At Least the Ladies Beat Villanova

Villanova played the Syracuse women's basketball tough for the first 34 minutes, but finally the talent of Coach Quentin Hillsman's team was too much for the Wildcats. The ladies won 73-60 to improve to 15-3 and 3-2 in the conference.

Nicole Michael is really starting to come on in Big East play as she scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season, three of which have come in Big East play.

Villanova led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but the Orange responded by hitting the boards and getting second chance points. By half, the game was tied, but Villanova wouldn't let the Orange get away. 'Nova held leads in the second half until about the six minute mark when Coach Q's squad went bonkers.

The Orange used a 19-4 run over the final six minutes to put the Wildcats to bed. They hit ten free throws down the stretch to seal it.

The 'Cuse showed the tenacity to win another game that was close for most of the contest. They were able to overcome poor three point shooting and 32.4% shooting in the second half to pull away from 'Nova.

Syracuse is now 16th in the RPI with quality wins over Louisville, Penn State, and now Villanova. They are building a very strong resume for the NCAA tournament. They have four tough remaining games on their schedule. They go to 13-4 Depaul, at 14-2 Rutgers, and have 15-3 Notre Dame and 14-3 WVU at home. At most this team should finish the regular season with seven losses which would put them 10-6 in the Big East.