The number two seed Villanova Wildcats will play in the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals on Sunday, March 6, against the sixth seeded Seton Hall Pirates. Villanova enters play with a 22-7 overall record, while Seton Hall is 20-9 on the year. Tip-off at the Mohegan Sun Arena is set for 5:30 p.m. The game can be seen live on FS1.
Villanova is making its second straight and 15th all-time appearance in the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals. In the previous 14 semifinal games, the Wildcats are 4-10. The Wildcats last won a semifinal round game in 2003.
Sunday's semifinal round game will be the third meeting of the season between Villanova and Seton Hall. The teams split the season series with Villanova winning at home on Dec. 31 by a score of 76-73 and the Pirates tallying a home win on Feb. 13 (72-60).
Maddy Siegrist scored 54 points in the two games (23 at Villanova; 31 at Seton Hall), while
Brianna Herlihy reached double figures in both contests with 17 in game one and 14 in game two.
Villanova and Seton Hall will play in the BIG EAST Tournament for the fourth time on Sunday. The Wildcats are 2-1 all-time against Seton Hall in the conference tournament.
Villanova tallied a 76-52 win over St. John's in Saturday's quarterfinal round game. Siegrist led the way in the victory with a game-high 24 points on 10-of-19 shooting. Herlihy tallied 16 points, a career-high 17 rebounds and six assists, while
Lior Garzon had 15 points. Freshman
Lucy Olsen added 13 points on a career-high tying four three-point field goals.
With a win over Seton Hall, Villanova will advance to Monday's championship game where they will take on the winner of the Connecticut/Marquette game.
