SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – In women's basketball action on Sunday afternoon, the Villanova Wildcats traveled to Seton Hall where they lost to the Pirates by a score of 72-60. With the loss, Villanova falls to 17-7 overall and 11-4 in BIG EAST play, while Seton Hall improves to 13-10 overall and 8-7 in league action.
 
Villanova got off to a quick start racing to a 14-7 lead. Junior forward Maddy Siegrist led the early charge with seven points. The Wildcats held a 19-11 lead, before the Pirates scored the final four points of the quarter to make it a 19-15 game after one.
 
Leading 28-27 with 3:38 remaining in the second quarter, the Pirates closed the half on a 10-2 run to lead 38-29 at halftime. Three-point field goals by Mya Jackson and Andra Espinzoa-Hunter sparked the spurt.
 
After a Siegrist three-point field goal cut the Pirate lead to 42-35 with 7:47 remaining in the third quarter, Seton Hall scored eight straight points to take a 50-35 advantage.  Villanova answered with six straight points of its own to make it a 50-41 Seton Hall lead after three quarters of play. The six Wildcat points included a lay-up by Brooke Mullin, a three-ball by Brianna Herlihy and a free throw by Siegrist.
 
Seton Hall and Villanova traded baskets to start the fourth quarter, before Mullin drained a three from the right wing to cut the Pirate advantage to 52-46 at the 8:05 mark.  With Villanova trying to claw its way back in the game, Seton Hall went on a decisive 13-4 run to open-up a 65-50 lead with 3:05 to play in the game.  Lauren Park-Lane was dominant in the run scoring 11 of Seton Hall's 13 points.
       
In the loss, Siegrist registered her ninth double-double of the year with 31 points and 11 rebounds on 11-o-25 shooting from the field. Herlihy added 14 points, including a 4-of-9 effort from three-point range.
 
Seton Hall was paced by Park-Lane who scored a game-high 33 points and Cooks who had 18 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Andra Espinoza-Hunter was the third Pirate in double figures with 11 points to go with nine rebounds.
 
For the game, Villanova was 22-of-65 from the field (33.8%), 8-of-32 from three (25.0%) and 8-of-11 from the foul line (72.7%), while the Pirates shot 48.1 percent from the floor (26-of-54), 43.8 percent from long distance (7-of-16) and 86.7 percent from the charity stripe (13-of-15).  Seton Hall owned a 38-35 advantage on the backboards.    
 
Villanova returns to action on Sunday, Feb. 21, when the DePaul Blue Demons visit the Finneran Pavilion on Senior Day. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
 
NOTES: Maddy Siegrist became the sixth player in program history to score 1,600 points and now has 1,606 career points…Today's 31-point effort by Maddy Siegrist was her eighth 30-point game of the year and the 16th of her career…Siegrist has reached the 30-point mark in five of the last six games…Villanova had won five straight games at Seton Hall's Walsh Gymnasium before today's loss…The four threes by Brianna Herlihy is a new career-high…The Wildcats have made at least one three-point field goal in 572 consecutive games…Villanova finishes its five-game in 10 day stretch with a 4-1 record