UNVASVILLE, CONN. – In the quarterfinal round of the 2023 BIG EAST Tournament, the No. 2 seed Villanova Wildcats rallied for a thrilling 71-70 win over the No. 7 seed DePaul Blue Demons. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 27-5 on the year, while DePaul falls to 16-17.
 
The Wildcats will advance to Sunday's semifinal round at 5:30 p.m., against the winner of the Creighton/Seton Hall game.
 
Villanova led 20-14 after one quarter of play, when DePaul started the second quarter on a 14-4 run to take a 28-24 lead midway through the second period. Anaya Peoples led the Blue Demon charge with five points on a three-point field goal and a bucket in the paint.
 
The Wildcats responded to the DePaul surge with a run of their own. Villanova closed the half on a 16-4 spurt to take a 40-32 lead into halftime. Senior standout Maddy Siegrist and sophomore guard Lucy Olsen led the way with six points each in the run. Olsen's six points came on two three-point field goals and Siegrist had two jumpers and two free throws.
 
Siegrist led all scorers in the first half with 14 points.  
 
Following a Christina Dalce basket that cut the DePaul lead to 62-60 midway through the fourth quarter, the Blue Demons scored six of the game's next eight points to take a 66-60 lead with 4:22 to play. Another Dalce basket sliced the DePaul advantage to 68-64, before DePaul responded on its next possession with a basket by Aneesah Morrow that gave the Blue Demons a 70-64 advantage with 2:51 remaining.
 
After neither team scored for the next 1:18, Siegrist connected on a lay-up and Villanova trailed 70-66 at the 1:33 mark. On DePaul's next possession, Kendall Holmes was fouled on a drive to the basket. Holmes missed both free throws and the Wildcats had life. Villanova took advantage of the two missed foul shots and made it a 70-68 game when Olsen scored on a diving lay-up.
 
Villanova came up with a defensive stop and had possession with 34 seconds remaining. The Wildcats ran an offensive set to perfection and tied the game at 70-70 with 22 seconds to play when Siegrist drained a 15-foot jumper.
 
DePaul called timeout with the shot clock off to set-up a potential game winning play. With seven seconds on the clock, Peoples was fouled on a drive and sent to the line for two free throws. Peoples misfired on both foul shots and Villanova grabbed the rebound and called timeout to advance the ball to the front court.
 
Villanova got the ball to Olsen at the top of the key who drove to the basket on the left side and was fouled with seven tenths of a second to play. Olsen made the first free throw to give the Wildcats a 71-70 lead. Olsen then missed the second foul shot on purpose and time expired as the rebound was batted around.
 
In the victory, Siegrist registered a double-double with 26 points and 14 rebounds. She was 11-of-22 from the field. Olsen finished with 19 points and seven assists, while Dalce had 12 points and six caroms. Burke chipped in with 10 points.
 
DePaul was paced by Morrow who had 24 points and 17 rebounds. Holmes finished with 20 points, while Peoples registered  17 points and six rebounds.
 
For the game, Villanova was 28-of-66 from the field (42.4%), 4-of-17 from three-point range (23.5%) and 11-of-14 from the foul line (78.6%), while the Blue Demons shot 37.8 percent from the floor (28-of-74), 38.1 percent from long distance (8-of-21) and 37.5 percent from the charity stripe (6-of-16). DePaul owned a 54-36 advantage on the backboards.      
 
NOTES: Villanova improves to 37-36 all-time in the BIG EAST Tournament, including 2-1 versus DePaul…The Wildcats have won the first game in the BIG EAST Tournament in 28 of the 40 years…Villanova has won four straight over DePaul…The Wildcats improve to 12-0 when Maddie Burke scores double figures…Villanova is 18-2 in its last 20 games…Maddy Siegrist now has 53 career double-doubles and 83 career 20-point games…Lucy Olsen has scored double figures in 21 games this season…Villanova improves to 16-3 in games played away from home.