Junior guard Caroline Coyer put together another masterful performance last Sunday as she led the Wildcats to a 64-48 road victory over Georgetown.

For the fifth time this season, Coyer reached the 20-point plateau. She led all scorers with 23 points and added 13 rebounds on her way to an impressive double-double.

More than half of Coyer’s field goals came from 3-point range, where she finished 5-of-10. She finished 8-of-13 shooting overall and added five assists to lead the Wildcats in that category as well.

Senior forward Emily Leer was also efficient from beyond the arc, connecting on four of her six attempts and tallying 14 points of her own.

The Wildcats got going early when senior forward Taylor Holeman hit back-to-back buckets before Coyer rattled off eight straight points to give their team an early lead. 

Holeman, who had a double-double of her own on Feb 1 against DePaul, finished the evening with 10 points and was the third-highest scorer for Villanova.

Two of Coyer’s five 3-pointers sparked a 13-3 run for Villanova toward the end of the first half. Her sister, Katherine Coyer, was also involved in the Wildcats’ scoring spree, contributing a conventional 3-point play by making a layup through contact and converting the free throw. 

Katherine Coyer finished the night with seven points on 3-of-6 shooting and added a block, a steal and an assist.

Villanova led 38-17 at halftime, and started the second half on another run that extended its lead to 27 points and put the game out of reach.The Hoyas were unable to gain any momentum and failed to bring their deficit within 15 points. 

As a whole, the Wildcats put together a very complete game. They assisted on 15 of their 24 field goals and had only five turnovers. This was the 15th time this season that Villanova had fewer than 10 turnovers in a contest.

After going 6-of-13 as a team from 3-point range in the opening half, the Wildcats cooled off in the second and finished the game 10-of-25, an even 40 percent from long-distance.

Overall, Villanova shot 45.3 percent from the field but was outrebounded by Georgetown, 38-32. Despite losing the battle on the glass, the Wildcats were able to notch their sixth win in their last seven meetings with the Hoyas.

With the victory, Villanova improves to 8-4 in the Big East and 14-10 overall.

Meanwhile, Georgetown is now on an eight-game losing streak that began over a month ago when it visited the Pavilion and fell to the Wildcats on Jan 11. 

The loss was the Hoyas’ 20th of the season, and they are now 2-10 in the Big East, with an overall record of 4-20.

Villanova will host two important conference matchups this weekend as it looks to gain ground in the Big East conference standings. 

Action at the Pavilion will begin Friday at 7 p.m. when the third-place Wildcats will take on Xavier.

On Sunday, Butler, which is not far behind Villanova in the conference standings, will visit the Wildcats in a critical Big East battle. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for 1 p.m.

 

Photo courtesy of guhoyas.com