The Guru’s National NCAAW Roundup: LSU Upsets No. 2 Texas Leaving No. 1 UConn, No. 7 Vanderbilt and No. 17 Texas Tech as the Last Unbeatens

 By Mel Greenberg

And then there were three with presumptions of LSU’s demise in the Southeastern Conference premature.

That’s the headliner in another bunch of major results on the national scene.

Expect a major reshuffle when the new AP Poll is out Monday losses this past week were sustained by nine teams, including four of the bottom five in the Top 25.

No. 12 LSU, bumped out of the Top 5 last week after an 0-2 conference start in the New Year, came roaring back to hand previously unbeaten and No. 2 Texas it first loss winning 70-65 at home in Baton Rouge leaving just No. 1 UConn, the defending NCAA champion, No. 7 Vanderbilt, and No. 17 Texas Tech the remaining teams with perfect records.

No. 11 Iowa State’s Audi Crooks is still scoring in bunches, she had 22 points and 10 boards Sunday but the Cyclones after starting 14-0 lost their third straight in the Big 12 falling 83-70 to visiting West Virginia.

No. 21 Southern Cal is likely about to feel the effects of missing reigning national player of the year JuJu Watkins, rehabbing a torn ACL on her right knee in the NCAA tournament, despite the addition of freshman Jazzy Davidson.

The Trojans, ripped apart at No. 4 UCLA last Saturday in which afterwards coach Lindsay Gottlieb termed the outcome an embarrassment, made it three straight losses, at home last Tuesday 71-66 to Oregon and Sunday clipped by one 63-62 at Minnesota in the Big Ten, a setback likely to end a lengthy run Monday at noon when the new Associated Press women’s poll, celebrating is 50th anniversary season, is released.

That fate happened last week to Notre Dame after two losses to unranked Atlantic Coast Conference teams but on Sunday the fighting Irish made a bid to get back taking down visiting No. 22 North Carolina 73-50, a loss that could also see the Tar Heels sent packing.

And the Big Ten had more upsets than just the loss by USC.

No. 19 Ohio State, which has been surging, slammed No. 8 Maryland on the road 89-76 at the XFINITY Center in College Park, while No. 23 Washington fell 78-72 at unranked Purdue in overtime in West Lafayette, Ind.

No. 15 Michigan State narrowly avoided the victims list of ranked teams in the Big Ten, winning 85-81 at Oregon, while likewise the same went for No. 14 Iowa winning 56-53 at Indiana.

And by ranking number in the SEC it’s an upset with No. 6 Kentucky slipping past visiting No. 5 Oklahoma 63-57 but both are likely to slip by being bypassed by Vanderbilt, which stayed perfect winning 91-51 in the SEC at Texas A&M.

Tonie Morgan scored 21 for the winning Wildcats (15-2, 3-1), yet another team coming back from a double digit deficit, while Clara Strack added 18 points and 12 boards.

Alaliyah Chavez led the Sooners (14-3, 2-2) with 18 points and Raegan Beers scored 14, playing with foul trouble, while Payton Verhulst scored 13.Thee

No. 10 Louisville with a lopsided 86-46 win the ACC over visiting Pitt is also likely to do some poll climbing.

By conference, the remaining ranked teams that did not have to break much of a sweat were in the SEC, No. 3 South Carolina, likely to get back to No. 2 after winning 65-43 over winning Georgia; No. 18 Ole Miss with an in-state 58-42 win over visiting Mississippi State in Oxford; No. 20 Tennessee 85-50 over visiting Arkansas in Knoxville.

In the Big 12, No. 16 Baylor beat visiting Kansas in Waco 79-64 while No. 13 TCU hit visiting Arizona State 77-46 with the Sun Devil’s second loss in Fort Worth, Texas, around a win after the Sun Devils tied an overall program win streak record with a 15-0 start.

In the Big Ten, No. 9 Michigan won easily at home in Ann Arbor over Wisconsin 86-60 while the last game of importance Sunday in the early  evening saw  No. 4 UCLA at No. 25 Nebraska win easily 83-61 in Lincoln to keep pace with the national frontrunners.

There were some unranked games of note, also, specifically in the ACC Duke winning its eighth straight with a 67-60 win at Stanford as the Blue Devils (11-6, 6-0) got 19 points from Delaney Thomas, 16 from Toby Fournier, and 14 from Ashlon Jackson.

Nunu Agara had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the host Cardinal (14-4, 3-2).

LSU Stuns Texas

But let’s start digesting all that beginning in Austin where the Longhorns rallied but could not overcome the Tigers (16-2, 2-2), who had their first win over an AP Top 2 team since 2008, when retired Hall of Fame coach Van Chancellor was guiding the team.

LSU’s Mikaylah Williams scored 20 points with 7 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists, while fou teammates each collected 10 points.

Williams, talking to ESPN, said, “We knew in those last games that we lost that we beat ourselves. We wanted to take care of the ball, be disciplined,  box out, rebound.

“That’s what we did. Down the stretch, we stayed together.”

Texas (18-1, 3-1) committed a season high 17 turnovers, six by Madison Booker, who had 24 points and seven boards, while Kyla Oldacre had 16 points and 16 rebounds.

Rori Harmon was held to 1-for-7 from the field for just two points.

In the week ago, Texas, which gave South Carolina at the finish its only loss in a non-conference game in early November, visits the Gamecocks Thursday while LSU is off until visiting Oklahoma Sunday.

The Tigers and Longhorns meet again in Austin on Feb. 5.

Still Perfect

No. 1 UConn (17-0, 8-0) continues to roll, blasting host Creighton 95-54 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Sarah Strong had 18 points and 13 rebounds with six assists and five steals against the Bluejays (7-9, 3-4), while reserve freshman Blanca Quinonez scored 15 points, Azzi Fudd collected 14 points and dealt five assists, and Ashlynn Shade was 4-for-4 from deep for 12 points.

Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma’s all-time coaching win record for NCAA women or men grew to 1267.

Creighton freshman Ava Zediker scored 21 of her 24 points in the second half.

Not even 21 turnovers could derail the Huskies, who have won 55 straight Big East contests.

Next up is Villanova’s visit Thursday.

Vanderbilt (17-0, 4-0) equaled the best start in the program’s history by winning 91-51 at Texas A&M (8-5, 1-3) at College Station as Mikayla Blakes scored 25 points and Justine Pissott added 22 for the Commodores who were last 17-0 in 1993 when they went to the Final Four.

It’s also the first 4-0 SEC start in 17 years for Vanderbilt, which has been coached for several seasons by former UConn star and assistant coach Shea Ralph.

The Aggies were forced into 25 turnovers.

Vandy visits Mississippi State in Starkville on Thursday while Texas A&M is at Texas Sunday following the Longhorns’ return from their South Carolina visit.

Texas Tech won its game Saturday and is having its best season since the same Final Four Red Raiders team of 1993 that Vanderbilt was one of the semifinalists.

Slumping Iowa State

Not only are the Cyclones (14-3, 2-3) in a losing streak but another setback has come at home in Ames as West Virginia (14-3, 4-1) got 25 points from Kierra Wheeler and Jordan Harrison scored scored 19.

Wheeler shot 10-for-18 from the field with 5-for-7 at the line and seven boards while Harrison dealt eight dimes, grabbed seven steals and five boards.

The Mountaineers get a chance to bag another ranked team Wednesday visiting TCU while Iowa State the same night will try to snap out of its funk at the expense of Colorado.

Big Ten Chaos

In Sunday’s carnage, beginning at Minnesota (12-4, 3-2), Grace Grocholski scored 25 points for the Golden Gophers, who rode the lane at the finish for their first ranked win since 2019.

The Trojans’ Kara Dunn had eight points in the final 31 seconds including a 3-pointer at the buzzer to finish with 27 points, including USC’s entire 14 in the final period.

Davidson had 21 points and eight rebounds for the Trojans (10-6, 2-3), who blew a 12-point lead and next are back in Los Angeles hosting Maryland Thursday.

The Terrapins (16-2, 4-2) were led by Oluchi Okananwa with 27 points, including her 1,000th, while the Buckeyes (15-2, 5-1), whose only losses were to UConn and UCLA, had another big game from Jaloni Cambridge, who followed up her 41-point performance against Illinois with 28 against Maryland.

The Buckeyes were down early trailing by 15 in the second quarter before moving within  a point at the break.

A 13-2 run in the final quarter carried Ohio State from a one-point lead to the win.

Ohio State hosts Penn State Wednesday.

Purdue (10-7, 2-4) rallied from a 13-point deficit in the second quarter to down Washington (12-4, 2-3) as Tara Daye and Madison Layden-Zay each scored 19 points for the host Boilermakers who also thrived off Lana McCarthy’s second career double-double (14 pts., 12 rebs.), while the visiting Huskies got 23 points from Sayvia Sellers and double figures from three other players.

Washington is at Indiana Wednesday and Purdue is at Southern Cal Sunday.

In the two near upsets in the conference, Michigan State (16-1, 5-1) rallied from a double digit deficit in the first half led by Rashunda Jones with 23 points for the Spartan’s eighth straight win. Grace VanSlooten added 16 points while the Ducks (14-4, 2-3) got 20 points from Katie Fiso with nine assists and Sofia Bell and Mia Jacobs each scored 18 points.

Michigan State hosts Nebraska Thursday while Oregon on the same night is at Iowa (14-2, 5-0), which, in its escape, rallied from a 16-point deficit at the half to down Indiana (11-7, 0-6), which is also winless in the conference with Penn State and Rutgers.

Ava Heiden and Chazadi Wright each scored 13 points for the winning Hawkeyes, who had a big third quarter outscoring the Hoosiers 19-4.

Penn State transfer Shay Ciezki scored 21 for Indiana.

In the blowouts, Olivia Olson had 21 points, while Te’Yala Defosse and Mila Holloway each scored 18 points for Michigan in its 86-60 win over Wisconsin, while No. 4 UCLA (15-1, 5-0), whose only loss was to Texas in early November, got 18 points and 10 boards from Lauren Betts, along with four blocked shots and five steals while five other UCLA players also scored in double figures.

Nebraska (14-3, 3-3) was led by Amilia Hargrove with 12 points.

UCLA is at Minnesota Wednesday and Nebraska is at Michigan State Thursday.

Elsewhere, South Jersey’s Hanna Hidalgo has 31 points to lead Notre Dame (12-4, 4-2) over UNC (13-5, 2-3) while Cassandre Prosper had 17 points and 14 boards.

It was Hidalgo’s 14th career 30+ game.

Nyla Harris scored 14 points in the Tar Heels’ lowest scoring game of the season.

At halftime, the Fighting Irish celebrated their first NCAA title in 2001 coached by Hall of Famer Muffet McGraw and featuring MVP Ruth Riley and current coach Niele Ivey.

Louisville got a career-best 16 points from Anaya Hardy in its win, Madina Okot had 14 points and 10 boards while Joyce Edwards also scored 14 for South Carolina, Tennessee in its fifth straight win got 20 points from Zee Sparman and 18 from freshman Mia Pauldo, Baylor’s Taliah Scott scored 20 of her 24 points in the first half, TCU’s leading home win streak reached 36 as Notre Dame transfer Olivia Miles scored 22, and Ohio State transfer Cotie McMahon scored 21 and Sira Thienou scored 20 for Ole Miss.

The Guru’s Local NCAAW Roundup: Drexel Takes First CAA Win Routing Hofstra Like Villanova Does in the Big East at Providence But Rutgers and Penn State Are Still Winless on the Big Ten Slate

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

PHILADELPHIA – Drexel finally broke into the win column in Coastal Athletic Association competition Sunday afternoon after two early losses beating Hofstra 67-38 at home here at the Daskalakis Athletic Center while up north in the Big East Villanova avoid a thorn experience in the long-running series with Providence picking up a lopsided 85-55 road win on the Friars to ensure staying in second place through the Wildcats’ Thursday trip to No. 1 and defending NCAA champion UConn.

Things did not go as well for the two other locals, the Big Ten duo of Rutgers and Penn State who did not have to deal with ranked opponents in the conference and still failed to pick up wins against league rivals.

Rutgers (8-9, 0-6) trailed Northwestern (7-10, 1-5) by only nine at the half in the road game in Evanston, Ill., but then the host Wildcats surged the rest of the way to a 73-54 victory as the Scarlet Knights dropped below .500 overall at 8-9.

Penn State (7-10, 0-6) meanwhile at home using the larger Bryce Jordan Center rather than the throwback to Rec Hall being used a large portion of the season, was down just a point at the half at 21-20 to Illinois (14-3, 4-2) but then the Illinois also powered away gaining a 92-76 victory.

The two outcomes enabled Northwestern, whose longtime coach and Father Judge grad Joe McKeown announced his pending retirement ahead of the season, to climb out of the conference basement leaving Rutgers and Penn State tied at the bottom where they were most of last season.

In the game here Drexel (8-6, 1-2) coming off a narrow loss Friday night at Stony Brook jumped out to a 12-1 lead on Hofstra (8-6, 1-2) and cruised the rest of the way.

Deja Evans tied a season-high with 20 points also achieved in Friday night’s loss to the Seawolves along with seven rebounds while Amaris Baker scored 14 and Grace O’Neill dealt six assists.

The Pride’s Sandra Magolico with 10 points and 111 boards was the only opponent player reaching double figures.

The differential was the largest for Drexel against a CAA opponent in close to four seasons dating to February 2022.

“Today we came back ready to show what we’re capable of doing,” said Drexel coach Amy Mallon. “Getting 40 points in the paint (40-18) and 19 off the bench is going to be really important for us.”

Drexel next off to a two-game weekend road trip starts with a visit Friday at front-running Charleston (12-3, 4-0) at 7 p.m. Friday night (FloCollege) before stopping at UNCW next Sunday.

“We’re only going to get one shot at Charleston,” Mallon said of the importance needing to keep Friday’s opponent close to the rest of the CAA pursuers.

Evans, an Archbishop Wood grad and native of Conshohocken, who came back from UAlbany by way of the portal, said of her weekend outbreak, “Honestly, just all the confidence my teammates and coaches have instilled in me.

“And also playing defense.”

Villanova (14-3, 7-1), meanwhile, following last weekend’s stumble at Marquette, has put together consecutive high-octane efforts beginning with last Thursday’s home win over Xavier leading to Sunday’s rout of the Friars (9-9, 2-5).

The Wildcats brought the pressure early jumping to a 9-0 lead, getting 11 points off seven turnovers by the opposition, and finishing the period up 24-14 helped by shooting 4-for-8 from distance.

Brynn McCurry, the MVP of the Big 5 Classic championship won by Villanova at home over Saint Joseph’s early last month, scored 20 in this one, shooting 9-for-11 from the field, while Jasmine Bascoe scored 19 points and dealt seven assists, Ryanne Allen scored 14 points and Kelsey Joens scored 11 points.

Thursday’s game at Connecticut on campus tips off at 7 p.m.

Back in the local portion of the Big Ten, Rutgers, which was outscored 34-23 in the second half by Northwestern, got 11 points each from Lauryn Swann and Faith Blackstone, while Nene Ndiaye and Zachara Perkins each scored 10.

Antonia Bates grabbed nine boards.

The winless conference drought among the two longtime conference rivals dating back to membership in the outset of the Atlantic 10 will end for one of them with Rutgers next traveling to Penn State on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Nittany Lions first have to deal with a Wednesday visit to No. 19 Ohio State at 6:30 p.m. on B1G+.

In Sunday’s loss to the Illini, a 24-point, seven-rebound effort from Gracie Merkle off shooting 8-for-12 from the field went to waste, while the same was likewise for Rutgers transfer Kiyomi McMiller, who scored 19 points.

Moriah Murray got all nine of her points off a trio of made 3-pointers.

Illinois was able to negate most of the production as Berry Wallace was 11-for-13 from the field, including 3-for-4 from deep, for 28 points and off the bench Maddie Webber, a transfer from last season’s Villanova team, sizzled going 5-for-8 from distance and 10-for-15 overall to collect 26 points.

The local schedule is dark Monday and the only game among the 13 D-1 group Tuesday has Temple trying to bounce back from Saturday’s loss at Tulsa, hosting Tulane in an American Conference game at the Liacouras Center at 7 p.m.

 

The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW Roundup: Saint Joseph’s Edges La Salle; Broomall’s Doogan Scores 48 for Richmond in Triple OT Win Over Davidson

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

PHILADELPHIA – Overtime was the word of the day in several places, locally and nationally, but simple crunch time was the key here on Hawk Hill Saturday afternoon at Hagan Arena where Saint Joseph’s had to execute several rallies before downing local rival La Salle 69-60 in the first of two against the Explorers in their Atlantic 10 series.

Penn rallied at Brown and and played two overtimes before losing the Quakers’ Ivy contest 77-65 to the Bears in Providence, R.I.

But down the road in New Haven. Conn., Ivy front runner No. 24 Princeton didn’t have to push the metal for a change in the final minutes in winning 76-50 at Yale.

In the Patriot League, Lehigh is still unbeaten in conference play after downing Colgate 64-45 at home in the Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., but nearby in Easton, Lafayette at home in the Kirby Sports Center fell 97-58 to preseason favorite Navy.

Rider’s recent first season win in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) was not extended off losing 62-49 at Marist in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Delaware was also an overtime victim losing to Sam Houston 73-65 at home in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark and remaining winless off two road and two home contests in the Blue Hens’ debut in Conference USA.

On Friday, Drexel remained winless in the Coastal Athletic Association, losing 57-53 at Stony Brook on Long Island (N.Y.) and Temple dropped an American road game 94-82 to Tulsa in Oklahoma.

In the game here, the host Hawks (12-4, 3-2) who will be two weeks without Penn State transfer Jill Jekot after suffering a sprained ankle two games ago, built a 20-14 lead after the first period on the Explorers (10-6, 3-2), got tied 26-26 and then erupted on a 15-0 run to the end of the half.

But La Salle had an answer in the third outscoring Saint Joseph’s 24-8 to take a 50-49 lead into the final minutes. But reserve Emily Knouse got the Hawks back on top quickly at the start of the fourth quarter with one of her four makes from deep on eight attempts and it stayed close the rest of the way until the home team pulled away at the foul line down the stretch.

The biggest differential was on the bench, the Hawks outscoring the Explorers 26-4 with Knouse, a freshman from Archbishop Wood, scoring 14 points and Kaylinn Bethea, a freshman from Penn Charter, collecting nine. Gabby Casey led the winners with 15 points and seven boards, while Faith Stinson had 11 points and six rebounds.

Aryss Macktoon scored a game-high 19 points for La Salle, Joan Quinn collected 15 off also making four from distance, and Kiara Williams and Ashleigh Connor each scored 10 points.

Knouse said of the gritty contest, “We practice as hard as it is in games, for sure. Our coaches do a great job getting us prepared for tough games and tough situations like this.”

“‘Coach always emphasizes, `always be ready,’ and I think that as a bench, we’re always going to bring energy,” Bethea said. “One thing that we love to do, we pick our teammates back up. So, when we see someone falling down, we make sure that we respond in a positive way and bring everyone’s energy back up.”

“You analyze it in practice,” said veteran coach Cindy Griffin in her 25th season at her alma mater about the second unit. “You look at what the second group is doing, and the gap is getting closer. That is positive because it gives us all confidence, we can put these guys in and give us some great minutes.

“You look at the last couple of practices, KayKay and Meja (Jagerskog) have been doing an unbelievable job and Knousey, she’s always going to play smart and make the three, she’s really coming along and I’m just happy the way we responded after Wednesday’s game.”

The Hawks lost at Davidson.

Considering La Salle’s inexperienced roster in recent seasons, coach Mountain MacGillivray wasn’t going to settle for moral victories.

“It shows what we’re capable of and who we can be,” he said of the rallies, “but you need to be that for more than one of the four quarters.”

Of the third quarter attack, he observed, “I think when you have a big lead, you don’t want to lose it so maybe St. Joe’s was a little tight trying to hold onto that and we were a little desperate and that’s the nature of every basketball game when someone gets ahead.”

“We showed a lot of toughness,” Griffin said. “Aleah (Snead) was in foul trouble but she got a lot of big boards for us. Gabby is Gabby, I mean she just does so many things for us and she just ends up with 50/50 balls then KayKay and Meja coming in and doing a great job, the the toughness, that’s who we are.”

MacGillivray cited the change in the Atlantic 10 competition this season.

“A good portion of this league is capable of beating some of the teams at the top where I don’t know the center to bottom had much of a prayer last year,” he said.

This week La Salle will host Saint Louis Wednesday morning at John E. Glaser Arena (ESPN+) while that night the Hawks will be at St. Bonaventure (ESPN+).

The Ivies: Princeton off a 12-game win streak is starting to show signs of running away with the league a season after not finishing with the top seed.

The Tigers (14-1, 2-0), who are nationally ranked at 24th only losing at Big Ten power Maryland, took care of business early, paced by Madison St. Rose with 18 points, shooting 6-for-18 from the field, with five assists, while Ashley Chea collected 17 points with four boards and three assists.

Coach Carla Berube was able to go to her bench and provide the starters some rest and Emily Eadie responded with her best day in all categories, scoring eight points, grabbing six rebounds, dishing three assists, and swiping a pair of steals against the Bulldogs (4-11, 0-2).

Next weekend are home games in Jadwin Gym against Dartmouth (2 p.m.,) Saturday and Harvard (2 p.m.) Monday on Martin Luther King Day, both on ESPN+.

It was a tough afternoon for Penn (10-5, 0-2), however, after last weekend’s competitive loss to Princeton in The Palestra.

This one against Brown (10-4, 2-0) was competitive, also, in going into two overtimes after an early 12-point deficit in regulation, but after dropping two down in the Ivies without a win, next weekend’s Palestra hosting Dartmouth on Saturday and Harvard on Monday become imperative wins.

Mataya Gayle scored 18 points for the Quakers while Katie Collins, the reigning Big 5 and Ivy player of the week. had 13 points and 11 boards while Saniah Caldwell scored 16 points and Simone Sawyer 10.

Brown’s Grace Arnolie had a game-high 24 points.

Penn got some help in terms of the race for the three spots behind Princeton to get to another Ivy Madness, this season at Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y.

Columbia’s Perri Page hit a last second game-winning shot to lead the Lions to a 58-55 win at Harvard in Lavieties Pavilion in Cambridge, Mass.

At one point, the visitors (10-5, 1-1) were up 17 on the Crimson (8-7, 1-1), who executed a huge rally in the third period.

“At the end of the game, I thought Perri really stepped up and made some big-girl plays,” said Columbia coach Megan Griffin. “That’s exactly what you need from your senior leader.”

Page had 24 points, matching her career high achieved in last week’s home loss to Cornell,12 rebounds, five steals, two assists and a block.

“Harvard’s very, very tough,” Page said. “We’re going to see them again, obviously, and even in the tournament, I expect them to be there. Just to be able to tough this game out and grit it out, it means everything.”

Fliss Henderson, who connected on a 3-pointer for a 55-53 lead with 1:52 left in regulation, scored eight points, had nine rebounds, six assists, three blocks and two steals.

Harvard’s Abigail Wright scored 20 points, while Karlee White had 13 points and Saniyah Glen-Bello scored 12.

Columbia hosts Yale on Saturday.

The Patriot League: Down 13-4 to Colgate (5-10, 1-3) after one period, league-leading and defending champion Lehigh (8-7, 4-0) outscored the visitors the next three periods to stay perfect in league play.

Lily Fandre scored 21 for the Mountain Hawks, shooting 8-for-12 from the field, while Gracyn Lovette had a season-high 16 points, 13 in the second half, when the home team went from a one-point deficit to outscoring the opposition 44-24 over the next two quarters.

Lehigh hosts Boston U. Wednesday at 6 p.m. (ESPN+).

Nearby, Lafayette (6-9, 2-2) was handled by a hot-shooting Navy (9-6, 3-1) outfit that made 12 3-pointers and were 38-66 from the field.

Zanai Barnett-Gay was 8-for-13 from the field for the Midshipmen, including 3-for-5 from deep with 11 boards and scoring 26 points while Zoe Mesuch was 7-for-14 overall and 6-for-12 from distance for 22 points.

Lafayette’s Teresa Kiewiet scored 17, shooting 7-for-12, while Sauda Ntaconayigize was at .500 long-range shooting 3-for-6 and finishing with 12 points.

The Leopards Wednesday are at Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pa., at 5 p.m. (ESPN+.

Army (12-3. 3-1) under first-year coach and former Saint Joseph’s star and assistant Katie Kuester has won three straight after dropping the Black Knights’ league-opener to Lehigh, the latest Saturday beating Boston U. 64-57 as Reese Ericson scored 17 points and Kya Smith and Camryn Tade each scored 15 points.

Next up on Wednesday comes a visit from Holy Cross (9-6, 5-1) which beat American 65-48 at home in Worcester, Mass., as Simone Foreman had 16 points and seven rebounds.

The MAAC: In the Rider (3-13, 1-6) loss at Marist (6-10, 3-3), Alena Cofield was the sole Broncs player in double figures with 14 points and also grabbed seven boards.

The Red Foxes were led by Lexie Tarul scoring 22 points with nine boards while Daniel Williamson had 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Struggling from the field, Rider shot 29.5 percent off 18-for-61.

“We played well at times, but I think that stretch (21-14) in the third quarter really hurt us,” said Rider first-year coach Jackie Hartzell. “We played well in the fourth quarter, getting seven consecutive stops, but we just couldn’t capitalize on the offensive end. We hit thbe offensive boards hard and got extra possessions, but we just couldn’t put the ball in the basket.”

Saturday Rider will host Sacred Heart at Alumni Gym at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Those visitors fell on the road Saturday 65-49 at Quinnipiac (12-4, 7-0), which is keeping pace with two-time defending champion Fairfield.

Delaware Falls in OT: A late rally got the Blue Hens (6-10, 0-4) to overtime but Sam Houston (10-4, 3-0) recovered in the extra period to keep Delaware winless in CUSA, its new league.

Sali Kolliegbo scored 24 for Delaware, Ella Wanzer had 12 points, while Lay Fantroy had nine points and 11 rebounds, and Jiya Perry scored nine points.

The Blue Hens next host Liberty Saturday at 5 p.m. (ESPN+).

 

Drexel and Temple Lose Road Tilts: On a quick road home weekend after losing its Coastal Athletic Association game at home in the Dakslakis Athletic Center last Sunday Drexel (7-6, 0-2) headed up to Long Island to face Stony Brook (7-9, 2-1) and fell short 57-53 in a close game.

Deja Evans led the visiting Dragons with 20 points while Laine McGurk hit two shots from deep and scored 13 points, but Amaris Baker was held to 10 points.

The game featured seven ties and eight lead changes and neither team got more than a lead by seven points.

Defensively, Drexel kept the Seawolves off the scoreboard for over five minutes but then went into its own drought in the closing 3:37 of the first period and was down a point.

The Dragons took the opening of the second on a 6-3 run but the home team negated that with a 7-0 finish of the first half.

And so it went the rest of the way with Drexel at the finish down three but with a chance to tie when McGurk went to the line after being fouled on an inbounds play beyond the arc.

She missed the first, connected on the second and then missed the third on purpose hoping the Dragons could cash in on an offensive rebound that ended up in the hands of Stony Brook which went to the line the other way and cashed in with the game’s final two points.

Drexel looks for a weekend split and first CAA win of the season Sunday hosting Hofstra at 2 p.m. (FloCollege).

Temple (7-8, 1-2), meanwhile, after a wide win to start the two-game road swing, evening its American opening record, fell behind by 21 at Tulsa (11-4, 3-0), moved within six in the final quarter only to have Tulsa answer with a 7-0 run to close the door.

The Owls, who pride themselves on defense, yielded the most points in a conference game since losing 109-74 to UConn on Feb. 9, 2019 before the Huskies decided to return to the Big East.

Temple wasted an effort by Kaylah Turner, who scored 31 points while Drew Alexander had a career-high 27 points shooting 8-for-17 from the field, including a personal best of five makes from deep while Saniyah Craig scored 14 points shooting 5-for-6 from the field with seven rebounds.

The Owls return home Tuesday hosting Tulane at the Liacouras Center at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).

Besides Drexel, three other locals play Sunday, Villanova looking to keep the momentum off the win Thursday over Xavier in the Big East going at Providence at noon on truTV.

If the Wildcats are to maintain their minimal one-game lead in second in the Big East, the game is a must-win against a Friar group that has been a thorn at times over the years.

The reason for the urgency is there’s another stop Thursday as Villanova heads to Storrs, Conn., to play top-ranked, unbeaten and defending NCAA champion UConn Thursday.

The Huskies Sunday play at Creighton before hosting the Wildcats next.

In the Big Ten, the local duo still looking for their first conference wins: Rutgers won’t be facing a ranked team when the Scarlet Knights visit Northwestern at 3 p.m. (B1G+) while Penn State hosts Illinois on the Big Ten Network at 3 p.m.

The National Scene: Doogan Scores 48

Some of the key games in conferences of the locals were mentioned in the local mix above but the top individual performance of the season went to Broomall’s Maggie Doogan who broke the program record at preseason favorite Richmond (14-4, 4-1) with 48 points in a 91-84 triple overtime home win in the Robins Center in Virginia over Davidson (12-6, 4-1), which suffered its first loss in the Atlantic 10.

Doogan was voted preseason player of the year in the conference.

Karen Elsner held the previous Spiders scoring mark at 39 set against Radford on Feb. 2, 1983 over four decades ago.

It’s the most ever in an A-10 game topping Rutgers all-American Sue Wicks, later to play for the WNBA New York Liberty, who had 44 on Dec. 5, 1987 at George Washington.

She also tied the Richmond mark with 17 field goals, shooting 17-of-28 from the field, 8-of-12 3-pointers and 6-6 from the line.

She also had 13 rebounds to attain her 18th career double double while Ally Sweeney had 18 points and Rachel Ullstrom 12.

Besides Princeton, the only other ranked team playing Saturday was No. 17 Texas Tech (18-0, 5-0) in the Big 12 winning 71-60 at Cincinnati (6-11, 1-4), which on Wednesday won its first ranked game in several decades downing No. 11 Iowa State.

Continuing the best start in program history, Texas Tech got 17 points each from Bailey Maupin and reserve Snudda Collins.

The Red Raiders are one of only four teams still unbeaten and the other three play Sunday.

No. 1 UConn is at Creighton in the Big East at 2 p.m. on truTV while No. 2 Texas is at No. 12 LSU at 3 p.m. on ESPN and at the same time No. 7 Vanderbilt at 3 p.m. on SECN+ is at Texas A&M.

The Commodores have a chance to move into the Top Five in the next Associated Press women’s poll Monday at noon in the wake of earlier losses this week by No. 5 Oklahoma and No. 6 Kentucky.

Other ranked teams in action Sunday not already mentioned, in the Big Ten No. 19 Ohio State is at No. 8 Maryland at 4 p.m. on Peacock, while No. 9 Michigan at 2 p.m. hosts Wisconsin at 2 p.m. on B1G+, No. 23 Washington is at Purdue same time, same network; No. 21 Southern Cal, in danger of falling out, is at Minnesota at 3 p.m. on B1G+ in Minneapolis; No. 14 Iowa is at Indiana at 5 p.m. on the Big Ten Network, No. 15 Michigan State is at Oregon at 5 p.m. on B1G+’ and No. 4 UCLA is at No. 25 Nebraska in Lincoln at 7 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

In the SEC, No. 3 South Carolina hosts Georgia at 2 p.m. on the SEC Network; No. 20 Tennessee hosts Arkansas at 2 p.m. on SECN+, No. 5 Oklahoma is at No. 6 Kentucky at 4 p.m. on the SEC Network; and No. 18 Ole Miss hosts in-state rival Mississippi State at 6 p.m. on the SEC Network.

In the ACC, No. 10 Louisville hosts Pitt at 2 p.m. on the CW Network; No. 22 North Carolina is at Notre Dame, bounced out last week after a long run, in South Bend, Ind., at 1 p.m. on ESPN; and unranked Duke is at unranked Stanford at 5 p.m. on ESPN.

In the Big 12, No. 11 Iowa State hosts West Virginia at at 3 p.m. on ESPN, No. 16 Baylor hosts Kansas at 3 p.m. on ESPN+ and No. 13 TCU hosts Arizona State at 5 p.m. on ESPN+.+

 

 

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