Women's Baskteball Wins Fairfield University Shehan Classic :: Junior Katie Davis named tournament MVP.

Nov. 25, 2001

The Villanova University women's basketball team captured the Fairfield University Shehan Classic on Sunday, Nov. 25 with a 59-51 win over Harvard University. With the victory, Villanova improves to 3-0 on the season, while Harvard falls to 2-2. The Wildcats are 3-0 for the first time since the 1986-87 season and have now won five-straight in-season tournaments.

Harvard started the game strong, racing to a 13-5 lead at the 11:10 mark. The Wildcats responded with a 10-2 run over the next 5:40 to tie the game at 15-15 with 6:30 remaining in the first half. Junior guard Trish Juhline led the Wildcat run with eight points.

With the Crimson leading 22-19 with 3:49 left before halftime, the 'Cats used a 13-3 run to finish the half and go to intermission leading 32-25. Sophomore Courtney Mix highlighted the Villanova spurt with six-straight points.

In the second half, Villanova led 39-35 at the 14:29 mark when junior forward Katie Davis made back-to-back three-point field goal to give Villanova its biggest lead of the game at 45-35. After Harvard answered with five consecutive points, Wildcat junior forward Nicole Druckenmiller tallied five-straight points including a three-point field goal to push the Villanova lead back to 52-42.

Juhline led Villanova with 15 points, while Davis added 14 points, including four three-point field goals. Mix had a strong all around game, recording 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field and a 2-of-2 effort from behind the arc to go with eight rebounds, six steals, and two assists. Senior point guard Mimi Riley dished out nine assists to go with eight points and five rebounds.

For her efforts in the tournament, Davis was named the tournament's MVP, while Juhline was named to the All-Tournament Team. In the two games, Davis scored 35 points on 12-of-21 shooting, including a 9-of-17 effort from three-point range.

Villanova returns to action on Wednesday, Nov. 28 when they travel to LaSalle University for the first Philadelphia Big Five game of the season. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.