PHILADELPHIA PA. – The Philadelphia Big 5 today announced the 2022-23 award winners and honorees with five Villanova Wildcats earning recognition. Highlighting the list was head coach
Denise Dillon and star forward
Maddy Siegrist who earned Big 5 Coach of the Year and Player of the Year honors.
The annual Big 5 banquet is set for Monday, April 10, at The Palestra in Philadelphia. Tickets can be purchased here.
https://pennathletics.evenue.net/events/B5B.
Sophomore guard
Lucy Olsen joined Siegrist on the All-Big 5 first team, while sophomore center
Christina Dalce was named the Most Improved Player, in addition to garnering a spot on the second team. Junior guard
Maddie Burke earned Honorable Mention distinction.
Dillon led the Wildcats to a school record 30 wins with a 30-7 overall record, a 17-3 BIG EAST mark and a perfect 4-0 record in Big 5 play. Villanova advanced to the Sweet 16 for just the second time in program history as a four-seed in the Greenville Two Region. In her team's second round NCAA Tournament win over Cleveland State, Dillon registered career win number 400.
Siegrist led Villanova this season by leading the country in scoring at 29.2 points per game to go with a 9.2 rebounds per contest average. She shot 51.0 percent from the field (403-of-790), 36.1 percent from three-point range (52-of-144) and 85.8 percent from the foul line (223-of-260).
She scored 20 or more points in all 37 games this year, including 17 games of 30 points or more. The 37 consecutive 20-point game stretch is the longest streak by any women's or men's D-1 player this century. Her best effort of the season came against Seton Hall on Feb. 11 when she tallied 50 points on 20-of-26 shooting.
She became the all-time leading scorer in the history of Villanova basketball this season for both men and women and finished her illustrious career with 2,896 points. She also became the all-time leading scorer in BIG EAST Conference history for men and women with 1,693 points for regular season conference games only.
Olsen ranked second on the team in scoring with a 12.4 points per game average to with a 4.1 rebounds per contest. She led the Wildcats in assists with 163 and she finished tied for second in three-point field goals made with 52. Olsen reached double figures in 23 of the 37 games, including reaching the 20-point plateau on three occasions.
Dalce started all 37 games this past season and averaged 7.3 points per game and 7.9 rebounds per contest to go with a school record 86 blocked shots. The 86 blocks led the BIG EAST and ranked 13
th nationally. Dalce also tallied four double-doubles.
