The Guru’s Local/National March Madness Report; Saint Joseph’s and La Salle Advance in A-10; Drexel Keeps Winning; Villanova Awaits Saturday’s Foe; Tennessee Given Quick Exit by Alabama in SEC for Seventh Straight Loss

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

HENRICO, Va. – For all that has become nostalgic in terms of the men’s hey day in the Big 5 this time of year, for the moment it was boom times for the local women Thursday here in the Atlantic 10 tournament where Saint Joseph’s and La Salle advanced into the quarterfinals while Drexel continued to roar toward a strong regular season ending ahead of the Dragons participation in the Coastal Athletic Association next weekend in the nation’s capital and Villanova is getting ready to make a run for the title game in the Big East tournament this weekend.

Nationally, the unthinkable is happening to a pair of legendary programs where this has usually been a prep week for each for going deep in the NCAA tournament.

The coaching carousel also quickly began to spin locally adding to a few others in programs called Power 4 by their identity, but many have beliefs of the vacancies no longer considered prime positions worth pursuing.

Let’s start with the play here where after the day began in Round 2 of Loyola, Chicago (14-16) downing Saint Bonaventure (16-15) narrowly 61-59, fifth seed Saint Joseph’s (20-10) came out for Game 2 blazing away with a bunch of three-pointers at the outset, applied the brakes to a Dukes (12-19) rally to within six points and then went on to a lopsided 66-45 finish in a game they led all the way.

“Today was a day where we got beat by a better team, a more disciplined team,” said veteran Duquesne coach Dan Burt. “I voted for Cindy (Griffin) coach of the year, She’s done a great job adjusting to the physical quality of today’s rules.

“We didn’t expect them to go 5-for-6 from the three-point line and 7-for-8 to start the game and kind of blitz us a little bit,” he said, bringing accountability to himself and the way the Dukes ended way short of their preseason expectations.

Gabby Casey, an all-conference second team selectee, scored 16 for Saint Joseph’s , while Aleah Snead and Faifth Stinson each scored 10 points, while Jill Jekot, a Penn State transfer had nine points and 11 rebounds.

“Really proud of the way we came out today, starting the first quarter with a really great start,” Griffin said. “We were making shots, the ball was moving, we were making stops.

“We knew we had to get production from all five spots and that’s got to continue all tournament. I am proud of the way we competed, and our defense was tremendous as well.”

The Hawks limited the opposition to just three makes beyond the arc and forced 20 turnovers.”

Duquesne’s Alexis Bordas was high scorer for her team with 13 points while Reina Green had 11 points and nine boards, one rebound short of a double.

Jekot said a hot start from the outset and out of the halftime break was a topic all week to prepare for the trip here in suburban Richmond.

“(Griffin) always says to throw the first punch, which helped us get a lead and ultimately helped us get the win.”

Griffin talked about the team-by-committee approach this season losing three strong front line players, two to graduation and the third to a transfer to Louisville.

“We pick up for each other and that’s who we are. That’s the complimentary assist that you see. The ball really moves; it doesn’t stick a whole lot.”

Loyola will start the quarterfinals playing top-seed Rhode Island at 11 a.m.

The Rams (25-4), who tied with defending A-10 tournament champion George Mason (21-8)for first place, are coached by Tammi Reese, the backcourt mate of Dawn Staley, when the Cavaliers in the early 1990s shot to No. 1 and advanced to three street Women’s Final Fours.

Saint Joseph’s at 1:30 p.m. will play fourth-seed Davidson, which split the series this season though Jekot was out with an injury when Saint Joseph’s traveled to play the Wildcats.

Dayton (17-13), which has made progress under coach Tamika Williams Jeter, a former UConn star in the early part of the last decade, followed the Hawks’ game and advanced to the quarters with a 62-54 win over George Washington (15-17), ending the Revolutionaries’ season.

The Flyers meet George Mason at 5 p.m., completing a trio of USA Network broadcasts for the first three of the four games on Friday.

Then it was La Salle’s turn to end the day’s activities and the Explorers (18-12), who tied Saint Joseph’s for fifth but was dropped to the sixth seed because of the Hawks 2-0 sweep of the series, did not disappoint, winning 59-51 over Saint Louis (12-21), also in a wire-to-wire leading performance to move into Friday’s 7:30 p.m. nightcap (CNBC) against preseason favorite Richmond  (25-6, 15-3).

It’s La Salle’s first quarterfinals appearance since 2021.

Ashleigh Connor, a former player on the Saint Louis team La Salle beat, had 16 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, while committing just one turnover.

Aryss Macktoon had 15 points with a career-matching best 14 rebounds in a game the Explorers dominated the boards 49-42 with 22 on the offensive glass.

“I was pleased we were able to go out and handle business,” said La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray. “I was pleased with the defensive performances of our post players.

“Aryss set the tone from the beginning of the game on the boards. We outrebounded them. That’s not what we do best,” he explained. “You know if we outrebound our opponents thast we’re going to be in great shape, won the turnover battle, that’s our recipe for success and it came to life tonight.”

Alyssa Koerkenmeier had 18 points with 12 rebounds.

“I feel we have grown in every single area,” Connor said, nothing that she still has friends on Saint Louis, but yea, it was good to beat them and move on. “Having that year under our belts, we went through a lot of adversity and this year we’ve built and grown off of that.

“We’ve closed out games we didn’t close out last year and grown in the turnovers we’re committing.”

A year ago, the Explorers played a season having lost a bunch of players and being like an expansion squad but this year with eight returning players experience made its quality throughout the season including an upset of Rhode Island recently who were unbeaten when they visited Broad & Olney late last month.

MacGillivray noted how the team found a way to win on a poor shooting night.

“A big part of our growth is putting all four quarters together,” Macktoon said. “Last year we had some trouble playing together, but this year we have been playing 40 minutes hard and going at the other team.”

Drexel Keeps Rolling

The Dragons (20-8,13-4) are still in regular season mode, but what a mode it is with one game left Saturday at 2 p.m. (FloCollege) visiting Towson in suburban Baltimore where a win will give them second seed, which is also good enough to to earn an automatic spot in the WNIT if they don’t land in the NCAA by winning the conference tournament.

They will place at least third which keeps them out of the way of top seed Charleston until reaching the title round by advancing, and that advancement gets a  boost with a double bye.

Drexel started its final road trip of two games Thursday winning 70-56 over Hofstra in Hempstead, Long Island outside New York City.

Laine McGurk scored 15 points, shooting 7-for-14 from the field, while Amaris Baker scored 13, Molly Rollo scored 10, and Bria Watkins had 12 points, her first game in double figures during what is her rookie season.

In getting Drexel’s first 20-win season since 2022-23 it is also the first win at Hofstra since the same season.

Villanova, meanwhile, with a second-place finish and first round bye, awaits Friday’s winner between 10th-seeded DePaul and seventh-seeded Providence who the Wildcats will meet Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Big East quarterfinals at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn.

Coach Denise Dillon’s team is trending toward a lock for a spot in the NCAA tournament after a two-season drought.

The top seed is No. 1 UConn, defending its 12th NCAA title and unbeaten once more to date at 31-0.

On Saturday, Penn finishes its season having missed the four-team Ivy Madness, but the Quakers can get some senior day revenge at 2 p.m. at The Palestra (ESPN+) hosting Brown, whose double overtime win over Penn was costly.

Seeding is still undetermined with No. 23 Princeton, playing Yale, tied for 1st with Columbia, which has the tiebreaker having swept the Tigers.

Harvard is a game behind.

The National Scene: Wither Stanford and Tennessee?

Upsets were felt as Power 4 conferences started getting into the meat of their tournaments.

Stanford, which missed the NCAAs last season for the first-time in three decades, was a first-round knockout in the ACC tournament, which moved to Duluth, Ga., from a long stay in Greensboro, N.C.

The Cardinal fell to Miami in overtime on Wednesday, while Thursday was calmer with Clemson beating Virginia 63-50; Notre Dame over Miami 69-54; Syracuse over California 70-59; and Virginia Tech 62-54 over Georgia Tech.

On Friday, Duke hosts Clemson; NC State meets Notre Dame; Syracuse meets Louisville; and North Carolina plays Virginia Tech.

Down in Greenville, S.C., the SEC tournament saw Alabama hand Tennessee its seventh straight loss, losing on Day 2 after dropping the last six of the regular season.

On Friday in the quarterfinals South Carolina plays Kentucky; LSU plays Oklahoma; Vanderbilt plays Ole Miss; and Alabama plays Texas.

In the Big Ten, Illinois nipped No. 18 Michigan State and Oregon upset No. 14 Maryland.

In Friday’s quarterfinals, No. 2 UCLA meets former PAC12 rival Washington; Minnesota meets Ohio State, Illinois meets Iowa; and Oregon plays Michigan.

In the Big 12 Kansas State upset Texas Tech 58-51; and Arizona State upset Iowa State.

On Friday, Kansas State plays Oklahoma State; BYU plays TCU; Arizona State plays West Virginia and Colorado meets Baylor.

Meanwhile, in the last week, joining VCU, the coaches at Penn State, Rutgers, Boston College and Pittsburgh were all fired.

The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW RdUp: Drexel Explosive Third Quarter Leads to 4th Straight Win And Second Place Tie in CAA; Penn Demolished by Harvard and Eliminated in Ivy Madness Race; No. 25 Princeton and Columbia Still Locked in First

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

PHILADELPHIA – For the moment, things are looking a little rosy for Drexel, which overcame a very slow start here against Northeastern Friday night at the Daskalakis Athletic Center, tied the Huskies of Boston at the end of the first period, played even in the second to be knotted at the half and then erupted with a 25-11 third period and on to a 72-61 victory.

The result, for now in part thanks to help elsewhere with a few surprises on the evening’s card, Drexel (18-8, 11-4) is tied with Stony Brook for second with the No. 2 seed in the Coastal Athletic Association, where the Dragons were picked pre-season.

They have one more home game Sunday on senior day at 2 p.m. (FloCollege) hosting North Carolina A&T and then finish on the road at Hofstra and Towson next week ahead of the following week’s conference tournament at the WNBA Washington Mystics’ CareFirst Arena in the nation’s capital.

The star of the night for the locals against Northeastern (7-19, 3-13), winning their fourth straight contest, plus nine of their last ten, was Laine McGurk with 26 points, her best career game in the home arena here, and second overall.

Grace O’Neill had five points, six rebounds, and the six assists, the latter stat bringing her to a 10th-place tie with Drexel all-timer Keishana Washington on the Dragons’ career list with 388.

Amaris Baker had 12 points, with three boards and three assists.

The top four seeds get a double bye, though round one is only one game, into the quarterfinals, the two seed playing the 10-7 seed winner, while the third seed plays the 6-11 winner and the winner of those two games meet in the semifinals.

Drexel has to win it all to get to the NCAA tournament, something achieved several years ago with a start all the way down as a seventh seed, but failing that, could likely land in the three-year-old WBIT run by the NCAA, or the WNIT, which the Dragons have won in their history when Villanova coach Denise Dillon was on a long coaching stint here.

As for the way the team is performing now, coach Amy Mallon said afterwards, “I think we are a team that has been consistently dangerous as we head into the postseason, just where we finish, how to play, and what we do.

“One of the things we said from day one is we really judge ourselves on how we finished last year. It’s been our motivation every day when we step on the court,” she continued.

“And this group shows up. That’s a dangerous piece for us when we have that type of confidence in what we do. Then we feel really good that we can face anybody and challenge them.”

Baring help in the tourney by knocking the current leader out of the way, the College of Charleston has some distance at the top of the standings, as does No. 1 and unbeaten UConn (30-0) have on Villanova in the Big East, though the CAA team is a bit less daunting.

Though many times coaches just worry about the game at hand as opposed to the big picture discussion, McGurk said the team on their own don’t need others to explain their situation as March Madness approaches.

“It’s something you keep your eye on, especially when you know you are finishing out the year,” she said. “Everything is important at this point … every possession matters, just as much as the next. So just understanding that and knowing that it’s coming to an end soon. We want to keep going as long as we can.”

In how Friday’s game unfolded, McGurk said, “In the first half we were not seeing things fully, kind of rushing things. We weren’t getting great looks. In the third quarter, we just let the offense work for us.”

Mallon said as the season has gone along there were things learned in early games on a difficult schedule despite some being losses.

She referred to a 14-point comeback in one of the road wins less weekend.

“I’m seeing them less rattled in those moments, understanding what they need to do. And tonight, that’s how I felt. The key thing is that we were continuing to grind at the things we needed to do and then adjust. We started doing that coming out in the third quarter, and that really helped us.”

Penn Eliminated in Bid to Return to Ivy Madness

The two upset losses suffered by Penn to Brown and Cornell became fatal Friday night on the road by two things needed to stay alive in the race to return to the four-team Ivy tourney happening in reverse.

The Quakers, two games below the cutline, needed to upset third-place Harvard in Cambridge, Mass, and Brown to lose to Cornell so the Bears would also have a split with Big Red.

Ironically, in the last week Penn had passed Brown in the Net, which became the element in the past in a tie leading to the last berth.

But the Quakers (15-10, 5-7) never got untracked against the Crimson (16-9, 9-3), falling behind quickly, and losing 60-46.

Tina Njike scored 16 points for the visitors, Simone Sawyer scored 11 points, and Katie Collins 12, all from four from deep besides having four steals.

Four players led by Abigail Wright with 14 points and 10 boards scored in double figures for Harvard, which sits in third place a game behind the co-leaders of No. 25 Princeton and Columbia but a game in front of Brown, which upset the Crimson in their second meeting, a factor that made Penn’s chase to recover more arduous.

A year ago, the league had an all-time high with three NCAA participants made possible by Harvard’s upset of Columbia in the championship.

That’s not likely to happen this time though Princeton, with the best net, could possibly get an at-large bid getting to the title game.

The leaders each won decisively Friday night to stay in their deadlock.

Princeton (22-3, 10-2), whose three losses are both Columbia games and at nationally ranked Maryland, won 97-47 at Dartmouth (10-15, 1-11) in Hanover, N.H., as the Tigers forced 21 turnovers on the Big Green.

Fadima Tall, Madison St. Rose and Emily Eadie each scored 13 points for the winners, who also got 12 points each from Skye Belker and Toby Nweke, the latter of whom got five of Princeton’s 20 thefts. Taylor Charles had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Columbia (19-6, 10-2) in New Haven, Conn., won 68-47 at Yale (6-19, 2-10) as Riley Weiss scored 26 points for the visiting Lions, shooting 10-for-18 from the field and 4-for-9 from deep, while Susie Rafiu scored 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the floor.

Brown (16-8, 8-4) in the Bears’ 62-47 home win over Cornell (8-17, 3-9) in Providence, R.I., got 23 points from Grace Arnolie, while Olivia Young had 14 points and tied teammate Alyssa Moreland for rebound honors with nine, each.

On Saturday, all games on ESPN+, at 5 p.m., each, Penn is at Dartmouth, Brown hosts Columbia, and while Princeton is at Harvard.

Things will either be clearer or muddier in terms of the Ivy seeding for the tourney in two weeks at Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y.

If it comes down to next Saturday’s season enders, Penn hosts Brown, Princeton hosts Yale, and Columbia hosts Harvard, all at 2 p.m.

Many Conference Seedings at Stake this Weekend

On this Saturday as in today, knowing this is posting after Friday midnight, the start of two days of games affecting the seedings for many key conference tourneys being held next week get under way, besides many senior day farewell events for teams playing host.

We’ll talk about Sunday’s games, which except Drexel are all on the national watch list, in the next post.

As for Saturday, the Atlantic 10 finishes up, which locally has Saint Joseph’s hosting preseason favorite Richmond at Hagan Arena at 2 p.m. (ESPN+), honoring five seniors, though only two are players.

Richmond needs a win and outside help to gain a first-place tie.

La Salle, also holding a senior day, hosts Loyola Chicago at 1 p.m. at the John E. Glaser Arena.

The Hawks are in fifth while La Salle and its visitor are tied for sixth.

Though Saint Joseph’s could finish in a three-way tie for fifth but hold all the tie-breakers while an Explorers win gets sixth and a loss could be seventh or eighth pending Dayton’s result.

Rhode Island and George Mason are tied for the lead a game ahead of Richmond.

The Rhodys host George Washington and the Patriots are at Duquesne, both being favorites, and Richmond needs both to lose to be part of a tie at the very top.

The Big Ten Situation

In the Big Ten, where the bottom three teams in the post-realignment world don’t get to the conference tournament, Rutgers is dead last and will be done after visiting Nebraska at 2 p.m. in Lincoln.

No. 2 UCLA has already clinched the top seed.

The Big news is Penn State, which didn’t go last year, and had been on the bottom the last few weeks. On Wednesday, the Lady Lions upset Southern Cal, and so, if they win over Indiana they’re in or if they lose and Purdue Sunday at Northwestern loses, PSU has the tiebreak.

But if the Lady Lions lose Saturday and Purdue wins, then Purdue goes.

Northwestern is already eliminated making it Wildcats coach Joe and Northeast Philadelphia’s McKeown’s last game after announcing his pending retirement prior to the start of this season.

Going into the weekend in the Big Ten, No. 9 Iowa and No. 8 Michigan are in a statistical second-place tie three back of UCLA, which will play Southern Cal.

Two games down, No. 22 Minnesota and No. 13 Ohio State are in a statistical fourth-place tie, a game ahead of No. 14 Maryland and No. 15 Michigan State, in a statistical sixth place tie.

On Saturday, Ohio State is at Michigan State, Minnesota is at Illinois, Iowa is at Wisconsin, and Washington is at Oregon.

Rider Out in the MAAC

The Broncs were eliminated Thursday and play at Mount St. Mary’s Saturday at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.

Fairfield and Quinnipiac are tied for first having beaten each other as the visiting team heading into their last games — Fairfield hosting Sacred Heart at 7 p.m. while Quinnipiac hosts Canisius at 2 p.m. The tourney starts next weekend at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.

Patriot Stretch Drive

Navy, the preseason favorite, has clinched the top seed, that, when the tourney begins next Saturday, all games are on home courts of higher seeded teams.

Army is tied with Holy Cross for second, while Lehigh is a game back in fourth, and Lafayette is in a sixth-place tie with Bucknell.

On Saturday, Lafayette is at Army at 1 p.m. in West Point, N.Y., Lehigh at 2 p.m. is at Bucknell, and Holy Cross is at Loyola of Maryland. All games are on ESPN+.

On Wednesday, the last day of the Patriot regular season, Lehigh hosts American U. At 6 p.m. at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., Lafayette hosts Colgate at 5 p.m., Army is at Bucknell at 6 p.m. and Holy Cross is at Boston U. At 6 p.m., all games on ESPN+.

Delaware in Conference USA hosts Middle Tennessee State University at 5 p.m. on ESPN+ at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, the Blue Hens sitting in eighth, and a golden oldie Louisiana Tech has clinched top seed running away with a 4.5 games lead on FIU and Missouri State.

The mega finishes in the Big East to set up seeding, the ACC, the SEC, and the Big 12 are idle Saturday so we’ll wait 24 hours to preview Sunday’s games.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW RoundUp: Villanova Ends Regular Season on High Note Cruising Over Seton Hall; No. 6 LSU Hands Tennesee 5th Straight Loss

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

How sweep its is for Villanova, winning Thursday night in easy fashion up in North Jersey 82-52 over Seton Hall (18-10, 12-7) in the Pirates’ Walsh Gym in South Orange to conclude the regular season in dominating action as the Wildcats (23-6, 16-4) followed Sunday’s 64-39 payback home victory over Marquette on Senior Day to now head to the Big East tournament next weekend in second place with the No. 2 seed at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn.

Coach Denise Dillon’s group have a bye over next Friday’s opening round and head to the quarterfinals on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Sophomore Jasmine Bascoe followed Sunday’s 18-point, seven assists performance by scoring 28 with seven assists and five rebounds, as Villanova plundered the Pirates to take the season’s series 2-0 while Denae Carter had 13 points, freshman Brooke Bender had three from deep to account for all nine of her points, and Brynn McCurry had eight points and eight rebounds.

Locals did not play on Monday or Tuesday, while two others did on Thursday night, Delaware in a Conference USA game at home in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark had a comeback fall short in a 73-71 loss to Western Kentucky (8-18, 4-11).

Ande-‘a Cherisier had 18 points and 11 boards, her board work brought her within two to reach 500 in her career, while Lay Fantroy had 15 points and 14 boards.

Additionally, the Fighting Blue Hens got a game-high 23 points from Ella Wanzer, shooting 8-for-14 from the field, including a career-high seven 3-pointers, tying the most made in the Sarah Jenkins era at the helm.

Trinity Vance added to the double-digit pile with 12 points.

Delaware (12-16, 6-10) stays home Saturday to host Middle Tennessee at 5 p.m. and hold the program’s Senior Day.

It’s a new coach at Rider (7-21, 5-14) this season in Jackie Hartzell, who had great success at the D-2 level in the area, but last night’s 67-55 loss to Siena (12-16, 10-9) at home in the Broncs’ Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J., brought the same near-the-season-ending as 12 months ago, elimination from making the field for next weekend’s Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tourney at James Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

The championship is expected to be contested in the title round again by reigning two-time winner Fairfield or Quinnipiac, the duo have only lost to each other on their respective home courts.

Kristina Ekofo, one of two departing graduates honored before the game, - the other Kayland Deveney, had a game-high 19 points.

“We played well in the first half, but the third quarter, we couldn’t score, and we just didn’t rebound the ball,” Hartzell said. “When a team has more offensive rebounds, you’re just not going to win.

“Credit to Siena, they played hard and they played like they really wanted the game. They were aggressive, and unfortunately, we just weren’t able to match it.”

Rider finishes the season Friday at Mount St. Mary’s at 1 p.m. on ESPN+ down in Maryland.

On Wednesday, Saint Joseph’s travelled to Fairfax, Va., outside Washington, D.C., to play a key Atlantic 10 contest at George Mason (20-8, 15-2), the reigning conference tournament champion and a decimating 22-11 second quarter sent the Hawks (19-9, 10-7) on the way to an 85-59 blowout loss at the Patriots’ EagleBank Arena, ending a four-game win streak.

GMU fired nine 3-pointers to to stay comfortably ahead after gaining separation before the half.

The visitors also ran into foul trouble.

“They played great and we were bad,” was the way veteran Hawks coach Cindy Griffin, in her 25th season at her alma mater, summed up the evening.

Faith Stinson scored 15 points for Saint Joseph’s.

The Hawks wrap up the regular season hosting preseason favorite Richmond Saturday at at 2 p.m. on Senior Day at Hagan Arena (ESPN+). They’ll likely need to win the A-10 tourney next weekend, returning to suburban Richmond, to snap the long NCAA tournament drought.

However, they’ve played well enough this season that they could end up returning to the WBIT or the WNIT and make a deep playoff run.

The Hawks will learn their seed soon after playing Richmond.

La Salle (16-12, 9-8), meanwhile, continued to show itself as one of the most improved A-10 teams winning in Richmond 71-54 at VCU (8-21, 4-13), whose well-liked coach was recently let go.

Aryss Macktoon had a career-high 28 points, shooting 12-for-21, a new personal mark for field goals made. She also added 10 points and dealt four assists while grabbing a game-high four steals.

Freshman Kiara Williams added 13 points to pass 250 in her rookie season while reserve Ivona Miljanic had three connect from deep for nine points and the senior eclipsed the 500-career milestone.

Before learning their seed for the A-10 tourney where the middle of the standings has much improved for the league the Explorers Saturday will conclude the regular season at home on their Senior Day at John E. Glaser Arena hosting Loyola, Chicago at 1 p.m. (ESPN+).

After lying on the bottom of the Big Ten most of the season, Penn State (11-17, 4-13) has begun picking up wins, including a stunning 85-82 upset of Southern Cal (17-11, 9-8) at home in Rec Hall Wednesday night, getting the job done again with Rutgers transfer Kiyomi McMiller, who in her sixth straight 30+ outing scored a personal best 40 points fueled by another milestone – a career-best seven 3-pointers.

Gracie Merkle had 15 points, shooting 7-for-8 from the floor, and freshman forward Nyla McFadden was 4-for-5, scoring 10 points with nine rebounds.

After an absence last season from the Big Ten tourney under the new format resulting from the big realignment of a year ago, Penn State could play its way to next week’s mega affair at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis Saturday by winning its final game of the regular season 2 p.m. (B!G+) visiting Indiana, which has had a down year.

Rutgers (9-19, 1-16), whose only conference win was at Penn State, which later returned the angst, barely got in last year, was bounced quickly and then landed in the WNIT picking a couple closing victories.

This year the Scarlet Knights’ fate was sealed from going by the same Indiana (16-13, 5-12) team in a fight to avoid the three-team rejection at the bottom of the standings.

The Hoosiers ruined Senior Night, winning 79-69 at Jersey Mikes’ Arena in Piscataway, N.J., to end the Scarlet Knights’ home stand for the season before they finish Saturday at Nebraska at 2 p.m. in Lincoln.

Indiana managed to win, though five Rutgers players were in double figures led by Zachara Perkins with 15 points while Lauryn Swann and Nene Ndiaye each scored 10 points, as did Kaylah Ivey scored 10.

Meanwhile Temple (12-15, 6-9) went wire-to-wire on the reverse side at home Wednesday night in the Liacouras Center suffering a 77-66 loss to American Conference leader Rice (25-3, 15-0), which has won 20 straight.

“It was a tough game, and I think we could have done better,” said Owls coach Diane Richardson. “I think we could have shown what talents we have, but without the consistency, we came up on the losing end.”

It was a battle of Owls, since the night bird is also the mascot of the opposition.

Temple’s Kaylah Turner had a game-high 22 points and Jaleesa Molina scored 17 with 11 rebounds.

Rice’s Dominque Ennis scored 21 points, and Shelby Hayes added 19 points.

Once again, the turnovers have been massive, Temple committing 20, a number they’ve hit consistently in recent games.

The home team Owls go on the road Saturday at Bartow Arena at 3 p.m. (ESPN+) to play UAB, in Birmingham, which will host the American Conference tourney in two weeks.

The schedule is light Friday night, the only game in town is a key one, Drexel looking to continue its move up the Coastal Athletic Association standings when the Dragons host Northeastern at 6 p.m. on FloCollege at the Daskalakis Athletic Center, where they’ll also host North Carolina A&T on Sunday.

The other action is all on the road in the Ivy League where No. 25 Princeton (21-3, 9-2) goes into the weekend tied for first with Columbia (18-6, 9-2) a game in front of Harvard (15-9, 8-3), which is a game in front of Brown (15-8, 7-4), which is above the cutoff two games above Penn (15-9, 5-6), which is either a Quakers loss or Bears win from elimination to return to next month’s four-team Ivy Madness, this year at Cornell.

On Friday, Princeton is at Dartmouth at 6 p.m. on ESPN+ in Hanover, N.H.

Penn is in Cambridge, Mass., at Harvard at 7 p.m., all games on ESPN+, while Columbia is at Yale at 6 p.m. in New Haven, Conn.

Brown is hosting Cornell at 7 p.m. in Providence, R.I. A Bears win gives the team a sweep of the Big Red, while Penn split, so there goes that tiebreaker, and Penn is not likely to pass Brown in the Net, should they tie.

The only path for the Quakers is to win out the last three games and Brown to lose the last three.

The National Scene

It keeps getting worse for Tennessee (16-11, 8-7), whose losing streak reached five Thursday night, losing 89-73 at No. 6 LSU (25-4, 11-4) in Baton Rouge as the battle in the rugged Southeastern Conference began the two-game closeout for best seed position for next week’s tournament in Greenville, S.C.

Mikaylah Williams scored 20 points with 10 rebounds and five assists, though the Lady Vols were close in the first half before the Tigers lowered the boom.

South Carolina transfer MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 18 points for LSU.

Tennessee has now lost 7 of its last nine games. Jaida Civil scored 17 for the Lady Vols, while Nya Robertson added 14 points and Talaysia Cooper scored 13.

Tennessee finishes at home hosting No. 5 Vanderbilt (26-3, 12-3) Sunday while LSU goes to Mississippi State.

Vanderbilt at home in Nashville easily won 85-60 beating No. 24 Alabama (21-8, 7-8) as Somerville (N.J.) native Mikayla Blakes continued to tear up the Commodores record book scoring 35 points.

Coach Shea Ralph’s group was 16-0 at Memorial Coliseum, a program record.

Meanwhile, No. 3 South Carolina (28-2, 14-1) continued to roll under Dawn Staley, clinching their fifth straight regular season SEC title in a 117-21 win over Missouri and former Tennessee coach Kellie Harper at home Columbia, as Madina Okot had 26 points and 17 rebounds, while Joyce Edwards added 23 points.

The Gamecocks will end their regular season Sunday at No. 16 Kentucky, which won 63-56 at Auburn.

No. 4 Texas (27-3, 12-3) at home in Austin cruised 79-50 over visiting No. 23 Georgia (21-8, 7-8) as Madison Booker scored 18 points.

The Longhorns, who finish at Alabama Sunday, are tie for second in the SEC with Vanderbilt.

Georgia on Sunday hosts Florida, which upset No. 19 Ole Miss 74-67 at home in Gainesville as Liv McGill had 28 points, six rebounds, and eight assists.

No. 1 UConn (30-0, 19-0), which beat Villanova last week to wrap up the top seed in the Big East tourney, won 84-52 over Georgetown in Hartford, as Geno Auriemma’s win total reached 1,280, tops in all collegiate basketball.

The Huskies have won 46 straight games dating to a loss late last season to Tennessee in Knoxville. It’s the 10th time they have been 30-0.

Azzi Fudd had 24 points and four steals while Sarah Strong had 13 points and 11 boards with seven assists.

UConn has also won 57 straight regular season Big East victories and beaten the Hoyas 42 straight times.

Earlier this week, Auriemma passed retired Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer with 655 appearances in the Associated Press poll for tops by women’s coaches and his team extended its record of 622 straight rankings dating to the preseason vote of 1993-94 a year before winning the first of 12 national titles.

In the Big Ten, No. 9 Iowa (23-5, 14-3) at home edged Illinois 82-78 as Ava Heiden had a career-high 28 points.