Lucy Olsen leads the way as Villanova defeats Wake Forest for its third straight win

Sometimes it takes a loss to spark a win.

In the case of Villanova, the Wildcats are celebrating a three-game winning streak following a 74-65 road win over Wake Forest in women’s hoops action on Sunday.

Villanova has improved to 4-1 — 3-0 since a Nov. 12 loss to Oregon State. Since then the Wildcats have knocked off Big 5 rival Temple, Holy Cross, and now Wake Forest, which dropped to 2-4.

And just like the previous three games, senior guard Lucy Olsen provided the spark for the Wildcats, finishing with a team-high 21 points on 2-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc. It’s the third straight game Olsen led the Wildcats in points, many of which came on clutch shots from the perimeter.

Olsen had help, starting with a 14-point effort from Kaitlyn Orihel off the bench. Christina Dalce once again held it down under the boards, finishing with 12 rebounds to go alongside her 12-point performance. Freshman forward Brynn McCurry had 12 for the Wildcats as well.

Malaya Cowles led Wake with a game-high 22 points. Raegyn Conley scored 14 off the bench.

Wake Forest kept pace with Villanova, which led by just 10 at the break, 41-31. But it was the Wildcats’ 21-point fourth quarter that allowed ‘Nova to pull away.

Last season, the team largely relied on the great shooting of Maddy Siegrist. This season, the Wildcats are winning by committee with Olsen setting the tone with great contributions from the starters and the bench.

It also doesn’t hurt that the Wildcats shot 41.4% from the field and were 19-for-20 from the line. It’s also the second time in three games that Villanova shot better than 40% from the field.

Villanova returns to the Finneran Pavilion for a showdown against Richmond on Thursday (7 p.m., FloHoops). The Spiders (6-1) are coming off an 83-56 win over Louisiana Tech on Sunday.