Guru Report: Penn Snaps Opener Droughts With Narrow Victory at Siena

Guru note: Coverage beyond the Penn game drawn on Wires, Email and School Websites Reports

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. — The Penn women’s basketball team has had some fine recent seasons with three Ivy titles and extended play into March either participating in the NCAA or WNIT tournaments.

Openers have been another matter, however, coming into 2018-19 with the last victory off the launch pad coming seven seasons ago and the last one on the road occurring in 2007.

Some of those setbacks have been excusable in facing superior national non-conference opposition to help get ready for the Ivy wars or ending just short off facing local rivals in the Big Five.

But others have not necessarily been likewise.

All that came to an end Saturday afternoon here in a rugged contest against host Siena of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in the Saints’ Alumni Recreation Center before a lively crowd of 1,019 fans, about half the size of capacity.

The Quakers made a strong defensive stand in the fourth quarter several times to prevent the outcome from going against them as they emerged with a 58-51 victory in the first meeting between the two programs since December, 2001.

The game was also the only one on the Saturday card among the Guru’s local D-1 group.

“This is a terrific win for us,” said Penn coach Mike McLaughlin. “I mean we had a lot of new faces playing, a lot of new players being in positions they have not been a whole lot, and to respond the way they did, throughout the whole game, but particularly down the stretch was a huge tell about about who we are.

“Their resilience was great at the end, their execution was great at the end, and I’m really, really proud of this group to do what they did with a lot of new faces on the floor.”

Gone through graduation for Penn was Michelle Nwokedi, a former Ivy player of the year who was part of a fearsome inside tandem with Ivy and Big Five rookie of the year Eleah Parker, while the steady hand of all-time assist leader Anna Ross is also now with the alumni greats of yesteryear.

Parker was a threat to have a monster game starting with a bunch of points before being harnessed to two more the rest of the way by the Saints, though she also had five rebounds and three blocked shots.

“But she was good on the defensive end,” McLaughlin countered. “We made foul shots and got the stops we needed. We had great composure and that’s hard to do when you haven’t been in spots like this before.

“I think we will grow from this. It’s good to get one on the road like this heading out to Notre Dame tomorrow.”

A year ago in the Palestra, Penn played the then depleted Irish tough, but by the finish in April Notre Dame had captured the NCAA title, courtesy of two buzzer-beating shots by Arike Ogunbowale in the national semifinals in Columbus, Ohio to bring a second straight miserable end to Connecticut’s unbeaten run in the same game, and then the encore against Mississippi State in the championship.

The Irish are ranked No. 1 with a squad bolstered by a return to health meaning the return of Brianna Turner and Penn will also be in Purcell Pavilion at 7 Monday night in South Bend, Ind., when Notre Dame hangs its first championship banner since 2001.

“Some of the kids played against them last year, but now they’re a better group and a different group,” he said of Monday’s opponent out of the Atlantic Coast Conference whose coach Muffet McGraw, the former Saint Joseph’s star, was recently inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.

“We got out hands full, we’re not going to hide that,” McLaughlin said. “I want them to compete, give them some small tasks, I want them to compete and represent Penn the best we can.”

Penn, which shared the Big Five title with Villanova, will host Saint Joseph’s in the home opener in The Palestra Thursday night.

“I have a feeling we’re going to be in this situation a lot,” McLaughlin said noting Saturday’s battle.

“We’re not explosive on the offensive end, but we do defend and we do compete, so I have a feeling we’re going to be in some tight spots late, so this is a good start.”

Veteran Phoebe Sterba helped the Quakers from the outside, nailing four 3-pointers on the way to a game-high `16 points. With the game in the balance, Ashley Russell was steady and made 5-of-6 foul shots for all her points to go with seven rebounds.

Sophomore Michae Jones made a pair of foul shots with the outcome undetermined down the stretch. Tori Crawford had seven points and six rebounds off the bench, showing capabilities to team with Parker and help make up the departure of Nwokedi.

So will Princess Aghayere, who made her first start and had six points and five rebounds. 

On the other side, while the outcome was not the desire of the Saints coach Ali Jacques, a former assistant to Father Judge grad Joe McKeown at Northwestern, where he still coaches the Wildcats, and at George Washington, was pleased with the way her team played, especially when Penn threatened to break away several times.

“Grateful to Penn for agreeing with a home-and-home with us to start the year,” she said. “Really talented team, very disciplined, Mike does a tremendous job, and we really challenged ourselves this year.

“Story of the game were some things we talked about,” Jacques observed. “We knew Sterba was a great shooter. We let her get loose a little bit. That’s disappointing. Too many offensive rebounds for them (17-10, 44-38 overall).

“Give our kids a lot of credit for the comeback we did make. We were down 12. We come back and take the lead. If (Joella Gibson) turns it into an and-one or we get that transition layup and we could be sitting here talking about a different outcome,” she continued.

“But we challenged our players on purpose. We have to learn from this and get ready for the next one.”

Of Parker, the Sienna coach said, “She’s unbelievable. She’s a high major plus player. I don’t know if we’re going to face another player like that. She was a big part of our game plan. It’s interesting because she draws a lot of attention.”

Maddie Sims had 14 points for Siena and collected six rebounds, as did Marile Gerostergiou, while Margo Peterson off the bench scored 10 points, shooting 4-for-6 from the field.

Kendell Grasela and Mia Lakstigala, a freshman off the bench, each grabbed three steals for Penn. Katie Kinum, who has given the Quakers big moments in the past, struggled 0-for-9 from the field, though all but one attempt was from beyond the arc.

Besides Agahayere, Kinum and Grasela also made their first career starts.

Siena next goes to Sacred Heart Tuesday and hosts Harvard, which got routed at Notre Dame Friday night, this Friday.

“Programs that know how to win and our good, they reload, and he reloads,” Jacques paid tribute to Penn. “And they do a tremendous job. I knew we were going to have our work cut out for us and this game hopefully prepares us for conference down the road against teams like Marist and Quinnipiac, who are similar in nature.”

Blue Hens Next in WNIT

After being knocked out at Northern Iowa in the opening round Friday night, Delaware heads to consolation play and will travel to Dixie this weekend to meet Montana State at Texas State, Friday at 5 p.m. and then will either meet Nicholls State at 5 p.m. or Texas State at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Texas State will play in the 7:30 p.m. slot (EDT) whether it is the loser or winner in its game with Nicholls State Friday night.

National Front: Syracuse Upset Bid and Comeback Foiled at Finish at Oregon

Just two nationally ranked teams played Saturday and they played each other with No. 18 Syracuse falling short at No. 3 Oregon 75-73 in Eugene. 

The host Ducks’ Sabrina Ionescu, who many project to be the No. 1 pick of next April’s WNBA draft should she legally forego her final year of collegiate eligibility, had 26 points and 10 rebounds, while Notre Dame transfer Erin Boley hit a key 3-pointer with 51 seconds left in regulation.

“That’s why Sabrina is Sabrina,” Oregon head coach Kelly Graves said, afterwards. “I told her, `You played like an all-American tonight,’ and that’s what she’s supposed to do.

Syracuse (1-1) rallied with a 10-0 run for a 67-61 lead late in the game before Oregon countered with a 9-0 run to get back in top for good at 70-67.

Tiana Mangakahia had 15 points for the Orange.

Syracuse next hosts Texas A&M Wednesday night at 7 down in White Plains, N.Y., in the Westchester County Center where the WNBA New York Liberty played all but two home games last summer.

Looking Ahead: Sunday In West Philly

Off tough home losses by each in Friday’s openers — Saint Joseph’s, which was edged by Temple while Drexel fell short to Quinnipiac — face each other at 2 p.m. at Drexel’s Daskalakis Athletic Center.

La Salle after dropping a home opener to Howard is at Robert Morris while Rider tries to take off an 0-2 start while visiting Holy Cross.

Princeton travels to George Washington and Penn State hosts No. 24 California.

Nationally, Connecticut, ranked second, hosts a season-opener against Ohio State, though the Buckeyes will come into the game not as formidable as recent matchups in the series all won by the Huskies.

No. 4 Baylor meets No. 23 Arizona State in Tempe.

And that’s the report.