Villanova Falls to La Salle in Big Five Women's Basketball Opener

Nicole Druckenmiller scored a career-high 16 points for the Wildcats

Dec. 1, 1999

In the Big Five opener for the Villanova University women's basketball team on Wednesday, Dec. 1, in Philadelphia, Pa., the Wildcats lost to La Salle University, 75-65, in a game played at Tom Gola Arena. With the loss, the `Cats drop to 3-2 overall and 0-1 in Big Five play, while the Explorers remain perfect at 4-0 overall and 1-0 in Big Five contests.

With Villanova trailing 10-9 early in the first half of play, La Salle went on an 11-2 run to take a commanding 21-11 lead with 8:34 left in the half. The Explorers went on to extend their advantage to 37-21 at intermission, behind 59 percent shooting (16-of-27) from the field. The Wildcats on the other hand struggled on the offensive end, shooting just eight-for-33 for 24 percent.

Villanova opened the second half on a 15-7 spurt to trim the La Salle lead to 44-36 with 13:52 left on the clock. The Explorers countered with a 12-0 run to regain the momentum and a 56-36 advantage. The `Cats would attempt to rally, cutting the lead to 65-56 with 2:30 remaining in regulation. That was as close as Villanova would get, however, as the Explorers took the victory, 75-65.

Leading the Wildcats on the offensive end was redshirt freshman forward Nicole Druckenmiller with a career-high 16 points, on five-for-10 shooting. Druckenmiller also shot three-of-six from three-point range and added seven rebounds. Senior forward Jenea Skeeters registered her first double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Junior center Brandi Barnes scored in double figures as well for Villanova with 13 points, while freshman forward Trish Juhline posted nine. The Wildcats shot 32 percent as a team for the game, while the Explorers shot 44 percent.

La Salle was guided to victory by Suzanne Keilty who scored a game-high 17 points on four-of-eight shooting. Jen Zenszer put together a fine all-around game with 15 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Melissa Hindenlang had 12 points.

Villanova will get back into action on Saturday, Dec. 4, traveling to Temple to face the Owls at 2:00 p.m., at the Apollo.