VILLANOVA, PA. – In women's basketball action on Sunday afternoon at the Finneran Pavilion, the Villanova Wildcats opened-up the home portion of the 2023-24 schedule with a 90-62 win over the Temple Owls. With the victory, Villanova improves to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in Philadelphia Big 5 play, while Temple falls to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in City Series action.
Villanova led 20-15 after the first quarter and started the second period on a 7-0 run to take a 27-15 lead. Junior guard Lucy Olsen led the spurt by scoring five of the seven points. Senior Bella Runyan added a breakaway lay-up for the other two points.
After two free throws by Temple's Tarritonna Gary cut the Villanova advantage to 34-24 with 2:27 left in the second quarter, the Wildcats scored the last nine points of the half to take a 43-24 lead into intermission. The nine points included a three-ball and 15-foot jumper by Olsen, a lay-up by junior center Christina Dalce and a long two by junior guard Zanai Jones.
Olsen was outstanding the game's first 20 minutes scoring 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including a 4-of-5 effort from three and a 4-of-4 performance from the foul line.
Leading 53-34 with 5:30 remaining in the third quarter, Villanova used a 10-2 spurt to open-up a commanding 63-36 lead at the 3:57 mark. Junior Kaitlyn Orihel sparked the Wildcat run by scoring the first five points on a three-point field goal from the left wing and a driving lay-up. Following two Olsen free throws, freshman Maddie Webber drained a triple from straight away.
The Owls would not get within 17 in the fourth quarter and Villanova led by as many as 28 and cruise to the win.
Olsen was the story of the game for Villanova scoring 40 points on 12-of-22 shooting, including a 4-of-6 effort from three-point range. She was also 12-of-13 from the foul line. She becomes the fourth Wildcat player in school history to reach the 40-point mark. Maddy Siegrist accomplished the feat on four occasions, while Shelly Pennefather and Lisa Ortlip did it once each.
For the game, Villanova was 30-of-62 from the field (48.4%), 7-of-14 from three-point range (50.0%) and 23-of-35 from the foul line (65.7%), while Temple shot 34.7 percent from the floor (25-of-72), 16.7 percent from downtown (4-of-24) and 57.1 percent from the charity stripe (8-of-14). The Wildcats owned a 48-40 advantage on the backboards.
Webber joined Olsen in double figures with 13 points to go with six rebounds, while Dalce added seven points and a career-high 18 rebounds.
Temple was paced by Aleah Nelson with 16 points and Gary who had 12 points.
The Wildcats return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 21, when Holy Cross visits the Finneran Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
NOTES: Villanova now leads the all-time series with Temple by a 34-17 margin… Villanova is 130-41 all-time in Philadelphia Big 5 play…Villanova improves to 41-7 in its last 48 Big 5 contests…The Wildcats are 25-2 in their last 27 home games…Villanova has now made at least one three-point field goal in 621 straight games.
