The Guru Report: Drexel Takes Vermont Tourney While Penn Wins at Navy

Guru’s note: Information in this report drawn on email, website, and wire reports. The Saint Joe tourney is in a separate file under this post.

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

The Drexel and Penn women continued to show their prowess on the road Saturday, while Villanova took its first loss letting one get away, but Rutgers, and Delaware had bounce-back wins. Not so much, however, for Princeton.

Nationally, a day after second-ranked Connecticut got challenged, it was top-ranked Notre Dame’s turn to rally.

But let’s first head to the power center of local Division I teams, whose campuses are just blocks apart in West Philadelphia.

Up in New England, Drexel clamped down on host Vermont in Burlington for a 60-44 win over the Catamounts in their TD Bank Classic championship, following up on the Dragons’ title there in 2012.

Bailey Greenberg drove the surge with a career high 22 points and also had eight rebounds to earn MVP honors with 17 of them coming in the first half. She also had 19 in Friday’s win over Siena in the semifinals for the Dragons (4-1).

Aubree Brown also made the all-tournament team.

Career-day honors also went to Niki Metzel with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Hannah Crymble remained unstoppable for Vermont (3-3), scoring 23 points, more than half the team’s total.

The Dragons responded to their 20-9 rebounding deficit at the half to own the boards 24-11 the next two quarters and land an overall edge 33-31.

Across the second and third periods Drexel kept Vermont off the scoreboard for more than 11 minutes in a lopsided 25-0 run, the first 11 of which came at the end of the second period as Keishanna Washington scored or assisted on all of them. She finished with eight points and five assists.

Depth also arrived as Mariah Leonard, sidelined for most of last season, saw her first action and scored seven in the second half in Patrick Gymnasium.

Next up comes Wednesday when the Dragons travel La Salle in the Tom Gola Arena to resume a local rivalry. Then comes a break followed by a visit to Manhattan on Dec. 7 in Riverdale followed by a neutral game at the same site the next day against Wright State.

Penn Sinks Navy

The Quakers continue to be the early season surprise of sorts, if only due to a slight rebuild, but coach Mike McLaughlin’s group navigated dangerous waters to sink Navy 65-61 in a closely fought contest at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Penn’s strength is still where it’s always been on the inside despite the graduation of former Ivy player of the year Michelle Nwokedi. On Saturday Eleah Parker had 15 points and Princess Agahayere scored 14, a career-high with the Quakers (4-1) to go with her 11 rebounds.

The visitors have won three straight against the Midshipmen (1-3), two in Annapolis and are now 5-5 in the series.

Freshman Mia Lakstigala helped the cause with seven points and eight steals.

The game in Alumni Hall was a homecoming for Tori Crawford.

Kolbi Green had 17 points for Navy, Sophie Gatzounas scored 16, and Morgan Taylor scored 13.

The Quakers will stay in town in what is billed as the Navy Classic, meeting defending America East champion Maine on Sunday at 3:15 p.m.

Then on December 5, Penn gets back on the Big Five trail hosting La Salle, the one team that deprived the Quakers of an outright title last season.

Villanova Fades Down the Stretch Against Virginia Tech

Cruising along with a 13-point lead against the Hokies in the third period of the UCF Thanksgiving Classic in Orlando, Fla., the Wildcats suffered their first defeat of the season, 61-59, when they got overtaken on the boards and fell in excruciating style.

Virginia Tech remains unbeaten at 6-0.

Adrianna Hahn missed a three-ball for Villanova (3-1), with the Wildcats ahead by a point. Going the other way, the Hokies’ Taylor Emery missed a runner but teammate Trinity Baptiste scored on a putback and was fouled. She made the and-one with 2.8 seconds in regulation to give the Hokies the victory.

In the loss, Kelly Jekot had another fine effort with 22 points for Villanova, shooting 9-of-13 from the field, while Mary Gedaka had 11 points and nine rebounds. Jannah Tucker had 10 points and dealt five assists.

Emery scored 22 for the Hokies while Regan Magarity had a double double with 18 points and 16 rebounds.

In the weekend event, opponents were predetermined, so the Wildcats will meet the UCF host Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

On Wednesday night, Villanova will greet Princeton at 7 in Finneran Pavilion, which should be interesting.

Rutgers Takes Seventh In Vancouver

Following losses to Drake and Gonzaga in the TCL Vancouver Showcase in Canada, the Scarlet Knights returned to winning ways, salvaging a 68-44 triumph over ETSU, which is now 0-7 on the season.

Charise Wilson had 17 points for Rutgers (5-2), while Stasha Carey and Arella Guirantes each scored 10 points. Victoria Harris grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds but Erica Haynes-Overton had a game-high 23 points for ETSU.

Rutgers goes to Virginia Tech Wednesday night for its match in the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge at 7 p.m. in Roanoke. The team will stay on the road to visit Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Delaware Handles Lafayette

The Blue Hens took third place in the FAU Thanksgiving Tournament routing Lafayette 65-47 in Boca Raton, Fla. 

Justina Mascaro had a career-high 14 points for Delaware (3-3) while Bailey Kargo scored 13, and Samone DeFreese had 11 points and seven rebounds.

Gadson Lefft, a redshirt senior, had eight rebounds.

Lafayette (3-3) had 16 points and 10 rebounds from Natalie Kucowski.

Delaware next travels to Boston U. A week from Sunday (today).

Princeton Woes Continue

Holding a 42-34 halftime lead, the Tigers got plundered the rest of the way as Kansas State crushed the defending Ivy champs 46-19 to go on to an 80-61 victory in the final day of the Cancun Challenge at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya in Mexico.

The Tigers (1-6), missing four starters including Ivy player of the year Bella Alarie, have dropped six straight after an opening night win at nearby Rider.

Carlie Littlefield equaled her career high for Princeton with 22 points, while Gabrielle Rush had her first career double double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Payton Williams had 23 points for Kansas State (4-2), while Christianna Carr had 22 points, and Rachel Ranke scored 15.

Having met one group of Wildcats, Princeton meets another of the same mascot identity but more familiar when the Tigers travel to Villanova for a 7 p.m. game Wednesday night.

Looking Ahead: Temple Heads into Hurricanes

It turns out, the Owls’ weekend trip to Florida has them playing No. 24 Miami Sunday afternoon and not Saturday. Temple (2-3) is on a rugged six-game road trip where after a win at Saint Joseph’s, the Owls have lost at Mississippi, Marist, and Friday to Radford in the first game at Miami.

Temple hasn’t played the Hurricanes (5-1) since 2000. The game will air on ACC Network Extra at 2 p.m.

After Sunday, Temple has one more stop a week from Monday at No. 16 DePaul in Chicago.

Penn State hosts Stony Brook Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. on the Big Ten network while the only other local D-1 action involves Rider and Saint Joseph’s in their games at the Hawk Classic as mentioned in a separate posted under here and the Villanova game at UCF.

Nationally Speaking: Notre Dame Rally Keeps Irish Unbeaten

The holiday wave of upsets and near upsets continued Saturday, but the 1 vs. 2 matchup for next Sunday at Notre Dame when the Irish host second-ranked Connecticut at 4 p.m.

Technically, a loss could still occur before the game in South Bend, but if it happens, the AP Poll wouldn’t be affected until the next vote Sunday night.

UConn almost got shocked by unranked St. John’s Saturday at the Paradise Jam, in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, but rallied at the close of the fourth period.

The unbeaten Huskies (5-0) had a much easier time Sunday, crushing Purdue 86-40, as Katie Lou Samuelson tied her season best with 22 points, Nspheesa Collier had 19 points and 10 rebounds, rookie Christyn Williams had 17 and the Huskies have now won 120 straight regular season games.

In between are two buzzer-beating losses in the NCAA semifinals to Mississippi State and Notre Dame the last two seasons.

Dominique Oden and Kayana Traylor both scored 12 points for the Boilermakers (5-2).

The Huskies host No. 16 DePaul Wednesday night.

While Connecticut could breathe easy on Sunday, not so for the defending champion bunch from Notre Dame which used the fourth quarter to outscore No. 9 Oregon State 23-11 in the fourth period and take a 91-81 victory in the inaugural Vancouver Showcase title game in Canada after trailing by 12 earlier in the game.

Jackie Young had 23 points, Arike Ogunbowale and Brianna Turner each scored 21, while Jessica Shepard, sidelined Friday with a sore ankle, scored 17 for the unbeaten Irish (6-0).

“We really struggled at the beginning of the game,” said Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw, a former star at Saint Joseph’s.

Destiny Slocum had 21 points and Mikayla Pivec scored 17 for the Beavers (6-1), who lost their first game.

Shepard had 10 rebounds.

Oregon State next on Saturday hosts La Salle after the Explorers play Drexel Wednesday night.

Notre Dame plays No. 12 Iowa at home Thursday night before the UConn visit.

Meanwhile, in the third place game in British Columbia, after No. 13 South Carolina launched a huge rally that nearly toppled Oregon State on Saturday, the Gamecocks were shocked by Drake 90-85 in overtime.

 

Sara Rhine had 25 points for the Bulldogs (6-1), who upset Rutgers in the first round before losing to Notre Dame in the semifinals to land in the third place game.

Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks (3-3) forced the overtime but were ruined by a 7-0 run after taking a brief lead in the extra period.

Te’a Cooper had 31 for South Carolina, and Tyasha Harris scored 18.

Unranked Florida State knocked off Iowa 71-67 for the title of the Junkanoo Jam in Bimini, Bahamas, as Nausia Woolfolk scored 25 points for the Seminoles (6-1).

A day earlier the Hawkeyes (4-1) had launched their biggest rally in the Lisa Bluder coaching era, coming back from a 24-point deficit to escape an upset from No. 25 West Virginia.

Tania Davis had 22 points for Iowa, while Megan Gustafson had 16 points and eight rebounds.

No. 11 Tennessee, playing in another division of the Junkanoo Jam for the title, forced overtime against  unranked UAB before taking a 73-49 win after trailing by 12 in the fourth period.

The unbeaten Lady Vols (5-0) got 18 points from Rennia Davis, 16 from Evina Westbrook, and 13 from Kasiyanha Kushkituah to avoid an upset. 

Rachel Childress and Katelyn Thomas each scored 19 for UAB (4-1).

Tennessee made just 9-of-22 foul shot attempts.

No. 14 Syracuse edged No. 16 DePaul 83-81 in overtime in the title game of the Cancun Challenge as Tiana Mangakahia had 22 points, 10 rebounds and six assists and hit the game-winner at the buzzer for the Orange (6-1) who nearly won at No. 3 Oregon earlier this month.

Miranda Drummond had 21 for Syracuse. Gabrielle Cooper had 10 points and seven rebounds for the Orange who jumped to an 18-6 lead in the first quarter.

Chante Stonewall had 25 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Demons (3-2), whose other loss has been to Notre Dame.

No. 7 Maryland got pushed by Georgia, which fell out of the rankings last week, but the Terrapins held on for a 58-51 win in the title game of the Puerto Rico Classico tournament in Trujillo Alto.

Stephanie Jones had 21 points for Maryland (6-0) as Georgia fell to 3-3.

No. 17 South Florida, which suffered two losses in the Junkanoo Jam, edged unranked UCLA 60-56 as Sydni Harvey had a career high 19 points. Laura Ferreira scored 14 for the Bulls (5-2).

Japreece Dean had 17 points for the Bruins (3-4).

No. 10 Texas, which had to rally to beat unranked Quinnipiac, Saturday, beat Michigan 69-52 to reach the title game of the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla. Jaterie White had 16 points for the Longhorns (5-0), who will play Fordham Sunday.

The Wolverines (4-1) will play Washington for third place.

Fordham advanced to the title game with a 65-57 win over Washington (3-2) as Bre Cavanaugh had 26 points and four steals for the Rams (4-2).

In other games of note, not involving ranked teams, Kentucky made a bid for the poll, beating North Carolina 85-75 as Taylor Murray scored 23 for the unbeaten Wildcats (7-0) and Stephanie Watts had 27 for the Tar Heels (5-2) in the Virgin Islands.

Lehigh beat Norfolk State 62-41 at home in Stabler Arena in Bethlehem as Camryn Buhr had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Mountain Hawks (5-1).  

And that’s the report.