Villanova narrowly pushes past Penn in a Big 5 women’s battle

There seemed to be just enough magic in the air on Villanova’s “Disney Night” for the Wildcats to pull through with a 68-62 win over Penn in women’s Big 5 action at the Finneran Pavilion on Tuesday night.

After losing to Columbia, 77-75, on Sunday, Villanova was looking for a little Ivy League redemption.

It got just that — barely.

A late run from the Quakers, which went 9-for-11 in the last 10 minutes of play, put the Wildcats under just enough pressure to force junior guard Lucy Olsen to come up big in the final minutes.

Olsen finished with 14. For Penn (5-4), senior forward Jordan Obi finished with a game-high 20 points and added 10 rebounds. Guard Mataya Gayle added 17.

Olsen might’ve been timely, but it was junior forward Christina Dalce who led the Wildcats with a double-double, with a career-high 18 points and 17 rebounds. Before Villanova’s matchup against Penn, Dalce led the Wildcats with 11.4 rebounds, which tied her for No. 11 in the nation in that statistic.

But after tonight, Dalce just found her way into the top 10.

It took the 6-foot-2 senior forward needed just 18 minutes to earn herself a double-double as finished with 18 points and 17 rebounds. Dalce left the court at halftime with 13 points and 11 rebounds and showcased no signs of her slowing down in the second half.

“I looked up [and said] ‘I haven’t missed yet,’” said Dalce. “That’s not too bad…but I didn’t let it consume my head, it just felt natural.”

Dalce tacked on another five points and six rebounds in the second 20 minutes of play to lead Villanova to their sixth win of the season.

Villanova may have come out with the win, but there was one caveat: their top shooter struggled.

For the No. 3 offensive leader in the nation, 14 points is more than respectable, but considering Olsen has averaged 26 points coming into the matchup, her stats were a bit out of character.

It wasn’t until the second half that Olsen scored from the floor, and even then Olsen went 4-18 from the field and 2-8 from behind the arc on the night.

“I knew I had to step up a little bit,” Webber said, freshman guard Maddie Webber said. “But honestly, I didn’t think of it as Lucy not scoring, it was just me making shots.”

Leave it to Olsen to show up for her team in the final minutes.

A three-point jumper with just two minutes, 20 seconds made the score 65-58 and gave the Wildcats just enough to hold a lead and fend off the Quakers.

With Olsen not having her usual standout performance, it was time for other Wildcats to step into the spotlight. Webber was Villanova’s second-leading scorer, contributing 15 points, while junior guard Zanai Jones added eight points to the win.

“I just like coming off the bench and giving us a spark,” Webber said.

Senior guard Maddie Burke also chipped in with seven. Last game against Columbia, Burke had 16 points to combine with Olsen for over half of Villanova’s total points. But even with contributions from other Wildcats, Villanova still struggled offensively. The Wildcats shot just 36.8% from the field and 23.1% from deep.

Villanova is 45-3 all-time against the Quakers, with the Wildcats having won 18 of the last 19 meetings. Penn’s one win in the stretch was during the 2017-18 season.

The last time these two teams saw each other was a year ago when the Wildcats won, 67-41. Former Wildcat and All-American Maddy Siegrist had 22 in the win.

Villanova will take the court again for its third Big 5 game of the 2023-24 season against St. Joseph’s on Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN+). The Hawks boast an 8-0 record on the season after defeating Boston College on Tuesday.