Jan. 10, 2006

Box Score

VILLANOVA, Pa. - Senior forward Liad Suez-Karni (Even-Yehuda, Israel) matched a career-high with 26 points and junior forward Jackie Adamshick (Allentown, Pa.) tied her career-best with 14 rebounds, leading Villanova (10-4, 1-2 Big East) to a 72-55 victory over Syracuse (7-8, 0-4 BE) on Tuesday night at The Pavilion.

Three players reached double figures on the evening for the Wildcats, with redshirt freshman forward Lisa Karcic (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) joining Suez-Karni and Adamshick. The trio combined to shoot 23-of-39 from the field (59 percent) and accounted for 32 of Villanova's 36 points in the decisive second half.

A 9-0 run early in the final period had the Wildcats up by 11 five minutes into the half, but the Orange got to within five points, 54-49, with 8:54 remaining. From there, however, Villanova broke off an 18-4 run over the next seven minutes that stretched the margin to a game-high 19 points with under two minutes remaining. The run was entirely fueled by the Wildcats trio of double-digit scorers, as Suez-Karni had 11 points, Karcic had five and Adamshick two during the spurt.

Suez-Karni scored her 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field, including 4-of-9 three-pointers. Her three-pointer with 3:04 remaining in the first half gave her exactly 1,000 career points. In her third season on the team's active roster, Suez-Karni now has 1,016 career points. Adamshick finished with 16 points and 14 boards for her third double-double of the season and sixth of her career. Karcic added 13 points and seven rebounds for Villanova, which had a 37-27 margin on the glass in the game.

Syracuse was led by Vaida Sipaviciute with 22 points and eight rebounds, while Tracy Harbut added 11 points and four assists. The Orange made a three-pointer 45 seconds into the game for a 3-2 lead, their only advantage of the game. Syracuse was then scoreless for more than six minutes as the Wildcats built an 11-3 lead with 13:43 left in the opening stanza.

Villanova led 22-8 with 7:51 left before intermission, but the Orange eventually closed to within 36-30 at halftime. Syracuse made consecutive baskets to start the second half and the teams traded three-pointers to put the Wildcats' lead at 39-37 just over two minutes into the period. Villanova then scored nine straight points in 2:07 to lead 48-37 with 14:57 to play.

The victory was the first in Big East play for the Wildcats, who will next go on the road this Saturday to take on league newcomer DePaul at 2 p.m. EST. The game will be televised by Comcast Sports Net in the Philadelphia area.

NOTES: Suez-Karni becomes the 18th Villanova player to reach the 1,000-point plateau ... She reached the 20-point mark for the second time this season, and has scored in double figures in 13 of 14 games on the year.