UNCASVILLE, CONN. – In the semifinal round of the 2023 BIG EAST Tournament at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday evening, the No. 2 seed Villanova Wildcats tallied a 63-61 win over the 3-seed Creighton Bluejays. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 28-5 on the season, while Creighton falls to 22-8.
With the win, the Wildcats will advance to Monday night's BIG EAST championship game against the top-seeded Connecticut Huskies. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m., and the game can be seen live on FS1.
The first half went back and forth with five lead changes and three ties. Creighton was a sizzling 14-of-24 from the field in the first half for 58.3 percent, while Villanova connected on 12-of-26 for 42.9 percent. The Bluejays would use their hot shooting to take a 34-32 lead into halftime.
Wildcat senior star Maddy Siegrist was sensational in the opening half scoring 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting.
The third quarter saw five lead changes and neither team able to open-up more than a five-point advantage. Following two Siegrist free throws that gave Villanova a 47-43 lead with 2:00 to play in the third period, Creighton closed out the third quarter scoring when Morgan Maly scored on a driving lay-up. The Maly bucket sent the game to the fourth quarter with Villanova holding a 47-45 advantage.
Villanova stated the fourth quarter on a 7-2 run to take a 54-47 lead. The seven Wildcat points included a jump shot by Siegrist, a lay-up by sophomore center Christina Dalce and a three-ball from the corner from sophomore guard Kaitlyn Orihel. After Creighton scored four straight points to slice the Wildcat advantage to 54-51, Villanova responded with five consecutive points by Siegrist, including a pull-up jump shot and a three from straight away. The Siegrist triple gave the Wildcats a 59-51 lead with 3:05 remaining.
On the game's next possession, Creighton guard Lauren Jensen was fouled shooting a three with 2:39 to play. Jensen sank all three foul shots and the Bluejays were within five at 59-54. Creighton then came up with a defensive stop and cut the Villanova advantage to 59-56 at the 2:06 mark on a lay-up by Emma Ronsiek.
Following a Siegrist jumper that pushed her team's lead to 61-56, Creighton answered when Jensen buried a deep three and Villanova held a 61-59 advantage with 1:32 to go. After neither team scored on the game's next three possessions, Siegrist put Villanova up 63-59 with two free throws with 26 seconds on the clock.
Creighton missed a three-pointer and a 15-foot jumper on its next possession and Villanova appeared to have the game in hand holding a 63-59 lead with 11 seconds remaining. However, after a video review it was ruled that Dalce committed an intentional foul and Creighton was awarded two foul shots and the ball. Jensen connected on both free throws and the Wildcat lead was down to 63-61. Creighton came out of the timeout and got the ball to Jensen who penetrated the lane and misfired on a running jump shot. Siegrist grabbed the rebound with 3.2 seconds to go and called timeout to advance the ball to the front court. Creighton only had two team fouls and Villanova was able to inbound the ball three times and the clock expired.
In the win, Siegrist led the way with 37 points and 11 rebounds. She was 14-of-21 from the field, 1-of-2 from three and 8-of-9 from the free throw line. Dalce finished with nine points and nine rebounds.
Creighton was paced by Jensen who had 22 points and Ronsiek who finished with 15 points and five assists.
For the game, Villanova was 24-of-51 from the field (47.1%), 6-of-19 from three-point range (31.6%) and 9-of-11 from the foul line (81.8%), while Creighton shot 46.0 percent from the floor (23-of-50), 37.5 percent from long distance (6-of-16) and 90.0 percent from the charity stripe (9-of-10). Villanova committed just six turnovers.
NOTES: Villanova advances to back-to-back BIG EAST championship games for the first time since 1986-87…The Wildcats improve 6-10 all-time in the BIG EAST semifinals…Villanova is now 1-1 against Creighton in the BIG EAST Tournament…The Wildcats improve to 17-3 this season in games played away from home…Tonight was the 14th game this year of 30 points or more for Maddy Siegrist and the 31st of her career…Villanova has committed just 14 turnovers in the two BIG EAST Tournament games…Siegrist was one point shy of the Villanova record for points in a BIG EAST Tournament game. Helen Koskinen and Nancy Bernhardt share the mark with 38 points.
