VILLANOVA, Pa.—Senior forward Denae Carter (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored a career-high 21 points, sophomore guard Jasmine Bascoe (Milton, Ont.) added her 12^th 20-point game of the season and Villanova (21-6, 14-4 BIG EAST) was the first team this season to take a halftime lead against undefeated and No. 1 Connecticut (28-0, 17-0 BIG EAST) before falling by an eventual score of 83-69 at Finneran Pavilion on Wednesday night. The final score was only the second time in the last 16 contests that the Huskies' winning margin was below 30 points.
 
Carter and Bascoe both scored in double figures in the first half to help the Wildcats forge a 22-19 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 40-37 advantage at halftime. Connecticut had not trailed at the end of any quarter this season, but after leading 11-9 midway through the opening period a three-pointer by Carter with 4:52 to play in the quarter gave Villanova a 12-11 lead that it would not relinquish until just over a minute into the third quarter.
 
Bascoe flirted with a triple-double and was the only player from either team to play all 40 minutes. She finished the night with a game-high 26 points and a season-high nine rebounds to go along with seven assists and three steals. Her final points of the night came on a three-pointer with 1:19 to play and was the 100^th triple of her career. Carter tallied her first career 20-point game with 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting, including a career-high three shots from long range. She also recorded her third game of the season with at least three blocks and her fifth with at least three steals, but her first with at least three of each in the same game.
 
There were four ties and seven lead changes in a game where neither team had a run of more than seven consecutive points. The largest run was coming out of the intermission when the Huskies used a 7-0 run over 83 seconds to take a 44-40 lead with 8:22 to play in the third period. Connecticut did not take a double-digit lead for the first time until Azzi Fudd's basket with eight seconds left closed the third quarter scoring.
 
Fudd led the Huskies with 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting and Sarah Strong chipped in a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Strong departed the game with four fouls at the 5:57 mark of the third quarter and the Wildcats trailing by a narrow margin of 49-44. She reentered at the start of the fourth period and eventually scored nine straight Huskies points during the final period.
 
Freshman guard Kennedy Henry (Hockessin, Del.) added nine points and five assists for Villanova, which forced Connecticut into 18 turnovers and held the lead for all but four minutes in the first half.
 
The Wildcats play their final regular season home game this Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. against Marquette.