VILLANOVA, PA. – In women's basketball action on Monday afternoon at the Finneran Pavilion, the Villanova Wildcats connected on 11 three-point field goals and tallied an 85-48 win over the St. John's Red Storm. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 10-2 overall and 3-0 in BIG EAST play, while St. John's falls to 11-3 on the year and a 1-2 in league action.
Villanova made 13-of-19 from the field, including a sizzling 5-of-6 from three in the opening quarter en route to a 31-12 lead after one. Seven different Wildcats scored in the game's first 10 minutes led by sophomore guard
Jasmine Bascoe with seven points.
The Red Storm connected on 6-of-12 from the field in the first quarter, but committed six turnovers that Villanova converted into nine points.
Villanova's hot shooting continued in the second quarter, as the Wildcats went 8-of-16 from the field and 4-of-6 from downtown in the second stanza.
The Wildcats scored 18 of the first 21 points of the second quarter to open-up a commanding 49-15 lead with 3:35 remaining until halftime. Villanova would finish the first half shooting 21-of-35 from the field and 9-of-12 from three-point range to lead 52-23 at the half.
Three Wildcats scored double figures in the first half, including
Jasmine Bascoe with 13,
Kelsey Joens with 12, and
Ryanne Allen with 11.
After the dominant first half, St. John's would not get within 26 in the second half and Villanova would lead by as many as 41 and cruise to the win.
Five Wildcats reached double figures in the win led by Bascoe who had a game-high 21 points. Allen finished with 13 points, while Joens had 12 points.
Denae Carter and
Brynn McCurry added 10 points each. Bascoe also dished out a career-high nine assists, while Carter pulled-down a game-high nine rebounds.
St. John's was paced by Shaulana Wagner and Brooke Moore who had 11 points each.
For the game, Villanova shot 50.7 percent from the field (34-of-67), 52.4 percent from three-point range (11-of-21) and 54.5 percent from the foul line (6-of-11), while the Red Storm shot 42.9 percent from the floor (21-of-49), 13.3 percent from long distance (2-of-15) and 44.4 percent from the charity stripe (4-of-9). The Wildcats owned a 41-25 advantage on the backboards.
Villanova will return to action on Dec. 29 with a road game at DePaul.
