Wildcats Edged By Louisville 63-57 :: Suez-Karni scores game-high 17 points in loss

Jan. 7, 2006

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In its first road conference game of the season, Villanova (9-4, 0-2 Big East) was defeated 63-57 by league newcomer Louisville (11-2, 2-0 BE) on Saturday afternoon at Freedom Hall. The Cardinals scored five straight points late in the contest to finally hold off the Wildcats, who battled their hosts until the closing minute of the game.

With the game tied 47-47 and 7:41 remaining, Louisville scored five straight points to take the lead for good. The Cardinals led 52-47 when senior guard Jenna Viani (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) made two free throws to get Villanova within 52-49. The teams then traded baskets on four straight possessions, culminating with a layup by senior forward Liad Suez-Karni (Even-Yehuda, Israel) that got the Wildcats to within 56-53 with 1:20 to play.

Louisville, however, then ran scored five more unanswered points and pushed the margin to 61-53 with 17 seconds left to seal the victory.

Suez-Karni led all scorers with 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists on the afternoon. Redshirt freshman forward Lisa Karcic (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) added 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, while senior center Kate Dessart Mager (Media, Pa.) contributed nine points and six rebounds.

The Cardinals were led by Jazz Covington with 14 points and Patrika Barlow with 13 points. Louisville held a plus-six rebound advantage for the game and limited Villanova to 36 percent shooting in the game, including just 23 percent (5-of-22) accuracy from behind the three-point arc.

In the first half the Wildcats led 22-18 with 4:36 remaining before the break, but the Cardinals ran off a 10-0 run to close the half and forge a 28-22 lead at halftime.

Villanova then trailed 34-27 four minutes into the second stanza before going on an 11-3 run over three minutes that put the Wildcats back in the lead at 38-37 with 13:07 to play. Suez-Karni had a three-pointer during the run and Karcic scored the final five points of the spurt with a jumper and conventional three-point play.

Senior guard Betsy McManus (Pearl River, N.Y.) tallied eight points for Villanova, while Viani wound up dishing out a team-high six assists to go along with five points.

The Wildcats return home on Tuesday evening to face Syracuse at 7:30 p.m. at The Pavilion. The game is being televised live on CSTV and will be broadcast on the radio by WNTP 990-AM and online at www.villanova.com.