Wildcats

Villanova (15-15) accepted one of 18 at-large bids last night to the 48-team Women's National Invitation Tournament. The Wildcats will host American (18-13) tomorrow night at a time to be announced. American won the Patriot League's regular-season championship.

Lauren Burford scored 17 points to lead Villanova past Big East foe Seton Hall, 62-53, in women's basketball last night from the Pavilion. Laura Sweeney added 16 and Rachel Roberts netted 10 as the Wildcats (14-8, 4-5 Big East) shot an impressive 12-of-27 from the beyond the arc. Jazzmine Johnson scored a game-high 24 points in the loss for Seton Hall (7-16, 0-9 BE).  

Carolina Coyer scored 12 points as Villanova held off visiting Princeton, 61-54, in a women's game Tuesday. Laura Sweeney added 11 points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats (8-1), which saw its early second half lead of 15 fall to four with five minutes to go. Niveen Rasheed's 15 points led players in double figures for Princeton (6-4).  

Villanova climbed one spot to No. 2 in the Sports Network's Football Championship Subdivision poll. The Wildcats received 38 first-place votes in the Division I-AA poll that was released yesterday. Southern Illinois, which is in the top spot for the second week, garnered 49 first-place votes. Montana (45) is ranked third, followed by Richmond and William and Mary. Villanova, Richmond, and William and Mary remain in contention for the Colonial Athletic Association's automatic bid for the NCAA playoffs.

The Villanova women's team had a hard time putting the ball in the hoop last night, but it wasn't for lack of trying. The Wildcats attempted 70 field goals, but sank only 21 en route to an 85-51 loss to No. 3 Connecticut in a Big East game before 8,241 fans at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. Villanova (20-6 overall, 13-5 Big East) shot just 25.8 percent from the field in the first half and trailed, 34-18, at halftime. No Wildcat scored in double figures and no starter had more than seven points.

Greg Woodard didn't lose his shooting touch during the summer. Villanova's senior shooter had a game-high 25 points last night as the Wildcats beat Marathon Oil, 82-76, in an exhibition game at duPont Pavilion. Woodard had four of Villanova's nine three-point shots and also showed a quick move to the basket as he cut inside for several layups. Lance Miller, who had been a versatile forward for two years, has been made into a guard this season and seemed to be picking up the position well so far. Playing both the point and two-guard spots last night, Miller scored 12 points, had five rebounds and, as coach Rollie Massimino noted with the hint of a smile, had no turnovers.

The Villanova Wildcats, coming off a stinging defeat at the hands of Holy Cross, will find themselves facing an even stauncher challenge tomorrow. The Wildcats will do battle in the den of the Black Bears of the University of Maine, and with the wounds of last week's 38-17 defeat still fresh, this game serves as somewhat of an acid test for the young, inexperienced team. Holy Cross was ranked eighth among the NCAA's Division I-AA teams and the unbeaten Bears bring a 20th-rated squad into tomorrow's game.

Villanova started and ended last season ranked No. 5 nationally, but will start this season out of the top 25. In the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll released yesterday, the Wildcats were not ranked. They did receive 39 votes. The indication is that Villanova has some rebuilding to do after losing key players such as Randy Foye, Allan Ray and Kyle Lowry, all of whom are in the NBA. Florida, which beat Villanova in last season's NCAA tournament Elite Eight en route to the national championship, took the No. 1 spot.

Villanova fans may talk about Nick Yako's winning field goal as time expired. They will probably praise the Wildcats' offense for producing 13 unanswered fourth-quarter points. But Villanova's defense was the difference in Thursday's 27-24 victory over Temple in the inaugural Mayor's Cup game at Lincoln Financial Field. The Wildcats (1-0) recorded five takeaways - three interceptions and two fumble recoveries - in what was a bend-but-don't-break performance. Villanova's last takeaway set up Yako's magical moment.

Daccus Turman had three short touchdown runs and South Carolina survived visiting Kentucky's fourth-quarter rally to win its fourth straight over the Wildcats, 27-21, last night. The Gamecocks (4-2, 1-2 Southeastern Conference) looked on their way to an easy victory, leading by 27-7 through three quarters and with Wildcats senior quarterback Jared Lorenzen out of the game after a helmet-to-helmet hit from defensive lineman Moe Thompson. But Kentucky backup Shane Boyd led two touchdown drives in the final quarter.

ON SATURDAY afternoon at Franklin Field, Villanova's women did something they haven't been able to do in 16 years. Or really even tried to do. They won the 4 x 800 meters at the Penn Relays Carnival, an event they won nine times from 1979-97. But they hadn't entered it since the late 1990s, because coach Gina Procaccio didn't feel she had a foursome capable of competing. It also marked the first time the Wildcats - who took the distance medley Thursday for the second April in a row, the first time they'd repeated in that since 1994-95 - have won multiple times here since 1997 as well.

WE'LL NEVER know what might have happened had Villanova's women maybe had some fresher legs to run in yesterday afternoon's 4 x 1,500-meter race at the Penn Relays. But the Wildcats used three of the same people - all underclassmen - who had helped them win the distance medley relay for the second straight year the day before, an event that Michigan and Oregon elected to skip. So naturally, it came down to those three teams. And in the end, Michigan and Oregon had just a little bit more, even though anchor Emily Lipari did about all she could to at least give Villanova a chance.

Villanova had pointed for almost seven weeks to this race - the women's distance medley relay at the Penn Relays Carnival. The Wildcats had suffered a disappointing loss to Michigan in the event at the NCAA indoor championships and wanted to make amends. Great idea, but there was a hitch: Michigan decided not to compete in Thursday's race at Franklin Field. Villanova's response: no problem. With Nicky Akande blowing the race open on the third leg, and anchor Emily Lipari running comfortably and confidently, the Wildcats picked up a decisive victory in 10 minutes, 58.84 seconds.

Rollie Massimino loves this time of the season, the NCAA tournament, and the Final Four, which obviously bring back memories of the crowning achievement in a coaching career that has reached 57 years. Massimino, who won 357 games in 19 seasons as Villanova head coach and led the Wildcats to the 1985 national championship, was named as one of the inductees into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place Nov. 24 in Kansas City, Mo. The official announcement came Monday, the 28th anniversary of the Wildcats' 66-64 victory over Georgetown for the national championship.

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - With Delaware's 69-62 loss to second-seeded Kentucky in the NCAA tournament on Saturday, Elena Delle Donne's attack on school and Colonial Athletic Association record books is history. But the explosive scoring star's climb up the NCAA career scoring charts concluded among some impressive company. The end came when Delaware coach Tina Martin removed Delle Donne with 10 seconds left so the senior all-American could receive a final ovation after posting a third straight 33-point performance before the Wildcats (30-5)

Kentucky's primary goal against Delaware will be like all Blue Hens' opponents: try to keep all-American Elena Delle Donne from taking control of the game. It's not the first time this season the Wildcats have faced one of the sport's best players. Kentucky (29-5) coach Matthew Mitchell believes his team learned from its experience against the game's most imposing player - 6-foot-8 Brittney Griner - in an 85-51 loss to Baylor. The 6-5 Delle Donne presents a different challenge; she rebounds, is a willing passer, and averages 25.8 points - but she can dominate from the perimeter.

LOS ANGELES - LaQuinton Ross hit the tie-breaking three-pointer with 2 seconds to play, and Ohio State advanced to the brink of its second straight Final Four appearance with a 73-70 victory over Arizona on Thursday night in the West Regional semifinals. Ross, the Buckeyes' remarkable reserve, scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half for the second-seeded Buckeyes (29-7), who rallied from an early 11-point deficit and weathered the sixth-seeded Wildcats' late charge for their 11th consecutive victory since mid-February.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - There were circumstances that would have sunk most teams with La Salle sprinting early, crawling late but doing enough to live another day.   The 13th-seeded Explorers continued their postseason run with Friday's 63-61 win over No. 4 Kansas State before 18,301 partisan Wildcats fans at the Sprint Center.   La Salle (23-9) meets SEC tournament champion and 12th-seeded Mississippi in Sunday's third-round game.   After a first half in which La Salle led by as many as 19 points and held an 18-point advantage at intermission, the Explorers held on for dear life by surviving both the Wildcats and their boisterous purple-clad fans.