The Guru Report: Saint Joseph’s Edges Columbia For Second Straight; Minnesota Upsets Syracuse

Guru’s note: The report beyond the Saint Joseph’s game is drawn on reports from emails, websites, and the wires.

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — The Saint Joseph’s women turned the corner a bit Thursday night, rallying from an early eight-point deficit in the third period to outlast visiting Columbia 68-61 in overtime here at Hagan Arena.

The Hawks (3-4), who have needed defensive stands to help their cause, had three players score in double figures, paced by reliable senior Alyssa Monaghan, who collected 16 points and three steals, while Krystalyn Baisden scored 14, and Katie Jekot posted 13, of which all but one came off of four 3-balls, and she also grabbed four steals.

Freshman Katie Mayock had another fine effort with four steals, 10 rebounds and eight points.

“Very proud of our team tonight, I feel we battled for 45 minutes in getting an overtime win, when we needed to make plays, we made plays, when we needed to make stops, we got stops, and overall was very very pleased with our effort,” said veteran coach Cindy Griffin.

It was the first meeting between the two schools, though Columbia (2-5) makes annual visits down in West Philadelphia playing Penn at The Palestra in the Ivy League.

Lions third-year coach Megan Griffith, a native of nearby King of Prussia, played at Columbia and previously spent a six-year stint on the staff of Courtney Banghart at powerhouse Princeton.

Though outrebounded 46-34, the Hawks pressure forced 24 turnovers resulting in 26 points while Columbia got just four.

“The more aggressive we are, the more productive we are,” Griffin said. “We’ve been working on a couple different presses to get us going and perhaps we can get some easy baskets, which have been hard to come by.”

Trailing by their largest margin early in the third, the Hawks rallied on back-to-back three-pointers from Baisden and Jekot to pull within a basket of tying Columbia.

The Lions came into the game averaging just under nine three-balls a game but were limited to just three while the Hawks connected with 11.

Columbia pulled away from Saint Joseph’s third-quarter thrust for a five-point lead heading into the final period but the Lions couldn’t extend further. 

After the Lions pulled from a 40-40 tie to go up by a two with 1 minutes 27 seconds left in the third, the Hawks threw a defensive stand into the fourth and final regulation period and took a 43-42 lead on Whisper Fisher’s inside shot. They continued on what became a 10-0 run for a 50-42 lead on Baisden’s two free throws.

Columbia still had fight, however, rallying to tie it up 54-54 on Riley Casey’s shot with 15 seconds left in regulation.

Both teams turned it over as the clock wound down, throwing away game-winning opportunities.

In the overtime, Jekot’s shot from beyond the arc gave the Hawks the lead and they were able to extend it to five and ride the remaining time left to produce the final score by doubling the Lions 14-7 in the extra period.

“We’ve been in a lot of possession games, we’re going to be in a lot of possession games,” said Griffin of recent contests such as the narrow loss in the semifinals of their Hawk Classic to Rider on Saturday and then the likewise three-point win over Loyola of Maryland for third place Sunday.

“We have to continue to get better at that and at the end of games manage the clock and manage the defense and manage the offense,” Griffin noted.

It’s the first time Saint Joseph’s has won two straight this season and comes in front of Sunday’s annual Villanova game in the Big Five, which will also be played here at 2 p.m.

A year ago the Wildcats routed a more experienced Hawks team setting all kinds of records in the process.

“This is a big confidence boost for our players putting two back-to-back,” said Griffin. “We just want to continue to get better and better each time out.”

As much as it was an uplifting win for the Hawks, it was a tough one for a young Columbia squad on the other side, considering they had gotten things to a point to try to ride out the early effort to a victory.

“Credit to Saint Joseph’s,” Griffin said. “Cindy had her team ready and they were hungry for a win on their home floor.

“Its just tough when you don’t show up and you don’t execute the game plan. I thought they were doing things we don’t practice. So it was tough.

“We’re really young and going through a lot of growing and learning pains right now. It’s just something we have to work through. We have to be better. We have to be better as coaches. They have to show up and be ready to compete,” Griffith observed.

“When you’re young, all these kids are used to winning so it’s just what it takes to figure out when you’re back’s against the ropes and how to play and how to win together. But it’s better to go through it now than January. You just have to learn from it.”

Sienna Durr had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Columbia while Janiya Clemmons scored 11.

Columbia on Sunday visits Boston College, which last weekend swept to the Hawk Classic here with one-sided wins over Loyola of Maryland and Rider.

Penn State Swamped by Florida State

Only two others of the Guru’s local D-1 group played Thursday night and it was a long evening for Penn State, which was trounced 87-58 at Florida State in Tallahassee as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Despite the setback by the Lady Lions (4-3), Kamaria McDaniel had a career-high 24 points, while Teniya Page scored 16 points.

Kiah Gillespie had 27 points for the Seminoles (7-1), while Nausia Woolfolk scored 16, and 11 points each came from Nicki Ekhomu and Valencia Myers, who each scored 11. Myers also grabbed 11 rebounds.

Penn State returns home to the  Bryce Jordan Center to host Jacksonville at at 2.

In the other locally-involved contest, Lehigh at home at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., beat Cornell 67-54 as the Mountain Hawks (6-2) got 23 points from Cameryn Benz while Laura Bagwell-Katalinich scored scored 12 for the Big Red (2-4).

Nationally Speaking: Notre Dame Handles Iowa While Minnesota Edges Syracuse

The highly anticipated 1 vs 2 showdown battle of unbeaten teams is set for Sunday for the first time since both Connecticut and Notre Dame competed in the title game of the NCAA championship in 2014 in Nashville.

In that one the Huskies claimed a 79-58 win over the Irish.

But it will be different this time in what in the long run is just a double measuring stick in the early season clash.

The pre-game fortunes are reversed in that it is Notre Dame with the No. 1 ranking and also the tag as defending national champions with the game to air at 4 p.m. from the Irish’s Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Ind. 

Furthermore, Connecticut has the revenge motive after falling in the semifinals on Arike Ogunbowale’s shot at the buzzer in overtime.

Two nights later she repeated the feat to spoil Mississippi State and deliver Notre Dame’s second ever crown following the one 17 years earlier in 2001.

The last 1 vs 2 matchup was also a Notre Dame/UConn affair in 2017, and also in South Bend, in which Notre Dame fell to Connecticut in a run in which the Huskies surprised all going unbeaten as part of the NCAA-record 111-game win streak until Mississippi State ended it on a buzzer-beater in overtime in the national semifinals.  

Despite Notre Dame’s departure from the old Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference and UConn’s move to the American Athletic Conference, the two have continued to mostly annually meet in the regular season, usually as the participants in the Jimmy V Classic on the women’s side, which will be the same cause on Sunday. 

The Huskies (6-0) routed DePaul Wednesday to stay with a zero in the loss column, and Notre Dame completed the set up Thursday running over No. 14 Iowa 105-71 with Ogunbowale the center of the story again.

“It’s one of the best rivalries in college basketball,” she said of Sunday’s game after scoring 30 points to top her four starting teammates who also scored in double figures.

“When we play like that and play together we’re unstoppable,” said Ogunbowale, who peppered the Hawkeyes defense with a 12-for-21 shooting night.

Brianna Turner, the first of four key Notre Dame players sidelined by knee injuries a year ago, had 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Marina Mabrey scored 18 in what was her second game following an absence of the first five due to a quad injury.

“It was probably one of our better games of the season,” said Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw, a former Saint Joseph’s star inducted to the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame earlier this month. “I was really excited about the assist-to-turnover ratio. That’s the thing that has been missing.”

Her team (7-0) had 21 assists against only nine miscues.

“Offensively they are just a juggernaut — there are so many weapons and so many people you have to guard on that team,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “It was their offense which took us out of our game.”

Megan Gustafson, a national player of the year candidate from the Hawkeyes (4-2), had 26 points and 10 rebounds.

Minnesota Upsets Syracuse

In her first major test in her fledgling coaching career former WNBA great Lindsay Whalen guided her alma mater No. 10 Gophers to a 72-68 win over No. 12 Syracuse at home in Williams Arena and it would not be a stretch to say the Maggie Dixon Award for the top rookie on the sidelines given by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) is now Whalen’s to lose.

Taiye Bello had a career-high 20 points and she grabbed 18 rebounds while Kenisha Bell had 24 points and nine rebounds.

The game, as well as the Notre Dame/Iowa meeting, were part of the pairings in the annual ACC/Big Ten challenge the last two nights.

The Gophers (6-0) were ahead early but Syracuse (6-2), which had shown potential to repeat the Orange’s first-ever Women’s Final Four appearance of several years ago, was up six when Minnesota launched a 12-0 run and topped the visitors with a 17-7 advantage over the final 3 minutes 30 seconds of the game.

Destiny Pitts (10 pts.) and Annalese Lamke (13 rebs.) were also factors for Minnesota, while Kiara Lewis scored 14 for Syracuse, Miranda Drummond scored 12, Tiana Mangakahia had 11 and dealt eight assists, and Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi had 10 points and blocked five shots.

Syracuse came into the game off a buzzer-beating win over No. 16 DePaul just previous.

Meanwhile, unranked Purdue in another ACC/Big Ten Challenge event, upset No. 21 Miami 74-63 at home in Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind., as Dominque Oden had career-highs of six three-balls and 27 points for the Boilermakers (6-2) Miami (7-1) took its first loss despite Emese Hof scoring 25 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.

Another cross conference challenge game saw No. 13 North Carolina State beat Michigan 66-55 at home in Raleigh as Grace Hunter scored 13 to send the Wolfpack to a 7-0 start for the first time since 1999. 

Old Dominion visits Sunday trying to break up North Carolina State’s string of 23 straight wins at home over non-conference opposition.

Michigan (5-2) got 18 points from Nicole Munger.

No. 7 Maryland at home in the Xfinity Center in College Park beat Georgia Tech 67-54 to stay unbeaten at 7-0 while the Yellow Jackets fell to 5-2, and No. 5 Louisville at home rode Asia Durr’s 25 points and eight rebounds for the Cardinals (7-0) to an 85-68 win over Nebraska (2-4) in two other challenge matchups.

No. 17 Texas A&M fell to unranked Lamar 74-68 at home in College Station as Aggies coach Gary Blair suspended reigning national freshman of the year Chennedy Carter for breaking a national team attendance rule.

Chastadie Barr had 23 points for Lamar (5-3) and Miya Crump scored 20. Aaliyah Wilson had 17 points for the Aggies (4-2).  

And that’s the report.