Women’s team takes back command

Juli Walsh

One down, one to go.

The Villanova women’s basksetball team did what the men hope to repeat, by beating the Syracuse Orange, 62-45, Wednesday night at the Pavilion.

The ladies got a little unexpected and welcome help from senior center Jana Rediger in the win over ‘Cuse. Rediger scored 16 points, shooting 70 percent from the field in only 18 minutes.

The fourth year player had her season high for points at a most opportune time, scoring 12 to open the second half. This could mean big things, if the ‘Cats can get this kind of outstanding play from the five spot.

She got help from a selfless squad with four or more assists coming from three different players. Junior Liad Suez also came off the bench to add 11 points.

On Saturday, the Wildcats fell short against Seton Hall at the Pavilion. The final score was 53-50. In the last 1:15 of play Seton Hall scored 10 free throws to seal the victory.

Sophomore Jackie Adamshick scored a season high with 26 points. Thirteen of those points were scored in a 22-9 run in the second half. Villanova had been trailing by 16 but was able to close the gap to 43-40 with 3:11 remaining in the game.

Despite the loss, forward Kate Dessart Mager also had an impressive game. She came up big, sinking her first career three pointer with 20 seconds left in the game. This made the match 51-50.

Immediately after her basket, Villanova fouled, and the Pirates made their next two foul shots with 19 seconds remaining. This gave Villanova possession and one last chance to even out the match. Unfortunately, the ‘Cats final two shots did not fall.

“Kate really stepped up at the end, but it’s hard to win games when you get off to a bad start and don’t play up to full potential throughout the majority of the game,” teammate Katia Levitsky said.

Mager captured double digits in both scoring and rebounding, gaining 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds for the ‘Cats.

This was only the fourth game the Wildcats have lost on their home court in the last three seasons. Overall Villanova is 31-4 at the Pavilion. The team had a 15-game home winning streak until Temple broke it earlier this season.

Clarisse Garcia and Kisa Karcic agreed it was a tough loss.

“It was a tough loss, but we are focusing all of our attention on the rest of the season,” Garcia said.

“We learned from it,” Karcic added. “From now on we have to work on not falling behind in the beginning of games because you can’t always come back and win them.”

The ‘Cats (13-8, 6-4) travel to West Virginia on Saturday for a 2 p.m. game. Their next home game takes place on Feb. 19 against St. John’s at 2 p.m.