This Saturday, Feb. 18, No. 14 Villanova’s women’s basketball team (22-4, 13-2 Big East) will take on No. 6 UConn (22-4, 14-1 Big East) at the Finneran Pavilion. 

The Huskies gave Villanova one of its two in-conference losses and currently sit on top of the Big East.

The last time these two teams met was just three weeks ago, when Villanova traveled to Hartford and fell short to UConn, 63-58. 

In what was a closely contested matchup, the Wildcats were leading 52-50 midway through the fourth quarter, but, after trading baskets for the latter half of the quarter, the Wildcats found themselves down 61-58 with just seconds to go. 

Villanova advanced the ball up the court, trying to set up a potential game-tying three, but sophomore guard Lucy Olsen’s desperation three wasn’t enough to send the ‘Cats into overtime. 

While the loss ended their nine game winning streak and handed the Wildcats their second in-conference loss of the season, it hasn’t stopped the ‘Cats, especially the national women’s leading scorer, senior forward Maddy Siegrist, from gaining national attention. 

This past week, Siegrist’s career-high 50-point game over Seton Hall made her the all-time leading scorer in Big East conference games, and earned her the all-time Big East single game scoring record. 

As for UConn, they are led by junior forward Asliyah Edwards who averages 16.6 PPG and 8.8 rebounds, and graduate guard/forward Lou Lopez Senechal, who scores 16.1 ppg.

Despite a few Huskie heroes, Siegriest and the rest of the Wildcat squad will take their momentum into the game on Saturday, where they will use their home court advantage to clinch their first win of the season over UConn. 

In addition to in-conference play, Villanova has also achieved a spot in the top 16 NCAA Tournament reveal, which would give the ‘Cats the chance to host the first two rounds of March Madness. 

Despite their success thus far, the Wildcats need to win their last five in-conference games in order to clinch a piece of the Big East regular season title. 

This week, the ‘Cats will first take on St. John’s at the Carnesecca Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 13, before coming back to the Finn to take on UConn in what is their biggest conference game of the season. 

Tip-off for Saturday is set for 2:30 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on Fox.