CHICAGO, Ill. – In women's basketball action on Sunday afternoon in Chicago, the Villanova Wildcats registered a convincing 95-64 win over the DePaul Blue Demons. With the victory, Villanova improves to 13-7 overall and 6-3 in BIG EAST play, while DePaul falls to 10-12 on the year and 2-7 in league play.
Offense was the theme in the opening period, as Villanova had five different players score en route to a 24-20 lead after one quarter of play. The Wildcats were 10-of-22 from the field and DePaul was 8-of-15 in the game's first 10 minutes.
Wildcat junior guard Lucy Olsen led the way in the first quarter with 10 points, while Katlyn Gilbert paced the Blue Demons with seven points.
Villanova led 32-30 with 6:08 to play in the second quarter, when the Wildcats went on a 12-2 run to open-up a 44-32 lead heading into intermission. Freshman Maddie Webber started the spurt with back-to-back lay-ups, before senior Bella Runyan drained a three from straight away. The other points in the run included a Runyan lay-up and a lay-up and free throw by junior Zanai Jones.
The Wildcats shot the ball extremely well in the opening half, connecting on 17-of-33 for 51.5 percent. After shooting 53.3 percent in the first quarter, the Blue Demons shot just 28.6 percent in the second stanza.
Villanova started the third quarter by scoring the first eight points on a jumper by Olsen and three-balls by Runyan and Jones to take a commanding 52-32 lead just three minutes into the second half.
Following two DePaul free throws by Kate Clarke that made it a 61-46 game late in the third quarter, Olsen connected on back-to-back jump shots to give Villanova a 65-46 advantage heading to the fourth quarter.
Villanova dominated play in the fourth period and led by as many as 35 to cruise to the win.
In the victory, Olsen led the way with 24 points, a career-high tying nine assists and six rebounds. Webber tallied 18 points, while Jones finished with career-highs of 16 points and six rebounds. Runyan was the fourth Wildcat in double figures with 10 points to go with six rebounds, five assists and three steals.
DePaul was paced by Gilbert with 12 points and Anaya Peoples who had 10 points.
For the game, Villanova was 38-of-70 from the field (54.3%), 13-of-24 from three-point range (54.2%) and 6-of-7 from the foul line (85.7%), while DePaul shot 39.3 percent from the floor (24-of-61), 26.3 percent from long distance (5-of-19) and 73.3 percent from the charity stripe (11-of-
15). The Wildcats committed just eight turnovers and owned a 37-34 advantage on the backboards.
Villanova returns home on Wednesday night to take on the No. 8 Connecticut Huskies. Game time at the Finneran Pavilion is set for 6:30 p.m.
NOTES: Villanova improves to 3-5 all-time at Wintrust Arena…Lucy Olsen now has 14 games of 20 points or more this season and 19 for her career…This was the third time this year that the Wildcats have had four players score double figures…Villanova scored 40 of its 95 points in the paint…Bella Runyan has eight steals in the last two games…The Wildcats now have nine games this season with single digit turnovers…Abby Jegede went 3-of-3 from three-point range for a career-high nine points.
