The Guru Report: Maryland Stops Rutgers in Big Ten Bid For First

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — After Rutgers handed Maryland a reckoning in the opening weekend of the Big Ten schedule on New Year’s Eve, the No. 10 Terrapins wasted little time taking their turn sending the No. 20 Scarlet Knights back to the drawing boards here Sunday afternoon with an 18-4 thumping in the first quarter on the way to a 62-48 victory.

It was a chance for the home team re-take first place and gain a sweep of the visitors which could go a long way toward fattening Rutgers’ profile a bit in the eyes of the NCAA tournament committee, who Monday night will let known the first of two “reveal” top 16 seeds in advance of the actual Selection Monday night March 18 after all the conference tourneys leading to automatic bids will have been completed.

But barring a reversal of fortune, Rutgers (17-6, 9-3 Big Ten), which now trails Maryland (22-2, 11-2) and  Iowa in third, is likely to be traveling instead hosting the opening rounds of the NCAA tourney, but, hey, unlike a year ago at this time, when a long closing skid was under way, at least Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer’s squad is still on track to end the drought from its last trip to the Big Dance.

Maryland, which was a bit lethargic in its wins at the end of the non-conference slate, continues to build momentum and handed the Knights their first home loss of the season, a win that was something to savor by coach Brenda Frese.

“We punched first and never looked back,” Frese said of the opening volley. “We stayed consistent throughout the entire game.

“I think obviously, this is a great win, a special win for us,” Frese said with a recall of the Knights’ win down in College Park, the only loss at home to date for the Terrapins and only the fourth at home in the Big Ten since leaving the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014. “I know what a difficult place it is to come into.”

The visitors ruled the boards 35-24 and shot 53.5 percent from the field while holding their hosts to just 34 percent, though difficulty scoring has been a way of life up here but usually countered with a tenacious defense.

Not so much Sunday and Stringer did not search for excuses as causes for her team’s collapse a week after having fallen at Minnesota.

“We blew the first quarter and that’s the best way to say it,” she said afterwards. “We didn’t have a sense of urgency, which I found hard to believe. We were not running the cuts as hard. Maryland showed up big time.

“They wanted to avenge the loss that they had. We didn’t step to it and match their intensity the way we had to with a team of that magnitude.”

Kaila Charles shot 7-for-10 from the field for Maryland to score 17 points while Stephanie Jones had 12 points and Blair Watson, a third junior with the other two, had nine points and eight rebounds.

“It just speaks volumes to the growth of our team since we last played them,” said Frese of a current seven-game win streak that began following a second conference loss at then-No. 17 Michigan State.

“There’s kind of defining moments in a season, and for us, I just love the response out of our vets and the leadership that we have from this team is growing.”

Rutgers which had 19 turnovers and 20 fouls, got 20 points off the bench from Arella Guirantes and 15 points and seven rebounds from Stasha Carey, the lone Scarlet Knights’ starter to score productively while Ciani Cryor’s two points were the only other ones among the remaining four starters, who collectively were 1-for-14.

Rutgers is off until Thursday on Valentine’s Day when the Knights will be back here in the Rutgers Athletic Center  hosting Ohio State, which has had its own struggles.

And as for the other Guru local in the Big 10, more woe continued in Happy Valley as Penn State dropped a close one at home in the Bryce Jordan Center to Michigan 66-62.

Three players on the home team scored in double figures for the Lady Lions (10-13, 3-9) led by Teniya Page, whose 17 points moved her into fifth place on the program’s all-time scoring chart. Siyeh Frazier had 12 points, and Amari Carter scored 10.

Leading by nine points earlier in the game, State had a chance to take the Wolverines (16-9, 7-6) from a tie in the last two minutes but Michigan closed the threat.

The Wolverines’ Hailey Brown had 20 points, while Naz Hillmon had 19 points and 11 rebounds.

“We were a couple of possessions away,” said Penn State coach Coquese Washington. “We have to keep working to figure out how we can get those one or two possessions to close these games out.

“Hats off to a good Michigan team.”

Penn State next heads to Evanston, Ill., Thursday night at 8 to play Northwestern, the first of two upcoming road games and four of five away from home.

Drexel Domination of Delaware Continues

Over the years Drexel and Delaware, located about an hour apart,  met all the criteria of strong rivalry, dating back to before they both joined the Colonial Athletic Association.

The two schools, Drexel here in the city and Delaware just to the South across the border in Newark, traded winning runs, most times the outcomes were narrow, and each had their share of. special players.

But in recent times the Dragons have not only been on a run in the series, they are also winning games long before the end of regulation approaches.

That continued Sunday in the Daskalakis Athletic Center as Drexel did its thing on both ends of the floor to claim a 58-41 victory and hang on to second place 1.5 games behind James Madison, the preseason favorite.

The win by the Dragons (16-5, 8-2 CAA) completed a season sweep of the Blue Hens (10-12, 5-5) and extended a current overall win streak to eight that began with a triumph down in Newark last month at the Bob Carpenter Center, which will be the site of this year’s CAA women’s tourney following Drexel’s hosting last season.

Bailey Greenberg, the reigning conference player of the week, had 23 points and seven rebounds, for the fourth straight game scoring 20 or more points, and she also shot 9-for-18 from the field, also a fourth straight game shooting 50 percent or more.

The last to duplicate the scoring feat was all-time city scoring star Gabriela Marginean in the 2009-10 season.

Hannah Nihill had 12 points while the rest of the squad balanced out their attack.

It’s Drexel’s ninth straight win over Delaware, a program record in the series with its longest time rival.

Drexel is a half-game ahead of UNCW, the surprise team in the CAA under second-year coach Karen Barefoot, who previously coached at Old Dominion when the Lady Monarchs were still in the conference prior to moving to C-USA.

Former longtime Delaware coach Tina Martin is her assistant. The Blue Hens are in fifth place.

Makeda Nicholas had 13 points and seven rebounds for Delaware, which had won four straight.

Freshman Jasmine Dickey continues to be sidelined with a broken hand and Delaware lost CAA player of the year Nicole Enabosi in the preseason with a leg injury.

“Denise Dillon  does a phenomenal job,” Delaware’s second-year coach Natasha Adair said of her Drexel counterpart.  “They're recognized as one of the top defensive teams in the country and we knew that coming in. 

“I liked some of the shots we took, but we didn't knock them down. We were undisciplined on the defensive end and against a team like this you have to play solid sustainable defense, which we didn't do for 40 minutes.” 

“When we erred defensively, we got exposed. Our post players did well today and I really thought that Makeda [Nicholas], Lizzie [Oleary] and Becca [Lawrence] stepped up. But in order for us to be successful, it has to be a group effort. In order for us to beat the teams above us, we have to be more disciplined."

Drexel will host Hofstra while Delaware will host Northeastern at 7 on Friday and then the Dragons get Northeastern while Delaware gets Hofstra at 2 on Sunday.

Saint Joseph’s Wins at George Washington While La Salle Falls at St. Louis

After both had triumphs Wednesday in the Atlantic 10, Saint Joseph’s emerged on top of a defensive battle at George Washington 41-38 while La Salle came up short at St. Louis 69-58 in league games.

The Hawks and Colonials in the nation’s capital were meeting for the first time since both made surprising runs last March to the Atlantic 10 championship won by GW.

Sophomore Mary Sheehan had a career-high 14 points for Saint Joseph’s (8-15, 4-6 Atlantic 10) fighting to move up during the stretch and gain an opening round host game in the league tourney, which concludes with the quarters, semis, and title game at Duquesne in Pittsburgh.

Across the middle of the fourth quarter, Katie Jekot gave the visitors a 37-35 lead with 5:17 left in the game before a dry spell by both teams for two minutes kept the score the same until Sheehan, who had four three-balls, hit from outside the arc for a 40-35 advantage at the three-minute mark.

The lead then shrunk to a basket before Whisper Fisher got a defensive rebound and Alyssa Monaghan made it a three-point lead one one of two foul shots with 3.9 left.

The home team then got to the line but didn’t score and Jekot’s rebound finished it for the Hawks.

Kayla Mokwuha had 16 points for George Washington, coached by former UConn star Jen Rizzotti, who will be an assistant to Dawn Staley in the next Olympics.

Saint Joseph’s is home Wednesday night hosting Massachusetts at Hagan Arena Wednesday night at 7 on Hawk Hill.

La Salle, meanwhile, failed to get to a second two-game win streak this season as the Billikins closed on a 14-8 run in the final 40 seconds connecting on eight foul shots.

The Explorers (4-21, 1-10 A-10) got 17 points and nine rebounds from Jeryn Reese in the loss while Jordyn Frantz topped three other teammates scoring in double figures with 23 points for Saint Louis (11-13, 6-5).

La Salle next heads to George Mason, Thursday at 7 in Fairfax, Va.

Marquette Routs Villanova

A disastrous trip to the Midwest had the Wildcats follow their lopsided loss at DePaul in Chicago on Friday by getting hammered by the Big East leaders, No. 8 Marquette, 93-55, in Milwaukee Sunday almost as huge in proportion as the four-game lead the Golden Eagles (21-3, 12-0 Big East) hold over the rest of the conference.

Jannah Tucker had 15 points for Villanova (15-9, 6-7), which is still in a battle for fourth behind Marquette, DePaul, and Butler. Mary Gedaka had 12 points and Kelly Jekot scored 11.

Natisha Hiedeman had 22 points for the Golden Eagles and Allazia Blockton had 19 points and nine rebounds.

The Wildcats are off until returning home to Finneran Pavilion at 1 on Saturday hosting Georgetown, their traveling partner, looking for a split after dropping a close game last month to the Hoyas in Washington.

Nationally Speaking: Mississippi State and Oregon Win by Wide Margins

At one point looking ahead, the Mississippi State-Tennessee game in the Southeastern Conference and the Oregon-Stanford battle in the Pac-12 loomed as terrific matchups.

Not so much.

The No. 6 Bulldogs handed the unranked Lady Vols their worst drubbing ever in conference play 91-63 at home in Starkville, Miss.,after holding just a slim three-point lead in the third quarter.

Teaira McCowan had 24 points and 15 rebounds for Mississippi State (22-1, 10-0 SEC) while Rennia Davis had a season-high 29 points for Tennessee (15-8, 4-6).

 The home team also got 20 point from Jordan Danberry and 16 from Anriel Howard.

Meanwhile No. 11 Stanford was looking to finish a sweep of the top 10 teams from up north after upsetting Oregon State on Friday night at home in Maples Pavilion.

No. 3 Oregon would have none of it, thrashing the Cardinal 88-48 for the Ducks’ first win at Stanford (19-4, 9-3 Pac-12) in 30 tries since a win in the first game in the series 63-54 on March 5, 1987.

It was one of the worst losses for Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer in her 33 seasons coaching Stanford, who lost to the Ducks 77-57 in last season’s conference title game.

Sabrina Ionescu had 27 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists, almost another triple double, for Oregon (23-1, 12-0), which also got 18 points and eight rebounds from Ruthy Hebard.

DiJonai Carrington had had 13 points for Stanford, the only Cardinal to score in double figures.

And that’s the report.