City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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The Villanova women’s basketball team made its first public appearance since last season’s NCAA Tournament run on Wednesday at Finneran Pavilion.

The Wildcats took down Jefferson, 86-42, in their only exhibition contest before beginning their season at Marist on Monday.

Here are some takeaways from Wednesday’s 40 minutes of action:

Scoring Shake-up

The Wildcats’ scoring is going to have to come a little differently this season with two of VIllanova’s top three scorers in Brianna Herlihy (10.7 ppg, 8.2 rpg) and Lior Garzon (13.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg) gone — Herlihy graduated and Garzon at Oklahoma State.

Outside of Big East Player of the Year Maddy Siegrist (25.3 ppg, 9.2 rpg) no other returner averaged double figures last season. Sophomore guard Lucy Olsen (7.0 ppg, 2.7 apg), senior guard Brooke Mullin (4.8 ppg), junior guard Bella Runyan (3.6 ppg) and sophomore guard Kaitlyn Orihel (3.3 ppg) are the other top returning scorers, none of whom were asked to put the ball through the hoop consistently last season.

Siegrist casually put together a 21-point night (9-for-18) and added six rebounds and five assists. (If you want to read more about the 2021-22 Big East Player of the Year, read Mitchell Northam’s preseason profile here)

The question coming into the night was who would be the others the Wildcats would lean on this season. Mullin had the hot hand on Wednesday, finishing with 18 points (7-for-12) in 29 minutes. She has a beautiful stroke, finishing 3-for-6 from deep and adding five rebounds and two assists.

A breakout senior campaign for the 5-11 guard from Neshaminy High School is something Dillon is looking for.

Olsen (12 points, 5-for-9), junior Penn State transfer Maddie Burke (10 points, 4-for-8) and sophomore forward Christina Dalce (eight points, 4-for-10) were the others looking for their shot against Jefferson. Olsen is instinctually a point guard, but had some moments were she looked for her shots on Wednesday.  She was relatively quiet on the offensive end before jumping into double digits in the third quarter with a midrange jumper and an impressive fadeaway. 

The Wildcats took advantage of Dalce in the paint at times and Burke knocked down a pair of threes to help her scoring cause.

Olsen (30), Siegrist (30), Mullin (29) and Burke (26) were the top four in minutes. 

“I think it is a combination of a number of players being able to make things happened, but it’s so important for us to have three scorers,” coach Denise Dillon said. “You know you have Maddy who has proven to be that No. 1, but losing Brianna Herlihy and Lior Garzon, finding that two, three spot. I do think by committee it can happen, but we definitely need like Brooke Mullin to show what she did tonight and Lucy Olsen has proven to be capable and Maddie Burke getting comfortable in our offense can help as well.”

Sophomore forward Christina Dalce started for Villanova during Wednesday's exhibition with Jefferson. (Photo: Jack Verdeur/CoBL)

Moving Forward

With both starting forwards Herlihy and Garzon gone from last year’s team gone, there were plenty of minutes in the Wildcats’ front court available entering this preseason.

The two front court players left about 24 points, 12 rebounds and 59 minutes per game to replace.

Dillon doesn’t have a lot of experienced options to choose from to fill the forward spot. Dalce was in the starting lineup against Jefferson on Wednesday. The 6-2 forward played in just 13 games and averaged 1.7 ppg and 2.0 rpg in 5.2 mpg contest during her freshman campaign in 2021-22. She was heavily featured in her 12 minutes of action on Wednesday, finishing 4-for-10 with eight points.

“We talked about throwing her in the fire right away, relying on her, counting on her in this position,” Dillon said. “The biggest thing is going to be on the defensive end. She’s gotta make sure she’s in the right position and we’re going to need her to rebound the basketball. It was nice to see a couple looks to her inside. I think she’s a good presence for us around the basket. … It’s a new role. It’s a big role. We’re trying to be patient, but at the same time she knows it’s go time.”

Freshman forward Megan Olbrys was one of the first ones off the bench for the Wildcats. She finished with a pair of rebounds in eight minutes of play. Outside of the minutes with her on the floor, the Wildcats went with the versatile Siegrist (6-1) as the lone forward or just went with the all guard lineup.

Villanova never really looks small, however, as Burke (6-1), sophomore guard Anahi-Lee Cauley (6-0), Mullin (5-11), Runyan (5-11), Orihel (5-10) and Olsen (5-9) all provide some size and versatility as guards.

“That’s how we play, that versatility is so important to us,” Dillon said. “It can put you in a position where you’re out of position and the size factor of rebounding but our guards, we just rely on our guards to mix it up and get some rebounds.”

Villanova's Maddie Burke, left goes up for a rebound against Jefferson's Maeve McCann on Wednesday. (Photo: Jack Verdeur/CoBL)

Burke is Back in Town

Burke made a name for herself as a standout at Central Bucks West before playing two seasons at Penn State. She was on the All-Big 10 freshman team and named the Big 10 Sixth Player of the Year in her debut campaign in 2020-21 when she averaged 8.9 ppg and 3.5 rpg in 26.3 mpg, playing in 24 games and starting 11.

She played in 29 games as a sophomore, averaging 2.8 ppg and 1.7 rpg in 14.2 mpg before transferring to the Main Line this offseason.

Burke has a multifaceted skill set that would let her fit in wherever she played, but the 6-0 guard seems a perfect fit at Villanova. Along with her 10 points in 26 minutes of action, she also added five assists and four rebounds. It would be no surprise for averages to look a little more like her freshman season at Penn State or even better by the end of the year as she continues to adjust to her new team.

“It was good to see her tonight,” Dillon said. “Her first outing was a scrimmage and of course a little nervous and anxious. But she’s a worker and I think as she gets more comfortable with the looks, knowing where they're going to come from, she’ll continue to grow within the system. It was good to see her continue to look for shots. That’s what we need.”

Another tough test

Jefferson already played La Salle — second in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll — in a scrimmage this preseason. The Wildcats were another tough test for the Division II program, which has most of its rotation back from last season’s 24-9 team.

Adding to the daunting challenging was the fact that last year’s leading scorer Haley Meinel (14.0 ppg) and another potential starter Emily Keehfus (5.9 ppg) were both out with injury.

The Rams hung tight for a quarter (13-8), but ultimately the Wildcats’ defense forced too many miscues and easy Villanova baskets. Villanova forced 21 turnovers and scored 28 points off them.

“I always tell them that we’re trying to play at a higher level to in a sense get beat up a little bit and work out the physicality,” Jefferson coach Tom Shirley said. “I said to (sophomore forward Cassie Murphy) you’re not going to see these posts in our league. I think La Salle and Villanova gave us that opportunity.”

Sophomore forward Cassie Murphy impressed against the Division I front court, going 5-for-9 for 11 points and also grabbing eight rebounds. She averaged 13.4 ppg and 5.3 rpg as a freshman last season. Sophomore guard Emma Kuczynski (2.3 ppg) also had an impressive night, going 5-for-13 for 12 points to go along with three rebounds and two assists. (More on the Rams to come on CoBL next week)