PHILADELPHIA, PA. – The Villanova Wildcats finished up the 2023-24 non-conference schedule on Thursday afternoon with a 74-60 win over the La Salle Explorers. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 7-5 overall and 3-1 in Philadelphia Big 5 play, while the Explorers fall to 3-8 on the year and 0-3 in City Series action.
Villanova started strong racing to a 6-0 lead with three different Wildcats connecting on a field goal in the early going. The Wildcats would use the early surge to lead 13-7 after one period of play. Offensive efficiency was the difference in the opening quarter, as the Wildcats were 6-of-13 from the field, while La Salle was just 2-of-15 and missed the first nine shots of the game.
The Wildcats scored the first seven points of the second quarter to take a 20-7 advantage. Junior center Christina Dalce led the spurt with five points on a lay-up and a conventional three-point play. Junior guard Lucy Olsen added a pull-up jump shot for the other two points.
A three-point field goal by Maddie Burke gave Villanova its largest lead of the half at 33-12 with 3:45 remaining until intermission. The Explorers out scored Villanova by an 8-4 margin over the final 2:58 of the first half to send the teams to halftime with Villanova leading 37-20.
Villanova used a 12-2 run over the first 4:04 of the third quarter to take a commanding 49-22 advantage. Olsen scored four of the 12 Villanova points and senior Maddie Burke and junior Kaitlyn Orihel added three-point field goals.
La Salle finished the third quarter on a 11-4 spurt to cut a 22-point Villanova lead to 15 at 55-40 after three quarters of play. Gabby Turco highlighted the Explorer run with five points on a three-ball and a 10-foot jump shot.
The closest that La Salle would get in the fourth quarter is 11 on three occasions and Villanova cruised to the victory.
In the win, Olsen led the way with a game-high 23 points, while Dalce had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Senior guard Bella Runyan finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
La Salle was paced by Molly Masciantonio with 15 points and Turco who had 14 points.
For the game, Villanova was 30-of-57 from the field (52.6%), 2-of-11 from three-point range (18.2%) and 12-of-16 from the foul line (75.0%), while La Salle shot 38.9 percent from the floor (21-of-54), 40.0 percent from long distance (10-of-25) and 100.0 percent from the charity stripe (8-of-8). The Wildcats owned a 38-23 advantage on the backboards.
Following a nine-day holiday break, Villanova returns to action on Dec. 30, when Xavier will visit the Finneran Pavilion for a BIG EAST contest. Tip time is set for 2 p.m.
NOTES: Villanova has won 15 straight overall La Salle and leads the all-time series by a 44-9 margin…The Wildcats improve to 132-42 all-time in Big 5 games…Villanova has won eight of its last nine Big 5 contests…With today's win the Wildcats improve to 3-4 in road games this season…Villanova went 6-5 in its non-conference schedule…The Wildcats will now play 17 straight BIG EAST games…Christina Dalce has registered a double-double in five of the last seven games…Lucy Olsen now has nine games of 20 points or more this season.
