Led by Big East POY, 11th-seeded Villanova stuns BYU women to open NCAA Tourney

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — All season long, BYU women's basketball has relied on an explosive offense, charged by West Coast Conference Player of the Year Shaylee Gonzales.

In Saturday's first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Cougars met one of those, too.

Maddy Siegrist, the Big East Player of the Year, poured in 25 points and seven rebounds to help 11th-seeded Villanova rally for a 61-57 win over sixth-seeded and 20th-ranked BYU at the Crisler Arena on the campus of the University of Michigan.

Paisley Harding had 21 points, four rebounds and three assists to lead BYU (26-4); Gonzales finished with 8 points, six rebounds and eight assists. Tegan Graham had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Lauren Gustin supplied 8 points and 13 boards for the Cougars, who shot 40% from the field to Villanova's 37.

But the Wildcats (24-8) scored 14 points on 16 turnovers and got 16 points off the bench to BYU's four, including 10 from Kaitlyn Orihel to help overturn any early 13-2 rally.

And in a game of scoring momentum, Siegrist started with little and seemed to finish with all of it. The 6-foot-1 forward from Poughkeepsie, New York, who averaged 25.9 points and 9.5 rebounds per game prior to Saturday's tournament opener, had just 6 points at halftime. Then she really cut loose.

"We came in knowing she's their leading scorer, and we were really locked in the first half," said BYU center Sara Hamson, who had 2 points, two rebounds and a blocked shot in the loss. "And then she adjusted. She turned it up a couple notches and really went off. Kudos to her. She played a really great game."

Through three quarters, the Wildcats held the Cougars' offense — which ranked 11th nationally scoring 77.8 points per game — to just 41 points. Only Harding scored in double figures to that point.

And when the Cougars' offense went dormant, Siegrist got stronger. Moments after Graham was forced to the bench while guarding her, the Big East Player of the Year drained an open 3-pointer from the left corner that pushed the Wildcats' lead to a game-high seven, 55-48, with 5:27 remaining.

"They played a really good game," BYU coach Jeff Judkins said. "Give them a lot of credit and wish them the best.

"I want to thank my team for an incredible season. They go 26-4, and to be able to compete at the highest level and be able to hang in there and do the things with up and down parts of life and the season, I'm very proud of them."

BYU kept Siegrist — and the rest of the Wildcats — mostly quiet en route to a 13-2 start. But the best player in the only football-less Power Six conference didn't stay down for long.

"I felt they did a really nice job taking her out the natural cuts or off some flair screens," Villanova coach Denise Dillon said. "For Mad, it was really just a matter of settling in and seeing what was happening out there and then just feeling the game. I think she's done a tremendous job of that this season.

"Her growth from last season to this season has been just that, just settling in, letting the game come to her instead of forcing things. She wanted it so badly, but realized the game is long …. She did just that, and it worked in her favor and certainly."

Dillon knows a thing or two about beating BYU; the only other time the Wildcats and Cougars met on the hardwood, the former Villanova guard had a team-high 21 points in a 61-58 win at the Maine Dead River Tip-off Classic back on Dec. 1, 1995.

This time, it was her star pupil who went off — even if it took most of the first half to get warmed up.

"(It was) just knowing like it's a long game," Siegrist said. "Keep shooting the shots you normally take and eventually they'll start to fall."

BYU made four of its first eight shots from the field, including an elbow jumper from Maria Albiero to jump out to a 10-2 lead midway through the first quarter. But the Wildcats ended the first quarter on a 9-3 spurt, including six from Orihel, to pair with six BYU turnovers and cut the deficit to 17-14 after the first quarter.

Gonzales was held scoreless on three shot attempts in the first quarter, but the redshirt sophomore and two-time WCC Player of the Year assisted on five of the Cougars' first six field goals to keep BYU in front.

"I think we came out super aggressive, especially on defense," Harding said. "We took them out of the things they thought they would be able to get pretty easy, but then I think they turned on the heat. They started pressing a little bit more, getting more in our passing lanes. We just made some careless turnovers, which I think that's pretty much us just beating ourselves right there in that little stretch in the first quarter."

But the trend was visible when Lucy Olsen forced five of her game-high six steals in the first half to go along with 9 points and three assists. Nine of the Wildcats' 16 turnovers caused were credited as steals, and BYU managed just 13 points off its own nine turnovers.

Things went from good to worse when Albiero picked up her second foul in the first half, forcing Judkins to send her to the bench. The fifth-year senior scored 5 points in the first quarter, and was instrumental to the Cougars' offense. Sitting her down shifted Gonzales to a playmaking role, which isn't bad by itself — but a different role than the primetime scorer isn't always used to playing.

"(Albiero) was doing a good job keeping the tempo," Judkins said. "Shaylee is a good ball handler, but she is not used to doing it all the time.

"I think it kind of changes her offensive mood, where she has to get more people involved. They came out and got real physical, started bursting through screens harder, started knocking us around the post, and we just didn't seem like we fought back as well as we needed to."

Still, the Cougars had a chance at the end. Graham re-entered the game and pulled the Cougars within one, 56-55, with her third 3-pointer of the game with just over two minutes left. The fifth-year senior from Wellington, New Zealand, dropped a deep sho from the top of the key that capped a 7-1 spurt to keep hope alive for BYU.

But it was the last time that happened. Siegrist made sure of it.

"She already hit one in my face," she said with a smile, "so I knew she wasn't going to get (another) three off."

Villanova advanced to face host Michigan in the second round Thursday.

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