Villanova Women’s Basketball Races Past St. John’s

Villanova Women’s Basketball pushed their winning streak to eight games on Monday, Dec. 22, demolishing St. John’s 85-48 at the Finneran Pavilion.

While the Red Storm possess an 11-3 record, this counts as a Quadrant 3 win for the Wildcats (10-2, 3-0 Big East) owing to a weak strength of schedule for St. John’s. After a shaky shooting night against Seton Hall, sophomore guard Jasmine Bascoe made nine of 14 shots for a game-high 21 points, attempting just three shots from beyond the arc. Bascoe added nine assists and committed just one turnover.

The Wildcats dominated the glass 41-25 behind Senior Denae Carter, who finished one board shy of a double-double. Of their 34 shots made, 24 came off an assist as their passing continues to excel; Villanova also forced 21 turnovers, dominating on both ends of the court.

After St. John’s opened the scoring, the Wildcats reeled off a 12-2 run that began with six consecutive points from Carter. Villanova then made threes on three straight possessions, the first from Bascoe and two more from Kelsey Joens.

The Wildcats’ ferocious start continued into the second period, and they led 46-14 with four minutes to play in the first half, allowing them to devote 77 of 200 minutes played to their bench.

Despite their dominant winning streak, Villanova has yet to pick up a vote in the AP Poll this season: they’ll return to action in Chicago at 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 29 when they face DePaul (3-11).