Villanova still holds a firm place in the Big East even after loss to No. 21 Creighton

Punching above your weight against tough opposition generally takes a full team effort.

Against No. 21 ranked Creighton, Villanova didn’t get one. Despite a strong effort from its usual suspects, the division of labor was uneven. As a result, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Wildcats found themselves on the latter end of a 79-69 road final on Saturday inside the D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha, Neb.

Lucy Olsen led Villanova (17-10, 10-6 Big East) with a game-high 26 points, and it was another strong performance from senior forward Christina Dalce, who notched her ninth double-double of the season as she finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds. But besides a 10-point effort from freshman guard Maddie Webber, only three other players finished with single-digit points.

It was the 19th game this season that Olsen scored 20 points or more. However, only 11 of those 19 games the Wildcats came away with a win.

On the flip side, Creighton (22-4, 13-3) found four players in double figures, led by a team-high 20 from senior guard Lauren Jensen, which helped them to vault past ‘Nova, particularly in the second half. Villanova kept pace with the Bluejays and even led by 13 after the first quarter. The second would be a reverse of the first, with both teams going into the locker room knotted, 33-33 at the half.

Creighton went on a 16-6 run in addition to holding Villanova to just 12 points in the third quarter. It was a slugfest in the fourth, but the damage was already done, as Creighton held the Wildcats to just 45.8% from the field (9 of 21 from three-point range) while shooting over 50% (52.5%) and hitting an impressive 12 of 20 attempts from beyond the arc.

Where does this leave Villanova now in terms of at-large tournament aspirations? Heading into the matchup they remained a team on the bubble, but now with its second loss in a week-span — a 58-55 home loss to Butler last Saturday — the picture is somewhat muddied.

Especially when you look at their next matchup, which is yet again on the road against another nationally ranked team in No. 15 Connecticut on Wednesday (7 p.m., SNY). The Wildcats played the Huskies (23-5, 15-0) tough at home — in the first half, anyway — but fell 81-60 on Jan. 31, in a game where the final stat lines bore an uncanny resemblance to Saturday’s loss against the Bluejays.

Then the regular season wraps up at home next Sunday, with DePaul (12-16, 4-11) coming to the Finneran Pavilion (5 p.m., FS1), followed by the start of what’s looking to be a pivotal tip-off to the Big East tournament for the Wildcats beginning March 8.

» READ MORE: Villanova’s Christina Dalce is the definitive two in the Wildcats one-two punch