BATON ROUGE. -- On Friday night in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, the No. 10 Villanova Wildcats fell to the No. 7 Texas Tech Lady Raiders by a score of 57-52. With the loss, the Wildcats finish the season with a 25-8 overall record, while Texas Tech improves to 26-7 on the year.
The first quarter went back and forth with neither team able to open-up more than a four-point lead. Wildcat junior guard Kelsey Joens led the way for her team in the opening frame scoring 12 of Villanova's 14 points on 4-of-4 shooting from three-point range.
Each team went 5-of-13 from the field in the first period with Villanova going 4-of-10 from behind the arc, while the Lady Raiders were 3-of-6. The extra triple helped Villanova to a 14-13 lead after one quarter of play.
The second quarter was much like the first with the largest lead by either team being a three-point advantage. A lay-up by Villanova forward Brynn McCurry gave the Wildcats a 22-19 lead midway through the quarter. Following a scoreless stretch that lasted 2:30, Texas Tech tied the game at 22-22 on a three-ball by Denae Fritz.
A jumper by Villanova sophomore guard Jasmine Bascoe gave the Wildcats a 26-24 lead with 41 seconds remaining until halftime, before Lady Raider guard Bailey Maupin connected on two free throws with 14 seconds on the clock to send the game to halftime tied at 26-26.
With the score tied at 28-28 early in the third quarter, McCurry scored five straight points on a lay-up and a conventional three-point play to take a 33-28 advantage. Following the five straight points, the Wildcats managed to score just two points over the next 5:52.
Texas Tech took advantage of the Wildcat scoreless stretch and took a 38-36 lead on a jumper Snudda Collins with 1:38 left in the third quarter. The Wildcats scored the final points of the third period on a three-point field goal by Denae Carter which gave Villanova a 41-40 advantage after three.
The Lady Raiders started the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run and grabbed a 50-43 with 4:22 to play. Fritz was the catalyst for the Texas Tech spurt with a lay-up and a three-ball from the corner. Villanova slowed the Lady Raider momentum and scored four straight points on a Bascoe jumper and a McCurry lay-up.
After the Wildcats cut the lead to three, Texas Tech answered on the next possession when Maupin buried a deep three to go up six at 53-47 with 2:46 to go.
Two Maupin free throws increased the Lady Raider advantage to 55-49 with 18 seconds to go. On the game's next possession, Bascoe connected on a three to make it a 55-52 game with 15 seconds on the clock. After Texas Tech advanced the ball to the frontcourt, the ball was inbounded to Maupin who was called for an offensive foul giving the Wildcats the ball with 12.5 seconds left.
Villanova ran on offensive set out of a timeout and got the ball to Carter who misfired on a potential game-tying three. Maupin put the game away with two free throws with five seconds on the clock.
Bascoe led the way in the loss with 21 points, while Joens had 14 points. McCurry finished with 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Maupin led Texas Tech with 17 points. Fritz finished with 13 points.
For the game, Villanova was 20-of-54 from the field (37.0%), 6-of-25 from three-point range (24.0%) and 6-of-7 from the foul line (85.7%), while Texas Tech shot 43.9 percent from the lor (18-of-41), 46.7 percent from long distance (7-of-15) and 93.3 percent from the charity stripe (14-of-15).
