Nov. 16, 2003

Final Stats

EUGENE, Ore. - Career-high scoring efforts from juniors Jana Rediger (Sellersville, Pa.) and Jennifer Hilgenberg (Readington, N.J.) helped lift the Villanova Wildcats to a 68-50 victory over Valparaiso in the consolation round of the Women's Sports Foundation Challenge here on Sunday afternoon.

Rediger was 9-of-10 from the floor for 18 points while Hilgenberg made five of her nine attempts, including 4-of-6 from beyond the 3-point arc, for 14 points.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 17-7 lead as Rediger scored eight points in the game's first seven minutes. However, the Crusaders slowly chipped away at that lead thanks in large part to the work of Katie Boone and Suzie Hamel. When Boone sank a pair of free throws with two seconds left before intermission, Valparaiso had re-gained the lead at 32-31.

The second half, though, was a much different story.

The Crusaders held a 41-40 advantage after a basket by Jen Stangler with 15:16 to go in the contest. But sophomore Liad Suez (Even-Yehuda, Israel) fed Hilgenberg for a basket to put the Wildcats into the lead for good at 42-41. Villanova outscored Valparaiso 26-8 over the game's final 14 minutes.

There were several noteworthy elements on the final statistics sheet. Villanova connected on .549 of its field goal attempts while limiting Valparaiso to .300 from the field, including just .208 in the second half. The 'Cats out-rebounded the Crusaders 36-22 and were credited with 25 assists, including ten from senior stalwart Courtney Mix (Perrysburg, Ohio). Mix also paced Villanova with nine rebounds.

Boone and Hammel led Valparaiso with 12 points each.

Villanova (1-1) travels to face Howard on Friday at 7:00 p.m. in its next action.