A quick rebuild has Villanova into the second round of the WBIT
The Wildcats, with a host of new key players from last year's WBIT finalists, defeated Boston College on Thursday. They'll play St. Joseph's next.
As the second half of the NCAA Tournament round of 64 games tip off throughout Saturday, Villanova will be represented.
Former ‘Nova guard Lucy Olsen is the leading scorer for sixth-seeded Iowa, which will face 11th-seeded Murray State at noon. Forward Christina Dalce leads fourth-seeded Maryland in rebounds at 7.7 per game. Dalce will feature heavily for the Terrapins as they face 13th-seeded Norfolk State on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Villanova (19-12, 11-7 Big East) started its postseason run with a 76-70 victory over unseeded Boston College (16-18, 6-12 ACC) in the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament at the Finneran Pavilion on Thursday night. Freshman guard Jasmine Bascoe led all scorers in the victory with 24 points.
The win sets up a second-round meeting between the fourth-seeded Wildcats and first-seeded St. Joseph’s (24-9, 12-6 Atlantic 10) at Hagan Arena on Sunday (2 p.m., ESPN+). Villanova already has a win over the Hawks at Hagan this season, an 81-65 victory on Dec. 1. The two teams also met in last season’s WBIT, with Villanova claiming a 67-59 win over St. Joe’s at the Finneran Pavilion.
“I know both teams are going to be prepared,” Villanova head coach Denise Dillon said. “We know each other’s personnel. We just have to come out and give everything you have on both ends of the floor.”
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It is the second consecutive season the Wildcats have played in the WBIT, the NCAA-run women’s basketball sibling of the men’s National Invitation Tournament. Last season, the Olsen-led first-seeded Wildcats advanced to the title game of the event, losing to fourth-seeded Illinois, 71-57, in Indianapolis.
Still, it was hard to categorize the postseason run as a success when lackluster results in Big East play placed a talented Wildcats team on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble.
With last year’s run in mind, Villanova should have plenty of postseason experience to rely on through March and April.
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But graduate guard Maddie Burke and senior guard Kaitlyn Orihel are the only Wildcats who took the floor against Boston College who also appeared in last April’s championship loss.
Sophomore guard Maddie Webber and junior forward Denae Carter were both with the team last season, but Carter was sidelined all season with an injury. Webber played nine minutes in the team’s 75-60 first-round win over Virginia Commonwealth before suffering a leg injury that kept her out of the remainder of last year’s postseason.
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“I think the biggest piece is not getting caught up in what time of year it is in the game,” Dillon said of postseason play. “You have an opportunity to play every practice. I was really happy with the effort we’ve had the last week-and-a-half of practice, of coming out and just wanting to play together and get better.”
According to College Basketball Reference, Villanova carried over 28% of its 2023-24 scoring output to its 2024-25 roster. With that level of production lost, this season’s fourth seed in the 32-team WBIT is more a feat than a disappointment.
Dillon and her staff found enough talent in the transfer portal to keep the Wildcats afloat. Two-time all-Patriot league guard Bronagh Power-Cassidy and forward Lara Edmanson served as important pieces. Vanderbilt transfer junior guard Ryanne Allen matched her career high with 17 points against the Eagles on Thursday.
With the high school recruitment of Olsen, Webber and Bascoe and portal recruitment of Power-Cassidy, Carter and others, Dillon put together a winning roster.
The Wildcats landed Carter, a Philadelphia native, in the 2023 spring portal period after she struggled to find playing time at Mississippi State after an ACL tear her freshman year. Carter did not appear for the Wildcats last season, but she has turned into a key piece this year. Entering Thursday, she averaged nine points and led the team at 6.5 rebounds per game.
“You want your team to progress, but it has to happen with the individual progression,” Dillon said. “Now you’re seeing [Allen] more comfortable in what we do and being patient with it. … This group, it’s really great to see their progression and their will and want for each other.”
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Bascoe and Webber were Big East all-freshman honorees, Webber for 2023-24 and Bascoe for 2024-25. Bascoe combined her unanimous all-freshman honors with a first-team all-Big East nod this season. She led the Wildcats in points at 16.1 per game, while also leading the team in assists at 4.1 and steals at 1.9.
“We don’t want the season to be over yet,” Bascoe said. “I was excited. It’s been a long season, but now that we’re here, we may as well go all the way.”
Dillon knows how to evaluate talent in recruits. The hard part is keeping those recruits around after they break out. Villanova’s retention effort should start with Bascoe, who scored at least 20 points for the eighth time this season.
“In the Big East, we’re looking to finish in the top three,” Dillon said. “You want to have a top seed. We didn’t find ourselves there, but we kept going in order to give ourselves a chance to play postseason. It’s there. It’s expected and we’re going to keep finding these players who want to be a part of it, and even those who are going to bring others up with them.”