On Saturday, the Wildcats defeated St. John’s (10-2) 71-57 to give coach Denise Dillon an early Christmas present: her 100th win as head coach.
The win highlights that with the start of Big East play, it could be a competitive year with the conference wide open for any team to take. St. John’s came into the game ranked third in the Big East based on its non-conference schedule, while Villanova was eighth.
“It’s a great win,” Dillon said to the FloSports broadcast, including her and Villanova’s former head coach Harry Perretta. “Obviously all that matters is Big East play. Our team showed up this week. We tried to put in the best situations as possible to prepare for a really good St. John’s and [the team] followed through with the game plan. I was really pleased with the balanced effort.”
This victory leaves Villanova 7-6 on the season and 1-0 in the Big East.
The leading scorer for the Wildcats was freshman guard Jasmine Bascoe with 24 points. Bascoe received help from graduate guard Maddie Burke, senior forward Denae Carter, and sophomore guard Maddie Webber who each had 12 points.
Burke and Webber led the team in three-pointers, sinking three and two, respectively. Carter led the team with seven rebounds, though the other three leading scorers had six apiece.
“[Bascoe] was a great player on both ends of the floor,” Dillon said. “She had somebody in her shorts all game. It was an impressive outing by a freshman in her first Big East game.”
Bascoe started off strong for the Wildcats, scoring double-digits in the first quarter. Once Carter got into the scoring, St. John’s was forced to call a timeout after only four minutes of play.
“We like to run a motion offense but [the team] did a great read,” Dillon said. ‘I would say that [Bascoe] set the tone there. So they set the tone with spacing and getting [Bascoe] the lane. When we keep that spacing it can open up for a lot of things, inside-out action.”
The Red Storm eventually started to get on the board towardsthe end of the first quarter and into the second. The Wildcats began outsourcing scoring to Burke and Webber, which helped keep their lead.
In a combination of smart offensive decisions from Carter, Bascoe, and Webber, paired with defense that discombobulated St. John’s, Villanova went into halftime with a dominant 42-26 lead.
“The majority of the game we definitely found ourselves in the right spots, playing much better team defense than I have seen since early December from start to finish,” Dillon said.
The difference between the two teams by the half was apparent in their shooting, with Villanvoa going 70.4% for field goals, while St. John’s went half of that at St. John’s went 35.7%. The Wildcats went 60.0% from behind the arc and the Red Storm finished 36.4%.
Going into the third quarter, the Wildcats continued their momentum as they extended the lead to twenty points throughout the majority of the second half.
The biggest weak spot for the Red Storm throughout the game was that the Wildcats cut off scoring in the paint. Despite a size advantage for St. John’s, which was now forced to rely on its shooting abilities, it could not match Villanova’s production.
“We were trying to eliminate some of those transition buckets but we seemed to be a little slow getting back,” Dillon said. “But I was definitely pleased with the half-court defense.”
By the early minutes of the fourth quarter, the Wildcats were able to gain their largest lead of 24 which they held for most of the quarter. Towards the end, junior guard Ryanne Allen picked up a few minutes, as she continues to work her way back up from a preseason injury.
The Wildcats shot 52.9% from the field and 50.0% from beyond the arc, while holding the Red Storm to 33.3% from the field and 29.4% from three-point range.
Villanova will enjoy a brief holiday break before kicking off the New Year with a home game against Seton Hall on January 1 (8:30 p.m., FS1).
