Villanova tops Drexel in family affair
Villanova’s hard-fought, 4846 victory over Drexel Sunday afternoon was like a pickup game between old friends.
There were no fans inside the Pavilion due to COVID-19 restrictions on campus, just the referees, support personnel and two undefeated teams with a lot of personal connections.
First, there were the coaches, Villanova’s Denise Dillon and Drexel’s Amy Mallon. They go back to their playing days in the early-to-mid 1990s at Villanova and Saint Joseph’s, respectively. Mallon coached Dillon in her one year as an assistant under Harry Perretta at Villanova. The two then teamed up again for 17 years at Drexel with Dillon as the head coach and Mallon as her assistant, the last 13 years as Dillon’s associate head coach.
When Dillon left to return to her alma mater after Perretta’s retirement, Drexel quickly chose Mallon as Dillon’s replacement.
Then, of course, there are the assistants. Villanova’s Michelle Sword spent eight years on Dillon’s staff at Drexel before joining her on the Main Line. Drexel assistant Laura Kurz played at Villanova and coached there for five years before joining Mallon’s staff this season.
Those weren’t the only ties that bind these two programs. Villanova’s Kenzie Gardler and Drexel’s Hannah Nihill and Maura Hendrixson were teammates at Cardinal O’Hara, where they all earned All-Delco honors, with Nihill earning Player of the Year honors from the Daily Times in 2016 and
2017, and Hendrixson receiving the same honor in 2019.
With so many connections, emotions ran high.
“It certainly wasn’t an easy game to prepare for and coach against your former players and right-hand person,” Dillon said.
Mallon said she heard somewhere that the best way to handle coaching against a friend, especially a good one, was not to look down the sideline before or during the game.
“I tried to stick to that today,” she said.
As for the game, it went the way you’d expect one to go between two teams with so many ties, much like a neighborhood pickup game. It was a physical, back-and-forth battle that went right down to the wire.
Villanova (6-0) needed an
8-2 run over the final five minutes to stay unbeaten. Senior guard Raven James scored the last five points for the Wildcats, including a 3-pointer with 1:26 left for a 46-44 lead. After Kate Connolly tied it for Drexel (2-1), James hit a driving layup with
26 seconds left to put Villanova up for good.
“I have to be ready to take that shot,” James said. “I just remember explaining to the team that we all have to be an option. They were all keying on Maddy Siegrist and Brianna Herlihy, our leading scorers, so we needed to have that third person to get us some baskets.”
Keishana Washington, who had a game-high 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists, had a chance to tie the game and one to win it for the Dragons, but came up empty both times. She missed a layup with six seconds left and a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“My heart breaks a little bit for Keishana Washington because she played a heck of a game today,” Dillon said. “That last shot actually looked good, so that’s a tough one.”
Drexel was in that position because of its defense. The Dragons bottled up Siegrist, who came into the game averaging 25.2 points and 12 rebounds per game. Drexel stymied the 6-1 sophomore at every turn, holding her scoreless in the first half and limiting her to 11 points and nine rebounds total.
“Our game plan was to be as disruptive as possible because we know what a great player Maddy is,” Mallon said. “We knew she was going to be a tough matchup and I think the team set on what we wanted to do and be as disruptive and as physical as possible and really make her work for every shot. I really felt like we did that so I was really happy with that performance from a defensive standpoint.”
The Dragons limited the Wildcats to 33.3 percent shooting overall and 25.9 percent from 3-point range. Herlihy
(13 points, 12 rebounds) and Lior Garzon (10 points) were the only other Villanova players in double figures.
“I always said that Amy’s defense is better than my offense,” Dillon said.
Villanova’s defense was solid, too. The Wildcats held the Dragons to 31 points over the final three quarters after Drexel jumped out early to a
15-6 lead. Nihill finished with
13 points, four rebounds and two assists. Connolly chipped in with 11 points.
“I thought it would be an ugly one, a game of possessions and it was that,” Dillon said. “That was something else. “It’s a tough one. You hate for anyone to come out on the losing end.”
In other women’s action: SAINT JOSEPH’S 72, LINCOLN 64 » The Hawks survived a scare in their season opener, rallying from a 13-point halftime deficit to take the win.
Graduate student Alexa Santarelli shined in her SJU debut, tallying 15 points to lead five players in double figures. The forward added six rebounds and a team-high four blocked shots.
Katie Jekot, Alayna Gribble and Gabby Smalls chipped in with 13 points apiece for the Hawks. Mary Sheehan, a threetime All-Delco from Cardinal O’Hara, registered five points, four rebounds and a pair of assists.
Penn Wood product Joy Morton netted a game-high 18 points for Division II Lincoln
(0-4).