The Guru Report: Villanova Lights Up Lehigh as Jekot Scores 24 Points

Guru note: Beyond the ‘Nova game, the rest of the report was drawn on wire, email and website reports.

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Villanova’s short trip here to play host Lehigh Friday night in a non-conference women’s basketball game was even shorter due to the weather preventing the Wildcats from coming up Thursday.

Not to worry. Coming off a nine-day break from a season-opening home win over Hartford the Nova contingent was wide awake, especially juniors Kelly Jekot and Mary Gedaka, who are now part of the starting lineup.

Jekot fired away shooting 9-of-16 from the field, including a sizzling 5-of-7 three-pointers for a game-high 24 points with six rebounds while Gedaka was also in double figures with 15 points to lead Villanova to a wire-to-wire 70-48 win over the Mountain Hawks, handing Lehigh (3-1) its first loss.

From the outset, Villanova played both ends of the court well to finish the first quarter 13-5 and continued to widen the differential to an eventual 28 points early in the fourth quarter.

“We played pretty good defense I thought, shot the ball decent, we were able to make some three pointers in the third quarter to break the game open, so we just have to keep working on our offense,” Perretta said afterwards. 

“The kids off the bench have to score some points. I’m giving them as much playing time as I can, but that’s what happens when we substitute, we stop scoring points. We have to work on that.”

The substitutes certainly are going to see more playing time if Villanova (2-0) can take control of the game, early, but with some of last year’s bench performers now promoted, Perretta needs the newer members and a few veterans to fill those previous spots to provide some depth, especially once the Big East conference slate kicks in late next month.

Though Villanova is now 10-1 against Lehigh, games here at Stabler Arena have been adventures at times in the past, a few in particular when the Wildcats became part of the Mountain Hawks annual “Education Day” promotion with the place nearly filled with screaming youngsters.

“We’ve always had trouble winning here, so it was a good win,” Perretta said.

Jannah Tucker add nine points while Adrianna Hahn had a nice all around effort, scoring eight points, including a pair of three-pointers, dealing six assists and grabbing six steals.

Lehigh of the Patriot League got 13 points from Camryn Buhr and 11 points and eight rebounds from substitute Mary Clougherty. In an interesting note, four players on the Mountain Hawks roster stem from Minnesota.

Jekot nailed her first three-ball 28 seconds into the contest and just kept humming the rest of the way, also grabbing six rebounds.

“I felt our whole entire team, everyone who started, everyone off the bench, contributed,” Jekot said. “Lehigh’s very talented, something Harry emphasized since our season started, but tonight was a good one for us and it all started on defense.

“We had a 12-0 run and that set us up the rest of the way. We were told (Lehigh) plays really well at home, but we play really well on the road,” Jekot noted.

Lehigh is off until next Wednesday when it travels to Binghamton while Villanova returns home Tuesday night at 7 in the Finneran Pavilion hosting La Salle in the first Big Five game of the season for both.

The Wildcats shared last season’s title with Penn, made possible when the Quakers beat the Wildcats for only the second time in the series with the game played in Jake Nevin Field House next door while the big arena underwent a renovation.

The Explorers, who travel to Towson outside Baltimore for a non-conference game Saturday night, are still looking for their first win under Mountain MacGillivray, the former Quinnipiac associate head coach, after dropping their first three.

Delaware Drops Preseason WNIT Consolation Round

Only two other Guru local D-1 teams were on the slate for Friday and one was called off when Rutgers in its first game since Hall of Famer C. Vivian Stringer gained her 1,000th win Tuesday night couldn’t make the trip to Charlotte, the former Atlantic 10 member now part of Conference-USA.

The Scarlet Knights return to their Rutgers Athletic Center Sunday at 4 to host Albany.

Delaware, meanwhile, after losing its season and Preseason WNIT opener at Northern Iowa last Friday, traveled to San Marcos, Texas, to play in a two-game consolation rounds.

The Blue Hens fell to Montana State 69-60 with a rally falling short in Texas State’s Strahan Arena and now will face Nicholls State on Saturday after the home team prevailed in the other contest.

Samone DeFreese had 20 points for Delaware but fouled out with 28 minutes to play.

The Bobcats (2-1) took control quickly in this one with Montana State building a 24-10 lead but the Blue Hens cobbled a 21-0 run across the second and third quarters to move within a basket at 35-33 with just over seven minutes left in the third period.

But that’s where the rally died.

Montana State’s Claire Lundberg had 28 points.

“This was a tough loss,” said Delaware second-year coach Natasha Adair, who took over the program last season after veteran Tina Martin retired. Adair had been the head coach at Georgetown.

“We have to put together a consistent 40-minute game. We will continue to focus on defense, accountability and finishing plays. We have another opportunity tomorrow to get better.”

Looking Ahead: Penn Stays Home to Host NJIT

Fresh off its blowout romp of Saint Joseph’s Thursday night, Penn is back in The Palestra Saturday afternoon to host NJIT in a non-conference game Saturday at 2 p.m.. In the Guru’s group, besides the La Salle and Delaware games already mentioned above, Rider, struggling with an 0-3 start, returns home to host Mount Saint Mary’s at 2 p.m.

On Sunday, Temple will visit Marist of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference at 2 p.m. in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., after dropping its first game of the season Wednesday at Mississippi. The host Red Foxes beat Boston U. 68-57 at home Friday night.

Princeton, missing starters and on a two-game losing streak, visits Penn State at 2 p.m. in the Lady Lions’ Bryce Jordan Center in State College with the home team coming off Wednesday’s rally over Fordham in the Bronx to go 2-1.

The Rutgers game has already been mentioned.

Nationally Speaking: Green Bay Upsets No. 16 Missouri

Green Bay, one of the more dangerous mid-major schools, took down No. 16 Missouri 56-49 after dropping its first two games while the host Tigers in Columbia suffered their first loss after two wins.

Frankie Wurtz had three triplets for the winning Phoenix and finished with 16 points.

It was the highest ranked team Green Bay, coming out of a loss at No. 15 DePaul last Friday in Chicago, has ever beaten on the road. The Phoenix last season ambushed then-No. 24 Arizona State and then-No. 23 Marquette.

Amber Smith had 23 points and 10 rebounds and was the only Tigers star to score in double figures.

In two other noteworthy wins Friday, James Madison at home topped Georgetown, 69-57, while Washington State at home in double overtime topped Nebraska 87-84.

On the ranked team slate Saturday, second-ranked Connecticut hosts Vanderbilt in the annual Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase at the Mohegan Sun, home of the WNBA Connecticut Sun and American Athletic Conference tournament in Uncasville at 6 p.m.

No. 15 DePaul resumes its annual local rivalry with top-ranked and defending NCAA women’s champion Notre Dame at 2 p.m., while No. 25 Minnesota hosts San Diego as Gophers rookie coach Lindsay Whelan looks for her third straight win.

On Sunday, No. 21 South Florida hosts Oklahoma at 2 p.m. The hosts Bulls, picked second in the AAC, suffered a major loss Thursday when Kitija Laksa, who had 21 points, was lost for the season with a knee injury.

No. 8 Maryland is at No. 10 South Carolina in the first major test for both squads.

And that’s the report.