Following a tough loss to Creighton on Friday in the team’s Big East opener, Villanova came back fighting for redemption as it overpowered Providence for a 79-54 win on the road. The women’s team is now 7-2 overall with a 1-1 record in Big East conference play.

Senior forward Maddy Siegrist led the team with 29 points, nine rebounds and two assists, while sophomore guard Lucy Olsen scored 14 points with six assists for the game.

The Friars jumped out to their only lead of the game within the first minute, making two shots against the Wildcats. The lead was short lived as Siegrist and junior guard Maddie Burke erased this early deficit with three consecutive shots made beyond the arc, two from Burke and one from Siegrist, to take a 9-4 lead. 

The ‘Cats tallied 26 points to close out the first quarter making 10-of-16 field goals and 6-of-10 three-pointers while Providence went 6-of-16 from the field and 1-of-3 from three.

Within a minute of coming off the bench, freshman forward Megan Olbrys made her presence known with a crucial steal. She closed out the first half with two consecutive layups.

Siegrist dominated the first half racking up 20 points in leading the team to a 48-27 lead at the break.

Beginning the third quarter, Olbrys scored the first points with a layup and an assist to Siegrist to widen the lead to 52-27.

The Friars struggled to keep possession of the ball with five turnovers in the quarter giving the Wildcats an opportunity to add another seven points. Olbrys made another layup and Siegrist made the other along with a shot from beyond the arc in the last 30 seconds of the quarter.

For the third quarter, the ‘Cats shot 5-of-12 from the field for a respectable 42 percent.

It was a low scoring quarter for Villanova, only recording 11 points while Providence tallied 14 for its highest scoring quarter of the game. 

Sophomore guard Kaitlyn Orihel began the fourth quarter with a layup off of Siegrist’s fastbreak to increase the Wildcat’s lead to 61-41.

With 2:37 to go in the game, sophomore guard Zanai Jones put up a three to bring the score to 76-49 creating the largest lead of the game, a 27 point difference.

Junior guard Bella Runyan made the final points of the game from beyond the arc closing out the Wildcats 79-54 win.

Villanova will return home to play American University on Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 7 P.M. in the Finneran Pavilion.