VILLANOVA, PA. - In women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at the Finneran Pavilion, the Villanova Wildcats overcame a slow start to register a 67-52 win over the Xavier Musketeers. With the victory, Villanova improves to 11-10 overall and 5-4 in BIG EAST play, while Xavier falls to 6-14 on the year and 1-8 in league action.
Xavier dominated play in the first quarter and led 13-4 after 10 minutes of action. The Musketeers had six players score in the opening frame and went 5-of-9 from the field.
Villanova struggled on the offensive end of the floor in the first quarter, connecting on just 2-of-17 from the field and 0-for-6 from three-point range. Xavier also forced the Wildcats into five first quarter turnovers.
The Wildcats scored the first 12 points of the second quarter to take a 16-13 advantage. Freshman guard
Jasmine Bascoe led the surge, scoring 10 of the 16 points, including two three-point field goals.
After Villanova opened-up a 21-15 advantage, Xavier responded with six straight points to tie the game at 21-21. Lucia Martinez Lopez scored all six Musketeer points.
Villanova sophomore guard
Maddie Webber had a pull-up jumper and two free throws over the final 1:30 of the half to send the Wildcats to halftime with a 27-24 lead.
The Wildcats led 37-32 midway through the third period, when they went on a 12-2 run to take control of the game with a 49-34 advantage. Bascoe tallied eight of the 12 points, including the final six. Junior
Ryanne Allen added a three-ball and a driving lay-up in the spurt.
Villanova would use the run to score 29 points in the third quarter and take a 56-38 lead after three quarters of play.
A three-point field goal by
Jaliyah Green and an offensive rebound putback by
Denae Carter gave Villanova its largest lead of the game at 63-42 with 6:40 to play.
Xavier would not get within 15 the rest of the way and the Wildcats would cruise to the win.
In the victory, Bascoe led all scorers with 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting, while Webber tallied 15 points and Allen had a season-high 10 points. Carter finished with nine points and a season-best 14 rebounds.
Xavier was paced by Meri Kanerva with 10 points.
For the game, Villanova was 24-of-61 from the field (39.3%), 7-of-21 from three-point range (33.3%) and 12-of-13 from then foul line (92.3%), while Xavier shot 51.3 percent from the floor (20-of-39), 21.4 percent from downtown (3-of-14) and 81.8 percent from the charity stripe (9-of-11). Villanova forced the Musketeers into 23 turnovers.
Villanova will now be off until Sunday, Feb. 2, when the Wildcats will host the Marquette Golden Eagles.
