PRINCETON, N.J. – In women's basketball action on Wednesday evening, the Villanova Wildcats traveled to Princeton where they lost to the Tigers by a score of 70-61. With the loss, Villanova falls to 1-1 on the year, while Princeton improves to 2-1.
Princeton led 12-7 midway through the opening quarter, when the Wildcats out scored the Tigers by a 7-4 margin the rest of the quarter to cut the Tiger lead to 16-14 after one. The Tigers controlled the paint in the early going scoring 12 of their 16 points inside.
The second quarter was a defensive battle with neither team able to open-up more than a four-point lead. Trailing 22-19 with 4:54 left until halftime, Wildcat forward Lara Edmanson scored five of the game's next seven points to tie the game at 24-24.
Each team would score four points each the rest of the way to send the game to intermission tied at 28-28.
Foul shooting kept the Wildcats in the game in the opening half. Villanova was 9-of-12 from the charity stripe in the first half, while the Tigers attempted just one free throw. Edmanson led the way at the line going 5-of-8.
Princeton used a 16-6 run over the last 4:15 of the third quarter to take a 53-43 advantage after three quarters of play. Madison St. Rose led the Tigers in the spurt with eight of the 16 points.
Villanova struggled offensively in the third stanza connecting on just 4-of-11 from the field for 36.4 percent, while Princeton was 6-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-4 from three-point range.
The Wildcats started the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run to slice the Tiger lead to 55-53. The 10 points included eight points by freshman guard Jasmine Bascoe on a three-ball, a conventional three-point play and a short jumper and a lay-up by Edmanson.
Princeton led 57-55 at the 4:50 mark, when Tigers center Parker Hill scored on a lay-up. On the game's next possession, Villanova sophomore guard Maddie Webber drained a deep three to make it a 59-58 game with 3:13 to play.
On the next possession, Princeton answered with a triple of its own on a three from the wing by Ashley Chea. Following a defensive stop, the Tigers went up 65-58 on two free throws with 56 seconds remaining.
In the loss, Webber led Villanova with a career-high 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including a 5-of-8 effort from three-point range. Bascoe finished with 19 points, while Edmanson added nine points.
Princeton was paced by Chea with 17 points and St. Rose who had 13 points.
For the game, Villanova was 18-of-50 from the field (36.0%), 7-of-21 from three (33.3%) and 18-of-21 from the foul line (85.7%), while the Tigers shot 43.4 percent from the floor (23-of-53), 50.0 percent from downtown (5-of-10) and 73.1 percent from the foul line (19-of-26). Princeton owned a 36-26 advantage on the backboards.
Villanova returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 16, with a home game versus the Columbia Lions. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
