SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – The No. 11 Villanova Wildcats closed out the 2022-23 regular season on Monday night with a convincing 83-56 win at Seton Hall. With the victory, Villanova improves to 26-6 overall and 17-3 in BIG EAST play, while Seton Hall falls to 17-13 on the year and 10-10 in league play.
Villanova will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming BIG EAST Tournament. The Wildcats will play the winner of the DePaul/Providence game on Saturday, March 4, at 7 p.m., at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.
Junior guard Maddie Burke was the story in the early going for the Wildcats. Burke helped Villanova to an early 12-4 lead with two three-point field goals and a pull-up jumper in the lane. The early surge would help the Wildcats to a 19-12 lead after one quarter of play.
Offensive efficiency was the difference in the first quarter, with Villanova connecting on 7-of-13 from the field and 3-of-6 from long distance in the game's first 10 minutes. Seton Hall was just 5-of-17 and 1-of-5.
Leading 28-19 late in the second quarter, Villanova finished the period on a 10-4 run to take a 38-23 advantage into intermission. The 10 Wildcat points included a lay-up and two free throws by sophomore center Christina Dalce, four foul shots by senior forward Maddy Siegrist and a lay-up by freshman Megan Olbrys.
Villanova shot a sizzling 54.2 percent from the field in the opening half, while the Pirates connected on just 31.3 percent from the floor.
The Wildcats started the third quarter on a 19-9 run to take a 55-32 advantage midway through the third quarter. Siegrist was dominant in the spurt, scoring nine of the 19 points on a three-ball, a lay-up and two jump shots.
Siegrist was sensational in the third period scoring 16 of Villanova's 29 points on 6-of-9 shooting. The Wildcats finished the third connecting on 11-of-20 from the field to out-score the Pirates by a 29-16 margin and lead 67-39 after three.
The Pirates attempted to get back in the game and scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to cut the Wildcat advantage to 67-45. Villanova responded by scoring 13 of the game's next 16 points to take a commanding 78-48 lead.
Siegrist led the way in the win with 32 points and six rebounds. She was 10-of-16 from the field, 1-of-2 from three-point range and 11-of-11 from the free throw line. She scored 24 of her 32 points in the second half. Dalce finished with a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Burke added 12 points and five rebounds. Brooke Mullin chipped in with eight points, five rebounds and three assists.
Seton Hall was paced by Azana Baines who had 22 points. She was the lone Pirate to reach double figures.
For the game, Villanova was 29-of-58 from the field (50.0%), 6-of-20 from three-point range (30.0%) and 19-of-20 from the foul line (95.0%), while the Pirates shot 40.0 percent from the floor (24-of-60), 30.8 percent from long distance (4-of-13) and 40.0 percent from then charity stripe (4-of-10). The Wildcats owned a 38-28 advantage on the backboards.
NOTES: Villanova has won 12 of the last 15 versus Seton Hall…The Wildcats are 16-4 in their last 20 trips to Walsh Gymnasium…Villanova improves to 11-0 when Maddie Burke scores double figures…Christina Dalce now has four double-doubles this season…Villanova finishes the regular season winning 17 of its last 19 games…Maddy Siegrist has 13 games this year of 30 points or more and 30 for her career…Siegrist went over the 2,700 career point mark tonight and now has 2,712 career points…Villanova improves to 13-1 in road games this year…In two games versus Seton Hall this year, Maddy Siegrist scored 82 points and connected on 30-of-42 (.714) from the field, 5-of-8 from three-point range (.625) and 17-of-19 from the free throw line (.894).
