UNCASVILLE, CONN—In the BIG EAST championship game on Monday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena, the Villanova Wildcats suffered a 70-40 defeat to the Connecticut Huskies. With the loss, Villanova is now 23-8 on the season, while the Huskies improve to 25-5 on the year.    
 
The Huskies started the game by scoring the first nine points and forcing an early Wildcat timeout.  Villanova responded by making three of its next four shots to make it a 13-8 game. The three Wildcats field goals were three-balls by Brianna Herlihy and Maddy Siegrist and a running one-hander by Lucy Olsen.
 
Connecticut was 53.8 percent in the opening quarter and lead 17-10 after one.
 
The Huskies scored 12 of the first 14 points of the second quarter and held Villanova to just two points over the first 6:48 to open-up a 29-12 advantage. Siegrist connected on back-to-back jumpers in the lane to make it a 29-16 game, before Connecticut scored four of the final six points of the quarter to lead 33-18 at halftime.
 
Shooting was the story in the first half with the Huskies making 14-of-25 form the field for 56.0 percent, while Villanova made just 8-of-27 for 29.6 percent.
 
After a three-ball by Herlihy cut the Connecticut led to 34-23 early in the third quarter, the Huskies went on a 13-3 run to lead 47-26 with 2:28 to play in the third stanza. Azzi Fudd and Aaliyah Edwards each had four points in the UConn spurt.
 
Lior Garzon got her first points of the game during the third quarter with a three pointer at the 5:04 mark.  Edwards would hit the final jumper of the third to put the Huskies up 49-26.
 
The Wildcats scored six quick points in the opening minutes of the final quarter.  Siegrist came down and hit a jumper in the paint to start the run.  Just seconds later the junior would head to the line and make one of two.  On UConn's next possession Siegrist stole the ball and dish it to Olsen for an open three to make it 52-32 with just over eight minutes to play. 
 
Connecticut would score the next eight points, half by Evina Westbrook, who finished the quarter with nine points.  Both Bella Runyan and Kaitlyn Orihel connected from three-point range to make the final 70-40.
 
Siegrist led Villanova in the loss with 16 points.
 
The Huskies were paced Evina Westbrook with 13 points and Edwards who had 12. Olivia Nelson-Ododa was the third player in double figures with 11 points.
 
For the game, Villanova was 16-of-50 from the field (32.0%), 7-of-23 from three-point range (30.4%) and 1-of-2 from the foul line (50.0%) while UConn shot 55.8 percent from the floor (29-of-52), 25.0 percent from behind the arc (3-of-12) and 69.2 percent from the charity stripe (9-of-13). The Huskies owned a 39-17 advantage on the backboards.      
 
NOTES: Villanova falls to 3-2 all-time in BIG EAST championship games…The Wildcats are now 2-6 against UConn in the BIG EAST Tournament...Villanova is 11-6 all-time as the two seed in the conference tournament…Brianna Herlihy tallied 30 rebounds in the three BIG EAST Tournament games.