Guru's College Report: Delaware, Saint Joseph's and Drexel Rally For Wins

(Guru note: action and quotes beyond the Delaware game drawn on team and wire reports)

By Mel Greenberg

NEWARK, Del. – Friday was a night of comebacks here at the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center involving the host Blue Hens and elsewhere with even more impressive rallies for Blue Hens’ conference rival Drexel and Saint Joseph’s, which played a consolation round in the Midwest in the Preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament.

Delaware was involved in comebacks on several different levels besides the one leading to a nonconference 71-61 triumph over Wake Forest of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The victory enabled coach Tina Martin’s youthful squad (2-1) to bounce back from its 70-58 nonconference loss to nearby Temple here on Tuesday night.

Prior to the opening tip Friday against the Deacons (1-2) the evening was highlighted by the return of all-time Delaware sensation Elena Delle Donne, the WNBA rookie of the year, and her five of her six senior classmates to help celebrate the addition of a banner in the rafters denoting last season’s historic run to the NCAA Sweet 16 with a program win record (32-4) and a second straight unbeaten capture of the Colonial Athletic Association.

Danielle Parker is playing overseas in Europe.

Delle Donne, who finished her career as the fifth all-time scorer in NCAA history with 3,309 points was also honored at the half with the presentation of the Honda Collegiate Women’s Sports Award as the player of the year in women’s collegiate basketball.

The native of nearby Wilmington went on to be drafted second overall by the Chicago Sky, whom she led to a first-ever playoff appearance in eight tries by the WNBA franchise as well as a first-place regular-season finish in the Eastern Conference.

“Last year a lot of us watched our seniors do it,” said Green, a freshman last season with the loaded roster of upper class women. “It was a good opportunity to come out and show what we could do also. I think being able to see that last year was definitely an advantage for all of us.”

As the banner was draped, the Delaware players of past and present and the coaching staff lined up across the arena floor to unwittingly signify the transition from the past glories to the future of the program.

Then the Blue Hens echoes of the past sat on press row for the contest and perhaps their presence helped wake up the freshman as Delaware rallied from an early 10-2 deficit and kept coming back until they finally forged a lead in the second half.

“This was, a very good thing for this group,” Martin said, noting that “there are going to be highs and lows along the way but tonight was definitely a high.

“They listened, stayed together, and did a great job of staying within themselves. Our seniors did a great job and our young kids played really well, too. Courtni (Green) is capable of making any shot on the court and is really coming into her own.”

Kelsey Buchanan, a senior forward, had a career-high 22 points for Delaware and grabbed nine rebounds while newcomer Erika Brown had 18 points, including 13 during the second-half comeback, and Green, a sophomore, scored 12 points.

Freshman forward Shanice Johnson, a graduate of Cardinal O’Hara from Chester, who also played for the Philadelphia-area Comets AAU program, had nine points and nine rebounds.

Wake Forest’s Chelsea Douglas had a season-high 30 points and zipped six 3-pointers in 11 attempts, while Dearic Hamby scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Millesa Calicott also scored in double figures with a career-high 11 points.

The game was an area homecoming of sorts for former Villanova star Clarisse Garcia, a newcomer this season on Jen Hoover’s staff at Wake Forest.

It took a while for Delaware to get its arms around this one, falling behind every time it came close to the Deacons and fell behind by as many as nine points at 44-35 with 12 minutes, 30 seconds left in the game.

Then with three true freshmen on the floor, Delaware launched its final rally, a successful 24-7 run highlighted by a pair of treys from Green and Brown, who each scored eight points in the run, to take the lead.

The quick six points put Delaware ahead 53-50 to thrill a crowd, while not close to the ongoing sellouts of the Delle Donne era, accounted for 2,407 fans in the 5,000-seat arena.

“Our defense was 1,000 times better,” Martin said comparing the win to Tuesday’s loss to the Owls of the new The American Conference who previously played in the Atlantic 10. “We really battled on the boards, and I thought the kids did a really good job of knowing what we were trying to do offensively.

“Kelsey Buchanan had the big game, but she kept everybody together,” Martin said.

Delaware next on Tuesday hosts Monmouth, which also played the conference game of musical chairs in the offseason, moving from the Northeast Conference to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Drexel and Saint Joseph’s Overcome Deep Deficits

As impressive as Delaware played, Drexel and Saint Joseph’s, the only other two schools of the 10-team Philahoopsw group in NCAA Division I covered locally by the Guru who played Friday night, launched even greater comebacks.

Saint Joseph’s, which started the season in the WNIT and beat Mount St. Mary’s at home a week ago before losing at then-No. 15 LSU on Sunday, trailed at Wichita State by 16 points at 47-31 with just over 12 minutes left in regulation before emerging with an 81-73 victory.

Ciara Andrews’ layup with 1.5 seconds left extended the game into overtime and the Hawks took control outscoring the Shockers 12-4 over the extra five minutes.

Sarah Fairbanks had a career-high 18 points for Saint Joseph’s, while Natasha Cloud scored 15 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and just missed a triple double with nine assists against the Shockers (1-2).

Andrew had a career high 12 points after coming off the bench. Erin Shields and Ilze Gotfrida combined for 21 points for the Hawks, who also got nine points and four rebounds from Kelsey Berger, and two points, three rebounds and an assist from freshman Geena Gomez.

Meanwhile, back in Philadelphia, Drexel, a CAA rival of Delaware, found itself down to Providence of the revamped Big East trailing the Friars by as many as 17 points at the Dragons’ Daskalakis Athletic Center before emerging with a 62-52 victory in the home opener following Sunday’s loss to area rival Villanova out in the Midwest in the title game of the University of Toledo’s Glass City Tournament.

Drexel (2-1), which won the postseason WNIT in April, managed to trim the early 26-9 deficit down to eight points at the half before continuing the rally after the break.

Newcomer Alexis Smith had 17 points, of which she scored 13 in the final stanza, while senior Fiona Flanagan had 11 points and 13 rebounds for her first career double double.

Sarah Curran had 12 points and six rebounds.

Following last weekend’s performance in Toledo to earn a spot on the all-tournament team, Flanagan has registered double figure scoring in three straight games for the first time in her career.

Providence (2-1), coached by former Penn State star Susan Robinson-Fruchtl, got 14 points and 11 rebounds from Alexis Harris as the Friars fell for the first time this season in a game that marked a homecoming for assistant coach Dan Durkin, who had been an aide to Tonya Cardoza from her arrival in 2008 at Temple thru two seasons ago.

Durkin also coached Duquesne and was an assistant at Penn State.

Ironically, following Friday night’s heroics by each team, Drexel and Saint Joseph’s next play Wednesday meeting each other at the Hawks’ Hagan Arena.

It’s the first time since last year’s buzzer beater by Shields that completed a Saint Joseph’s rally for a win over Drexel, which is not back at home until meeting Hampton of the MEAC on December 18.

Drexel plays at No. eight Maryland on November 25 in College Park at the Comcast to add to the Dragons’ road stop highlights

Today, Saturday, the only PhilahoopsW team in action is Temple, which after ruining the home openers of La Salle and Drexel to start 2-0, now gets to host its home-opener at 6 p.m., playing Auburn of the Southeastern Conference at 6 p.m. in McGonigle Hall, where the Owls will play most home games this season instead of the larger Liacouras Center next door on North Broad Street.

George Washington Upset Highlights A-10 Action

It was a big night for Atlantic 10 teams and as big as the Saint Joseph’s comeback was in the WNIT, the Hawks’ rally was topped by George Washington’s 75-72 shocker over No. 10 California at the Colonials’ Smith Center in the nation’s capital.

Graduate student Megan Snipe had a career-high 31 points and grad student Danni Jackson scored 14 for the Colonials, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:11 against the Bears of the Pac-12 conference.

Ironically, GW’s last upset was also over then-No. 10 California in the second round of the NCAA tournament, which was the final season of coach Joe McKeown, the Philly Father Judge graduate who then went on to take the job at Northwestern in the Big 10.

That was the last season of a long run of glory for GW, which now appears on the way back under second-year coach Jonathan Tsipis, a previous aide to Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw.

At 2-0, the Colonials should expect to start getting votes again in the Associated Press women’s poll and could even crack the list depending what happens to teams in the lower half of the current Top 25.

The win was also the first at the Smith Center over a ranked team since beating then No. 10 Texas A&M on Dec. 20, 2007.

It looks like a trend for GW playing teams ranked 10^th over the years.

Snipe’s total makes her the first Colonial to reach 30 in a contest since Cathy Joens, a former all A-10 star, scored 32 on Feb. 20, 2004.

“I was a great crowd,” Tsipis told the Guru, who made a congratulatory phone call not sure whether a similar dialup would come from the district’s top local resident who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. “I think they had to like the way we played and will be back for more.”

Reshanda Gray had 24 points for California, who previously lost at home to national power and No. 2 ranked Duke on Sunday.

George Washington travels to nearby Maryland on Tuesday. Host Terrapins coach Brenda Frese has a new multi-year deal, announced earlier in the day, which runs through June 2021 but could extend to 2025 with rollovers.

Meanwhile, Saint Bonaventure took down Mid-Major heavy weight Wisconsin-Green Bay 68-62 in a nonconference game at the Bonnies’ Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center in upstate New York that improved the season start to 2-1 while the Phoenix fell to 1-1.

Gabrielle Richmond led three Bonnies players in double figures with 17 points, while Kaili Lukan topped the visitors with 13 points.

No. 23 Dayton, the A-10 favorite, topped Mid-American favorite Akron 94-80 at home in a battle of Ohio schools as four Flyers set career highs, led by Cassie Saint with 24 points and Jim Jabir’s team improved to 2-1 while the Zips fell to the same record.

However, in another game involving an A-10 squad, things did not go so well for A-10 tournament runnerup Fordham, which fell at Hofstra of the CAA 77-64 at Hempstead in a match that could be called the Long Island Railway Classic considering the New York Metro area proximity of the two schools.

Anma Onyeuku had a career 23 points for the winning Pride (2-1) while the Rams dropped to 1-2 following Sunday’s loss at nationally-ranked Penn State, which hosts top-ranked UConn on Sunday.

The visiting Huskies ar heading to State College after they shook off their setback early this week when all-America Kalenna Masqueda-Lewis and Morgan Tuck were sidelined indefinitetly with injuries and still UConn was able to pull away in the second half to beat host Maryland 72-55 Friday night.

In a battle of top five players UConn sophomore Breanna Stewart had 26 points, Moriah Jefferson scored 15 and all-America Bria Hartley scored 10.

Alyssa Thomas, the other top five player, had 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Terrapins while Katie Rutan of suburban Philadelphia scored 11.

  “Alyssa Thomas was terrific,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “This is a game she had been looking forward to and she put the team on her back in the first half. I have said all along (UConn) went from nine all-Americans to seven,” she said of the Huskies’ roster deficiencies. “If they lose a couple more, Geno might have to coach like the rest of us,” she added referring to her Hall of Fame counterpart Geno Auriemma.

 

“That second half, defensively, that was as good as I’ve seen us play,” he said afterwards.”For us to hold a team like Maryland to 17 points in a half, that says a lot about how we competed on the defensive end.”

UConn won even with all-American center Stefanie Dolson picking up her fourth foul during the second half.

“Even when we have heavy adversity, we’re still playing Connecticut basketball and we’re going to going to come out and get a win,” Stewart said.

“We had no answer for Stewart,” Frese said.

In another game, No. 3 Stanford bounced back from Monday’s loss at UConn, when the Huskies’ Mosqueda-Lewis got hurt, to beat Cal Poly 86-51 at home in a nonconference game as All-American Chiney Ogwumike had a career high 36 points and Cardinal coach and Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer gained her 896^th career triumph.

   -- Mel