March 18, 2006

Box Score

Villanova, Pa. - Villanova (20-10) opened the second half with a furious 23-4 run as the Wildcats defeated Hofstra (19-12) 71-46 at the Pavilion in 'Nova's first-ever WNIT win.

The 'Cats are now 1-3 all-time in the WNIT. With this win, Villanova marks its fifth 20-win season in the last six years. Coach Harry Perretta has now recorded his 14th 20-win season in his 28-year Main Line career.

Villanova was up by eight over the Pride, 41-33, at the start of the second half when seniors Jenna Viani (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) and Betsy McManus (Pearl River, N.Y.) hit back-to-back threes. Junior Jackie Adamshick (Allentown, Pa.) made a jumper at 16:32 to give Villanova a 49-33 lead and senior Kate Dessart Mager (Media, Pa.) sunk a pair of free throws at 15:48 to extend the Wildcats' advantage to 18, 51-33. Hofstra's Vanessa Gidden made a jumper at 15:00 for the Pride's first points of the half.

But Wildcats Courtney Roantree (Philadelphia, Pa.), Siobhan O'Connor (West Chester, Pa.), and Liad Suez-Karni (Even-Yehuda, Israel) made four straight threes to give Villanova an insurmountable 28 point lead, 65-37, with 8:08 to go in the game. 'Nova did push its lead to 30, 70-40, on another Suez-Karni triple with 5:09 remaining.

The game was closely contested in the first half, with neither team being able to gain more than a four-point advantage until Suez-Karni hit a three at 8:00 to put Villanova up 25-20. Another Suez-Karni three 32 seconds earlier had given 'Nova the lead for good.

Adamshick led Villanova with 13 points. Suez-Karni and Roantree each chipped in 12 points. Roantree also added five rebounds.

Villanova made a season-high 14 threes in the win. The Wildcats are 17-2 this season when scoring 60 or more points.

'Nova will host Xavier in the second round of the WNIT on Tuesday, Mar. 21 at 7:30 p.m.