The Guru Report: Greenberg Buzzer-Beater Gives Drexel Win While Delaware and Rider Also Claim Victories

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — Three teams in the Guru’s D-1 mix played Friday and all turned in victories, one in dramatic buzzer beating fashion, while the Guru here went back in his pre-womhoops day as the manager to be part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary season of the Temple men’s basketball NIT title at New York’s Madison Square Garden back when that event was a more significant 16-team field.

The NCAA, then dominated by Kareem Jabbar’s UCLA squad, was also just a 16-team arrangement.

Friday was a private diner atop Temple’s new and lavish Morgan Hall while the public celebration will be a reception at 3:30 p.m. followed by the Temple men playing Penn (5 p.m.) in a Big Five game at the Liacouras Center. The NIT group will be honored at halftime.

The weather elements turned Saturday’s activities into a doubleheader with the Temple women hosting No. 2 UConn at noon in the Liacouras Center in an American Athletic Association game that was moved from its original scheduled time at 1 p.m. Sunday.

All that said, let’s go to Friday’s local, then national affairs.

Drexel Wins on Greenberg’s Buzzer Beater While Delaware Also Victorious in CAA Games

The Dragons ventured away on a road weekend in the Colonial Athletic Association beginning in Boston visiting improved Northeastern University before on the way back South stopping Sunday at Hofstra at the Mack Sports Complex in Hempstead, N.Y., on Long Island, where Delaware began the same day and then heading to Boston for a Sunday date with Northeastern.

How those Sunday’s games which certainly will have a snow element as opposed to rain down here are affected remains to be seen.

But when it came to precipitation Friday, Drexel’s Bailey Greenberg (no relation) was dropping shots all over the Cabot Center including the game-winner at the buzzer for a career best 26 points to give the Dragons a 61-59 victory over the Huskies (12-4, 2-3 CAA) and quickly get them back in better shape thanks to another CAA buzzer-beater that saw surprising UNCW fell preseason favorite James Madison for the Duke’s first loss in conference play.

One second was left in the Drexel game when Aubree Brown sent the inbound pass to Greenberg, who pivoted in the paint and nailed a bank shot for the triumph by the Dragons (10-5, 2-2), who had begun CAA play two weeks ago being upset at home by surprising Towson and then losing to JMU, also in the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

Greenberg had tied the game with 30 seconds left to help alleviate a 14-point meltdown in the second half. 

Her aunt by the way, former Penn and Boston U. coach Kelly Greenberg, is being inducted into the La Salle Athletics Hall of Fame Saturday for her time playing for the Explorers, which has already been acknowledge with Big Five Hall of Fame membership.

The Drexel Greenberg shot 11-for-17 on the night, including 2 of 4 attempted treys, after having a previous high of 24 points earlier this season get wasted on an overtime loss to Wright State at Manhattan College.

With that being neutral, Drexel with Friday’s win remains perfect in true road triumphs at a best-ever 6-0 start away from West Philadelphia.

Greenberg also had a game-high eight rebounds.

Maura Hendrixson, named CAA freshman of the week for her performance last Sunday in the win at region and conference rival Delaware, got her first start and poured down another career best 16 points matching what she had rained on the Blue Hens.

The total was aided by 5-for-8 in shooting 3-balls.

Keisha Washington’s four points was noted for getting three on a shot with 2:15 left to get Drexel a four-point lead.

Niki Metzel equaled previous individual Drexel season highs with five steals and scored seven, while Brown’s dish to Greenberg was her seventh assist on the night.

Greenberg’s chance at the game-winner was made possible by Teresa Kracikova pouncing on a loose ball.

The Dragons had to rally eliminating an early eight-point lead by Northeastern and did so across the first two periods with a 17-2 run to take control.

The Huskies managed to do a rarity against Drexel’s nation-leading below 50-point scoring yield by getting to the 59 points in their part of the final score.

The Dragons had their best long-range effort with eight 3-balls.

Northeastern’s Stella Clark had 15 points, Shannon Todd scored 12, and Gabby Giacone scored 10.

Earlier in the day Delaware, which has now put tickets on sale for the CAA tournament it gets to host in March after Drexel hosted last season, won at Hofstra 78-59 as the Blue Hens (6-10, 1-3 CAA) snapped a three-game losing streak due in large part to shooting woes.

Delaware shot 48.4 percent from the field in this one.

Samone DeFreese had 19 points off a hot hand of 8-for-12 from the field and also grabbed eight rebounds.

Makeda Nicholas had 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists while Jasmine Dickey had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Ana Hernandez Gil had 12 points for Hofstra (6-11, 0-5), which is still looking for its first conference win, while Boogie Brozoski scored 11.

Elsewhere in the CAA, Shrita Parker’s three-pointer with 1.9 seconds left in regulation gave host UNCW a stunning 66-63 comeback on James Madison (12-4, 4-1), snapping the Dukes’ six-game win streak and also, better yet, their overall 17-win streak in the series with the Seahawks (10-5, 3-1), who are in their second season under former Old Dominion coach Karen Barefoot.

Former longtime Delaware coach Tina Martin is in her second season as Barefoot’s top aide.

Parker in the home game in Trask Coliseum in Wilmington, N.C., had a game-high 20 points, shooting 6-for-11 from the field, while reserve Ahyiona Vason had 18 points and Gigi Smith scored 11.

Paige Powell grabbed 10 rebounds to go with her eight points.

Neumann-Goretti grad Kamiah Smalls, the preseason CAA player of the year out of Philadelphia, had 19 points and Lexi Barrier scored 12 and grabbed nine rebounds for JMU.

Smalls had tied the game inside with 20.3 seconds left before Parker on the ensuing UNCW possession took a pass from Vason for the game-winner.

UNCW has little time to celebrate because on Sunday first-place Towson, that’s right, Towson comes visiting after Friday’s 77-61 win at Charleston (5-10, 1-3) put the Tigers (11-5, 5-0) all alone atop the conference for the first time ever.

The overall record is the best since an 11-4 start seven seasons ago in 2011-12, the same season the Tigers last had a six-game win streak.

“We are just trying to play our best,” said second-year coach Diane Richardson. “I’m happy for our players, but I know we still have a long road ahead of us.”

Kiona Jeter had 26 points and Nukiya Mayo scored 19 against Charleston, whose Darien Huff scored 19 and Deja Ford had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Ericka Broughton also scored 10 for the home team in TD Arena.

William & Mary and defending CAA tournament champion Elon, who are tied for fourth with Drexel at 2-2 in the league, were idle.

Rider Still Perfect in the MAAC After Cruising Over St. Peter’s

The Broncs finally got home to play in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J., and romped as the only other Guru local D-1 team in action, beating St. Peter’s 60-38 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Amari Johnson had her first career double double with a game-high 17 points and a career-best 13 rebounds for the Broncs (9-7, 5-0 MAAC), who are unbeaten in conference play as is Quinnipiac. The Peacocks fell to 6-11 overall and 1-5 in the conference.

Lea Favre also was in double figures with 10 points for the home team.

Rider never trailed and led by as many as 25 points. 

“It’s great to win on our home floor,” said veteran Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “We haven’t been home in a while. Tonight was another step towards what we think we can be defensively.

“Saint Peter’s came in hot off a big win. I was really proud of our defensive effort, particularly in the second half. We were on the same page and we got some good stops to help our offense get into more of a flow. Overall it was a solid home win.”

Rider has won nine straight against St. Peter’s and it’s the first time the Broncs are 5-0 in the MAAC under Milligan, as well as in program history. The best previous start in the league was 4-1 two seasons ago, the landmark one.

On Sunday, Rider plays at Manhattan at 2 in Draddy Gym in suburban New York.

Nationally Noted: Marquette Alone Atop the Big East

Thanks to a 74-68 win in triple overtime win by host Providence over Butler to knock the Bulldogs from the conference unbeaten ranks, No. 14 Marquette is all alone and unbeaten in conference play atop the Big East.

Villanova (11-6, 2-4) was idle and travels Saturday to the nation’s capital to play its travel partner Georgetown (8-9, 2-4) at 2 p.m. as the only other Guru local game besides the move up by Temple to host No. 2 Connecticut.

In the game in Rhode Island at Alumni Hall, only the fourth triple overtime in Big East women’s history, Maddie Jolin had 20 points for the host Friars (11-8, 3-4) and Tori Schickel scored 20 and had 12 rebounds for Butler (15-2, 5-1), which lost just its second overall game.

Marquette at home in the Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee romped over Seton Hall 96-60 as Natisha Hiedman had 28 points and Amani Wilburn scored 20 for the Golden Eagles (15-3, 6-0 Big East) against the Pirates (11-6, 3-3), who got 16 points from Victoria Cardaci.

No. 24 DePaul, which came back into the Associated Press women’s poll on Monday, was at home in McGrath-Phillips Arena, where the Blue Demons topped St. John’s 73-64 in Chicago.

Chante Stonewall had 22 points for DePaul (13-5, 4-2), which is third behind Butler and Marquette.

Saint John’s, which stayed within less then 10 points of UConn in a game early in the season, the only team to do so other than Baylor in the Bears’ win over the Huskies, fell to 8-9 overall and 1-5 in the conference.

In the other Big East game, Creighton at home edged Xavier 66-62 in overtime in Omaha, Neb., as Audrey Faber had 18 points for the Blue Jays (10-8, 4-3) and A’riana Gray had 23 points and 12 rebounds for the visiting Musketeers (10-7, 1-5).

All but one of the other ranked teams playing Friday night, all in the PAC-12, won.

 The exception caused by both opponents being ranked was No. 5 Oregon’s 77-71 narrow home win in Eugene against No. 19 Arizona State  as Sabrina Ionescu scored 31 points for the host Ducks (16-1, 5-0 PAC-12) against the Sun Devils (12-5, 3-3), who next go to Oregon State being in danger of falling out of the poll with a loss. 

California, which fell out of the poll for the first time this season on Monday, got 29 points and 23 rebounds from Kristine Anigwe for the Bears (11-5, 2-3) in a 77-63 win over visiting Washington State (7-10, 2-4) in Berkeley.

Utah (16-1, 5-1), looking for a ranking, cruised over visiting Colorado 78-59 in Salt Lake City at home as Megan Huff scored 17 points against the Buffs (10-7, 0-6).

No. 10 Oregon State had an easy time beating visiting Arizona 86-64 in Portland at home as Destiny Slocum nailed four 3-pointers and finished with 24 points for the host Beavers (15-2, 5-0) against the Wildcats (13-4, 3-3).

No. 6 Stanford romped over visiting Washington 91-54 at home near Palo Alto, Calif., as Alanna Smith had 27 points for the host Cardinal (15-1, 5-0) over the Huskies (8-10, 1-5), who fell for the 18th straight time in Maples Pavilion.

Coach Tara VanDerveer’s teams has won 15 straight conference games at home.

Looking Ahead: Rutgers Tries to Stay Atop the Big Ten Unbeaten

No. 20 Rutgers now holding a two-game lead in the Big Ten and off to its best conference start unbeaten in the league hosts No. 17 Michigan State (13-4) at 2 p.m. Sunday with the Spartans coming in off a recent upset of No. 9 Maryland, which Rutgers (14-3) also beat when the Terrapins were ranked first.

Penn State, meanwhile, goes to Maryland having blown a big lead and losing in overtime to Ohio State, while as mentioned the Terrapins are smarting off the loss to Michigan State.

The only other Guru local teams are playing each other as both La Salle and Saint Joseph’s look for their first Big Five win in their final City Series game, which also counts as the first of two played in the Atlantic 10.

This one is at Saint Joseph’s at 4 p.m.

The host Hawks in Hagan Arena will be tipping off at 0-3 in the Big Five, the same as La Salle, so the winner finishes fourth and the loser fifth.

Second place will be decided Wednesday when Temple (2-1) visits Penn (2-1), which fell to Villanova, giving the Wildcats the Big Five outright at 4-0.

And that’s the report.