The Guru Report: Penn and Princeton Win To Set 1-2 Ivy Showdown

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — And so as first place Penn and second place Princeton completed weekend sweeps in the Ivy League with the host Quakers here in the Palestra going through another gritty Saturday night act in defeating Cornell 69-58 while up the road the host Tigers held off Columbia 65-59 in Jadwin Gym the stage is set for “yesterday once more” for another 1 vs 2 here Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

Princeton will arrive seeking revenge for the Quakers’ Ivy opening day upset of the preseason favorites last month knowing a win sets a tie at  the top of the standings while Penn knows a victory and season sweep puts the home team in a very good place.

But after the outcome is determined in terms of the postseason discussion it won’t be the same as its ever been for lots of reasons.

For one, unlike the long-running Ivy schedule when the final day of competition landed in either here or up at Jadwin with a men’s/women’s doubleheader in alternating seasons, there’s no longer any finality off no more games to play.

The Ivy tourney, in its third year next month March 16-17 at Yale’s John J. Lee Ampitheater in New Haven, Conn., following the first two here, changed all that.

The men, who were part of a Saturday doubleheader here, won’t be back, having hosted their Tigers counterparts a week after the the men and women played in Jadwin last month.

Off that reconfiguration, following the clash here Tuesday, two more weekends of back-to-back games will have yet to be played, so mathematically landing a place in the four-team field won’t begin to be determined until next weekend when Harvard visits Penn here Friday looking for a sweep ( 7 p.m., NBC Sports Philadelphia) of the Quakers and then moves on to Princeton Saturday at 5 p.m. while Dartmouth on Friday is at Princeton, 6 p.m., and then comes here Saturday at 6 p.m.

Even the name of the team with a minimal guarantee of a WNIT bid that goes to the second place regular season finisher could still be undecided, though at this point Penn or Princeton in third would likely draw a WNIT at-large invitation.

There is an extra attraction for WNBA types Tuesday on a night the collegiate schedule is thin in general and that is to come here and preview two strongly potential future draft picks, now juniors,  going head-to-head in Princeton’s Bella Alarie of Bethesda, Md., the reigning Ivy player of the year, and Penn’s Eleah Parker of Charlotte, N.C.

All this a reason why the word NCAA is a long way off yet in terms of used in association with the league leaders other than the the tournament now determines the automatic bid.

Questioned here following Saturday’s outcome if its important to maintain the No. 1 slot Penn has carried since its 66-60 upset of the Tigers, a lead that got to two games in front before Harvard took down the Quakers in double overtime in Cambridge, Mass., last weekend, coach Mike McLaughlin brushed the topic aside.

“You know what, we haven’t really talked about it,” McLaughlin said. “(His players) see all the records, they see all that stuff. We’re just trying to play.

“We know we won eight. We lost one. Everyone is below us in some way. The question would be for them. It’s not something (his staff) talk about. 

“Our first goal is very clear, to get in the Ivy tournament. We said once we have enough to get in there, then we’ll reshape our goals and I think that’s what we talk about.”

As for talking about the Cornell game, once again as it was the first half of the Ivy race on three back-to-back weekends in which the Quakers (18-4, 8-1 Ivy) cruised on Friday nights and engaged in grueling close encounters 24 hours later, the Big Red (9-12, 3-7) never really went away until the closing minutes and now sit two games back of the tournament’s final qualifying spot with four games remaining.

“We made the right plays at the right time,” McLaughlin said. “Credit Cornell. They pushed us all the way. Their post players attacked our post players but we adjusted.

“It’s a tough league. (Men’s coach) Steve (Donahue) will tell you on his side, too, Ivy League basketball is at its peak right now in terms of competition, the balance, the parity, and to come back and play back-to-back, credit our group for responding.”

The past two years Penn and Princeton played in the tourney title game so no matter what happens Tuesday, there’s a strong chance the two will hook up again in the semifinal or final depending on how the finish goes in the standings.

Penn’s largest lead against Cornell was its final score after holding a slim 58-53 advantage with 6 minutes, 32 seconds left in the game. Then no one scored for the next five minutes until Parker off a field goal and a 1-2 effort from the line followed by Princess Aghayere’s basket made it a 10-point lead with 1:52 left.

Cornell never got closer than eight over the remainder of regulation.

Aghayere had a career-high 23 points and matched her career best with nine field goals (9-15) in a game that had eight lead changes and seven ties. 

She also had 10 rebounds, while Ashley Russell had 17 points, five rebounds, five assists, four steals and tied a career-best two blocks of the nine rejections handed by the Quakers.

Phoebe Sterba had 13 points and she and Russell each nailed a trio of three-pointers. Parker scored 10 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked three shots while  Kendall Grasela dealt six assists.

Penn clinched a conference winning record for the seventh straight season and this was the sixth straight series taken by the Quakers against Cornell.

The Big Red’s Laura Bagwell-Katalinich had 23 points and nine rebounds while Samantha Widmann had 17 points and nine rebounds.

Meanwhile up at Princeton (15-9, 7-2), after having control in the early going the Tigers allowed Columbia (7-16, 3-7) to score 25 points in the third period but then toughened the defense, yielding just four field goals in the final period to stay close to the Quakers in the standings.

Alarie had 14 points while Carlie Littlefield had 13 points and eight rebounds while Grace Stone tied a career-high also scoring 13 points for the Tigers.

Columbia’s Janiya Clemmons had 20 points while Casey Riley scored 15.

Elsewhere in the league Dartmouth moved closer to league tourney contention, helping itself with a strong 48-18 second half to cruise over Brown 78-43 at home in Leede Arena in Hanover, N.H., as Isalys Quinnones tied a career high for the Big Green (12-11, 5-5) with 23 points and grabbing nine rebounds while Katie Douglas set a career high with 20 points.

Justine Gaziano had 19 points for the Bears (9-16, 1-9).

Harvard (14-9, 7-3) dropped visiting Yale (15-10, 5-5) into a fourth place tie with Dartmouth by beating the Bulldogs 83-69 at home in Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Mass., for the team’s third straight win to hold third behind Princeton as Madeline Raster tied a career-high with 24 points and became the 21st player in the Crimson program to reach 1,000 career points.

Tori Andrew had 23 for Yale.

So just the league record has the standings as follows:

1. Penn 8-1 — 5 G remain

2. Princeton 7-2 1.0 —  5 G remain

3. Harvard 7-3 1.5 — 4 G remain

4. Yale 5-5 3.5 — 4 G remain

5. Dartmouth 5-5 3.5 — 4 G remain

6. Cornell 3-7 5.5 — 4 G remain

7. Columbia 3-7 5.5 — 4 G remain

8. Brown 1-9 7.5 — 4 G remain

Yale and Dartmouth split their series though Yale playing Columbia and Cornell next weekend could move two in front of Dartmouth if the Big Green gets swept at Penn and Princeton.

Temple Falls at UCF

The Owls, the only other Guru local D-1 team in action Saturday, initially shook off Wednesday’s tough last-second loss at SMU until a cold-shooting second half of 30.8 percent led to their demise, a 62-54 loss to second place UCF in Orlando, Fla., in an American Athletic Conference game.

Temple (9-17, 5-8 AAC) was just a point off UCF at 50-49 after three periods but scored just five points in the final period against the home team (22-5, 11-3).

Alliya Butts had 14 points for the Owls and Mia Davis had 12 points and six rebounds.

They return home Wednesday hosting Tulsa at 7 p.m. in McGonigle Hall followed by hosting Wichita State Saturday at 2 p.m. in McGonigle Hall.

Looking Ahead: Villanova Shoots For Fourth Place Tie On Senior Day

The local slate is heavier as well as some key national games are coming on Sunday.

With Creighton having beaten Providence on Saturday, Villanova can move closer to the Friars in fourth in the Big East in the Wildcats’ final home game of the season hosting Seton Hall at 1 p.m. in Finneran Pavilion on Senior Day.

In the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Quinnipiac beat Marist Saturday to stay perfect already having won the top seed but if Rider wins at Niagara at 2 p.m. the Broncs will be back in front of the Red Foxes by a game, meaning they then need to either beat Siena at home on Thursday or Fairfield on the road Saturday, barring safety valve help from Marist’s foes to take second and the automatic bid to the WNIIT.

In the Atlantic 10 on Saturday, Duquesne at home beat first place VCU in overtime at home and since the Dukes will be hosting the tourney’s last three rounds next month, it shows anything can happen.

Meanwhile the local duo in the A-10 are on the road Sunday with Saint Joseph’s at Rhode Island at 2 p.m. in pursuit of landing one of six first-round hosting slots. The Hawks finish this week visiting George Mason Wednesday and hosting Fordham Saturday.

La Salle will be at Richmond Sunday at 2 p.m.

In the Colonial Athletic Association, Drexel will look for another weekend sweep and stay at least a game behind James Madison in second as the Dragons at 1 p.m. will be at Charleston looking for their 12th straight overall win since dropping the first two conference home games last month. They have also won 13 straight true road games to lead the nation.

Delaware, which moved into fourth ahead of UNCW can enhance the space apart from the Seahawks when the Blue Hens visit them Sunday at 2 p.m.

Penn State, down in 12th place in the Big Ten, visits last place Illinois at 4 p.m. while Rutgers holding third hosts Wisconsin at 7 p.m. Monday in the only local D-1 game.

Nationally, South Carolina is at Tennessee with the visiting Gamecocks trying to bounce back from an upset loss to Kentucky and unranked Tennessee off a loss to Texas A&M desperately needing to pull an upset to get off the NCAA tournament bubble.

In the Pac-12 UCLA after a huge upset rally over No. 2 Oregon will try to nail Oregon State, which is a game behind Oregon tied with Stanford as the conference slate goes into its final week. Oregon hosts Southern Cal and Stanford hosts Arizona State.

Stony Brooks, having a landmark season, is at first-place Maine in the America East.

Small Colleges: Rosemont and Haverford Take Conference Titles

First here’s sports information director Kevin Cooney’s account of Rosemont’s home win in Alumnae Hall over Keystone to win the Colonial States Athletic Conference for the first time.

ROSEMONT - The first recruit that Rayne Reber was able to land as Rosemont head coach stood at the top of the ladder with scissors in her hand.

It has been a long climb for Ayanna Thompson to this point. And yet, she was the one with scissors in her hand and the final pieces of the north basket wrapped around her neck. 

"There is no words that could describe the feeling that I have right now," Reber said. "I knew that if I could get the pieces around Ayanna, we could make an NCAA Tournament. And this year, we had all the pieces around her and we had all the players working together to win a championship."

It may have felt like a foregone conclusion for a long time now. After all, when a team doesn't lose a game between Christmas and the beginning of March, there is a certain air of invincibility that is generated.  

And yet, it was the fact that the Ravens finished the job emphatically, winning the program's first Colonial States Athletic Conference title with a 80-55 win over Keystone College Saturday evening to punch a ticket to the NCAA Tournament as the conference's automatic bid recipient.

"We deserved this," said Thompson, who was named the CSAC Tournament's Most Valuable Player after her 15 point, six rebound and seven assist performance in the championship game "We worked hard this entire year. We had set a goal early in the year and it was to just go out and win."

"We've been working towards this since October," said junior forward Ke'alohilani Naone-Carter, who finished on Saturday with 15 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals on Saturday. "We had to go through a lot of things through the year. But this feels great."

In that sense, the Ravens championship game was similar to a lot of other evenings during this 24-3 season that continues to feature a school record winning streak that reached 19 games on Saturday. It was defense early and jumping out to a huge lead that ended up building the mountain too high for the Giants to climb.

Rosemont held Keystone to 1-for-16 shooting in the first quarter and 0-for-7 from beyond the 3-point arc in the first quarter. The end result was the Ravens grabbing a 19-4 cushion after a quarter.  Keystone would play it close for most of the night, getting within 12 at one point in the 2nd half before the game was put on ice in the fourth quarter.

Ashley Murray was the leading scorer for the Ravens with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Jayme Byers scored 15 points and added 12 rebounds coming off the bench.

The Ravens will find out their tournament path in the NCAA Tournament on Monday when they gather at Cardinal Hall for the Division III selection show, which will start at 2:30. (The show can also be watched on NCAA.com at that time.)

"It is important that we all keep playing together as a team," Reber said. "Everyone on this team has a job and a role. And when we work together as a team, we know that we are capable of doing some incredible things."

The next step was taken on Saturday. It is a moment that had been building for a long time. And it was a view they will never forget.

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And now from Haverford, the account of the Centennial Win

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The third-seeded Haverford College women's basketball (21-6) team captured the Centennial Conference Championship in resounding fashion on Saturday afternoon at Bream Gym in Gettysburg, taking a 62-40 victory over the host and top-seeded Bullets (22-5) to return to the pinnacle of the conference for the first time since the 2013-14 campaign.

 Haverford has now secured an NCAA postseason berth for the second consecutive season. 

Macy Goldbach was named the most outstanding player of the conference tournament after finishing the championship game with 22 points, including four three-pointers. 

Anna-Sophia Capizzi also tallied in double figures, pouring in 17 points. Megan Furch and Katie Cook each had eight rebounds while Cook added a game-best five assists. 

Maddie Gallic added a career-best three blocks, as the Haverford defense provided five in total. The visitors owned a 36-32 rebounding advantage, and grabbed eight steals on the afternoon. 

The Fords scored on their first three possessions, but the two squads were mainly deadlocked in the early goings in a game that looked destined to come down to the wire from the start. 

Julianna Clark buried a three-pointer to hand Haverford an 11-8 advantage with 3:23 left in the first, and Gettysburg answered to equal at 11-11, eventually taking a 16-11 lead into the second quarter.

From that point, Gettysburg added just one point at the free-throw line before Haverford began to kick its offensive attack and defensive intensity up a notch.

The lead hit double digits at 31-21 as Goldbach again connected from distance, and a Hannah Zoll scoop-and-score put the Fords up 12 with 2:17 remaining. 

 Haverford took a 35-24 lead into the halftime intermission, outscoring Gettysburg by a 24-8 margin in the second quarter. 

Goldbach led all scorers at the halftime break with 10, while Capizzi had nine on 1-3 from beyond the arc in the first half.

Goldbach scored the first points of the second half, connecting on a transition layup as Haverford quickly turned rebounding into offense on the other end of the floor. Capizzi then knocked down a trey on the following Haverford possession, as the Fords saw their lead balloon to 40-24 with 8:56 left in the third.

 he Fords were able to cruise in the fourth quarter, with the lead never falling below 15 points. 

With 22 seconds left, Head Coach Bobbi Morgan called timeout and removed the captains, Goldbach and Cook, setting off a celebration on the bench that ultimately spilled out onto the court after the final buzzer. 

Haverford will now await its destination in the 64-team NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament, with the selection show streamed live on NCAA.com at 2:30 p.m. ET on Monday afternoon. 

Last season, Haverford earned an at-large berth to the conference tournament, and competed on the campus of Randolph-Macon College in a first-round contest against Christopher Newport.

D3 Stunner in New England

The account

SAINTS STUN MONKS TO WIN GNAC CHAMPIONSHIP, 65-64; RAMIREZ-TEJEDA SCORES 1,000TH IN WIN

THE LEAD: Junior guard Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda (Cambridge, Mass.) scored a game-high 24 points including the 1,000th of her career to propel the Emmanuel College women's basketball team past No. 8/10 Saint Joseph's College (ME), 65-64, to capture the 2019 Great Northeast Athletic Conference women's basketball championship.

The squad is coached by Andy Yosinoff who earlier in the season became the winningest coach in Division III

HOW IT HAPPENED  

Both squads struggled from the field early resulting in a low 6-3 score midway through the first quarter in favor of the Monks

.

Senior Madison McLaughlin (Westerly, R.I.) and junior Kayla Weaver (West Haven, Conn.) connected on back-to-back threes before a jumper by junior Caitlin Cipriano (Waterbury, Conn.) tied the score at 13-13 late in the first quarter.

Junior Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda (Cambridge, Mass.) gave EC its first lead of the day with a fast break layup on Emmanuel's final offensive possession of the quarter to make it 17-15 at the end of one.

A 4-0 spurt to open the second quarter moved Emmanuel ahead 21-15 forcing Saint Joseph's to burn its first timeout of the afternoon at the 9:21 marker.

Out of the timeout, the Monks put together a 6-0 run with triples by seniors Hannah Marks (Waldoboro, Maine) and Julia Champagne (Brunswick, Maine) to even the score at 21-21 before a Weaver bucket put Emmanuel back on top 23-21 with 5:45 to play in the half.

Saint Joseph's responded with a 6-0 flurry to build a two-possession lead at 27-23 but Emmanuel answered with two consecutive scores to even the game at 27-27 with 2:49 in the quarter.

The Monks benefited from an Emmanuel tip-in in their own hoop to take a 34-31 lead into the break.

Ramirez-Tejeda led all scorers at the intermission with 12 while Champagne led the Monks with 11 points.

Despite turning the ball over on the first three offensive possessions of the half, the Saints used a 5-0 run to open the third quarter capped by an old-fashion three point play by Cipriano to retake a 36-34 lead early on.

A pull-up three by senior Kelsie McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.) gave the Monks a 40-38 cushion but the Saints answered with a Weaver layup in transition to tie the score at 40-all midway through the third quarter.

Back-to-back buckets by Ramirez-Tejeda made it 44-40 and the Saints extended the lead to 47-40 for the largest cushion of the action before the Monks closed out the quarter with eight straight points capped by a three from Marks to give Saint Joseph's a 48-47 advantage heading into the fourth.

On the first offensive possession of the fourth, McNamara drained a deep triple to extend the Monks lead to 51-47 but McLaughlin got two back on the Saints' next trip down to keep it tight at 51-49, SJM.

With 7:30 to play in regulation, McLaughlin gave Emmanuel a brief 52-51 lead with a three but McNamara answered with another deep three to bump the Monks back up 54-52.

Weaver used back-to-back layup to give the Saints a 56-54 advantage and Ramirez-Tejeda added to it at the 5:17 marker with two free throws to account for a 58-54 score.

Ramirez-Tejeda scored her 1,000th career point with the Saints to keep the lead at four, 62-58, with 3:39 left in the action.

A pair of free throws from Julia Quinn (Fryeberg, Maine) with 1:46 to play made it a two point game (62-60).

Cipriano connected on one of two from the stripe to give Emmanuel a 63-60 lead before Marks made it a one point game with a SJM layup at 63-62 with under a minute to play.

After the Saints missed two from the line with 41 seconds to play, the Monks gained possession and used a timeout down one with 40 seconds remaining. Out of the timeout, Benway made a layup to give the Monks a 64-63 lead with 22 seconds to play.

McLaughlin was fouled with 8.6 tics left in regulation and drained both to give Emmanuel a 65-64 lead.

Following a SJM timeout, Weaver was able come up with the most important steal of her career, intercepting a pass at the top of the key with four seconds to play in regulation before getting fouled with under two seconds on the clock. She was unable to connect on either bonus free throw but the Monks were unable to get a shot off before time expired to send the Saints to the 2019 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball tournament.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 

Ramirez-Tejeda becomes the 24th player in Emmanuel's storied history to score her 1,000th career point and also added 11 rebounds to notch her 19th double-double of the season to rank fifth in the nation for double-doubles.

Weaver finished the afternoon with 17 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field while McLaughlin added 10 points and a game-high eight assists.

McNamara, Champagne and Marks all finished in double-figures for the Monks with 18, 16 and 12 respectively.

Emmanuel held the Monks to a season-low 34.3 shooting percentage from the field and just five free throws made, also a season-low.

OF NOTE

The top-seeded Monks came into the game with a  perfect 27-0 record, a 51-game home winning streak at the Alfond Center and a perfect 17-0 record at home in GNAC postseason play.

The win marks the 16th GNAC Championship in Emmanuel program-history and the first since 2013.

EC is now 59-8 (.881) all-time in the GNAC tournament.

UP NEXT

Emmanuel advances to the 2019 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball tournament for the first time in five seasons and will wait to find out their first round opponent on Monday's NCAA selection show at 2:30 PM.

D2 Action: Jefferson and USciences Get Easy Wins

After Tuesday’s Georgian Court last second upset of Jefferson took the Rams a spot below USciences, both teams won Saturday so it comes down to the last game for each this week to see if Jefferson and USciences go back to a tie in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference needing a coin flip or the Devils hold first and get to host.

On Saturday,  Jefferson, ranked 8th and 9th in the two polls after being ranked 2nd before the recent loss at USciences, rolled over host Bloomfield 97-52 to improve to 24-2 and 15-2 as Caitlyn Cunningham topped five over teammates in double figures with 19 points.

Bloomfield fell to 5-21 and 4-13.

Meanwhile, the Devils, ranked fifth in both polls, cruised over Goldey Beacom in Wilmington 70-49 to go to 26-1, setting a regular season mark of overall wins, one better than last season’s record, and go to 17-1 in the CACC, clinching at least a share of first finishing on top for the third straight year in the Southern Division.

Alex Thomas had 16 points for USciences in routing the home team (12-14, 8-9).

Chestnut Hill will have final say of how the standings at the finish look at the top by visiting Jefferson at the Gallagher Center Wednesday at 6 p.m. and then the Devils at the Bobby Morgan Arena in Southwest Philly Saturday at 1 p.m.

USciences was ranked No. 1 in the first NCAA East Regional this week for Division II so if the Devils go on and win the conference they likely will get to host the eight-team event.

And that is the report.