QUEENS, N.Y. – In BIG EAST women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon, the Villanova Wildcats traveled to New York where they tallied a 66-64 win over the St. John's Red Storm. With the victory, Villanova improves to 10-9 overall and 4-3 in BIG EAST play, while St. John's falls to 11-7 on the year and 1-6 in league action.
Villanova started fast, racing to an early 8-0 lead. Grad student guard Maddie Burke led the early charge with five of the Wildcats first eight points. The Red Storm then responded by scoring 11 straight points to take an 11-8 lead. Kylie Lavelle had a three and a short jumper for St. John's in the run.
The Red Storm would go 6-of-13 from the field in the first quarter and lead 13-10 after one period of play.
After Jailah Donald connected on a three-point field goal to give St. John's a 24-16 lead 4:18 to play in the first half, Villanova scored eight of the final nine points of the quarter to send the game to halftime with the Red Storm leading 25-24.
Wildcat sophomore guard Maddie Webber was outstanding in the spurt scoring all eight Villanova points on two three-point field goals and a pull-up jumper in the lane.
St. John's got a big boost from its bench in the opening half with the reserves scoring 10 of the 24 points.
Villanova made four of its first five shots of the third quarter, including three triples, to take a 35-29 advantage. Junior Ryanne Allen, freshman Jasmine Bascoe and Webber all made threes in the stretch.
St. John's came back with a 13-4 spurt to open-up a 42-39 lead. Following a timeout to slow down the Red Storm, Villanova ended the period on a 7-2 run to take a 46-44 lead after three.
A three-ball by Webber and a lay-up by Denae Carter gave the Wildcats the first five points of the fourth quarter and a 51-44 lead.
Following a jumper by Ber'Nyah Mayo that cut the Villanova lead to 53-49, neither team was able to score for the next 2:30. Carter ended the scoring drought for Villanova when she scored on a driving lay-up with 4:17 on the clock. The Wildcats got a defensive stop on the next possession and then pushed the lead to 58-49 on a deep three by Webber.
Lavelle ended a St. John's scoreless stretch that lasted over four minutes when she made a 15-foot jumper. The Lavelle basket made it a 58-51 game. On Villanova's next trip down the
court, the Wildcats ran a perfect offensive set that ended with Allen draining a three from the corner to put Villanova up by 10 at 61-51 at the 2:51 mark.
Villanova went 5-of-8 from the foul line in the final 49 seconds to seal the win.
In the victory, Webber scored a game-high 17 points, while Carter finished with 10 points. Bascoe had nine points and a career-high eight assists, while Burke had eight points. Allen finished with eight points and a career-best 10 rebounds.
St. John's was paced by Lavelle and Skye Owen with 13 points.
For the game, Villanova was 24-of-50 from the field (48.0%), 11-of-22 from three-point range (50.0%) and 7-of-13 from the foul line (53.8%), while the Red Storm shot 46.6 percent from the floor (27-of-58), 33.3 percent from downtown (5-of-15) and 71.4 percent from the charity stripe (5-of-7).
Villanova returns to action on Wednesday, Jan. 22, when the Wildcats travel to Storrs, Conn., to take on the Connecticut Huskies. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
