ESTERO, FLA. – In the semifinal round of the Gulf Coast Showcase on Saturday evening, the No. 23 Villanova Wildcats lost a hard-fought battle to the No. 21 Baylor Bears by a score of 75-70. With the loss, Villanova falls to 5-1 on the season, while Baylor improves to 5-1 on the year.
Villanova will now play in Sunday's third place game against the loser of the Michigan/South Florida contest. Game time is set for 5 p.m., at Hertz Arena.
After a foul filled first half that saw 34 fouls called, including 21 against Villanova, the Wildcats went to halftime trailing 46-42 with three players having three fouls and five players with two. Baylor went 16-of-24 from the foul line in the first half, while Villanova was 11-of-15 from the stripe.
Baylor opened-up its biggest lead of the game at 55-47 with 3:48 remaining in the third quarter on a short jumper by Ja'MeeAsberry. With the momentum on the Bears side, Villanova responded with seven straight points to cut the lead to 55-54. The seven Wildcat points included a lay-up by sophomore center Christina Dalce, a three by junior Maddie Burke and two free throws by junior Bella Runyan.
The Bears scored five of the last seven points of the quarter to lead 60-56 after three.
Trailing 64-58 early in the fourth quarter, Villanova senior forward Maddy Siegrist scored six straight points to tie the game at 64-64 with 5:31 to play. Following the Siegrist scoring spurt there were three ties the rest of the way with the last coming on a 10-foot jumper by sophomore Lucy Olsen that evened the score at 70-70 at the 2:00 minute mark.
With 47 seconds on the clock, Runyan was called for a foul away from the ball that sent Baylor forward Caitlin Bickle to the line for two foul shots. Bickle made both to give the Bears a 72-70 advantage.
After Siegrist and Olsen both missed game-tying shots, the Wildcats came up with an offensive rebound and had possession with 17 seconds remaining. Villanova ran an out of bounds and got sophomore Kaitlyn Orihel a good look at a three-ball, but the shot was off target and Baylor controlled the rebound. Bicklethen made two free throws to seal the win for the Bears.
In the loss, Siegrist led the way with 22 points, eight rebounds and four steals, while Olsen finished with 18 points. Burke drained three triples for nine points and Dalce had four points, a game-high tying 12 rebounds and a career-high tying five blocks.
Baylor was paced by Bickle with 18 points and 12 rebounds and Jaden Owens who had 17 points.
For the game, Villanova was 25-of-61 from the field (41.0%), 4-of-22 from three (18.2%) and 16-of-20 from the free throw line (80.0%), while Baylor shot 40.0 percent from the floor (24-of-60), 50.0 percent from long distance (5-of-10) and 68.8 percent from the charity stripe (22-of-32). Baylor owned a 43-36 advantage on the backboards.
NOTES: Today was just the second all-time meeting between Baylor and Villanova (Baylor leads 2-0)…Maddy Siegrist has nine steals in the two games in the Gulf Coast Showcase…Christina Dalce has had double figure rebounding games in four of the six games this season…Maddy Siegrist now has 57 career games of 20 points or more.
