Villanova Women’s Basketball Sees Their Season End in WBIT Semis

Villanova Women’s Basketball saw their season come to an end on Monday, March 31, falling 66-57 to the Belmont Bruins in the WBIT semifinals at the Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Villanova held a 38-33 lead midway through the third period, their largest of the game, but the Bruins outscored them 33-19 over the last 16 minutes as the Wildcats’ shooting dried up. Maddie Webber led Villanova with 18 points, while Jasmine Bascoe added 10 points, five rebounds and five assists.

The Wildcats made four three-point shots in the first quarter and just two the rest of the game, sinking 20.7 percent of shots from beyond the arc and 34.3 percent overall, even though they made nine more attempts than the Bruins.

The first period saw two ties and seven lead changes, but Villanova emerged with a narrow 20-17 lead thanks to their accuracy from three. Belmont returned the favor to open the second period, draining a trio of triples to pull ahead 26-22 — the Wildcats made just one shot in the first 6:08, a sign of things to come — before Villanova closed out the half on a 9-3 run to take the lead.

While they went blow for blow with Belmont to open the third period, Villanova Women’s Basketball eventually ran out of gas, making barely 25 percent of their shots over the last 16 minutes while the Bruins fell into a comfortable rhythm.

Unlike their heroic fourth period comeback against St. Joseph’s in the second round of the WBIT, the Wildcats had nothing left in the tank.