VILLANOVA, PA. – On Senior Night at the Finneran Pavilion, the Villanova Wildcats tallied a thrilling 56-54 win over the visiting Butler Bulldogs. With the victory, Villanova improves to 17-12 overall and 11-6 in BIG EAST play, while Butler falls to 15-16 on the year and 5-13 in league action.

A turn-around jumper by Ryanne Allen gave the Wildcats an early 11-5 lead, before Butler scored the final four points of the period to make the score 11-9 Villanova after the game's first 10 minutes.

Neither team was able to get much going offensively in the opening quarter, as Villanova was 5-of-18 from the field, while Butler was just 4-of-14.

With the scored tied at 18-18 with 3:09 left in the first half, the Wildcats used a 7-1 run to take a 25-19 lead into intermission. Sophomore guard Maddie Webber started the spurt with a three-ball from straightaway. After Riley Makalusky split a pair at the foul line to make it a 21-19 game, Wildcat freshman point guard Jasmine Bascoe connected on back-to-back lay-ups over the final 40 seconds to give her team a six-point advantage at halftime.

The Wildcats finished the first half shooting 11-of-35 from the field (31.4%), while Butler was 8-of-24 (33.3%).  Villanova scored nine points off of Butler's seven first half turnovers.

Butler outscored Villanova, 13-6, to start the third quarter to erase the six-point deficit and lead 32-31. Makalusky led the Bulldog charge scoring six of the 13 points. Villanova got back-to lay-ups by Maddie Burke and Bascoe to regain the lead at 35-33.

Butler scored the final seven points of the period to lead 40-35 after three quarters. Five of the seven points came on free throws from Kilyn McGuff.

Villanova started the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run to take a 45-40 advantage. Denae Carter started the spurt with a lay-up and then the Wildcats got back-to-back three-balls from Kaitlyn Orihel and  Webber. Bascoe ended the run with a 10-foot jumper.

Butler responded to the Wildcat run by scoring five of the game's next six points to slice the Villanova lead to 46-45 with 4:52 remaining.

With Villanova leading 51-46 with 1:23 to play, Butler made it a one possession game at 51-48 when Karyn Norman connected on a 15-foot jump shot. On the game's next possession,  Allen was fouled going for an offensive rebound and was sent to the line where she made one of two and Villanova led 52-48 with 52 seconds on the clock.

The Bulldogs would not go away and cut the Villanova advantage to 52-51 on a deep triple from McGuff. Villanova ran the clock down on its next possession and went up 54-51 with 14.4 seconds to play when Bascoe drained a 15-foot jumper.

Butler then called a timeout and advanced the ball to the front court. The Bulldogs ran a sideline out of bounds play to perfection and tied the game at 54-54 on a three-pointer by Lily Zeinstra with 7.6 seconds remaining.

Villanova took a timeout of its own and got the ball to Bascoe who penetrated and took a 12-foot jumper that was off target. Allen came from the right wing, grabbed the offensive rebound and scored the game-winner on a put back with under a second remaining.

Bascoe led four Wildcats in double figures with 15 points, while Webber and Carter added 12 points each. Allen finished with 10 points and four rebounds.
Butler was paced by McGuff who scored a game-high 21 points. She was the only Bulldog to reach double figures.

For the game, Villanova was 24-of-68 from the field (35.3%), 5-of-23 from three-point range (21.7%) and 3-of-6 from the foul line (50.0%), while Butler shot 43.2 percent from the floor (19-of-44), 27.3 percent from long distance (3-of-11) and 72.2 percent from the charity stripe (13-of-18). Butler owned a 43-29 advantage on the backboards. The Wildcats were charged with just two turnovers.

Villanova will close out the 2024-25 regular season on Sunday, March 2, with a road game at Creighton. Tip-off is set for 8:30 p.m., eastern time and the game can be seen live on FS1.