The Guru Report: Penn Keeps Rolling While Rider’s Johnson Makes History in Broncs’ First Win

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — Rather than what might have been a mild let-down in the wake of the Penn women’s lopsided win here at home over Saint Joseph’s in a Big Five meeting in The Palestra Thursday night, the Quakers did not let up less than 48 hours later returning Saturday afternoon to execute an 85-42 romp over NJIT.

The tale of the tape for Penn is 3-1, a record that began with a gritty triumph eight days ago at Siena in suburban Albany, N.Y., followed by a Monday visit to defending national champion Notre Dame where the Quakers went down with honor in South Bend, Ind. That game was played on a night the Irish hung their second-ever title banner to start the evening festivities.

“I thought of we go back to the first quarter they had seven offensive rebounds, they gave themselves extra possessions, give them credit, I thought from that point on, we dominated the glass and that gave us the ball defensively and offensively,” said Penn coach Mike McLaughlin of the Quakers’ most recent win.

“I was excited about our effort. This has been a really long week for us. We went to Albany, played Saturday; we went to Notre Dame, played Monday, we played Thursday, we played Saturday, that’s a long week for any group to start and with a new group, I thought they responded terrifically.”

Penn now gets a week off from games and doesn’t return to action until after Thanksgiving this Saturday, traveling for a weekend set of games visiting host Navy in the afternoon in Annapolis, Md., and then Sunday meeting Maine on what becomes a neutral court at the Naval Academy.

In Saturday’s action here, the Highlanders from just to the north in Newark, N.J. jumped to an early 7-4 lead and then it was all Quakers the rest of the way after launching a 19-5 run to the rest of the period.

The differential grew to an eventual 47-point lead early in the fourth and final period at 75-28.

Though NJIT is now 0-4 under new coach Mike Lane, who had been previously the top assistant at Patriot League power Bucknell, the Highlanders had scored 50 or more points their previous three games, including a visit to West Virginia last Sunday.

McLaughlin got a chance to give his bench much playing time with the outcome secured well before the game ended, something that will be valuable in the immediate weeks ahead.

But as for the veterans, after being the game-saver at the finish a week ago at Siena, senior Ashley Russell came up big in this one, scoring a career-high 25 points, shooting 10-for-13 from the field, including a perfect 4-for-4 attempting three-pointers, while the native of Braintree, Mass., also grabbed eight rebounds, dealt four assists and grabbed three steals.

McLaughlin said Russell’s improvement after being behind the Quakers’ then-upperclass talent of recent seasons did not show itself until recently.

“I did not see it until we started playing the games,” he said.

Princess Aghayere followed up her performance against Saint Joseph’s, scoring 12 points and grabbing six rebounds while shooting 5-for-9 from the field, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.

Michae Jones had 11 points off the bench, shooting 4-for-5 from the field and registering a game-high 38 on the plus-minus chart in 19 minutes, 27 seconds of play. Veteran Phoeba Sterba had eight points off the bench and a plus-minus of 34, while Russell had 31 in the category and Tori Crawford registered 25.

McLaughlin credited Sterba and Crawford with energizing the Quakers when they entered the fray early in the contest.

Reserve freshman guard Mia Lakstigala had eight points while substitute Kennedy Suttle, who played 15:21, had a plus-minus of 26.

Kelly Guarino and Ellyn Stoll each scored 11 points for the visitors while Danielle Tunstall scored 10 points. 

The game offered a homecoming for Tunstall, a graduate of Life Center Academy from Willingboro, N.J., across the river. Other area players on the Highlanders roster are Garnet Valley grad Jordan Ireland and Cheltenham’s Amarri Truehart, a transfer from Albany.

Johnson’s Career Day Powers Rider to Snap Opening Losing Streak

The Broncs have been around a long time as a program but never saw a triple double from one of their own until Saturday afternoon when Stella Johnson achieved the feat to give Rider an 85-67 win, it’s first of the season, in a non-conference game over Mount St. Mary’s at home in Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Johnson had a career high 35 points, shooting 14-for-19 from the field, while grabbing 12 rebounds and dealing 10 assists to go with six steals. She also sizzled from beyond the arc, shooting 6-of-8 three pointers.

Mount St. Mary’s is also now 1-3.

The Broncs led by as many as 25 points in the second half in which Johnson got 25 of her points.

Junior Amari Johnson also had a career day with 28 points, shooting 10-of-16 from the field while she grabbed seven rebounds. 

“That’s who Stella is,” said Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “That doesn’t surprise me. That’s what she does for her team. She does a great job of putting her teammates in successful situations.

“She knows when she needs to score and she knows when to give it up. She trusts her teammates and it’s a credit to her all around game and what she does for our program,” Milligan added.

“Having a secondary scorer was something that we were missing the first few games,” she noted of the home opener loss to nearby Princeton, and last weekend’s New England setbacks, squandering a late lead at Vermont and falling at Holy Cross.

“It was only a matter of time before Amari had a game like this. She had a great week of practice. She got in the gym, put the extra work in and it paid off for her.”

Of her record performance, Johnson noted, “I didn’t wake up that confident. After shoot around this morning I texted my mom and she told me to be confident in my shot. I listened to her and my coaches and it paid off.”

The Broncs, who shot 60.7 from the field, had lost 11 straight in the month of November.

Johnson’s 35 points were two short of the Rider record achieved by Myneshia McKenzie and Nancy Carroll. Through Saturday afternoon games, she became the fifth Division I player to register a triple double this season and her 10 assists tied a career high.

Rider after the holidays is heading this way, opening noon Saturday against Saint Joseph’s in the annual Hawk Classic in Hagan Arena and then will play either Boston College or Loyola of Maryland, Sunday.

The latter squad is coached by former Saint Joseph’s assistant Joe Logan.

Delaware Gets First Win in Preseason WNIT Consolation Game

The Blue Hens picked up their first victory of the season, taking the last of three rounds in the Preseason WNIT with a triumph over Nicholls, holding on to prevail 71-56 at Texas State’s Strahan Arena in San Marcos.

Delaware (1-2) broke from a 31-31 tie at halftime as the opposing Colonels (0-4) remained winless.

The Blue Hens used a strong defense to force 22 turnovers and owned the backboards with a one-sided 50-26 advantage for their best effort to date in that category in what was the first ever meeting between the two schools.

Delaware opened play in the annual tourney losing a week ago Friday at Northern Iowa and  headed to the Lone Star State where they lost their first consolation round game Friday night to Montana State.

Abby Gonzalez, a junior, had a career high 20 points, shooting 7-for-13 from the field of which four connections came from beyond the arc. 

Freshman Jasmine Dickey, who has quickly become a key addition for second-year coach Natasha Adair, had her second double double with 15 points and 16 rebounds.

Samone DeFreese also scored in double figures with 12 points as did Justina Mascaro with 10.

“I am so proud of this group,” Adair said afterwards. “What an incredible, incredible road gutsy win. You are seeing different lineups and again our chemistry has to click … but what I’m most proud of is our work on the defensive end.”

The Blue Hens complete their pre-Thanksgiving slate Tuesday, traveling to in-state rival Delaware State Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Memorial Hall in Dover.

La Salle Struggles Continue in Loss at Towson

The Explorers seemed to be capable of finally reaching the victory column with improvement in several areas until they imploded 27-12 in the fourth quarter as Towson sealed the non-conference win 92-68 in the game played in suburban Baltimore.

La Salle (0-4) reached a season-high in points but the total was not enough to get Mountain MacGillivray his first triumph as a head coach after spending a long stretch as the associate at MAAC powerhouse Quinnipiac.

Deja King had a career high 15 points for the visitors, while freshman Kayla Spruill and sophomore Michelle Nicholls each scored 11 points. King also had a career high with four steals.

Kionna Jeter had 32 points and eight rebounds for the Tigers (2-1) in their SECU Arena while Nukiya Mayo had 22 points and 11 rebounds and Qierra Murray put up 13 points.

Though La Salle’s next game is back in the area, things don’t get easier Tuesday night as they head to Villanova in the Wildcats’ Finneran Pavilion for a 7 p.m. tip in what will be the first Big Five game of the season for both teams. 

Nationally Speaking: Notre Dame Rallies to Handle DePaul

Longtime area rival DePaul had the Blue Demons’ fans thinking upset in the first half when coach Doug Bruno’s squad took a seven-point lead after the first quarter as the defending national champions and top-ranked Irish struggled with ball control.

But coach Muffet McGraw’s group got things under control in the next period to erase the deficit and go up seven at the half and move on to a 101-77 win in a non-conference game played in DePaul’s Wintrust Arena in Chicago to stay unbeaten at 3-0.

DePaul, the defending Big East champions fell to 1-1 after playing its former rival in the old Big East until the Irish moved on to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

McGraw, a recent inductee into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, reached her 891st victory and will soon likely reach the exclusive club with 900, six of which have moved on to 1,000, including Rutgers’ C. Vivian Stringer who hit that total last Tuesday.

Jackie Young scored 28 and had 12 points for Notre Dame while Arike Ogunbowale, the star of last season’s Women’s Final Four with buzzer-beating shots in the semifinal and championship to bring the Irish their second ever NCAA crown.

“It was a little hard for us to get in any offensive rhythm,” said McGraw of Saturday’s contest. “It took us a little while to figure out how to get the ball inside.”

Notre Dame atoned for its 28 turnovers by dominating the boards with a 48-23 differential in rebounds.

“That’s something we should be able to do every game,”McGraw said. “We have a really, really good team. We’re bigger. And I felt we had a great effort on the offensive glass, too.”

DePaul, who plays Villanova here and in Chicago later on the Big East schedule, got 27 points from Ashton Millender as she matched a career high. A career mark was also set by the Demons’ Chante Stonewall, who scored 12.

Bruno in his postgame comments noted the easy opponents many schools play this time of year as they finish figuring their attack schemes and in the case of younger rosters get their newbies game experience.

“This is the Christmas season. That’s what people do at this time of year. We don’t.”

Notre Dame heads for this week’s inaugural Vancouver Showcase in which the Irish could meet Rutgers in the second round and if they prevail possibly South Carolina in the final.

DePaul, ranked 15th, heads to second-ranked Connecticut Nov. 28.

The Irish will open this week against Gonzaga while DePaul plays defending Ivy champion Princeton in the Cancun Challenge on Thanksgiving Day. The Tigers will be coming from Sunday’s visit to Penn State.

And that’s the report.