PHILADELPHIA, PA. – In women's Big 5 action on Sunday evening at the Liacouras Center, the No. 24 Villanova Wildcats improved to 4-0 on the season and 2-0 in Big 5 play with a 74-71 win over the Temple Owls. With the loss, Temple falls to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in City Series play.
The first half went back-and forth with neither team able to gain separation. Temple had the biggest lead of the opening half at 34-29 late in the second quarter. In the game's first 20 minutes, there were eight lead changes and four ties.
Three-point shooting was the difference in the first half with Temple connecting on 5-of-12 from long distance and Villanova just 2-of-14 from behind the arc.
Wildcat senior Maddy Siegrist led the way for Villanova in the opening half with 16 points and nine rebounds. Temple's Aleah Nelson paced the Owls with 12 points.
After a Brooke Mullin jump shot cut the Temple lead to 38-35 early in the third quarter, the Owls went on a 12-3 run over the next 2:58 to increase their lead to 50-38 at the 6:42 mark.
Temple held a 52-41 advantage with 3:47 to play in the third, when Villanova ran off eight straight points to make it a 52-49 game with 1:30 on the clock. Anahi-Lee Cauley started the spurt with a 15-foot jumper, before Siegrist connected on consecutive lay-ups and sophomore guard Lucy Olsen converted a driving lay-up. The Owls answered and took the momentum back by scoring the last five points of the quarter to take a 57-49 advantage after three.
Siegrist took over the game in the fourth quarter leading the Wildcats on a 12-0 spurt to start the quarter which propelled Villanova to a 61-57 lead. Siegrist tallied eight of the 12 points in the run with Olsen and Dalce adding a bucket each. Following a basket by Tarriyonna Gary that ended the Temple scoreless stretch and made it a two-point game at 61-59, Siegrist drained a turn around jumper in the lane and two free throws to push the lead back to 65-59 with 3:12 to play.
A driving lay-up by Temple's Jasha Clinton cut the Wildcat advantage to 67-64 with 1:14 left, before Siegrist made two free throws on her team's next possession to push the lead back to five at 69-64. After each team split a pair at the line, Villanova held a 70-65 lead when Gary buried a three-ball and the Wildcat lead was down to 70-68 with 34 seconds to go.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Orihel went one-of-two from the line and Villanova got a defensive stop when Bella Runyan was fouled. Runyan connected on both foul shots to give the Wildcats a 73-68 lead with 17 seconds remaining.
Temple would not go away, as Aleah Nelson hit a three to make it a 73-71 game with 10 seconds on the clock. Villanova inbounded the ball to Siegrist who was immediately fouled. Siegrist made the first, but missed the second. Out of timeouts, Temple raced the ball down the court and Gary got off a game-tying three that was off the mark.
In the win, Siegrist tallied 41 points and 16 rebounds. She was 14-of-25 from the field, 2-of-6 from three and 11-of-14 from the foul line. Sophomore center Christina Dalce had seven points and 12 rebounds, while Mullin added seven points, a career-high eight assists and four rebounds.
Temple was paced by Gary with 23 points and Nelson who had 20 points. Gary was 7-of-9 from three-point range, while Nelson added eight assists.
For the game, Villanova was 26-of-60 from the field (43.3%), 4-of-20 from three-point range (20.0%) and 18-of-24 from the foul line (75.0%), while Temple shot 41.5 percent from the floor (26-of-60), 45.8 percent from long distance (11-of-24) and 46.2 percent from the charity stripe (6-of-13). The Wildcats owned a 46-33 advantage on the backboards.
Villanova returns to action on Friday, Nov. 25, when they take on Belmont in the first round of the three-day Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla.
NOTES: Tonight was the third 40-point game of Maddy Siegrist's career…Siegrist went over the 1,900 career point mark in the win and now has 1,931 career points…Siegrist moved past Laura Sweeney and into fifth place on Villanova's all-time rebounding list with 814 career boards…Villanova leads the all-time series over Temple by a 33-17 count…The Wildcats improve to 4-0 on the road this season…Villanova is now 127-41 all-time in Big 5 games… Siegrist scored 18 of her 41 points in the fourth quarter.
