On Wednesday, Nov. 5, Villanova (1-1) fell to Fairfield, 75-63, after an attempted second-half comeback in its second home game of the season.
“It was a great game by Fairfield for sure,” head coach Denise Dillon said. “I’m disappointed with how we came out and the many lapses we had throughout the contest.”
It was Villanova’s (1-1) second consecutive loss to Fairfield (1-0), falling 74-71 on Dec. 8, 2024. Despite the loss, sophomore guard Jasmine Bascoe poured in a career-high of 30 points was not enough to get the win.
Bascoe also led the team with eight rebounds and tallied two assists. Graduate forward Kylee Watson followed behind Bascoe, with 11 points on the night.
The Wildcats shot 25% from beyond the arc and 42.1% from field goal range across the game.
Villanova struggled in the opening quarter of the matchup as Fairfield surged ahead on a 9-1 run to open the game. Junior forward Brynn McCurry scored Villanova’s first field goal with 3:40 left in the quarter, making the score 12-3. The Wildcats’ only point before that came from a foul shot from junior guard Kelsey Joens.
Bascoe added a few to the mix, totalling four points in the first quarter.
The Wildcats finished the first quarter far behind, 17-9.
Joens started the second quarter strong with a three-point basket. From there, the game turned into a shootout. Fairfield answered back immediately with a three, then both teams missed from beyond the arc in their next possessions.
The Wildcats went on a 9-2 scoring run to cut Fairfield’s lead to 30-26 with 1:18 remaining in the half.
Bascoe was called for a foul on a Fairfield heave as time expired in the first half. Fairfield sophomore forward Cyanne Coe made two of three from the line and closed out the half with the Stags ahead, 32-26.
Watson got the first bucket to open up the third quarter. The Wildcats outscored the Stags, 17-7, in the first five minutes of the quarter. Bascoe accounted for 12 of those points, allowing Villanova to take its first lead of the game, 43-39.
Fairfield didn’t let up, and regained a two-point lead with 2:25 left in the third quarter.
Things began to fall apart for the ‘Cats without about 8:54 remaining in the game, as Bascoe picked up her fourth foul and was benched until about the four-minute mark. The team struggled without Bascoe on the court and it allowed the Stags to take a 64-56 lead.
“When [Bascoe] went out with that fourth foul, it was really hard for us to generate some offense,” Dillon said.
Fairfield was led in points by junior forward Meghan Anderson, who totaled 35 points on the night.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Dillon said. “I felt that after our first game Monday night. Today was a realization of it, so we’ll get back at it.”
Villanova will return against Virginia Commonwealth University (1-0) on Sunday, Nov. 9 at 2:00 p.m. The game will be played in Toronto, Canada, the home country of both Bascoe and freshman guard MD Ntambue.
