City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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VILLANOVA — The first look of the season at the 2025-26 Villanova women was a positive one. 

Denise Dillon’s Wildcats welcomed Towson to the Finneran Pavilion on Friday night for a public exhibition game, and the Big East hosts had no issue with their CAA foes, dispatching them easily to the tune of a 79-54 win. 

Here’s a notebook full of notes, quotes, stats and observations from the evening: 

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Bascoe goes bananas

There’s no secret who’s going to be the Wildcats’ offensive leader this season. 

And yet, there wasn’t much Towson could do to stop Jasmine Bascoe.

Villanova’s sensational sophomore, the 2024-25 Big 5 Rookie of the Year and a First Team All-Big East selection after averaging 16.2 ppg last season, looked like she picked up right where she left off. The 5-foot-8 guard from Ontario put up what would have been a career-high 32 points if the game had counted, shooting 11-of-19 from the floor and 7-of-10 from 3-point range. 

She exited the game to a nice round of applause with more than seven minutes remaining, and could easily have gone for 40 if she’d stayed on the court. It wasn’t just her shooting from deep, which came on some quick-trigger, contested shots; she also thrived at getting to the rim off the bounce or on a sharp cut, and knocked down a couple mid-range pull-ups as well.

“I thought she did a nice job of slowing down a little,” Dillon said. “She is such an uptempo player, but in the half court she’s learning to stop and start and setting people up; I thought she did a better job of that in the second half.”

Bascoe’s hot shooting night paced a Wildcats squad that shot 15-of-28 (53.6%) from beyond the arc. The ‘Nova women were hot in all but the third quarter, when they missed all five of their 3-pointers, but they more than made up for it in the first (6-of-12), second (4-5) and fourth (5-6). 

Dillon was pleased at her team racking up 23 assists on 28 made shots (28-65, 43.1%), but they also turned it over 19 times, with six different players accounting for multiple turnovers.

“The willingness to share the ball is key, being selfless and making those extra passes,” Dillon said. “And just recognizing even if the ball doesn’t go in the basket that you know it was a good possession and we got a good shot out of it. I was pleased with some areas there, but I did feel that we had numerous lapses.”

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‘Nova newcomers impress

Dillon and her staff brought in some important pieces this offseason, and quite a few of those additions impressed in their unofficial Villanova debuts. 

Graduate student forward Kylee Watson, a South Jersey native who comes to the Main Line after stops at Oregon and Notre Dame, got the start in the middle and contributed eight points and five rebounds along with three assists in 13 first-half minutes. She sat the second half as she continues to recover from a lower leg injury, but Dillon said she expects the Mainland Regional (N.J.) product to be ready for full-time minutes when the season gets underway for good Nov. 3 against Lafayette.

Watson, who has career averages of 5.1 ppg and 3.6 rpg in 114 career games (73 starts), showed some unexpected offensive range, knocking down her only two 3-pointers. She hasn’t attempted a single 3-pointer in her collegiate career thus far. 

“Bringing her in, [we] wanted to showcase her full ability and she showed that today,” Dillon said. “We’ve been working on the 3, getting her out there, and then inside-out action. It was nice to have her in live action and show what she was doing.”

Three collegiate rookies also got significant playing time. 

Freshman wing Brooke Bender, a 6-1 wing from Whitehouse (Ohio), showed off her own shooting chops as she went 4-of-7 from deep, helping her to 14 points in 24 minutes; she also grabbed eight rebounds, three on the offensive end. Westtown grad Kennedy Henry got the start and played 31 minutes, missing all five of her 3-point attempts but contributing five points, seven assists and four rebounds along with good defensive versatility. And freshman point guard MD Ntambue got 21 minutes off the bench, finishing with two points and two rebounds.

“Brooke Bender, she showed she can shoot the basketball and she just has an understanding for the game,” Dillon said. “I think when she gets more comfortable with our system and players understand the importance of getting her looks, whether it’s the passer or the screener, she’ll be in a good place. 

“Starting Kennedy, she’s shown it at practice every day, struggled [shooting] today but that’s common, you’re hyped up your first game, but she does some really good stuff at both ends of the floor. MD, she’s a worker, she’s going to gain confidence and [she’s] learning from Jas in what it looks like to run an offense, but for right now we’re asking her to be a relentless defender and go after rebounds.”

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‘Bionic woman’ McCurry a welcome sight back

It’s been a tough few years for Villanova junior Brynn McCurry from an injury standpoint.

The former Sparta (N.J.) standout missed her senior year of high school with a torn left ACL, then got back on the floor to chip in as a freshman at Villanova. But she went down last offseason with another torn ACL, this time her right knee, costing her yet another season of hoops. She’s now playing with a brace on her knee and a heavy wrap on her elbow for another injury — but she’s playing. 

McCurry got 20 minutes against Towson, the Swiss Army Knife wing chipping in six points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals while shooting 3-of-5 from the floor. 

“Unfortunately Brynn’s like the bionic woman,” Dillon said. “She had the knee injuries, you see her with this elbow injury, but she just fights and keeps going. I even appreciated hearing the position she had, boxing out, she’s a tough player, I think when she gets a little bit of her bounce back, that will help.”

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Next Up
Villanova’s women have one more exhibition game, on Thurs., Oct. 30 at Fairleigh Dickinson. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM. 

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