The Guru Report: No. 22 Villanova Stays Unbeaten and Takes Lead in Big Five Edging Temple 69-65

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — The feeling was always there on the recruiting trail when the rumors started.

If Harry Perretta was going to get the kid from Ursuline Academy in Wilmington, the multi-Delaware state player of the year, to come to Villanova, look for the Wildcats to attain rankings and get back in the national spotlight.

Wait a minute, you say. That player has been off playing in the WNBA as one of the pro league’s top stars for the last several years.

Wrong. Not talking about that Ursuline star player from Delaware.

The Guru’s talking about Adrianna Hahn, the Wildcats’ top scorer who has helped lead Villanova to a No. 22 ranking, the first Associated Poll appearance in 13 seasons, and a 9-0 start, matching the program’s best since 1979-80.

“It’s cool, last year (Temple) beat us by 30 so we just wanted to come out here and get revenge on them,” Hahn said after scoring 19 points to top three other teammates scoring in double figures leading Villanova to a narrow 69-65 victory in a Women’s Big Five game Sunday afternoon at the Owls’ McGonigle Hall.

The win makes Villanova (9-0, 2-0 Big Five) as the only unbeaten left in City Series competition while the defending City Champs Owls (7-3 overall) fell to 2-1 with just Penn left next month on the local schedule.

Oddly, a week ago Hahn had just two points in the Wildcats’ all-time rout in their series with Saint Joseph’s, but since had 21 against Fairfield on the road Wednesday and the 19 Sunday.

“It’s funny, but that’s just how basketball works sometimes,” said Hahn, a junior who was the Big Five rookie of the year in her initial season with the ‘Cats. “We came out here with intensity. We’re on a run. We’re work hard and play hard and that just brings more things.

“I’ve never been on a ranked team before, a lot of the girls haven’t, so just being recognized like that is just a great recognition. It’s awesome.”

Alex Louin had 15 points, Megan Quinn scored 12, and Jannah Tucker scored 10. Villanova shot 9-for-25 on three-pointers, while Temple was 4-for-20.

The Owls got another stellar performance from Tanaya Atkinson with 24 points and 18 rebounds while Mia Davis scored 13 and grabbed nine rebounds.

“We made four crucial shots and Adrianna made two foul shots at the end,” said Perretta, who is in his 40th season on the Main Line, where he has spent his entire collegiate coaching career.

“We knew we had to make threes to beat them and we got nine and they got four, that’s the difference in the game. They’re a tough defensive team. We had to try trick plays to get shots,” Perretta noted.

Temple is down two players in the rotation — senior Alliya Butts was lost in the preseason with a knee injury while newcomer Desiree Oliver was recently lost for an undetermined amount of time.

So initially it was no surprise when Villanova jumped to an 8-0 lead but Temple rallied to go up 17-13 at the end of the first quarter. And the rest of the way it became your basic Big 5 toe-to-toe battle with seven ties and 12 lead changes.

A 10-point Villanova lead in the fourth quarter got reduced to three with 1:13 left in the game before Louin hit a layup and Hahn made two foul shots to make it 68-63 with 16 seconds left. Atkinson cut it to three with two seconds left and then Louin hit one of two free throws for the game’s final points.

“They’re a very good team, they’re just young,” Perretta said of Temple.

Temple coach Tonya Cardoza acknowledged Perretta’s remark without knowing his comments, noting, “Nobody here played against them last year. So this is a whole new team that played against them and yet overall for a first time, I felt we handled ourselves pretty well. We just needed to buckle down and pay attention down the stretch.”

Nevertheless, she bemoaned the fact the game could have been a get by the Owls and it got away.

“This is one where I felt we had it right here,” Cardoza said. “We were playing against a team that’s undefeated, in the top 25, at home, and I felt we had it in our hands.

“It was like everytime we made a mistake defending them, they capitalized on it. We needed to be more disciplined in the second half. And then down at the end we missed a bunch of easy shots.

“We had a Big Five championship in our hands and we let it slip away. But they’re a good team and a lot of veterans and we’re trying to beat a team like that with a bunch of young guys.”

Both teams are off all week for finals with the Owls returning here to host Marist of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference on Saturday at 2 while Villanova won’t play again until visiting La Salle a week from Wednesday.

Thus, while Villanova at 2-0 is the only team that can win the Big Five outright, La Salle (1-1) is still alive for a share as would Penn be if the Quakers beat Saint Joseph’s Monday night (tonight) at 7 on Hawk Hill at Hagan Arena with also needing to play Villanova and Temple next month.

An Owls win while those potentials exist could mean a tie but Cardoza downplayed the mathematics. “We had it in our hands now you’re asking for help elsewhere, relying on other people.”

Rutgers Romps Over Fairleigh Dickinson

The countdown for Rutgers Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer toward career win 1,000 and the count-up for Tyler Scaife’s further rise on the Scarlet Knights’ all-time scoring list continued Sunday in a lopsided 101-35 blowout over New Jersey rival Fairleigh Dickinson at home in the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway.

Yet another notch on the turnaround indicator from a forlorn season of just six victories 12 months ago was carved as Rutgers (10-2) reached triple digits for the first time since 2014 and third in Stringer’s career.

She is now just 13 wins from becoming likely the fourth women’s coach to win 1,000 since Hall of Fame UConn coach Geno Auriemma is expected to become the third in the Huskies’ next start when they host Oklahoma, Dec. 19, at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

The late Tennessee legend Pat Summitt and Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer have already cross the magical milestone.

Meanwhile in the win over FDU (7-3) Scaife scored 25 points, the seventh time scoring 20 or more this season after missing action last year due to a heart defect.

Scaife, with 1,860 career points, is now within 13 points of third on the all-time list for the program, which would put her behind No. 1 Sue Wicks (2,655), the retired WNBA New York Liberty great, and No. 2 Cappie Pondexter (2,211), a past WNBA All-Star now with the Chicago Sky, and former Olympic gold medalist.

In the contest Sunday, reserve Caitlin Jennings had 11 points and 11 rebounds, Ciani Cryor scored 15, and Jazlynd Rollins had 10 points.

Kamrin Weimer scored 12 for FDU, which yielded 23 steals to the Knights, who tied a program record set with 23 thefts against Temple, Jan. 27, 1987.

Next up is a visit Wednesday at 6 p.m. from Ivy power Princeton, which last season a half-hour away at home in Jadwin Gym decimated Rutgers.

The Scarlet Knights’ two losses were both in Florida in a tournament last month, a competitive one to defending NCAA champion South Carolina and another to Washington State.

Delaware Downs Delaware State 84-49

The Blue Hens (6-4) easily handled their state neighbor Hornets (1-7) at home in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark as Nicole Enabosi had 17 points and 11 rebounds — her eighth double double this season, Samone DeFreese scored 19 and grabbed nine rebounds, and Lizzie Oleary scored 10.

Delaware State’s Ryan Jones scored 17 and Keke Barber grabbed 11 rebounds.

“Today was important because we were able to play everybody,” said first-year coach Natasha Adair, formerly with Georgetown. “Each game I feel we’re learning and improving. Every day, every practice is a teching moment.”

The Blue Hens are unbeaten against the Hornets in the 10-game series between the two schools.

Following an 11-day break, Delaware returns home Dec. 22 at 1 p.m. against Loyola of Maryland. The Blue Hens will then open CAA play a week later Dec. 29 at Drexel 4 p.m.

Lehigh Falls Short at LIU Brooklyn

A three-point attempt that would have forced overtime at the end of regulation didn’t connect and Lehigh fell on the road to LIU Brooklyn 72-69 at the Barclays Center in New York.

Camryn Buhr had 18 points for the Mountain Hawks (6-5), who head for Patriot League competition nearly three weeks from now opening at home Dec. 29 at Stabler Arena against nearby rival Lafayette.

Hannah Hedstrom had 12 points, of which 10 came in the second half, and Cameryn Benz scored 10.

The host Blackbirds improved to 4-5.

And that’s the report.