CINCINNATI, OHIO – In women's basketball action on Sunday afternoon, the Villanova Wildcats closed out the 2021-22 regular season with a 58-49 win at the Xavier Musketeers. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 21-7 overall and 15-4 in BIG EAST play, while Xavier falls to 9-19 overall and 4-15 in league play.
The win gives Villanova the No. 2 seed in next weekend's BIG EAST Tournament. The Wildcats will play on Saturday, March 5, at 7 p.m., in the quarterfinal round at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Villanova will play the winner of the No. 7 vs. No. 10 seed. St. John's is locked in as the seventh seed, while the 10 seed will either be Xavier or Georgetown.
Both teams struggled to get things going offensively in the first half. Villanova was just 9-of-35 from the floor in the opening 20 minutes for 25.7 percent, while Xavier was 7-of-20 for 35.0 percent to go with nine first half turnovers. A short jumper by Brianna Herlihy just before the first half buzzer sent Villanova to intermission with a 24-22 lead.
The Wildcats started the third quarter on a 9-1 run to open-up a 33-23 advantage. Junior forward Maddy Siegrist had four points in the early spurt, while Herlihy drained a three and junior guard Brooke Mullin scored on a lay-up.
Villanova led 38-29 midway through the third quarter when Xavier closed the quarter on an 8-0 run to cut the Wildcat advantage to 38-37 after three. Shaila Beeler led the Musketeer charge with four points on two acrobatic driving lay-ups. The Xavier defense was outstanding over the last 4:01 of the third holding the Wildcats scoreless.
Two Herlihy free throws on the first possession of the fourth quarter gave Villanova a 40-37 lead, before Xavier scored seven of the game's next eight points to take a 44-40 advantage with 7:04 remaining in regulation.
With all the momentum on the Musketeer side, Siegrist took over the game for the Wildcats scoring nine straight points to give her team a 49-44 lead at the 4:19 mark. The nine points included a three-ball, two post moves in the paint and two free throws.
After either team was able to score for the next 2:04, the Musketeers made it a 49-46 game with 2:15 on the clock when Ayanna Townsend scored on an offensive rebound put back. On Villanova's next possession, the Wildcats worked their offensive set to perfection and grabbed a 52-46 advantage when Mullin buried a three from the wing off a nice pass from Siegrist.
Xavier's Mackayla Scarlett split a pair at the line with 1:28 on the clock to make it a 52-47 game. Villanova then executed a deliberate possession and got a huge basket from freshman Lucy Olsen who connected on a 10-foot baseline jump shot. The Wildcats got a defensive stop and put the game away when Herlihy scored on an uncontested lay-up to give Villanova a 56-47 advantage with just 40 seconds to play.
In the win, Siegrist led the way with 26 points and 10 rebounds. Herlihy also had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds to go with four assists, two steals and two blocks. Lior Garzon was the third Wildcat in double figures with 10 points.
Xavier was paced by Townsend who had 13 points and Scarlett who finished with 11. Prenger added seven points and a game-high tying 11 rebounds.
For the game, Villanova was 21-of-61 from the field (34.4%), 7-of-24 from three-point range (29.2%) and 9-of-12 from the foul line (75.0%), while Xavier shot 37.3 percent from the floor (19-of-51), 11.1 percent from long distance (1-of-9) and 66.7 percent from the charity stripe (10-of-15).
NOTES: Villanova has now won 12 in a row over Xavier and leads the all-time series by a 17-1 count…The Wildcats finish the year with a 10-5 record in road games…Maddy Siegrist now has 11 double-doubles this year and 36 for her career…Today was the 17th, 20-point game of the year for Maddy Siegrist and 48 for her career…Maddy Siegrist went over the 1,700 career point mark in today's game and has 1,714 career points…Villanova has won 13 of its last 14 games…Lior Garzon has scored double figures in 21 of 27 games this year…Brianna Herlihy has four double-doubles on the season
