BAHAMAS – In the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament on Saturday night, the Villanova Wildcats registered a 65-57 win over the Texas A&M Aggies. The Wildcats improve to 4-1 on the year, while Texas A&M falls to 3-3.

With the win, Villanova advances to the semifinals on Sunday at 4 p.m., against the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Texas A&M dominated play in the opening quarter. The Aggies scored the first nine points of the contest and made 6-of-14 from the field in the opening 10 minutes to lead 13-4 after one.

Villanova struggled on the offensive end of the floor in the first quarter, going just 2-of-17 from the field. Sophomore guard Maddie Webber scored all four of Villanova's points on two pull-up jump shots.

The Wildcats started the second quarter on a 7-0 run to slice the Aggie advantage to 14-11. Freshman guard Jasmine Bascoe highlighted the spurt with five of the seven points.

After the Aggies scored seven of the game's next nine points to take a 21-13 lead, Villanova used a 13-6 run to close the period and send the teams to intermission with Texas A&M leading 27-26.

Villanova was much better on the offensive end in the second quarter connecting on 8-of-14 from the field and 3-of-6 from three-point range. Bascoe led the Wildcats in the first half with nine points.

The Wildcats scored the first six points of the third quarter to open-up a 32-27 lead, before the Aggies responded with seven unanswered points to grab a 34-32 advantage.

Three-point field goals by senior Kaitlyn Orihel and Maddie Burke and a lay-up by Orihel helped erase a four-point Aggie lead and give the Wildcats a 41-40 advantage. Two free throws by Webber finished the third quarter scoring and gave Villanova a 45-44 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Bascoe scored seven points over the first four minutes of the fourth quarter to help the Wildcats take a 55-50 lead with 5:58 on the clock. Following a Bascoe three-ball, the Wildcats got back-to-back defensive stops and took a 59-50 lead on driving lay-ups by Denae Carter and Burke.

A Kyndall Hunter jumper cut the Villanova lead to 61-55 at the 2:16 mark. The Wildcats then answered on the next possession when Carter scored on an uncontested lay-up. The Carter bucket put her team up eight at 63-55.

In the win, Bascoe had a game-high 15 points, while Carter tallied a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Webber finished with 12 points and Burke chipped in with 10.

The Aggies were paced by Sahara Jones with 14 points.

For the game, Villanova was 23-of-59 from the field (39.0%), 5-of-17 from three-point range (29.4%) and 14-of-18 from the foul line (77.8%), while Texas A&M shot 38.9 percent from the floor (21-of-54), 26.7 percent from long distance (4-of-15) and 78.6 percent from the charity stripe (11-of-14). Texas A&M owned a 41-28 advantage on the backboards. Villanova was charged with just seven turnovers.

NOTES: Tonight was the first all-time meeting between Villanova and Texas A&M…The double-double by Denae Carter was her first as a Wildcat…Jasmine Bascoe has scored double figures in all five games this season…Maddie Burke now has a streak of double figures in three straight games…Jasmine Bascoe dished out a game-high six assists.