Villanova star Maddy Siegrist likely headed to WNBA draft

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Villanova Wildcats girls’s basketball star Maddy Siegrist stated Friday she would discuss together with her mother and father in regards to the determination to declare for the WNBA draft. However she appeared fairly sure her faculty profession was over after the No. 4 seed Wildcats’ 70-65 Sweet 16 loss to the No. 9 seed Miami Hurricanes within the Greenville 2 Regional.

“You already know, this was a great way to exit,” Siegrist stated within the Villanova locker room. “Making this spherical with this staff, it was actually particular.”

It was Villanova’s first journey to the Candy 16 since 2003. Siegrist, the Large East Participant of the Yr and a first-team Related Press All-American, led Division I girls’s and males’s basketball this season in scoring common, ending at 29.2 factors per sport. Her 1,081 factors are the second-most scored in an NCAA Division I girls’s season, trailing solely the 1,109 of the Washington Huskies’ Kelsey Plum in 2016-17. Plum is now with the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces.

Siegrist had 31 factors and 13 rebounds Friday, though she struggled from the sphere, going 8-of-29. She now has scored a school-record 2,896 factors.

Siegrist redshirted the 2018-2019 season due to an ankle damage however has been a Villanova starter the previous 4 seasons. Amongst her highlights this season had been breaking this system scoring file set by Shelly Pennefather set in 1983-1987 and scoring a career-high 50 factors on Feb. 11 towards Seton Corridor. She additionally averaged 9.2 rebounds and has totaled 1,102 in her profession.

The 6-foot-2 ahead is projected as a top-five decide within the most recent WNBA mock draft by ESPN.

“I could not be extra joyful to play with this group,” Siegrist stated. “I acquired to Villanova and simply needed to be adequate to play right here. A number of the issues that occurred, I by no means thought might have occurred.

“Attempting to place it in perspective now could be robust, however I am actually proud how far I got here, and I am pleased with my profession.”