The Guru Report: La Salle, Saint Joseph’s Win, Delaware Falls to Maryland; Penn/Drexel Battle Returns

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

NEWARK, Del. — Of the three local teams in the Guru’s D-1 group who were in action Thursday, moving progress was harnessed with victories by Saint Joseph’s up in Fairfield, Connecticut at Sacred Heart while a little further north in Providence, R.I., and by La Salle with a second-straight triumph.

But down here the depleted Delaware bunch had to settle for one of the moral variety against No. 5 Maryland in the Blue Hens’ Bob Carpenter Center.

Taking care of the game we were at first, Maryland’s seemingly lopsided 77-53 victory to stay unbeaten at 11-0 had stretches of competitiveness from Delaware (4-7) but also stretches of domination from the Terrapins.

The world was a little different the last time these two non-conference regional rivals met, which was here exactly six-years to the date in 2012 before a packed crowd to see the home team test itself at the national level featuring the legendary Elena Delle Donne from nearby Wilmington.

The result was a 69-53 victory by Maryland adding one more triumph to its perfect pile in the series that now stands at 13-0 after Thursday’s matinee but a good time was had by all that evening.

Delaware went on to wipe out its friends in the Colonial Athletic Association, though Drexel remained pesky as ever, and wrapped a ribbon on its season by winning the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament here to advance to the Sweet 16 in. Bridgeport, Conn.

Then Kentucky stepped in and sent the Blue Hens to the history books and stopped an anticipated Elite Eight match with UConn, who had been Delle Donne’s first choice before she then decided maybe not after two days of enrollment in summer school.

Delle Donne, whose return home featured an initial year as a top volleyball freshman in the conference before returning to the sport of her true passion, went on to become one of the top stars and player spokeswomen in the WNBA taking first the Chicago Sky and last summer the Washington Mystics to the finals.

She also earned Olympic gold playing for USA Basketball, ironically, under Huskies Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma, whom she had spurned in what is now a decade ago.

And she has returned frequently in uniform to add living nostalgia to the fan base here with WNBA preseason appearances with the Sky and Mystics as well as friendlies with the USA group.

But, of course, the brief shinning nightly moments of women’s basketball Camelot in these parts remain in the tales of yesteryear while the program is now back down a few levels. 

Even longtime coach Tina Martin has moved on, still in the CAA, but as a member of Karen Barefoot’s UNCW staff in another Wilmington in North Carolina.

But the Blue Hens had moved on, even hired a worthy successor to Martin a year ago in Natasha Adair out of a similar position at Georgetown, and when the Maryland reunion was applied to the schedule, if not Delle Donne stature, Delaware had someone worthy to take to battle in Nicole Enabosi, who led Delaware to a surprising CAA run and became the conference player of the year.

However, to use a terminological description from chess, that piece came off the board when she suffered a knee injury sending her to the sidelines before the Blue Hens arrived at opening night last month.

Delaware did get someone back from an injury-deprived season of a year ago in Makeda Nicholas, who was the Blue Hens top scorer with 12 points while Rebecca Lawrence scored ten in Thursday’s action. However, Nicholas had to leave the game with an injury, not determined serious, with 7:28 left in regulation.

Jasmine Dickey grabbed 11 rebounds returning from missing the Tuesday win here over Gardner-Webb because of a broken nose.

Meanwhile,  for those who bet the over in the Blue Hens implosion pool, they were rewarded when the score stood at 8-8 after Bailey Kargo connected  with 3 minutes, 8 seconds left in the first quarter.

 Finally, on the visitors side, the Big Ten favorites decided, enough, and went on a 10-0 run to provide some separation. 

It grew to a 14-point differential as the run reached 16-2 but Delaware’s defense or Maryland’s rustiness from finals layoff, take your pick, kept the split there until late in the third quarter when the seams burst open.

“Obviously, this is not the outcome we wanted, but our team fought today,” Adair said. “This is a group that is learning how to fight and we don’t make excuses. We know we need to step up and do what we have to do.”

In terms of measurement as the only discussion mid-majors resort to after spending 40 minutes, sometimes more, with Power 5 types, Adair could assess, “We belong on that same stage. Being on our home floor, we didn’t look like we didn’t belong.

“If you’re intimidated, you’re already 15 points down before the ball even goes up, and this group is not,” Adair said. “Our team is preparing for March. Our schedule was designed to do that, to be battled-tested.

“I respect Brenda Frese very much and I’ve known her a long time,” she said of the Maryland coach in her 17th season. “It wasn’t how good Maryland was today. It was how much our team pushed back. I was proud of our team and how we responded to that fight and pushback.”

There was a pushback Thursday from another mid-major as Central Michigan dropped a narrow 72-68 defeat to No. 3 Louisville at home in Mount Pleasant.

All-American Asia Durr, in the crowded hunt for national player of the year, had 26 of 31 points in the second half for the winning Cardinals of the Atlanrtic Coast Conference.

It’s the second straight season coach Jeff Walz, a former Maryland assistant, has guided Louisville to a 12-0 start. 

“We treated this game like it was any other game,” said Chippewas coach Sue Guevara. “We just happened to be playing against a good, athletic basketball team who had an all-American.”

Central Michigan (8-2) is the defending Mid-American Conference champion, which was one of a few mid-majors, like Buffalo, which got to the Sweet 16 last season.

Speaking of Buffalo, the squad will host No. 8 Stanford at noon Friday with the visiting Cardinal coming from a rare win for them at No. 9 Tennessee earlier this week.

In the Central Michigan game, Reyna Frost scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the home team, while Micaela Kelly scored 19.

Back here, Delaware, which fielded its eighth different starting lineup, will finish non-conference hosting Saint Joseph’s Dec. 28, and then launch CAA play hosting conference favorite James Madison on January 4 at 7 p.m.

Meanwhile on the other side, Maryland brought personnel who are of the WNBA variety, given the history of the program. 

In fact, even as Delle Donne was once observed here as a future dominant pro the moment she stepped on the floor her freshman season, a Terrapins newcomer made her case in 6-5 Shakira Austin, who made her first start and showed what stage she will one day be a regular, scoring 17 points, grabbing 13 rebounds, and matching a program record with eight blocked shots.

Austin has already picked up half of the Big Ten six-week season to date freshman honors.

Junior 6-1 guard-forward Kaila Charles, an all-Big Ten honoree with a multitude of in-season honors, had 16 points and 11 rebounds, while forward Stephanie Jones had freshman guard Taylor Mikesell each had 15 points.

“I thought our postgame was sensational and I thought they had no answer for us inside,” said  Maryland’s Frese.

Rising into the Top 5 this week from a preseason listing of nine thanks to the drops of Oregon and Baylor, the Terrapins have been one of the more quieter operations at the moment with this being their first game ten days and it will be another eight until opening the Big Ten with the Guru locals visiting Penn State Dec. 28 and then hosting Rutgers New Year’s Eve at noon in College Park.

Highlighted in the non-conference was a visit to then-No. 10 South Carolina and shocking Gamecock nation with an 85-61 pounding.

But its always a good time to walk into the Lions’ cage when the recent public attraction (A’ja Wilson) has been removed by collegiate eligibility and then next headliners (No. 1 recruiting class) are still a season away.

South Carolina, by the way, which has since slipped to No. 25, hosts Temple Friday night in the return game matching on the sidelines former Virginia teammates Dawn Staley, a legendary all-time player, now USA Olympic coach with the Gamecocks, and Tonya Cardoza, who succeeded Staley at Temple.

It’s the return game from a year ago when Staley was back in her native Philadelphia with the then-defending NCAA Champions and featured the Temple retirement number of WNBA All-Star Candice Dupree, who on the floor helped lead Staley’s Owls into their first national rankings.

This will be Staley’s 600th game as a college coach.

As for the rest of the Maryland schedule, aside from then-No. 24 Georgia, which has since been ousted from the Associated Press poll, one might think the Terrapins spent the last several months playing in the mythical Tidewater conference, playing area types such as Coppin State, George Washington, Morgan State, UMBC, James Madison, and Loyola of Maryland.

Given Delaware’s Adair’s last stop, to add the one obvious missing program from that list, you can give an honorary loss to Georgetown, though the real Hoyas can be found Friday night paying a visit to Rider in the Broncs’ Alumni Gymnasium at 7 p.m. in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Nevertheless, just as Delle Donne has shown it isn’t where you play, it’s what you can do, it would not be a shock to see Maryland resume from  previous appearances in April when the Women’s Final Four occurs in Tampa Bay, Florida.

Suddenly It’s Streaking La Salle

After being kept off the victory column in its first eight games, suddenly La Salle has a chance to make it sweeps week when the Explorers finish up a three-day Friar Holiday Classic appearance Friday afternoon taking on host Providence at 2:30 p.m.

La Salle, under new coach Mountain McGillivray, made it two straight for the first time this season, and three of the last four, Thursday night, beating Pepperdine 62-55.

Though the Green Wave (5-4) of the West Coast Conference out of the Los Angeles Area, jumped to a 12-6 start, having conceded the opening, La Salle (3-9) closed the deal with a 16-9 finish in the tightly-fought contest.

Freshman Shayla Sweeney had 14 points for her best night in her fledgling collegiate career, while Shalina Miller scored 11 points, Jeryn Reese scored 10, and Deja  King also had 10 points.

Pepperdine got 13 points from Deezha Battle while Malia Bambrick and Yasm Robinson-Bacote each scored 10 with  Robinson-Bacote also grabbing nine rebounds.

La Salle made it two straight nights with season-bests of 39 points and Reese grabbed eight rebounds while King collected seven, a career-best, to account for near double-doubles.

It may same forever for the Explorers to discuss this kind of success stretch but a similar one occurred around the start of last season when they claimed Lehigh’s Christmas Classic up in Bethlehem, Pa.

Following Friday’s action, the Explorers are off until Dec. 30 playing a Big Five game at Temple at 2 p.m. in McGonigle Hall.

Having mentioned earlier that Temple is at South Carolina Friday night, the Owls’ flight to Columbia got cancelled so they were still traveling late Thursday having flown to Atlanta and then taking a bus the rest of the way.

Saint Joseph’s Claims a Road Triumph

After not being able to make much of a seven-game home stand, following a break for finals, Saint Joseph’s used a dominant 31-14 second half to gain a non-conference 61-44 win at Sacred Heart in the Pitt Center in Fairfield, Conn.

Alyssa Monaghan had 13 points for the Hawks (4-7) while Whisper Fisher scored 10 and grabbed nine rebounds besides blocking three shots in the contest that was a late morning affair to host school children.

The balanced attack took a while to get going with the Pioneers (4-6) jumping to a 7-0 start on Saint Joseph’s.

Meanwhile, while the visitors were controlling the game offensively, the defensive effort was also successful in holding Sacred Heart to 5-for-19 from the field.

Katherine Haines had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Pioneers of the Northeast Conference, who have yet to beat the Hawks in three meetings.

Next up is a visit to Delaware Dec. 28 at 7 p.m. as mentioned above. Saint Joseph’s will then head to the Naval Academy on New Year’s Eve to play the Midships at 6 p.m.

Then its on to the Atlantic 10 after the New Year.

Looking Ahead: The Battle of 33rd Street As Penn Visits Drexel

With the rain continuing Friday morning, umbrellas will keep the smiles but by early afternoon a smile will definitely be somebody’s umbrella after Drexel (7-2) hosts Penn (6-2) in a non-conference Philly Six (when Drexel’s involved) reunion for the first time in three seasons.

Nationally, this is No. 1 defensively (Drexel 46.2) vs. No. 2 (Penn 49.8) when the Quakers leave the Palestra to make the shortest Division I road trip three blocks away to the Daskalakis Athletic Center for a morning 11:30 tipoff on Drexel’s annual Education Day promotion.

Since the last NCAA stat report, West Virginia is now tied with Penn for second in defensive scoring.

Penn is coming off a long break, last having played and beaten Iona 66-43 in New Rochelle, N.Y., near Manhattan on Dec. 8. The Quakers have won five of six, the sixth being a narrow 47-46 loss to Maine at Navy with the only other loss being at defending NCAA champion Notre Dame, then ranked No. 1.

Drexel played on Sunday, having beaten Gardner-Webb 65-48. The Dragons are similar in season history to Penn,  just two losses, a winnable 71-63 setback in overtime to Wright State at Manhattan College. The other was the home and season opener narrowly dropped to Quinnipiac, the defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champs.

The Dragons were picked preseason in the CAA second behind James Madison while the Quakers were picked second in the Ivy League behind Princeton.

So area wise in Division I, there are three teams clearly at the top right now — the other being Villanova.

A few weeks from now in the Guru group once Ivy favorite Princeton is well past the injury-affected seven-game losing streak, and perhaps Rutgers might upset someone in the Big Ten or likewise Penn State, or Temple makes some headway in the AAC or Saint Joseph’s like in the past does in the Atlantic Ten, then it will be time for a revision. But this is the best of the crop right now.

In fact, Penn is ranked 19th while Drexel is No. 8 in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25.

The Dragons lead the series 13-7 or 14-12 depending on who’s pregame notes you are looking at and whether that includes pre-Division I days, but in the string of seven straight from 2009-15 before it went to bed for a while the home team won each time and Penn has never won at the DAC.

But the Quakers did win the last meeting 72-67 on Dec. 19, 2015, an upset that sent Drexel coach and former Villanova star Denise Dillon out of the Palestra so fast and past Franklin Field that sidewalk observers thought she was considering to compete in the famed Penn Relays.

That was also Penn coach Mike McLaughlin’s 500th career win counting his days guiding Division II powerhouse Holy Family in Northeast Philadelphia.

When you’re talking key players, then on Penn it’s Eleah Parker, Ashley Russell, Princess Aghayere, and Phoebe Sterba, with a bunch of other contributors, while on Drexel, it’s Bailey Greenberg, Aubree Brown, Niki Metzel, Hannah Nihill, as well as several others likewise as Penn.  

The game can be watched for free on Drexel’s Stretch Internet portal.

And that’s the report.