City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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VILLANOVA — Villanova head coach Denise Dillon watched her team run out of steam.

The Wildcats got 21 points from Lucy Olsen and 16 points and 12 rebounds from Christina Dalce, but Princeton made things difficult for them down the stretch.

No one else rose to the occasion in a 61-58 Tigers victory Monday at Finneran Pavilion, which marked the Wildcats’ third loss in four games.

“Lucy just continued to look for hers as she does, and we’re just looking for that supporting cast,” Dillon said. “We wore down a little and you can see even in the fourth quarter, the numbers drop with the percentage. We’re just needing all our Wildcats to contribute on both ends of the floor.”

Villanova (6-4) knocked down a nationally ranked Tigers (7-3) squad at Princeton last season. The Wildcats led by five late in the fourth in this one.

Then Princeton’s Kaitlyn Chen altered the course of the game.

Chen reeled off five in a row for her team to tie the score. When Olsen answered with a drive, Chen responded with an and-one to put her team ahead 57-56 with 2:01 to play. She finished with 31 points, including 21 in the second half of the victory.

“We were gritty, we came up big and Katelyn Chen was awesome,” Princeton head coach Carla Berube said. 

Princeton forced Villanova into misses on its next three possessions, including a layup each by Olsen and Dalce that rimmed out. 

Ellie Mitchell, who collected 19 rebounds in the game, split a pair of free throws with 13 seconds left after the third miss. Instead of giving Villanova a chance to come back down the other end trailing by two, Chet Nweke grabbed an offensive rebound and split another pair of foul shots to make it a three-point game. 

It wasn’t the first time in the game Princeton took advantage on the glass. The Tigers shot 34.9 percent from the floor, and the Wildcats did a pretty good job on Chen, who went 10-for-26 from the field and made some tough ones. But Princeton collected 17 rebounds and scored 32 second-chance points. 

“I thought we battled (defensively),” Olsen said. “Like coach said we gave up too many second-chance points. I think our initial defense was good. We rotated out of it. We were talking a lot, but once we get all out of position we stop rebounding.”

Olsen had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line with two left seconds after she was fouled behind the arc. The first one missed. She made the next one, and an attempt to create an offensive rebound opportunity instead banked in. A heave at the buzzer after two Princeton free throws never had a chance.

Olsen came in with 30-or-more in three of her last four games and scored 20-or-more for the seventh time in nine games. She came in shooting 47.4 percent from the floor and was brilliant once again to start with 10 first-quarter on 4-of-6 shooting. Then she picked up her second foul two minutes into the second quarter, sending her to the bench until halftime.

She added seven points when she came back in the third, though Princeton t tied the game 47-47 heading to the fourth. The Tigers contained Olsen in the final frame to 1-for-6 shooting.

“You try to limit her touches, you try to keep her out of where I think she’s best is sort of within the lane lines, elbow to elbow,” Berube said. “ … Everybody’ s helping out, everybody’s digging. We’re lucky she got a couple fouls in the first half when she was sitting for a little bit. … She’s just a really, really good player. It’s just working really, really hard and trying to limit her opportunities.”

The Wildcats showed they’re capable of having offensive success outside their star, grabbing a 35-30 lead with Olsen on the bench and even playing without Dalce for a lengthy stretch. Freshman Maddie Webber, who is the team’s third leading scorer at 9.1 ppg, came in tallying double figures in four of her last five games, including a career-high 16 against Penn last week. She had nine in the first half, sophomore guard Zanai Jones had five and freshman Brynn McCury added a bucket while spelling Dalce to go along with a combined 19 from Olsen and Dalce.

It was a different story in the second half. Dillon said she saw the freshman Webber, who was 0-for-2 after the break, wear down and no one else stepped up into that complimentary role. Olsen and Dalce combined for 18 of the team’s 23 points — a bucket by Jones and triple by junior Maddie Burke the exception.

“We’re a quarter of the way through, which is wild how quickly the games go, but you learn a lot in the first nine games for us,” Dillon said. “Lucy is aware of involving others, getting them comfortable out there. It will come down to that trust factor and people realizing, there’s going to be a contest but you’re not as guarded as you think you are. I think film always helps there.”