Nov. 27, 1999

In the championship game of the 1999 Nevada Danka Classic on Saturday, Nov. 27, in Reno, Nevada, the Villanova University women's basketball team battled back to defeat Nevada, 59-56, to take the tournament title. With the victory, the Wildcats have now won three consecutive games and improve to 3-1 on the season. The loss by the Wolf Pack of Nevada drops their record to 2-2.

Villanova started off sluggish as Nevada raced to a 21-10 lead mid-way through the first half of play. The Wildcats rallied, however, to cut the Wolf Pack advantage to 30-26 at the intermission.

Down 40-39 with 11:20 to go in the game, Villanova went on a 16-5 run to take a 55-45 lead with 4:12 remaining. Leading the `Cats in their run were forward Stephanie Baker, who scored eight of her 10 points, and freshman Trish Juhline who drained two big three-point field goals. Nevada would come back and cut the lead to 57-56, but junior guard Lauren Pellicane hit two free throws with one second left on the clock to clinch the win for Villanova.

For the Wildcats, senior forward Jenea Skeeters had her second straight outstanding performance of the tournament. Skeeters scored 17 points and added eight rebounds in the victory over the Wolf Pack. For the tournament, she scored 38 points in two games and was named the Nevada Danka Classic tournament MVP.

Scoring 17 points as well for the Wildcats for a new career-high was Juhline, who shot seven-of-10 from the field, and three-of-four from the three-point stripe. She scored 15 of her 17 points in the decisive second half. Baker also scored in double figures in the contest, with 10 points to go along with a career-high 15 rebounds. All 10 of Baker's points came after intermission.

Rounding out the Villanova scoring was junior center Brandi Barnes with eight points, senior guard Mary Beth Snell with three, junior guard Megan Stewart with two, and senior point guard Lauren Pellicane who scored two points and dished out a game-high seven assists in 40 minutes of action. The Wildcats shot 37 percent for the game, holding the Wolf Pack to 36 percent shooting.

For Nevada in the loss, Kate Smith scored a game-high 20 points, while Jessica Larsen recorded 19 points for the Wolf Pack.

Villanova will resume play on Wednesday, Dec. 1, traveling to La Salle to play the Explorers at 7:00 p.m.