#MUWBB Completes Sweep of Villanova

MILWAUKEE - The Marquette women's basketball team completed the season sweep over Villanova with a 65-57 win on Friday evening at the Al McGuire Center.

Selena Lott filled the box score on both ends of the court, posting game-highs in points (22), rebounds (11), assists (6) and steals (3) to lead the Golden Eagles (15-4, 12-3 BIG EAST) to a crucial conference victory. Lauren Van Kleunen tallied 15 points and Camryn Taylor joined her in double figures with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Villanova (12-4, 7-4 BIG EAST) got off to a quick start offensively, riding six early points from Brianna Herlihy to a 9-4 lead. Lott, Van Kleunen and Taylor scored 12 of the next 18 points in the game to help MU take a 16-15 lead into the second quarter. The Golden Eagles clamped down on defense in the next 10 minutes, holding the Wildcats to just seven points on 3/15 shooting in the frame. MU closed out the final 5:15 of the second quarter on a 9-2 run and took a 29-22 lead into halftime. Lott (9), Van Kleunen (8) and Taylor (6) scored 23 of MU's 29 first half points.

The offensive pace picked up in the third quarter and the two teams exchanged blows for the first five minutes. VU was able to chop MU's once seven point lead to just two points at the end of the quarter as the Golden Eagles led 47-45 heading into the final 10 minutes of the game.

MU needed a boost to start the final quarter, and it got a big one from Selena Lott. She scored six straight points fo the Golden Eagles and had 12 of her 22 points in the fourth quarter as MU pulled away from VU. A stellar defensive showing held the Wildcats to just 29.4 percent shooting (5/17) from the field in the final quarter as the Golden Eagles extended their winning streak over the Wildcats to three games.

MU held VU to 34.8 percent shooting and scored 50 points in the paint to earn its 12th conference victory of the season.

Brianna Herlihy led Villanova with 19 points while the BIG EAST's leading scorer, Maddy Siegrist, scored 18 points and had 11 rebounds.

POSTGAME NOTES:
-Marquette tied or won the rebounding battle for the 48th time in the 51 games of the Coach Duffy era (42 to 35 edge).
-The Golden Eagles moved to 9-0 this season when holding an opponent under 40 percent shooting from the field.
-Lauren Van Kleunen (15 points) reached double figures for the 14th time this season and 44th time in her career.
-Selena Lott (22 points) reached double figures for the 14th time this year and 46th time in her career. It was her 11th career 20-point game. She also had six assists, her 31st career game with five-or-more assists.
-This was Lott's second 20+ point, 10+ rebound game of the season. It was also her third double double of the year.
-Lott had three steals to bring her career total to 203, which ranks No. 10 all-time at Marquette.
-Lott moved past Danielle Kamm (1,079 points) for 26th place all-time in scoring at MU. Lott now has 1,099 points, 34 short of Lori Goerlitz in 25th place.

UP NEXT:
Marquette will host Creighton on Monday, Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. Central time. FS1 will provide television coverage.

Keep up with the Marquette women's basketball program through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteWBB) and Instagram (@marquettewbb) and `liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteWBB).