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Villanova's Perretta happy with team's road show in WNIT | Mike Kern

GIVEN HIS CHOICE, Harry Perretta would rather drive than fly. Even if his Wildcats happened to be playing at, say, Tennessee against his friend, the late Pat Summitt. But these last two weeks the Villanova womens' basketball coach hasn't had a choice. Not that he's complaining.

GIVEN HIS CHOICE, Harry Perretta would rather drive than fly. Even if his Wildcats happened to be playing at, say, Tennessee against his friend, the late Pat Summitt. But these last two weeks the Villanova womens' basketball coach hasn't had a choice. Not that he's complaining.

"I've racked up more frequent flyer miles than I have over the last 20 years," he said. "We've been traveling all over the place . . . It's fun."

His young team has won four straight road games to reach the NIT semifinals, a program first. On Wednesday night the Wildcats (20-14) will be at Michigan (26-9), which is 18-1 at home. The Wolverines have won their last two at the Crisler Center by 20 points (over St. John's) and 18 (against Virginia Tech). Villanova beat St. John's twice, by five and 11.

The Wildcats' first two games weren't long trips. They won at Princeton on March 17 and at Drexel two days later. Then they won in overtime at James Madison and by 12 at Indiana, their largest margin of victory in the tourney.

The other semi is Washington State (16-19) at Georgia Tech (21-14). The final is Saturday, at a site to be determined.

"It's funny, because I didn't know how they were going to react," said Perretta, who made it to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tourney in 2003 before losing to Tennessee. "I've always told them they play better on the road. You're away from all the distractions. We just seem to be making plays at the end of games that we didn't make earlier this year. We made some of them, but not a lot. Now we're doing it consistently. That shows me they're learning how to play. They understand their roles. There's a difference between learning and accepting your role.

"They're just doing what they can do."

So here they are. This is the fifth straight season they've reached 20 wins, in what was supposed to be a transition year. And they did start 5-8. But they're 11-5 away, and 4-0 in games that went longer than 40 minutes (one even went double OT). And they're still playing, which is more than most teams can say at this time.

"I thought we hopefully would be able to get into the NIT, then maybe win a game or two," said Perretta, whose team played a demanding schedule and didn't lose to any team that had a losing record. "We came close to not making it. It's nice to see how we've progressed and really gotten better. But this is clearly the best team we'll play. I don't know how they didn't make the NCAA Tournament. I'm not saying that because we're playing them. You can see it."

Five players, all underclassmen, are averaging between 13 and six points. Leading scorer Alex Louin is up to 18.7 in this run. Overall they've scored eight more than their opponents (plus .02 margin). Jannah Tucker is averaging 9.3 points and 5.3 rebounds overall after playing just two games the last three seasons (redshirt, injury, had to sit out following her transfer from Tennessee). In the last two games she's scored 41, including a career-high 22 at JMU, and shot 8-for-17 from the arc.

"They're going to places we didn't go to before," Perretta said. "I'd never been to Indiana. Now they're going to Ann Arbor. The environments have been something else. There was like 4,000 at James Madison, more than that at Indiana. It was pretty cool to play in front of big crowds.

"It's fun for me to watch the kids having fun. I'm more worried about winning the next game or whatever. I'm trying to keep them relaxed. Just show up and play . . . It's been an unexpected pleasure. Especially since we're doing it on the road. We'll just ride it. Even if we have to fly."

kernm@phillynews.com

@mikekerndn