The Guru Report: Penn Opens Ivies With Win at Princeton; Ohio U. Narrowly Stays With the Unbeatens

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PRINCETON, N.J. — Several weeks after the Penn men gained one of the signature wins in their recent vintage of the Steve Donahue era with the triumph over Villanova, the Quakers women have added another keeper to the storied collection harvested under Mike McLaughlin.

Back in October with the graduation of post star Michelle Nwokedi and career assist leader Anna Ross behind them on a team that was run roughshod three times last season as Princeton reclaimed its Ivy mastery, the odds became long that a younger Penn team could return to being competitive with the Tigers in time for their annual Ivy opener which was set for here in Jadwin Gymnasium Saturday afternoon on the front end of a doubleheader with the men’s teams from both schools.

Furthermore as it turned out late in the women’s game, to prevail and keep one of the best season starts in the program  going Penn had to inherently win twice to return to Philadelphia with a 1-0 start in league affairs and then turn attention to another potential historical moment looming later this month in The Palestra.

But prevail they did in dramatic fashion to gain a 66-60 triumph extending the overall win streak to five games while snuffing out the Tigers’ seven-game run before a lively crowd of 1,104, many of whom were in the house early in anticipation of the rivalry on the men’s side.

Phoeba Sterba had a career day with 21 points and was deadly behind the arc shooting 5-for-7 long range in playing all but one of the 40 minutes of action. 

Post star sophomore Eleah Parker had 14 points and seven rebounds along with five blocks, an assist and two steals.

Princess Agahayere complemented Parker on the inside, especially in the first half, with a double double of 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Quakers (9-2, 1-0 Ivy) while Kendall Grasela delivered some timely work on the foul line, shooting 5-for-6.

And the bench came through with Michae Jones scoring five points and Tori Crawford getting four points and five rebounds, especially when Parker got in foul trouble down the stretch.

“The way we played the first half, the way we were the aggressor was helpful, but give (Princeton) credit, too, it was a good basketball game,” McLaughlin said.

Reigning Ivy player of the year Bella Alarie, who missed much of the non-conference for Princeton (8-8, 0-1) because of a broken shoulder, had 21 points, 17 rebounds, and three blocks, while Carlie Littlefield scored 13 but was not nearly as damaging as she was last year against Penn.

Gabrielle Rush had nine points off three three-balls and Taylor Bauer scored eight, both as starters.

“The Ivy Tournament has made things a little less sexy,” Princeton coach Courtney Banghart said. “If you win (Saturday) you’re one game up with 13 to go and if you lose you’re one game down. But it’s good to get your eyes on them early.”

Banghart’s team has won six of the last nine Ivy titles, including the second tournament crown last season, while McLaughlin’s bunch has won three and the first tourney crown two seasons ago. Both were played in The Palestra with this season’s event in March being held at Yale in New Haven, Conn.

“Harvard is very good, too, so it will be interesting. Defensively, we never sunk our teeth into the game,” Banghart said. “We know (Sterba) can shoot. We lost her seven times. 

“And they made key plays when they had to, I mean they played great. And we didn’t play that well. And that’s kind of the beauty of the game, that’s why you play it.”

Though the women’s game has been played in quarters for only three seasons at the collegiate level, the points scored in a 27-16 fourth quarter were the most ever against the Tigers for that period, though the sum belies the finish.

 

The way the afternoon went recalled another time an underdog Penn unit met the Tigers here and won at the end of the 2013-14 season needing to win to capture its first Ivy crown under McLaughlin when the title was still decided on regular season performance.

Like that highlight event, the Quakers started out toe-to-toe Saturday, in fact, even more so after the Tigers scored the first four points and Parker had two layups to even it up with Penn shortly exploding on a 12-0 run to finish the quarter ahead 18-11.

In the second, Princeton came back within a point threatening to take control as it has done in recent renewals of the series but Penn fought the Tigers off for a 33-28 lead at the half.

The defense finally yielded in the third for Penn as the Tigers slipped in front to hold a 44-39 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Back to that October reference at the start of this narrative, if one had laid all this out as to what might happen, the prognosis would call it for Princeton.

But the Quakers were not ready to leave with their heads bowed. 

Sterba’s three-ball reignited the visitors at the outset and the ball bounced Penn’s way when after Aghayere missed as pair of foul shots Parker got the rebound and scored to tie it 44-44.

And then the rivals stayed nip and tuck until Jones scored for a 54-52 lead. Sterba then widened it off a passing line to make it a four-point game.

The Penn faithful smelled the upset with 54 seconds left and Russell went to the line and the Quakers holding a 61-54 lead.

But she missed both, a no-no because one must never let Princeton take advantage of an opportunity late in a game. Thus,  the moment was at hand  where other Penn teams might have gone away in the night.

A three-pointer shaved the differential to four with 35 seconds left followed by a Penn turnover and another trey from the Tigers and it was 61-60 with 25 seconds left.

Dare say, veteran Penn followers who experienced the famed meltdown in the NCAA several years ago to Texas A&M began to fear the worst.

But as McLaughlin said afterwards, it’s a different group, a different roster. The emphasis is what this team does.

Grasela made it a two-point game with 1-for-2 from the line and then Parker did what Parker does, in this instance grabbing a Littlefield missed shot. 

From that moment, Sterba closed the door with four foul shots for the final score.

“It was a great basketball game, they were really coming at us as hard as we were going to get them,” McLaughlin said. “I thought Kendall was terrific the whole game and both our post players were really, really good together.

“But you know when you’re up seven, two foul shots under thirty, you miss two, they go down and score a nice three, and they get another really well executed three that I think we guarded fairly well, they got it down to one point,” he continued.

“So yeah, the way we closed out, Ashley will make them. She just missed a couple. 

“I was really, really proud of this Penn team to come into this environment, compete, respect the game, find a way to win. I thought it was best we had this year with this group and we’ve had some good ones, especially starting league play with a league win.”

Now it’s time to park the Ivy slate as fast as it came but something else worthy is on the horizon.

Villanova is next up, arriving January 16 at 7 p.m. 

The Quakers won a close, exciting game on the Main Line last season, another of the signature variety, that brought a share of the Big Five.

The Wildcats are 3-0 needing to beat the Quakers for an outright title. Penn is 2-0 so a win clinches a tie with a chance to earn a first-ever outright by beating Temple the following week.

With an 11-day layoff between there’s no rush to get ready, though ‘Nova will be playing Big East games between now and then.

“We’re going to enjoy this for a little bit before we jump into that one, that’s for sure,” McLaughlin smiled.

Temple, La Salle, and Saint Joseph’s Drop League Openers

As great as day as it was for Penn, though by matchup, Princeton is also part of the Guru’s local mix, things did not go well for the other three who played Saturday.

Temple chased South Florida all afternoon in McGonigle Hall but ultimately fell to the Bulls 63-53 as the Floridians snapped a three-game losing streak in an American Athletic Conference opener.

The good news for the Owls (4-9, 0-1 AAC) was the return of Mia Davis, who went down with an ankle injury late in last Sunday’s win over La Salle and missed the narrow loss at Duquesne on Wednesday.

The Bulls (10-5, 1-0) have had their share of woe with season-ending injuries to several stars but have managed to move on before the three-game slide.

Davis had 19 points for the Owls and Alliya Butts scored 16 with two steals that brings her lifetime total as an Owls to 252, tying LaKeisha Eddy for the Temple category high.

Freshman Alexa Williamson had 9 points and 8 rebounds.

“The last couple of weeks she has impressed me,” coach Tonya Cardoza said as reported in Glenn Papazian’s Phillycollege.com, through which he covered the game. “She is showing she can do a lot of things. She wants the ball and was working hard.

“She is gaining confidence and her teammates have confidence in her as well.”

Trailing most of the way Temple was within four in the closing minutes before the Bulls extended the differential on a three-ball from Enna Pehadzic with 3:07 left in the game.

She had a career-high 13 rebounds while Shea Leverett had 10 points and 10 rebounds while blocking six shots for USF. Sydni Harvey had 19 points.

The Bulls outrebounded Temple 57-40 and collected 26 on the offensive end.

“We knew what South Florida was doing,” Cardoza said. “It came down to rebounding and turnovers. They basically threw us around down there when it was time to go crash.”

Temple next hosts Tulane at 7 Tuesday night in McGonigle Hall.

Meanwhile, Saint Joseph’s and La Salle found points hard to come by in their respective openers in the Atlantic 10.

VCU topped Saint’s Joseph’s 59-40 at the E.J. Wade Arena in Richmond.

In that game, Spaniard Lula Roig had a game-high 12 points in her first start for the Hawks (4-10, 0-1 A-10), who next host Saint Louis at home 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in Hagan Arena for the annual Kids Day promotion.

VCU (9-5, 1-0) got 11 points each from Danielle Hammond, Tera Reed, and Taya Robinson.

La Salle stayed competitive briefly at Dayton, trailing 7-6 before the Flyers rocketed with a 24-2 run and on the way to an eventual 84-45 win.

 As for reinforcements, Dayton had plenty in terms of a lopsided 50-12 advantage in points off the bench.

Jenna Giacone had 13 points to lead Dayton (6-6, 1-0 A-10), while Maddy Dennis scored 12 off the bench, and Jayla Scaife scored 11, and Lauren Cannataelli scored 10 in the game played in Ohio.

Rayshel Brown scored 12 points, the only player in double figures for the Explorers (3-12, 0-1), who visit VCU Wednesday.

Nationally Noted: Ohio U. Stays Unbeaten

The remaining unbeaten Division I team collection of three was nearly reduced by one until Ohio U. survived host Buffalo 74-71 in overtime in a Mid-American Conference opener in Alumni Arena in western New York.

Louisville and North Carolina State are the other two unbeatens and both reside in the Atlantic Coast Conference. 

The Bobcats (12-0) are off to their best start in the program’s history but they had to rally in this one against a team (8-4) that made a surprise run to the NCAA Sweet 16 last season.

Cece Hooks had 21 points for the visitor, 16 came in the second half, and Amani Burke had her first career double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.”

“This is a great game for the character of our team, this is something that we needed,” said Bobcats coach Bob. Boldon with the streak also tying the longest in the program under him. “We had a lot of exciting non-conference games, but nothing like this on the road. We were down 12 in the second half on the road and we fought back.”

A late three-pointer from Buffalo forced overtime with the Bulls unable to win it in regulation.

Cierra Dillard had 15 points for Buffalo.

Ohio will get challenged again Wednesday opening at home against Central Michigan.

Looking Ahead: Drexel Hosts JMU in a CAA 1 vs 2 While Penn State Visits Rutgers

Five Guru locals play Sunday afternoon with Drexel getting a quick test of recovery after Friday night’s tough upset loss to Towson at the buzzer.

James Madison was picked first in the Colonial Athletic Association ahead of Drexel and a loss in the game at 2 p.m. at home in the Daskalakis Athletic Center would put the Dragons in an early hole at 0-2 in the conference.

Drexel won the game here last year causing a season-ending tie for first but the Dragons got the top seed for the CAA tourney, which it hosted. Delaware is the host this year.

The Dragons never got to play the Dukes, who were upset in the semifinals by Elon, which then ended Drexel’s NCAA dreams in the championship.

Towson moves on to visit Delaware, also at 2 p.m.

Villanova, fresh off a rare win at Creighton, moves on to Providence at 1 p.m. to try to stay with the early leaders in the Big East.

Rutgers has one more hurdle to get in position for a potential AP ranking the first time this season when it hosts Penn State, one of its regional rivals within the Big Ten.

The Scarlet Knights began the week upsetting No. 4 and Big Ten favorite Maryland in College Park and then easily handled Brown of the Ivy League at home in a non-conference game Friday night.

Penn State dropped its first two Big Ten games before beating Wisconsin at home Thursday.

Rider, which was idle Thursday, gets its first action in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, hosting Fairfield at 2 p.m. in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Nationally, in the Pac-12, sixth-ranked Stanford hosts UCLA, which upset No. 18 California Friday. The Bears will try to recover hosting Southern Cal. No. 22 Arizona State visits Colorado, while No. 11 Oregon State hosts Washington, and No. 5 Oregon hosts Washington State.

In the SEC, No. 7 Mississippi State hosts No 16 Kentucky; No. 21 Texas A&M visits LSU; No. 23 South Carolina hosts Alabama; and No. 10 Tennessee hosts Missouri.

In the ACC, No. 3 Louisville visits Duke; No. 9 N.C. State. Visits Boston College; and No. 2 Notre Dame visits Georgia Tech while No. 14 Syracuse visits Virginia Tech.

Elsewhere, No. 12 Minnesota hosts Illinois in the Big Ten, which has No. 15 Michigan State at Indiana, while in the Big 12, Eighth-ranked Baylor off its upset of No. 1 Connecticut in the non-conference matchup Thursday returns to the Big 12 to visit Texas Tech, while the UConn Huskies open play in the AAC at Houston.

And that’s the report.