SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – In women's basketball action on Wednesday evening, the Villanova Wildcats traveled to Seton Hall where they tallied a 50-45 win over the Pirates. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 9-5 overall and 2-1 in BIG EAST play, while Seton Hall falls to 9-5 on the year and 1-2 in conference action.

Seton Hall led 9-5 midway through the first quarter, when the Wildcats scored nine of the final 11 points of the period to lead 14-11 after one. Freshman guard Maddie Webber gave Villanova a lift off the bench with eight first quarter points.

Following a bucket by Seton Hall's Azana Baines that cut the Villanova lead to 19-18 at the 5:36 mark of the second quarter, the Wildcats out scored the Pirates by a 7-3 margin the rest of the way to lead 26-21 at halftime.
The story of the first half was the Villanova defense that held Seton Hall to just 21 points on 10-of-30 shooting, including a 1-of-5 effort from three-point range. Villanova also kept the Pirates off the foul line in the opening half.
Villanova struggled shooting the ball in the first half, connecting on just 9-of-32 from the floor and 4-of-16 from long distance.

The Wildcats started the second half strong scoring using a 9-3 run to open-up a 35-23 advantage. Junior guard Lucy Olsen led the charge, scoring seven of the team's nine points. Seton Hall responded by scoring seven unanswered points to make it a 35-30 game. Wildcat junior guard Kaitlyn Orihel finished the third quarter scoring with a lay-up to give Villanova a 37-30 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

After two Seton Hall free throws cut the Villanova advantage to 44-37 with 4:34 to play, Webber drained a big three from straight away to put the Wildcats back up double digits at 47-37. The Pirates made one last push and ran off six straight points to make it a 47-43 game with 1:01 remaining.

Villanova ran the shot clock down on its next possession and got a good look at a three from Zanai Jones that was off target. Wildcat center Christina Dalce came up with a big offensive rebound off the miss and the Wildcats had the ball with 33 seconds left. Trailing by two possessions, Seton Hall was forced to foul Orihel with 24.1 seconds to go. Orihel made one of two and Villanova led 48-43.

The Wildcats played outstanding defense on Seton Hall's next trip down the court where they forced the Pirates into a contested three with 10 seconds on the clock. Orihel then added two free throws with 4.1 seconds to play.
In the win, Orihel led the way with 13 points and six rebounds, while Webber finished with 11 points. Olsen was the third Wildcat in double figures with 10 points. Olsen also added eight rebounds and five assists. Dalce finished with a game-high 12 rebounds.

Seton Hall was paced by Baines who recorded a game-best 21 points. She was the only Pirate in double figures.
For the game, Villanova was 17-of-57 from the field (29.8%), 7-of-24 from three-point range (29.2%) and 9-of-14 from the foul line (64.3%), while Seton Hall shot 29.8 percent from the floor (18-of-62), 29.2 percent from downtown (7-of--24) and 64.3 percent from the charity stripe (9-of-14). 

The Wildcats will now be off until Jan. 10, when the Georgetown Hoyas visit the Finneran Pavilion. Game time is set for 11:30 a.m.

NOTES: Villanova has won 13 of the last 16 meetings versus Seton Hall and leads the all-time series by a 50-25 margin…The Wildcats are 17-4 in their last 21 games at Seton Hall's Walsh Gymnasium…Christina Dalce now has nine double figure rebound games this year and 21 for her career…Tonight was the sixth double figure scoring game of the year for rookie Maddie Webber…Villanova has allowed 90 points in the last two games combined (45 vs. Xavier; 45 vs. Seton Hall).