VILLANOVA, PA. – The Villanova Wildcats advanced to the quarterfinal round of the WBIT on Sunday afternoon with a convincing 73-55 second round win over the visiting Virginia Cavaliers. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 20-12 on the season, while Virginia finishes the year at 16-16.
Villanova will now play host to Saint Joseph's on Thursday, March 28, in the quarterfinals. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
Junior guard Lucy Olsen got Villanova started quickly, scoring 11 of the team's first 13 points as the Wildcats raced to an early 13-4 lead. Following a slow start, Virginia closed the first quarter on a 10-4 spurt to slice the Wildcat advantage to 17-14 after one.
Olsen was outstanding in the opening quarter, scoring 14 of Villanova's 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
Wildcat freshman forward Brynn McCurry gave the Wildcats a big lift at the beginning of the second quarter, scoring eight points to help propel Villanova to a 29-18 lead midway through the second frame.
Villanova used a 12-2 run over the last 5:57 of the second quarter to take a 36-20 lead into halftime. Olsen had five points in the run, including a deep three from straightaway. McCurry also added a triple in the Villanova surge. The Wildcats made 14-of-30 from the field in the first half, including a 5-of-15 effort from three-point range, while the Cavaliers were just 8-of-26 from the floor and 1-of-8 from three.
Virginia scored eight of the first 10 points of the second half to cut the Villanova advantage to 38-28. After a timeout, Villanova responded by scoring seven of the next nine points to increase its lead to 45-30 with 5:17 remaining in the third quarter.
A lay-up by senior Bella Runyan gave Villanova its largest lead of the third quarter at 54-34, before Virginia scored five unanswered points to make it a 54-39 game entering play in the fourth quarter.
After Virginia's Camryn Taylor scored on a short jumper to start the fourth period and cut the Wildcat lead to 54-41, the Wildcats went on a decisive 9-2 run to open-up a 63-43 lead at the 6:07 mark. The nine points included two jumpers by Olsen, a lay-up by junior center Christina Dalce and a three-ball by Runyan.
Villanova would lead by as many as 24 and Virginia would not get within 18 the rest of the way.
Olsen led the way in the win with a game-high 30 points. She was 12-of-23 from the field, 2-of-6 from three and 4-of-5 from the foul line. Runyan tallied 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while McCurry added 10 points and five rebounds. Dalce was credited with six points, a game-best 15 rebounds and two blocks.
Virginia was paced by Taylor and Kymora Johnson who had 12 points each. Alexia Smith was the third Cavalier in double figures with 10 points.
For the game, Villanova was 28-of-56 from the field (50.0%), 9-of-24 from three-point range (37.5%) and 8-of-9 from the foul line (88.9%), while the Cavaliers made 20-of-62 from the floor (32.3%0, 4-of-16 from long distance (25.0%) and 11-of-14 from the charity stripe (78.6%). Villanova owned a 42-28 advantage on the backboards.
NOTES: The Wildcats are now 40-30 all-time in postseason play…Today was the first meeting with Virginia since Dec. 28, 1988, and Villanova leads the all-time series by a 3-1 count…Villanova improves to 12-4 at home this year…The Wildcats have now recorded three-straight 20-win campaigns and 23 seasons of 20 wins or more in the program's history…Lucy Olsen has 10 games of 30 points or more this year and the Wildcats are 8-2 in those 10 contests…Olsen moved past Alex Louin and into 10th place on Villanova's all-time scoring list with 1,445 points…Christina Dalce registered her 16th double figure rebounding game of the season and the 28th of her career.
