Villanova rolls past Butler as Maddy Siegrist approaches another record

When Butler and Villanova met at the Finneran Pavilion on Jan. 8, the Wildcats came away with a 68-58 win. The caveat? Butler was missing two starters and a key bench player.

The three Bulldogs — Anna Mortag, Jessica Carrothers, and Shay Frederick — played on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to take down No. 19 Villanova, which has won 11 of its last 12 games. Led by a 31-point, four-rebound game by Maddy Siegrist, the Wildcats (20-4, 11-2 Big East) cruised to a 78-58 victory at Hinkle Fieldhouse to claim their 20th win of the season.

Saturday’s performance brings Siegrist’s conference scoring total to 1,473 points, just 73 shy of the 30-year-old record of 1,546 held by Boston College’s Sarah Behn.

Sophomore Lucy Olsen chipped in 18 points and five assists. After a three-game slump in early January, Olsen has regained momentum, scoring double figures in each of the last five games. Fellow sophomore Christina Dalce recorded her second straight double-double, tying a career high 13 points to go along with 12 rebounds and three blocks.

Sydney Jaynes led Butler (7-16, 2-12) with 16 points and six rebounds. Frederick, Rachel McLimore, and Jordan Meulemans added eight points each.

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For the first six minutes, Butler tested Villanova, holding Siegrist scoreless to keep the game close. But, as has been a trend this season, once Siegrist settled in, Villanova started rolling.

The Bulldogs struggled on both ends of the floor, shooting just 35.7% from the field while allowing the Wildcats to shoot 67.9% in the first half. Villanova held a 49-26 lead at the half with all the momentum in its favor.

The second half was more of the same. Butler was within 20 on a few occasions, but never much closer than that.

Villanova was firing on all cylinders, finishing the game, shooting 53.4% from the field, including 40% from deep. The Wildcats, who rank second in the nation with 10.3 turnovers per game, only recorded nine giveaways while forcing 13 from Butler that they turned into 16 points.

The Wildcats also dominated inside, scoring 32 of their 78 points in the paint while allowing just 22 points inside for the Bulldogs. Villanova did lose the rebounding battle, 29-28, despite a strong effort from Dalce, but this did not hurt them because of Butler’s inability to capitalize on second-chance opportunities.

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Leading 14-12 with 3 minutes, 35 seconds remaining in the first quarter, Siegrist sunk a jumper from the baseline for her first points of the game. The senior scored eight of Villanova’s final 10 points of the quarter to help the Wildcats to a 24-16 lead entering the second. This run allowed the Wildcat offense to find its rhythm and sparked a 25-10 second quarter to put the game out of reach early.

Villanova will travel to Washington, D.C. to take on Georgetown (12-10, 5-8) on Wednesday (7 p.m., FloSports). The teams met in early January with the Wildcats claiming a 71-64 win.