PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- The Villanova University women’s basketball program has been home to many special players over the years. Thirty of them have reached the 1,000 career point milestone, but none has done it as quickly as sophomore forward Maddy Siegrist has.
Siegrist scored her 1,000th career point in the first minute of Saturday’s loss to Seton Hall -- just the 50th game of her career -- surpassing the previous record of 52 games held by Wildcats legend Shelley Pennefather.
"It means so much," Siegrist told KYW Newsradio. "I didn’t even know that that was a thing, fastest to hit (1,000), until afterwards. There are so many unbelievable players that have played here, so many great players, and to do that at Villanova, it is definitely special. There are so many players you want to play like, and to be able to do that is a great accomplishment."
Siegrist’s 1,000th point came at the free throw line, where she shoots 79%. She talked about the lead up to the milestone.
"I definitely didn’t really know it was happening until my teammates, two of my roommates, told me," she said. "They were like: 'You know you're pretty close (to 1,000 points), right?' I didn't really even think of it, and then I knew I was two points (away), going into the Seton Hall game, and that was exciting. But once I got it, it was a huge sense of relief."
Siegrist has enjoyed a ton of success in her two years of action at Villanova, emerging as one of the top players in the country. For the season, she is averaging a Big East best 23.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. She led the Wildcats to a 14-5 record during the just completed regular season (9-5 in the Big East).
"I think this has been a great season so far,” Siegrist said. “We have a lot of new players who really stepped up and have really played great. I think we all are coming together at the right time.”
Next up for Siegrist and the Wildcats is the Big East Tournament this weekend in Connecticut.