MILWAUKEE – On Wednesday, Dec. 28, the Villanova Wildcats traveled to Milwaukee, Wisc., where they tallied a 54-52 win over the Marquette Golden Eagles. With the victory, Villanova improves to 11-3 overall and 2-1 in BIG EAST play, while Marquette falls to 9-4 on the year and 2-2 in league action.
Cold shooting was the theme to start the game, as both teams began the contest just 1-for-11 from the field over the first 6:15. Senior forward Maddy Siegrist then got hot for the Wildcats and poured in 10 first quarter points to propel Villanova to a 13-8 lead after one.
Villanova finished the opening quarter making 4-of-19 from the field and 1-of-7 from three-point range, while Marquette was 4-of-17 and 0-for-1.
After a Siegrist basket gave Villanova a 25-20 advantage with 4:27 remaining in the second quarter, the Wildcats went scoreless the rest of the half. The Golden Eagles were able to score the final five points of the quarter to send the game to intermission with Villanova leading 25-24.
Marquette started the second half on a 12-5 run to open-up a 36-30 lead midway through the third quarter. The Golden Eagles led 38-33 when Villanova finished the quarter on an 8-2 run to lead 41-40 after three. The eight Wildcat points included a three-ball by Brooke Mullin, three free throws by Maddie Burke and a jumper in the paint by Siegrist.
Sophomore guard Lucy Olsen scored seven straight Wildcat points to start the fourth quarter to give Villanova a 48-42 lead with 6:18 to play. Following the Olsen surge, Marquette responded with four consecutive points to slice the Wildcat advantage to 48-46.
Villanova led 51-48 with 2:59 on the clock, when junior Belle Runyan connected on a driving lay-up to increase her team's lead to 53-48. Neither team was able to score for the next 2:11 until Golden Eagle guard Jordan King made a 15-foot jumper to make it a 53-50 game with 48 seconds to play.
The Wildcats ran the shot clock down on the next possession and got a three from straight away from Olsen that was off target. Marquette grabbed the rebound and called a timeout to advance the ball to the front court with 19 seconds to play.
Marquette tried for a game-tying three, but Villanova played solid perimeter defense and forced the Golden Eagles to take a lay-up wit five seconds remaining. Villanova then used a timeout and advanced the ball. Out of the timeout, the Wildcats got the ball to Siegrist who was fouled immediately. Siegrist made the first free throw and missed the second to give the Wildcats a 54-52 lead with 4.8 seconds to go.
Out of timeouts, Marquette grabbed the rebound, but were unable to get a shot off as time expired.
In the win, Siegrist led Villanova with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Olsen finished with 13 points, while Burke added 12 points.
Marquette was paced by King with a game-high 23 points to go with nine rebounds. Chloe Marotta was the second Golden Eagle in double figures with 10 points.
For the game, Villanova was 19-of-61 from the field (31.1%), 7-of-23 from three (30.4%) and 9-of-13 from the foul line (69.2%), while Marquette shot 35.7 percent from the floor (20-of-56), 33.3 percent from long distance (2-of-6) and 10-of-10 from the foul line. Marquette owned a 38-36 advantage on the backboards.
The Wildcats return to action on Sunday, Jan. 1, with a BIG EAST road game at Xavier. Tip-off at the Cintas Center is set for noon.
NOTES: Villanova has won three straight over Marquette…After her 21 point performance, Maddy Siegrist now has 2,200 career points…Tonight was the 65th 20-point game of Siegrist's career…Siegrist has seven double-doubles this year and 44 for her career…Villanova improves to 6-0 on the road this season.
