South Orange, NJ—-The Wildcats and Pirates met for the 75th time on Wednesday evening. Villanova currently leads the all-time series now by a 50-25 margin. Villanova have now won 13 of the last 16 versus the Pirates.
Villanova Kaitlyn Orihel scored 13 points and sharpshooter Lucy Olsen poured in 10 points along with eight rebounds to help the Wildcats beat Seton Hall 50-45 at Walsh Gym.
The Wildcats extended their win streak to three games Wednesday night, Villanova needed to turn it around — and that’s exactly what they did. They started out fast and coasted the next three quarters after that.
Villanova headed into halftime with a 5-point (26-21) advantage after shooting just 28.1% from the hardwood and 25% from downtown while its top scorers in Olsen and Dalce struggled in that frame combined for just 3 of 19 attempts from the court.
If Seton Hall wants to turn their season around, they need to start scoring points, the Pirates missed too many shots around the cup last night.
“We played hard but playing hard doesn’t do us any good if you don’t make shots. The Big East is a very tough conference and if don’t figure it all out it will be a very long season for us. Seton Hall Anthony Bozzella said.
Seton Hall (9-5) tried to make it a game in the third quarter with a 7-0 run in the frame, the Wildcats (9-5) maintained their lead with a disciplined defense that allowed just two three-pointers.
Villanova improved these stats in the second half, shooting 17-for-57 from the hardwood. They also had an uncharacteristic 15 turnovers on the night, helping to keep the Pirates in the contest.
Azanna Baines was the top scorer for the Hall with 21 points.
Up Next:
Villanova will take on its third conference game of the season against Georgetown on Jan 10 (11:30 a.m.) at the Finneran Pavilion. The Hoyas (11-2, 1-1 Big East) lost to Seton Hall in their conference opener, but defeated DePaul, 66-62, on Dec. 31.
Seton Hall will travel to Indiana on Saturday to play Butler for a 2:00 PM start time.
