Despite a 25-point showing from senior forward Maddy Siegrist, No. 25 Villanova lost to No. 13 Creighton, 67-46. The loss drops the ‘Cats to 6-2 overall and 0-1 in Big East play. 

Outside of the first quarter, the Wildcats could not find an offensive rhythm, and as a result they were outscored 58-27 in the final three quarters. 

“We played 10 players, we got everybody in the game,” Villanova head coach Denise Dillon said postgame. “Everybody had an opportunity. We were just trying to find a little bit of rhythm, trying to find somebody who felt they could knock down a shot for us or get a shot for somebody else. But it just didn’t go our way.”

Siegrist led the team with 25 points and eight rebounds. Villanova’s second leading scorer was sophomore forward Christina Dalce, who had nine points and nine rebounds. Three Bluejays entered double-figure scoring on the night. Junior guard Molly Mogensen had 22 points and five rebounds, junior guard Morgan Maly had 16 points and seven rebounds and junior forward Emma Ronsiek had 14 points and four rebounds.

The ‘Cats shot poorly from the floor, shooting 28% from the field and just 8% from downtown.

“Our offense stalled,” Dillon said. “The ball was dying in people’s hands instead of the continued movement. Our greatest strength on the offensive end is movement. But we found people just in spots, settling for first pass shot because they were open but their scheme did not change.”

The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair early, but a 15-2 Villanova run over the last 5:15 of the quarter gave the ‘Cats a 10 point lead headed into the second quarter. Siegrist had 12 of the Wildcats’ 19 points in the frame. With her 11th and 12th points of the quarter, Siegrist passed Nancy Bernhardt for second on the program’s all-time leading scoring list. 

The second quarter proved to be an issue for the ‘Cats, as they were outscored 17-8 by the Bluejays, cutting that 10 point lead to one going into the half. The ‘Cats did effective work in defending the Bluejays’ leading scorer in Jensen, who was held to zero points in the half, but Ronsiek and Mogensen both put up double figures, Mogensen with 12 and Ronsiek with 11. 

“They just stayed on point with what they do, and we faltered a bit with missing shots and then our defense started letting up and then it just carried into that third quarter,” Dillon said. “Where, again, shots didn’t fall for us.”

At the half, players not named Siegrist, Ronsiek or Mogensen had scored a combined total of 14 points. Siegrist finished the half with 16 on 7-12 shooting. Three other Wildcats had three points in the half.

The second half was more of the same from the Bluejays, with junior guard Morgan Maly and Mogensen both finding their strides, scoring 14 and 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Siegrist continued to deal with double and triple teams on offense, limiting her to just nine points in the second half. The only other Wildcat to make more than one field goal was Dalce, who shot 3-of-11 from the floor. The Bluejays ran away with the game, building a lead as large as 23 in the second half.

The Wildcats’ next game is scheduled for 1 P.M. on Sunday, Dec. 4. The ‘Cats will travel to Providence to take on the Providence Friars in their second game of Big East play. The game will be televised on FloSports.