VILLANOVA, Pa.—First year guard Jasmine Bascoe (Milton, Ont.) made a driving layup with 1:54 to left in the third quarter for the first lead of the game and Villanova (1-0) overcame missing its first nine shots to surge past Wake Forest (2-1), 64-56, at Finneran Pavilion on Sunday afternoon. Bascoe's go-ahead basket was one of five lead changes in a span of less than two minutes late in the third period, but the Wildcats never trailed after she sank two free throws with 25 seconds left in the quarter.  
 
The back-and-forth finish to the third period preceded a dominant fourth quarter by Villanova, including an 11-2 run over 2:54 which stretched a two-point lead into a commanding 59-48 advantage with 3:13 to play. Fifth year guard Bronagh Power-Cassidy (Dublin, Ireland) started the run with a three-pointer and hit another triple soon after as the Wildcats seized momentum for good. A three-point play by senior guard Jaliyah Green (St. Louis, Mo.) capped the spurt and put the game out of reach of the Demon Deacons in the third-ever meeting between the teams and second in as many years.
 
Bascoe led Villanova with 18 points and five assists in her collegiate debut. She was particularly effective in the second quarter, scoring nine points on 4-of-8 shooting as the Wildcats cut into what had once been a 13-point deficit (17-4) late in the first period. Power-Cassidy chipped in 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting and accounted for three of the team's four makes from long distance. That included her eight points on 3-of-4 shooting in the fourth quarter, and she also pulled down a team-high six rebounds. Sophomore guard Maddie Webber (Bridgeville, Pa.) had 10 points.
 
Playing a Wake Forest team which already had two games under its belt this week, Villanova missed its first nine shots and fell behind 11-0 before fifth year forward Lara Edmanson (Melbourne, Australia) made a basket with 2:46 left in the first quarter. Green scored her first Wildcats points on two free throws 40 seconds later, but the Demon Deacons had their largest lead of the game at 17-4 with 1:12 remaining in the period. Junior forward Denae Carter (Philadelphia, Pa.) made a driving layup with 52 seconds to play in the quarter and Power-Cassidy trimmed the deficit to 17-8 going into the second period.
 
Carter's first basket kicked off a 9-0 run which pulled Villanova to within 17-13 and forced a Wake Forest timeout with 7:36 left in the second quarter. Bascoe almost single-handedly turned the tide scoring the final five points of that spurt. She hit a three-pointer with 8:10 to play in the period, then came away with a steal late in the shot clock on the ensuing Demon Deacons possession and made a driving fastbreak layup five seconds later. Later in the quarter, a 7-2 run narrowed the Wake Forest advantage to 25-23 at halftime.
 
Tamia Jones led the Demon Deacons with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Elise Williams scored 11 points. Wake Forest grabbed nine offensive rebounds and had a 12-5 advantage in second chance points for the day, but it wasn't enough to overcome 62 percent shooting by the Wildcats in the second half as the Villanova was an identical 8-of-13 (61.5%) from the field in both the third and fourth quarters.
 
The third quarter comeback wasn't immediate. After a basket by Demeara Hinds with 5:19 left in the period, the Demon Deacons lead stood at 36-29. Edmanson made a jumper with 4:55 remaining however, which started a 9-1 run that culminated with Bascoe's go-ahead basket just over three minutes later. In the fourth quarter, Malaya Cowles made one of two free throws with 9:26 to play which tied the score at 42-42. A steal by Wake Forest and a fastbreak basket with 6:23 left trimmed the Wildcats lead to 48-46 before Power-Cassidy's three-pointer 16 seconds later started the decisive run.
 
Villanova was one of three Division I teams which had not played its first game before Sunday. The others were Texas and Missouri State, who each played at the same time as the Wildcats on Sunday afternoon. Next up for Villanova will be a Wednesday evening contest at Princeton, followed by consecutive home games against Columbia (November 16) and Penn (November 20).
 
NOTES: Wake Forest played in Finneran Pavilion for the first time since a 53-51 win over the Wildcats in the first round of an NCAA Tournament game on March 16, 1988 … The only other meeting between the teams came last season when Villanova posted a 74-65 victory in Winston-Salem, N.C. … The loss in 1988 had been the Wildcats last NCAA Tournament home game before they hosted the first and second rounds in 2022-23 and advanced to the regional semifinals (Sweet 16) with wins over Cleveland State and Florida Gulf Coast … Villanova has won 38 of its last 44 home games.