VILLANOVA, Pa. - Villanova welcomes the Saint Joseph's Hawks to the Finneran Pavilion on Saturday for a Big 5 women's basketball battle. The Wildcats enter play with an 8-2 overall record and a 2-0 Big 5 mark, while Saint Joseph's is 9-0 on the season and 2-0 in City Series play. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
 
The Wildcats are coming off an 83-42 home win over the American Eagles on Tuesday, Dec. 6. In the victory, Maddy Siegrist led the way with 24 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore Christina Dalce tied a career-high with 13 points. Maddie Burke finished with nine points, five rebounds and four assists. American was paced by Emily Johns with 12 points. In the win, Villanova was 31-of-59 from the field (52.5%), 7-of-21 from three-point range (33.3%) and 14-of-17 from the foul line (82.4%), while American shot 30.0 percent from the floor (15-of-50), 7.7 percent from long distance (1-of-13) and 78.6 percent from the charity stripe (11-of-14). Villanova owned a 38-26 advantage on the backboards.     
 
Saturday's game against Saint Joseph's will be the third of four Big 5 games for the Wildcats this season. Villanova is currently 2-0 in Big 5 play with wins over Penn (67-41) and Temple (74-71). The Wildcats will close out Big 5 play on Dec. 21 with a home date versus La Salle.
 
The Wildcats enter play against Saint Joseph's with an all-time Big Five record of 127-41 (.755). The 127 wins are the most victories by any Big Five women's program. Villanova is 38-7 (.844) in its last 45 games versus Philadelphia Big Five competition.
 
Villanova has won six in a row against the Hawks. Saint Joseph's last win in the series came during the 2014-15 season. In the last meeting between the teams, Villanova registered a 55-39 win in a game played at Saint Joseph's on Nov. 20, 2021.
 
Wildcat head coach Denise Dillon enters play on Saturday with a Villanova record of 49-18 and needs one victory for win number 50. Currently in her third year as the Villanova mentor, Dillon has a 49-18 (.731) record on the Main Line. Her 20-year overall coaching mark currently sits at 378-222 (.630).
 
In Tuesday's win over American, Dalce tied her career-high with 13 points. She was 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from the foul line. She also added four rebounds and three assists. For the year, she is averaging 6.9 points per game (4^th on team) and 8.1 rebounds per contest which ranks second on the team. She also has a team-high 19 blocked shots. 
 
Siegrist has reached the 20-point mark in all 10 games this season and is averaging 27.0 points per game. Her lowest point total of the season was 21 points in the season opener versus Marist and her best scoring performance of the year came in a 41-point effort against Temple.
 
Villanova is led in scoring by Siegrist with a 27.0 points per game average and rebounding at 9.5 rebounds per contest, while Lucy Olsen ranks second in scoring at 12.1 points per game. Burke has connected on a team-high 22 three-point field goals.