The Wildcats Drained 15 from Beyond the Arc in 83 – 58 Win Against Providence
VILLANOVA, PA. 1/27/2026 –
Looking to bounce back from a conference loss to St. John’s the Wildcats were successful based on their three-point shooting. Nova made 15 of 34 from three-point land to tie their season-high in made three’s. It was also the most three-point shots allowed by the Providence Friars. Villanova wins 85 – 58 at the Finneran Pavilion with the distance shooting as a key weapon.
“It opens the game up and the spacing on the floor,” said Villanova Coach Denise Dillon. “We talked this week about having those shooters, we just got to do a better job of finding them. You’ve got to continue to take the shot when it’s open and just feel good about it.”
The main boost in long distance shooting came from freshman guard Brooke Bender who scored a collegiate-best 18 points on 6 made field goals, another collegiate mark, in just over 19 minutes of play. It was her fifth double-digit scoring game this season.
“I’ve been working on my shot all week, have the confidence and finding that again,” said Bender. “Just working on it all week and having the trust in myself that I was going to make those shots.”
Coach Dillon said the work has been consistent from the day she stepped on campus.
Sharing the Basketball
The Wildcats moves the ball and had a good inside-outside game going. Once the ball went inside, the defense collapsed, then the ball went back outside to an open player outside of the arc. For the game forwards Brynn McCurry and Denae Carter recorded 5 assists each.
“We talk about moving the ball, sharing the ball, and it’s a much better number today,” Dillon said. “We had only 9 assists in the game (St. John’s compared to 22 in this game), and that’s not Villanova basketball. I was happy that what we said in practice, they heard and moved the ball a little better. When you’re moving the ball and getting uncontested shots, it makes it lot easier out on the court.”
“They found me, got me the ball in transition, inside out, they’re doing a really good job of finding our shooters, and that was evident in this game,” Bender said.
Crucial Run of the Game
It was a back and forth contest. With Nova leading 40 -35 at halftime, the Friars got the first basket of the third quarter on a three-pointer by Orlagh Gormley. The Wildcats responded by scoring the next 12 points in over two and a half minutes highlighted by a pair of three’s by guard Kennedy Henry. The flurry gave Villanova a 52 – 38 lead. Providence would get no closer than 9 points for the rest of the game.
What the Numbers Say
Henry added 16 points for the Cats making 4 of 8 from three-point range to tie a career-best in made three-point shots. Brynn McCurry scored 11 points on 5 for 5 from the floor, including a made three. This is the first game this season she was perfect in shooting percentage.
Jasmine Bascoe scored a game-high tying 22 points. She has scored in double figures in 19 games and 8 of them she netted 20 points or more. She dished out 6 assists.
The 15 made three-pointers tied a season-best set against Xavier. Interesting to note that 10 of the 15 were made by freshman, Bender with six and Henry sinking four.
For Providence Sabou Gueye scored 22 points which was one-point shy of her career-best. She added 5 assists and pulled down 6 rebounds. Ashley Dinges also had 6 rebounds.
Up Next
Providence (10 – 12, 3 – 8) returns home to meet St. John’s on Saturday.
Villanova (16 – 5, 9 – 3) takes sole possession of second place in the Big East by a half-game over Seton Hall. They take the court on Saturday hosting DePaul.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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