Villanova looks to sustain its forward momentum as it begins life without Maddy Siegrist

Players who are talented enough to transform a program are rare — rare enough to only come about once every generation.

For Villanova women’s basketball, there is no question who its two generational talents are: Shelly Pennefather, now formally known as Sister Rose, and Maddy Siegrist.

“Just like Maddy did the last couple of years, Shelly generated a lot of interest in women’s basketball in general and people wanted to come and watch her play,” said former Villanova women’s basketball head coach Harry Perretta . “It was kind of like watching Maddy’s development over the last three years, people just came to watch her play.”

Pennefather came to Villanova in 1983 and in her four years as a Wildcat, she broke every record that previously existed, scoring 2,408 career points and grabbing 1,171 rebounds.

“She brought national attention to this program,” current head coach Denise Dillon said. “Shelly was just exceptional. Her efficiency was off the charts. She was a natural shooter, and that’s what Harry always looked for … someone with the ability to spread the floor, and she did it beautifully.”

For her efforts, Pennfather became the first player ever to be named Big East Player of the Year for three consecutive seasons. She was a two-time Big East Tournament MVP, was inducted into the Philadelphia Women’s Big Five Hall of Fame, and in her final season in 1987, she was awarded the Wade Trophy, as the best upperclass women’s basketball player in the country.

“You hear about her, you see the pictures, you hear the stories, and that’s 35 years later,” Siegrist said. “The way people talk about her, it’s like she was here yesterday, playing yesterday. That’s something you strive for.”

It took a mere three decades for the Wildcats’ next generational talent to step foot on campus. Siegrist redshirted her first season at Villanova, but she was the second highest scoring freshman in the country the following year, averaging 18.8 points. She was named the Big East Rookie of the Year, to the All-Big 5 team, and was ranked a top 10 freshman by ESPN.

» READ MORE: No. 22 Villanova, with four touted transfers, aiming to return to national prominence

“I remember [Perretta] saying, ‘you’re probably going to pass Shelly’s freshman record,’” Siegrist said. But I didn’t even know a freshman record was a thing.”

Siegrist, who now plays for the WNBA’s Dallas Wings, went on to not just surpass Pennefather’s freshman year stats, but to set a Villanova record with 2,896 career points.

“To be honest with you, she was more talented than I thought she was,” Perretta said of Siegrist. “It was kind of crazy to watch her develop that way … she got older and stronger … you saw her begin to score points with her ability at the same time — like Shelly did — and that’s when she moved into the next level.”

That “next level,” wasn’t just breaking Pennefather’s scoring record at Villanova, though. That next level was on a national scale.

In her final season at Villanova, Siegrist was named the Big East Player of the Year after finishing as the conference’s all-time leading scorer. She was also named a Naismith Player of the Year finalist, and a first-team All-American. She became the Philadelphia Big 5 women’s all-time leading scorer, while also becoming the first player this century in both men’s and women’s Division I basketball to log 37 consecutive 20-point games.

But, with generational talents comes the ultimate question of what will happen to the program once the athlete graduates.

Villanova won 20-plus games under Perretta in each of Pennefather four seasons with the Wildcats. Yet, in the five seasons after Pennefather graduated, Perretta’s program experienced a major dip, including going 9-19 in 1989-90, 12-17 in 1990-91, and 11-17 in the 1991-92.

“I think there’s a lot of things back then that you have to remember,” Perretta said. “Not just Villanova women’s basketball, but a lot of women’s basketball programs were not very funded. ... We were very lucky that in our first seven, eight, years that I was there, we were able to get local players, and in Shelly’s case, we were very very lucky that she wasn’t caught up in the big time recruiting of the major schools.”

In the 20th century, while all women’s sports lacked funding, Villanova women’s basketball was considered a smaller program, so its funding was limited significantly more. Perretta was unable to gain the same traction as top programs in the country, contributing to a decline in its success.

“It took a while for us to catch up in terms of funding,” Perretta said. “Because of those restraints, we had to live off local talent. So I think [that] was a couple of contributing reasons for struggling a bit after [Pennefather left].”

However, despite Siegrist’s absence this upcoming season, Dillon finds herself in a very different situation than Perreta did, thanks to years of progress in funding and newfound national attention for the Wildcats.

» READ MORE: Maddy Siegrist returns to Villanova to assist the women’s program she helped lead

“Even with Maddy finishing, you want to sustain that success,” Dillon said. “And a huge piece of it is recruiting.”

While Dillon has a young roster for the 2023-24 season, the Wildcats’ certainly aren’t lacking in recruiting talent.

This season, Villanova added guard Maddie Webber, a McDonald’s All-American nominee, to its roster, as well as freshman Brynn McCurry, who was named the 2022 NJAC Player of the Year.

“I think they have experience,” Perretta said. “Even though you can say they’re a little younger, they’ve had players that have played.”

The more experienced players on the team include junior guard Lucy Olsen, who figures to lead the Wildcats this upcoming season after playing second fiddle to Siegrist while averaging 12.4 points and 4.1 rebounds last season.

However, Olsen won’t be alone in her efforts. Junior forward Christina Dalce, who was named the Philadelphia Big 5′s Most Improved Player last season after averaging 7.3 points and 7.9 rebounds, will be a large contributor, as will senior captains Bella Runyan and Maddie Burke who add experience and depth to the roster.

“I hope there’s no dip at all,” Siegrist said. “I hope they go back to the Sweet 16. I hope they go further. The pieces are all there, they have a lot of strong players.”

Villanova will open up the post-Maddy Siegrist era on Friday, Nov. 10 against Portland.

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