Recap: Maddy Siegrist now the most prolific scorer in Villanova history

Maddie Burke scored all 15 of her points with a 5-of-6 effort from beyond the arc in the first quarter, Lucy Olsen was in triple-double territory with 19 points, eight rebounds and seven assists and Maddy Siegrist (23 points, eight boards) broke the all-time Villanova scoring record on Friday night. The trio led the No. 22 Wildcats to a 73-57 victory over the Creighton Bluejays at D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha.

Siegrist broke the record with a short jumper in the paint that made it 67-42 with 6:32 remaining; she now has 2,414 career points.

Burke’s phenomenal start aided a 26-6 opening frame in favor of Villanova; Creighton went without a field goal in the period.

Siegrist entered the game as the nation’s leading scorer with 28.8 points per game and 40.9 percent of the Wildcats’ scoring on the season. Yet, Villanova (18-3, 9-1 Big East) got off to a 10-0 run without her scoring. Christina Dalce open the contest’s scoring with a layup and then Burke made a catch-and-shoot, straightaway trey to make it 5-0. After an Olsen floater made it 7-0, Burke was rewarded for a block by getting the ball back on the other end and burying another triple. A Siegrist turnaround from mid-range made it 12-0 before the Bluejays (12-6, 6-4 Big East) finally scored.

Burke went on to make threes at the 4:35, 3:16 and 0:55 marks of the first, making the score 17-4, 21-4 and 26-4, respectively. The threes that made it 10-0 and 21-4 were both from comfortably behind the 3-point line. Burke, who transferred over from Penn State this past offseason, attempted 76.8 percent of her 314 field goal attempts in two years as a Lady Lion from beyond the arc. That percentage has risen to 89.3 when just looking at this season. She has 117 3-point attempts in 2022-23 and just 14 attempts from inside the arc. On Friday, she took all of her shot attempts in the first and all were from distance.

Villanova extended its lead to 30-6 early in the second before Creighton finally made its first field goal on a Lauren Jensen mid-range make that cut it to 30-8 two minutes and 16 seconds into the second. That didn’t spark a significant fire for the Bluejays though, as the Wildcats went on to lead 46-16 with 25 seconds remaining before halftime. At least a Mallory Brake triple 22 seconds later ended the second on a positive note for the home team.

Creighton’s most exciting run came early in the third. They recorded a six-point possession because a foul away from the ball on a Jensen three was followed by an Emma Ronsiek three. Thirty-six seconds later a Morgan Maly three rolled around and in for a 9-0 run that cut it to 51-29. The Bluejays wouldn’t get closer than within 21 in the frame though; Villanova led 59-38 after three.

Creighton closed the game on an 11-2 run to make the final score less indicative of how dominant a win it was for the Wildcats, who repaid the Bluejays for a 67-46 loss on Dec. 2. Creighton was No. 13 back then. Burke was held scoreless in that first meeting and Olsen had just three points. Siegrist had 25; clearly she got more help this time around.

On Friday, Jensen, Maly and Carly Bachelor each had 11 points in defeat, while Brake rounded out the Bluejays’ double-figure scorers with 10.

Olsen was an efficient 8-of-13 from the field. Creighton only turned the ball over eight times, but shot 33.3 percent from the field.

Villanova faces No. 5 UConn next in a game that will be played on Jan. 29.