Heading into Saturday’s matchup with no. 19 Villanova, the Butler Bulldogs knew their work would be cut out for them. The Big East is annually one of the strongest conferences in Women’s Basketball. However, Butler is a team that’s improved leaps and bounds from previous seasons and they have more fight than fans have seen from a Bulldogs team in years.
Early on, things looked good for Butler, with the Bulldogs holding their own and keeping things close in what was a shootout between both teams.
However, heading into the 2nd Quarter, a Butler technical foul on Head Coach Austin Parkinson combined with the Wildcats’ shooting prowess took over. The Wildcats began draining three pointer after three pointer (54% at halftime) and the nations top scorer in Wildcat Maddy Siegrist began hitting her groove, leading the Bulldogs 49-26 at halftime.
Villanova’s defensive pressure continued into the 2nd Half and completely stifled the Bulldog offense and a lot of the shots Butler was able to get off just didn’t seem to fall until late into the 4th Quarter when they started to hit some three pointers but it was too little too late.
In the final quarter, the Wildcats fell into a 3:30 scoring drought but had dominated so much that they still led by over 20. Siegrist led all scorers with 31 points while Villanova controlled the statline in almost every category, 19-9 in assists, 40%-29% from three point territory, 5-0 in blocks and single digit turnovers as well as shooting over 50% from the field compared to Butler’s 37%.
Butler never lost their confidence and drive, though, playing hard and with tenacity all the way to the final buzzer in the 78-58 loss.
-Reggie Edwards
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