Villanova routs Marquette to pick up its 10th Big East win of the season

Villanova has seen consistent improvement over the course of its conference schedule, and Wednesday night’s win was the perfect example of that.

After beating Marquette by just two points on Dec. 28, No. 19 Villanova dominated the Golden Eagles on Wednesday, picking up a 73-54 home win on National Girls and Women in Sports Day.

“Our defense created some [offense] for us today,” Villanova head coach Denise Dillon said. “At their place, it was sloppy for both teams.”

Senior Maddy Siegrist led Villanova (19-4, 10-2 Big East) with 24 points and eight rebounds. Siegrist was honored pregame as this marked the first home game since the senior became Villanova’s all-time leading scorer during the Creighton game on Jan. 20.

Two other Wildcats joined Siegrist in double figures as sophomore Lucy Olsen added 16 points, six assists, and four steals, while fellow sophomore Christina Dalce finished with a career-high 13 points and 14 rebounds, marking her second career double-double.

“It’s my team, for sure, giving me that confidence,” Dalce said. “They have such a big impact on me. … I’m very hard on myself, so it relaxes me to try and change my mentality just to the next play.”

Jordan King led Marquette (14-8, 7-6) with 18 points and four rebounds. Chloe Marotta had 12 points and nine rebounds.

For the first 10 minutes, it appeared as though the game would be another tight matchup, with the two teams tied, 13-13, entering the second quarter.

But after a scoreless first quarter, Siegrist came alive in the second and brought the Wildcats with her. The senior scored 14 second-quarter points to propel her team to a 20-point halftime lead.

» READ MORE: Maddy Siegrist has Villanova’s scoring mark, and a special bond with Sister Rose Marie, the old record-holder

The final 20 minutes were more of the same, with the Wildcats fending off Marquette’s scoring runs to maintain their comfortable advantage

The Golden Eagles struggled offensively, shooting 31.1% from the field, including 25% from three, for the game.

Villanova’s defense has been stifling all season, and the intensity was on display as the Wildcats forced 15 turnovers and held the Golden Eagles to 54 points, well below their season average of 66.7.

» READ MORE: Villanova’s Christina Dalce ‘stepped up to the challenge’ and carved out a starting role

All of the momentum shifted in the second quarter. After being tied, 15-15, Villanova went on a 16-0 run to extend the lead to 31-15 with 2 minutes, 43 seconds to play in the half. The Wildcats held the Golden Eagles to 2-of-18 shooting in the period and outscored Marquette, 24-4. This put the Golden Eagles in a hole that they could not climb out of.

“[We needed to] just stay patient within the offense to get clean looks,” Dillon said of the second-quarter push. “Our defense stepped up. You can’t run in transition if you don’t get stops and rebounds.”

Villanova goes back on the road, traveling to Indianapolis to face Butler (7-15, 2-11) on Saturday (2 p.m., FloSports). The Wildcats hosted the Bulldogs in January and came away with a 68-58 win.