The Wildcats finish the month of January with a 6-1 record…Maddy Siegrist now has 12 career games of 30 points or more, including four this season…Maddy Siegrist moves past Alex Louin and into ninth place on Villanova's all-time scoring list with 1,450 points.