HARTFORD, CONN. – In a game that featured two nationally ranked teams, the No. 5 Connecticut Huskies tallied a 63-58 win over the No. 21 Villanova Wildcats. With the victory, the Huskies improve to 20-2 overall and 12-0 in BIG EAST play, while Villanova falls to 18-4 on the season and 9-2 in league action.
The loss snaps Villanova's nine-game winning streak.
Hot shooting led Connecticut to a 25-17 lead after one quarter of play. The Huskies were 9-of-16 from the field and 6-of-6 from the foul line in the game's first 10 minutes.
Villanova scored the first seven points of the second quarter on two pull-up jumpers by sophomore Lucy Olsen and a three-point field goal by junior Maddie Burke to slice the Husky advantage to 25-24. Connecticut quickly responded by scoring eight of the game's next 10 points to open-up a 33-26 lead with 3:46 remaining until halftime.
The Wildcats scored the final four points of the half on two free throws and a 15-foot jumper by senior Maddy Siegrist to send the game to intermission with Connecticut leading 33-30. Villanova held the Huskies without a point for the final 3:46 of the second quarter.
Villanova came out of halftime and scored the first eight points to take a 38-33 advantage at the 4:36 mark. Siegrist was outstanding in the spurt scoring six of the eight points. The Wildcat defense held Connecticut without a point until the 3:33 mark of the third quarter, when Lou Lopez Senechal connected on two free throws. Going back to the second quarter the Connecticut scoreless stretch lasted 10:19.
Following a lay-up by Dorka Juhasz that cut the Villanova advantage to 40-39, the Wildcats ran off five consecutive points on a three-ball by Burke and a 10-foot jumper by Siegrist giving Villanova its largest lead of the game at 45-39. Connecticut scored the final four points of the quarter and Villanova led 45-43 after three.
Siegrist was sensational in the third scoring 10 of her team's 15 points.
The Wildcats led 52-50 midway through the fourth quarter, when the Huskies scored five straight points to grab a 55-52 lead with 3:48 to play. Villanova ended a scoreless stretch of 2:19 when Olsen made a lay-up and was fouled with 3:05 remaining. Olsen connected on the free throw and the game was tied at 55-55.
After each team failed to scored on its next possession, Connecticut took the lead for good at 58-55 on a Juhasz three-pointer from straight away at the 1:44 mark. Aaliyah Edwards increased the UConn lead to 60-55 with two free throws with 51 seconds left.
Villanova forced a turnover and made it a 60-58 game on a triple by Olsen with 21 seconds to play. After a failing to come up with a steal, the Wildcats were forced to foul Edwards with 10.2 seconds on the clock. Edwards made the first, but missed the second and Connecticut led 61-58.
The Wildcats called timeout and advanced the ball to the front court to set-up a potential game-tying three. Villanova got the ball to Siegrist who saw her three attempt blocked out of bounds. The Wildcats then inbounded the ball to Olsen whose desperation three was off target.
In the loss, Siegrist scored a game-high 25 points to go with eight rebounds. Olsen finished with 19 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Connecticut was paced by Aubrey Griffin with 19 points and Juhasz who had 16 points and seven rebounds. Edwards was the third Husky in double figures with 13 points.
For the game, Villanova was 22-of-62 from the field (35.5%), 4-of-21 from three (19.0%) and 10-of-11 from the foul line (90.9%), while Connecticut shot 42.9 percent from the floor (21-of-49), 30.0 percent from long distance (3-of-10) and 85.7 percent from the charity stripe (18-of-21). The Huskies owned a 36-33 advantage on the backboards. Villanova committed just nine turnovers.
The Wildcats return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 1, when the Marquette Golden Eagles visit the Finneran Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m.
NOTES: Maddy Siegrist became the all-time leading scorer in the history of Philadelphia Big 5 women's basketball in today's game. She past former Penn Quaker Diana Caramanico who had 2,415 points. Siegrist now has 2,439 career points…Villanova finishes the month of January with a 7-1 record…The Wildcats fall to 9-1 in road games this year…Today was the 14th double figure scoring game of the year for Lucy Olsen…Siegrist has scored 20 points or more in all 22 games this season.
