VILLANOVA, PA. 1/4/2017 – The Villanova Wildcats and the Georgetown Hoyas entered the game with each looking for their initial women’s Big East win of the season. The Wildcats got it playing one of their most complete, balanced games of the season earning a 71 – 50 over the Hoyas in the “We Back Pat” game at the Pavilion. Sophomore guard Adrianna Hahn led the way with 23 points making 9 of 18 from the floor and 5 of 11 from beyond the arc. It was her fourth 20-point game of the season. Hahn converted 20 three-pointers over the last four games, forty made deep baskets this season.
“He (Coach Perretta) gives me the green-light so I know I have to look to shoot the ball,” said Hahn. “When I am not hitting I have to keep shooting. I’ve been working on it. That is where most of my points come from, so I have to keep shooting the three.”
A staple of the Villanova offense has always been three-point shooting. The Cats shot it well from distance hitting 12 of 27 (44.4%), but were also very effective from two-point territory making 15 of 30. It translated to Nova getting 1.06 points per possession.
On defense the Hoyas were limited to 32.1% shooting (18 of 56) and were held to .746 points per possession.
“That was the best game we have played as a team,” Hahn said. “We picked up our defense a ton and that helped us on the offensive end. We stuck together and played hard and focused.”
“We had balanced scoring, played together on defense, we did a lot of things well,” said Villanova Coach Harry Perretta.
“It’s the idea of getting everything going.”
The game was close early. At the end of the first quarter Villanova held Georgetown (8 – 5, 0 – 3) scoreless over the last 3:46 of the period and used a 6 – 0 to take a 12 – 5 lead. The Cats stretched the advantage by outscoring the Hoyas 41 – 30 over the next two quarters.
Three other Wildcat players scored in double figures. Sophomore Jannah Tucker scored 12 points while senior Megan Quinn and freshman Kelly Jekot had 10 each. Guard Jordan Dillard handed out a career-high 5 assists. Villanova had 19 assists on their 27 field goals.
“We stuck with the upper classmen except for Kelly,” Perretta said. “We are trying to get some continuity.”
Dionna White scored a team-best 18 points for the Hoyas. Dorothy Adomako contributed 14 points and a game-high 9 rebounds.
Villanova improves to 5 – 8 overall and are now 1 – 2 in the Big East. Nova will travel to Providence for a Saturday game against the Friars.
“We felt that we should have had Marquette and DePaul should have been a closer game,” Hahn said. “It feels good winning against Georgetown, they’re a good team. I didn’t think we would end up beating them by twenty-some points, but we did.”
“We Back Pat” is an initiative founded by the Pat Summitt Foundation to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s disease. Summitt, the former coach of the Tennessee Volunteers and is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and passed away last June.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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