On Wednesday night, Villanova sent off its six seniors with a thrilling, 56-54, win over Butler.
With junior guard Ryanne Allen’s buzzer-beater, Villanova (17-12, 11-6 Big East) defeated Butler (15-16, 5-13) to close out its last home game of the season at the Finneran Pavilion.
The Wildcats were tied with the Bulldogs, 54-54, with seven seconds left in the game.
Freshman guard Jasmine Bascoe drove to the basket for a layup off an inbound, but failed to convert the layup. Junior guard Ryanne Allen rebounded the miss and scored on a put-back with four-tenths of a second left to play.
“It feels great, especially since we lost [to Seton Hall] at the buzzer,” Allen said. “At this point in the season, a win is a win so we can just build off of this, fix up some things, and head into Creighton on a high note.”
Celebrating Senior Night, the team honored graduate students guard Bronaugh Power-Cassidy, forward Lara Edmanson, and guard Maddie Burke as well as senior guards Kaitlyn Orihel, Jaliyah Green and forward Denae Carter.
“It’s so nice to be able to get this win on senior night,” Orihel said. “Especially now that I’m a senior, I thought, ‘We’re not losing this game.’ So no matter what it took, we all stepped up at different times.”
Bascoe led scoring for the ‘Cats with 15 points and finished with a team-high four steals. Following closely behind, with 12 points each, were sophomore guard Maddie Webber and junior forward Denae Carter. The last Wildcat to break double digits was Allen, with 10 points.
“It came down to just small efforts by everybody,” Power-Cassidy said. “I’m really proud of us for pulling out the win. It’s tough when teams are going back and forth like that, but we locked in during the tough moments and were able to get it done.”
The first half of the game saw both teams struggling on offense. The Bulldogs’ defense and overall bigger presence tripped the Wildcats up for most of the half, forcing difficult outside shots. On defense, Butler outrebounded Villanova, 22-19, in the first half.
Villanova took a 25-19 lead over Butler at the half. Bascoe led the first half in scoring with nine points.
“This team, sometimes they have to feel it,” Dillon said. “If they believe in what they are capable of doing as a team and have confidence in their individual abilities, as a group, they can be really dangerous.”
The ‘Cats finished the half shooting 31.4% for field goals and 25% from behind the arc, while Butler went 33.3% for field goals and failed to make a three-pointer.
Villanova reached a low point during the third quarter, as Butler gained the lead. The Wildcats were able to come back thanks in large part to Orihel, who gave the team a much-needed three to turn the momentum around.
“I give so much to Kaitlyn Orihel who, from the start, wanted to be here at Villanova and to be part of this program,” head coach Denise Dillon said. “Orihel has really understood why we’re doing what we do. When it comes down to wanting to have a coach out on the floor, [Orihel] is that person.”
“I just have to realize that my team has a lot of confidence in myself,” Carter said. “ I think I really just need to lock in from the beginning and not let it come down until the end of the game. But my teammates trust in me and we play hard together. I think feeding off their energy really helps me”
Despite Villanova shooting just 35.3% from the field and 21.7% from behind the arc while attempting 24 more shots, Butler proved to be the more efficient shooting team, hitting 43.2% of field goals and 27.3% of their three-pointers.
The Bulldogs also dominated the boards, out-rebounding Villanova 43-29. However, Villanova committed a season-low two turnovers compared to Butler’s 17.
Villanova will travel to Omaha, NE on March 2 to face Creighton for its last game of the regular season (8:30 p.m., FS1).
