-Villanova Athletics
The women’s basketball team launched a fierce fourth quarter comeback against the Creighton Bluejays at the Pavilion on Tuesday night.
Unfortunately for the ‘Cats, they fell just short of completing the rally. The Bluejays held off the Wildcats to win 65-62.
Creighton grabbed the lead early in the game, with Villanova right behind them. It was a closely contested game for the first two quarters, with Creighton taking a 24-21 lead at the half.
Creighton came firing out of the gate, outscoring Villanova 13-7 in the first five minutes of the game, building on to its lead to make it 40-28 to start the second half.
The Wildcats were scoreless for about six and a half minutes. Once they finally ended the drought with a Jordan Dillard layup, the Bluejays started scoring again. They were able to even push their lead to 15 towards the end of the third quarter.
A pair of free throws by Creighton’s M.C. McGrory in the closing seconds of the quarter made it 49-36 going into the fourth.
Creighton was able to maintain its lead in double figures for the first four minutes of the quarter.
Down by 10, with 6:35 remaining in the game, the Wildcats started to rally. Megan Quinn sparked an 11-4 run with six straight points, and Caroline Coyer finished what she started by adding the last five.
A pair of free throws by Coyer made it 59-56 with 1:38 remaining in the game.
After a couple empty-handed possessions, Audrey Faber made one-of-two free throws at the line to make it a four point game with 24 seconds left.
Quinn answered with a layup for Villanova, trimming the lead down to just two with 18 seconds left.
The Wildcats and Bluejays then traded a layup and a pair of free throws, finding themselves in the same position with three seconds left. A quick foul got Creighton to the line, where Faber made one-of-two free throws again to give the Bluejays a 65-62 lead with 2.8 seconds left.
Coyer let go of one last heave to tie the game from half court, but the shot was no good.
Megan Quinn set a new career-high 25 points in the loss. She added 11 rebounds. Caroline Coyer finished with 16 points and nine assists. Alex Louin chipped in 14 points and eight rebounds.
For Creighton, M.C. McGrory had 22 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Aubrey Faber finished with 19 points and five boards.
Villanova is now 8-6 overall and 2-2 in conference play. The Wildcats will head over to Milwaukee for their next game to face the Marquette Golden Eagles. Tip-off is on Friday, January 8, at 8 p.m.
The Bench Mob 
Leave a Comment