OMAHA, NEB. – In women's basketball action on Sunday evening, the Villanova Wildcats traveled to Omaha where they registered a 74-64 win over the Creighton Bluejays. With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 21-5 overall and 14-3 in BIG EAST play, while Creighton falls to 12-14 on the year and 8-9 in league action.

Wildcat forward Denae Carter scored the first points of the game on an offensive rebound put back, before Creighton ran off nine straight points to take the biggest lead of the first half by either team at 9-2.

Villanova responded by scoring the next 12 points to tale a 14-9 advantage. Sophomore guard Jasmine Bascoe and freshman guard Kennedy Henry had five points each in the Wildcat spurt.  Creighton closed the period by scoring the last five points of the quarter to tie the game at 14-14 after the game's first 10 minutes.

The second quarter was closely contested with three ties, three lead changes and neither team able to lead by more than four points. Creighton was just 5-of-15 from the field in the second stanza, but four of the five field goals came from behind the arc.

Henry led Villanova in the first half with nine points and three steals, while Kennedy Townsend had 14 first half points for the Bluejays.

With the score tied at 44-44 with 3:49 to play in the third quarter, Villanova used a 10-3 run to take a 54-47 lead.  Henry had four points and two steals in the run. The seven-point advantage was the Wildcats largest of the quarter.

After neither team scored for the first 3:35 to start the fourth quarter, Henry ended the scoreless stretch when she scored on a baseline lay-up to give Villanova a 56-47 lead. The Wildcats would use the Henry bucket to propel them on 12-6 spurt to open-up a 66-53 lead with 4:02 on the clock.

Two free throws by Bluejay freshman Ava Zediker pulled Creighton within single digits at 66-57 with 3:16 to play. Villanova then put the game away when Bascoe scored six consecutive points to push Villanova's lead to 72-57 at the 2:13 mark.

Bascoe led the Wildcats in the win with 21 points to go with seven rebounds and five assists. Henry finished with 17 points and four steals, while Carter had 16 points and eight rebounds. Brynn McCurry was the fourth Wildcat in double figures with 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Creighton was paced by Townsend with 23 points and Zediker who had 15 points.

For the game, Villanova was 28-of-67 from the field (41.8%), 3-of-15 from three-point range (20.0%) and 15-of-16 from the foul line (93.8%), while Creighton shot 39.6 percent from the floor (21-of-53), 26.3 percent from behind the arc (5-of-19) and 65.4 percent from the charity stripe (17-of-26).  

Villanova returns to action on Wednesday, Feb. 18, when the No. 1 ranked Connecticut Huskies visit the Finneran Pavilion. Tip-off time is set for 7 p.m.