Wildcats Fall At St. Joseph's, 63-59 :: Katie Davis leads women's basketball with 18 points.

Dec. 9, 2000

In Philadelphia Big Five action at St. Joseph's Memorial Fieldhouse, the St. Joseph's Hawks downed the Villanova Wildcats by a score of 63-59. With the loss, Villanova falls to 5-3 overall and 2-1 in Big Five action, while St. Joseph's improves to 4-4 overall and 2-0 in City Series action.

In the first half, neither side was able to gain an advantage as the teams went to intermission tied at 23-23. The Hawks were led in the first stanza by junior forward Susan Moran who netted 13 first half points, while the 'Cats were paced by senior center Brandi Barnes who chipped in with eight. St. Joseph's was 11-of-26 from the field in the first half, while Villanova was 11-for-29.

Villanova came out and controlled the first ten minutes of the second half, as the Wildcats held a 41-36 advantage at the 10:00 minute mark. Of Villanova's first 18 points of the second half, 12 came via the three-point shot with Katie Davis making two and Nicole Druckenmiller and Lauren Pellicane one each.

With the score tied at 41-41 with 8:12 left, the Hawks outscored Villanova 10-5 over the next three and half minutes to take a 51-46 lead. St. Joseph's would increase its lead to 56-50 at the 2:50 mark. Following back-to-back layups by Davis and junior center Stephanie Baker, the 'Cats trailed by just two at 56-54 with 1:55 to go in regulation.

Over the last two minutes, St. Joseph senior guard Angela Zampella was the difference, as she went eight-for-eight from the foul line to help secure the win for the Hawks. Zampella finished with 20 points (12-of-14 from the charity stripe), 10 assists and seven rebounds. Susan Moran scored a game-high 23 for the Hawks.

Villanova was led by Davis who finished with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting (3-of-4 from three-point range) to go with five rebounds, three assists, four blocks and a steal in 38 minutes of action. Barnes tallied 14 points on 7-of-19 shooting, while Mimi Riley recorded two points, nine assists and nine rebounds.

The Wildcats will return to action on Tuesday, Dec. 9 when they finish the Philadelphia Big Five portion of the schedule with an away contest at the University of Pennsylvania.