VILLANOVA, Pa. – In a weekday afternoon game at the Finneran Pavilion, the Villanova Wildcats tallied a 66-55 win over the visiting DePaul Blue Demons. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 9-9 overall and 3-3 in BIG EAST play, while DePaul falls to 9-10 on the year and 4-2 in league action.
Villanova came out aggressive and raced to an early 10-5 lead. Grad student guard Maddie Burke led the early surge with five points, including a turnaround jumper and three free throws.
The Wildcats made a living at the foul line in the opening quarter going 8-of-11 from the charity stripe. Freshman Jasmine Bascoe led Villanova in the opening frame with six points.
Villanova turned in a strong defensive effort in the first quarter holding the Blue Demons to just 5-of-17 shooting and an 0-for-2 effort from three-point range.
The Wildcats led 28-22 with 3:05 to play in the second quarter, when Villanova scored six straight points to open-up its largest lead of the half at 34-22. Bascoe led the run, scoring five of the six Wildcat points.
DePaul then scored the last five points of the half on a three-ball and a driving lay-up by Shakara McCline. The McCline baskets sent the teams to intermission with Villanova leading 34-27.
Wildcat sophomore guard Maddie Webber was outstanding in the opening half with 14 points, while Bascoe had 12 points. McCline led the Blue Demons with 14 first half points.
Trailing 38-28 early in the third quarter, DePaul went on a 13-2 run to take a 43-41 lead at the 1:52 mark. Kate Clarke and Jorie Allen led the Blue Demon spurt with five points each. The Wildcats responded to the DePaul run with a spurt of their own, scoring the last seven points of the period to lead 48-43 after three. Bascoe had a short jumper and three free throws, while Bronagh Power-Cassidy scored on a lay-up to account for the seven points.
Villanova took control of the game over the first 1:15 of the fourth quarter when the Wildcats connected on three consecutive three-point field goals to take a 57-43 advantage. The three triples were made by Power-Cassidy, Ryanne Allen and Kaitlyn Orihel.
Following two free throws by Allen from DePaul that ended the Blue Demon scoring drought, Villanova got a corner triple from Orihel and a 10-foot jumper by Webber that gave the Wildcats a 62-45 lead at the 7:06 mark.
In the win, Webber and Bascoe led the Wildcats with 18 points each. Webber also grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
DePaul was paced by Allen with 20 points and McCline who had 14 points and seven rebounds.
For the game, Villanova was 22-of-50 from the field (44.0%), 7-of-22 from three-point range (31.8%) and 15-of-23 from the foul line (65.2%), while DePaul shot 31.7 percent from the floor (20-of-63), 18.8 percent from long distance (3-of-16) and 80.0 percent from the stripe (12-of-15). DePaul owned a 41-36 advantage on the backboards.
Villanova returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 18, with a road game at St. John's. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
