As Villanova heads to the quarterfinals of the WBIT after its 73-55 win against Virginia and head into the quarterfinals, now is the right time to show some appreciation, both in the news and in the stands. The 2024 Wildcats has proved themselves more than capable of handling themselves without the help of Villanova’s all-time leading scorer Maddy Siegrist.
Olsen Fills Siegrist’s Shoes
When Siegrist left, someone on the team needed to step up to fill her offensive and defensive presence. Scoring an average of 12.4 ppg last year, junior guard Lucy Olsen was one of the frontrunners for filling in this spot, even named to the Preseason All-Big East team in October. However, no one could have predicted what she had in store for her third season as a Wildcat.
Starting off the season in November, Olsen wasted no time filling in her new role as the leading scorer for the ‘Cats, having back to back games with over twenty points. Yet, the game that solidified her as not only one of the best players in the Big East, but in the country, was her 40-point game against Temple, where Villanova had a statement 90-62 win in the Finn. In only the third game of the season, Olsen already became the fourth Wildcat in history to reach the 40-point mark, securing herself a Big East and Big 5 Player of the Week Honor.
From here, she was off to the races, averaging 23.4 ppg for the rest of the season, finishing in the third spot in the NCAA for the country’s top scorers just behind Iowa’s Caitlyn Clark and South Carolina’s Juju Watkins.
With her 10 30-point games over the season, Olsen racked up 11 Big East Weekly Honor Roll mentions and three Big-East Player of the Week titles. On a national scale, she was put on the United States Basketball Writers Association’s All-American watch list along with the best players in the country. She also received the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week award at the start of January.
By February, Olsen became the 31st player in program history to score 1,000 career points and at the end of the season held the program’s single-season scoring record for a junior with 697-plus points.
At the end of the season on senior night, Olsen gave her senior teammates a gift with her buzzer-beater shot over DePaul after the team came back in the fourth quarter for a 68-66 win. This shot also earned her the number two spot on SportsCenter’s Top Ten the following day.
Closing out her junior year season, Olsen was named to the First All Big East team and claimed the Most Improved Player Award. She was also named in the AP Honorable Mention All-American list.
Runyan and Dalce Hold Down the Defense
In the backcourt, junior forward Christina Dalce had rebounding and blocks covered, being the Big East’s second leading player in both categories with 294 rebounds and 70 blocks. With these numbers, Dalce earned the Big East Co-Defender of the Year award and was on the Big East Honorable Selection.
Besides her epic “Thriller” dance to start the season at Hoops Mania, some highlights of Dalce’s season include her double-double in the 68-62 win over Penn where she had a career-high 18 points and 17 rebounds. Throughout the season, Dalce had nine double-double games.
Senior forward Bella Runyan, on the other hand, became Villanova’s go-to defender, often guarding the toughest players on every team. After Olsen and Dalce, Runyan holds most of the second or third place positions for numbers this year, having the second-most three-pointers (31), blocks (21), steals (50) and assists (115) and the third-most rebounds (143). She was one of the top-five scorers on the team with 210 points.
Freshman Webber Fits Right In
One of the most influential developments Villanova had was freshman guard Maddie Webber’s emergence as a top scorer and offensive threat. Although the game against Temple had all eyes on Olsen, Webber made major contributions with her 13-point game as she would continue to produce more double-digits games for the ‘Cats. Despite the team’s 82-76 overtime loss to Providence, Webber scored a career-high 20 points and earned herself the title of Big East Freshman of the Week, the first time the team has had that honor since Maddy Siegrist’s freshman season. By the end of the season Webber was Villanova’s third leading scorer with 224 points and had been named to the Big East All-Freshman Team.
Next Season
With no graduate students on the team, there is a good possibility that the team will stay the same for next season, if the seniors play for a fifth year. And from the looks of this year, the sky’s the limit for what the Wildcats can do as more players continue to step into their roles.
As for now, the Wildcats are looking to keep their season alive Thursday night, as they face off against St. Joseph in the Finn.
