Strong defense and three-point shooting helped Villanova defeat Georgetown, 74-53 on Saturday night at Finneran Pavilion. The Wildcats improved their record to 11-7, 5-2 in the Big East Conference.

The ‘Cats got off to a hot start, leading by as much as 11 in the first half. Junior guard Raven James had all nine of her points in the quarter. The Hoyas cut the lead to two in the second quarter, after a 12-2 run made the score 23-21. A strong finish to the half gave ‘Nova a 40-31 lead at intermission. 

Coming out of the break, the Wildcats went on a 9-0 run to push the lead to 18. Georgetown would never get within single digits again, as Villanova’s strong three-point shooting kept the game out of reach. Georgetown only managed to score eight points throughout the entire third quarter, the ‘Cats ended 11-25 from beyond the arc. Villanova’s lead got as high as 26 late in the fourth quarter.

Four Wildcats finished the game in double digits. They were led by forwards junior Brianna Herlihy and senior Mary Gedaka, who both scored 17 points. Freshman forward Maddie Siegrist had 15 points and 12 rebounds and junior guard Cameron Onken had 13 points and shot 3-4 from three. The team performed very well on the defensive end, holding the Hoyas to just 22 points in the second half. 

With the win, Villanova moves into second place in the Big East, trailing only DePaul in the standings. Luckily for them, they will travel to Illinois for a matchup with the Blue Demon’s next Friday.