The Guru Report - I: Siegrist and Olsen Lead Villanova Over Florida Gulf Coast to The Wildcats' First NCAA Sweet 16 in Three Decades

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 VILLANOVA, Pa. – Two decades later from their last and only NCAA Women’s Basketball Sweet 16 appearance, the 10^th-ranked Villanova Wildcats Monday night marked senior Maddy Siegrist’s last appearance in Finneran Pavilion before a near-sellout crowd of 4,361 fans with more records mixed in with a lopsided 76-57 victory over Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU).

 

And for some sweet karma, when Denise Dillon’s fourth-seeded squad gets to South Carolina later this week for Friday’s 2:30 p.m. afternoon Greenville 1 Regional semifinal, instead of seeing No. 1 Indiana, the Big Ten regular season champion, ranked No. 2 in the final Associated Press women’s poll, they will meet ninth-seeded Miami, which eliminated the Hoosiers 70-68 on Destiny Harden’s jumper with three seconds left.

 

Then as Indiana went the other way to try to tie or get a winning shot, the Hurricanes (21-12) forced a turnover to seal the upset.

 

“What a great night here at The Finn,” Dillon said after winning her 400^th career game, including her long 17-year run run at Drexel down in West Philadelphia. “Our girls came to play and got the job done and couldn’t be more excited to head to the Sweet 16.”

 

The Villanova coach’s hair was ringing wet off the locker room celebration when she entered the media room. “Took a shower,” she smiled.

 

It was back in 2003, a fabled year in Villanova history under Harry Perretta, that then-Big East member Miami knocked Rutgers out early in the conference tournament, leading to the Hurricanes losing to the Wildcats, who then upset No. 1 UConn for the title, ending a then-lower national record Huskies win streak and advanced all the way to the elite eight.

 

On Monday night, Siegrist, a consensus first-team all-American and the nation’s leading scorer at 29.1 points per game at tip time, followed her 35-point performance in Saturday’s win over Cleveland State with 31 points in this one, eclipsing former Washington star Kelsey Plum by setting an NCAA record 20 or more points in 36 games, the total number Villanova has played to date this season.

 

Siegrist also had six rebounds, four steals, and three blocked shots. With 1,050 points, five more will move her to third all-time in a single season and the career mark is 2,865.

 

The Wildcats are now 30-6 setting a program record for wins in a season passing the 1981-82 AIAW Final Four squad.

 

“Everyone wants to leave their mark,” Siegrist said of the tradition of the men’s and women’s programs. “The ’03 team that Elite Eight, they still talk about that. Just to be able to try to carry that tradition the best you can, it’s something I’ll always cherish.”

 

The other side of the semifinals will feature three-seeded LSU (30-2) against 2-seeded Utah (27-4). The two winners will meet Sunday in the Elite Eight and that winner will become part of the Women’s Final Four in Dallas the following weekend.

 

Ironically, in Miami’s two wins, on Saturday the Hurricanes came back from a 17-point deficit to nip Oklahoma State, which had Villanova transfer Lior Garzon from Israel, and then in ending Indiana’s season, the Hoosiers had her younger sister, Yarden, a talented freshman.

 

This season, instead of four sites for the Sweet 16, Greenville at Bon Secours Wellness Arena and Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena will serve as hosts of two regionals each across the weekend to determine the Women’s Final Four.

 

“To me, Villanova is a Final Four level team,” said Eagles coach Karl Smesko. “That’s how good I think they are. I wouldn’t be surprised if they get there.

 

“For us to beat them, we would have had to play a great game, and I don’t think we did that. We got a little frazzled by the situation early, but I was really proud how we made a run to close the gap at halftime (39-33), and I think we needed to come out in the second half and make a big run early.”

 

But it was the Wildcats, who lit the arena energy early from the opening tip and then struck again after the break to a 26-16 explosive third quarter, enough for the crowd to know Villanova has at least one more game, maybe two, to play, if not more.

 

Sha Carter had 11 points for FGCU (33-34) and Alza Winston scored 10.

 

Lucy Olsen was on fire from the outset for Villanova and finished with personal best 23 points, seven assists, and 10 rebounds.

 

“Yeah, I just think there were a few more opportunities today, and I just had to take them in order to help my team out in order to win the game,” Olsen compared her numbers to Saturday’s game. “So, I think I just took advantage of the opportunities that were given to me instead of, I don’t know, passing them off.”

 

“Olsen was fantastic today,” Smesko said. “Step-back threes on us, really being smart off the ball screens. Those two just played fantastic.”

 

Asked if Siegrist was comparable to anyone the Eagles played this season, the coach said, “No, not this year. She was fantastic tonight.

 

“To game plan for her in one day is extraordinarily difficult. We were going to live with her making tough shots, but we didn’t want to give her anything easy.

 

“But even if you can eliminate the easy stuff and just make her work for everything, I think that’s really the best you can hope to do against her,” Smesko said. “She’s just so versatile, scores in so many ways.

 

“I haven’t seen many players hit as many tough shots as she’s able to hit. She was fantastic today.”

 

Brooke Mullin had seven points and four rebounds, while Bella Runyon off the bench had seven rebounds, four on the offensive glass, and the Wildcats went 13-0 on fast breaks, 14-6 on second chance points, 38-28 in the paint and owned the boards 42-30, of which 13 on the offensive glass gained that second chance edge.

 

The defense that was solid mined 15 points out of 14 Eagles turnovers.

 

“We had a clear advantage inside, and we wanted to continue to use it and go at them that way,” Siegrist said. “Brooke Mullin, every single night she’s on the other team’s best player. And that’s her role, and you know she’s going to do It great.

 

“I think when you have a team like that, a lot of really special things can happen,” Siegrist, a native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., said, listing a bunch of attributes from the entire squad.

 

When the game ended, part of the scene was reminiscent of UConn wins in their campus arena – the Wildcats players dashed to the packed student section to continue with them in the celebration.

 

“You’re not passing that opportunity up,” Dillon said, having told her players to go enjoy when they were briefly indecisive. “You have to enjoy these moments, or you’re going to lose the innocence of the game and how much they put into it. 

 

“I’m so glad the girls felt to recognize the students out there and do everything possible. I mean, the fans stayed there in the stands. Yeah, we’re going to soak it up as much as we can.” 

 

Though players have until March 28 to renounce their extra year of eligibility to enter the WNBA draft, which will be held April 10 in New York, the same night as the Big Five postseason awards event at The Palestra, former La Salle star Cheryl Reeve, the coach of the Minnesota Lynx, who have a lottery pick this season, was seated in a section with Villanova alums doing her diligence.

 

Prior to the opening tip, First Lady Jill Biden tweeted well wishes saying she would be cheering for Villanova from the White House, while Big East commissioner Val Ackerman was in the house.

Second-seed and ninth-ranked UConn (31-5), the other remaining Big East team in the field, advanced to the Sweet 16 in the Seattle Regional 3 field, thumping Baylor 77-58, a much easier outcome over the Bears (20-13) than two seasons ago when the entire tournament was held in bubble style in San Antonio, Texas, because of the pandemic and the Huskies had a controversial two-point victory to keep their Final Four appearance streak alive before falling to Arizona.

UConn coach  Geno Auriemma now has 1,180 victories, now just six short of the 1,186 NCAA Division I women's record held by Stanford's Tara VanDerveer, whose No. 1 seeded Cardinal were upset at home Sunday night by Ole Miss to end their season.

 

Said Siegrist of the crowd, “Yeah, I said to Brooke, I was just like thinking about when we first got here, you know, there weren’t that many people in the stands, and it’s like a sold-out crowd. 

 

“It’s just so exciting and just trying to take it all in. Just look around, because, if this is my last game home, it’s a great way to go out.”