VILLANOVA, PA. – The Villanova Wildcats improved to 3-1 on the season with a 63-53 home win over the Holy Cross Crusaders on Tuesday evening. With the loss, Holy Cross falls to 2-3 on the year.
The Wildcats out scored Holy Cross by an 18-9 margin over the final five minutes of the first quarter to lead 26-14 after one period of play. Villanova was a sizzling 10-of-15 from the field, including a 3-of-5 effort from three-point range in the game's first 10 minutes. Junior guard Lucy Olsen led the way in the first stanza for the Wildcats with nine points.
After senior guard Maddie Burke drained a three from the left wing with 6:35 to play in the second quarter to give the Wildcats a 31-14 advantage, Villanova scored just three points the remainder of the period. The Crusaders took advantage of the Wildcat cold spell and finished the second quarter on a 13-3 run to slice the Villanova lead to 34-27 at intermission.
Villanova shot just 3-of-16 from the field and 2-of-10 from three in the second quarter.
Leading 45-37 at the 1:45 mark of the third quarter, Wildcat senior Bella Runyan pushed the lead back to double figures at 48-37 when she drained a three-ball from straightaway. Following a lay-up by Holy Cross forward Bronagh Power-Cassidy, Villanova's Kaitlyn Orihel scored on an offensive rebound put back and the Wildcats led 50-39.
On the game's next possession, Mary-Elizabeth Donnelly buried a triple to cut the Villanova advantage to 50-42 with 15 seconds to go. The Wildcats ended the third quarter scoring when redshirt freshman Abby Jegede scored her first career points when she connected on a three as the buzzer sounded. The Jegede triple gave Villanova a 53-42 lead after three quarters of play.
Holy Cross started the fourth quarter scoring when Janelle Allen scored on a driving lay-up to cut the Wildcat lead to single digits at 53-44. Villanova answered on the next trip down the court with a three-point field goal by Runyan. Following the Runyan trifecta Holy Cross would not get within 10 the rest of the way.
In the win, Olsen led the way with 14 points, while Runyan posted her first career double-double of 13 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Freshman Maddie Webber finished with 13 points, while junior center Christina Dalce chipped in with seven points and six rebounds.
Holy Cross was paced Power-Cassidy with 14 points.
For the game, Villanova shot 38.3 percent from the field (23-of-60), 37.0 percent from three-point range (10-of-27) and 63.6 percent from the foul line (7-of-11), while the Crusaders were 20-of-57 from the floor (35.1%), 5-of-16 from long distance (31.3%) and 8-of-10 from the charity stripe (80.0%). The Wildcats committed just eight turnovers.
Villanova returns to action on Sunday, Nov. 26, with a road game at Wake Forest. Tip-off is set for noon.
NOTES: Tonight was the first meeting between Villanova and Holy Cross since 1990…The Wildcats lead the series over the Crusaders by a 3-2 margin…Villanova is 26-2 at home over the last 28 games…Maddie Webber has tallied double figures in back-to-back games…The Villanova bench tallied 23 points in tonight's win…Brynn McCurry made her first career three-point field goal in the victory.
