The Guru Report: Saint Joseph’s and Temple Suffer Tough Losses

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — Just two Guru local D-1 teams were in action Wednesday night and the word “disappointing” was attached to both though what happened to Temple down at SMU in Dallas was perhaps tougher than the Saint Joseph’s setback here at Duquesne.

And on Tuesday in Small Colleges Georgian Court ralled from 19 down to stun No. 8/9 Jefferson on a three-pointer with 0.7 seconds left to allow USciences to be alone in first in the CACC and send the winning Lions into postseason play for the first time in 16 years when at the time they were an NAIA school.

Since the Guru was on the scene here at Hagan Arena on Hawk Hill, the end of Saint Joseph’s four-game win streak at the hands of Duquesne 67-56 in the Atlantic 10 will be addressed first.

The Hawks ( 10-16, 6-7 A-10) never led in this one and by the second quarter had fallen behind by 18 points to the Dukes (14-12, 8-5), who will host the conference quarters, semis, and championship next month at home in the A.J. Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh.

However, like a week ago during the huge comeback to upset Davidson, the tide started to turn in the home team’s direction in the third period and a 9-0 run that began at the close of the half chopped the advantage to seven points with plenty of time to keep the rally alive.

However, that became the point of resistance several times into the final stanza when Mary Sheehan’s triplet made it 54-47 with 4 minutes, eight seconds left in regulation.

Duquesne’s Connor Richardson went inside the paint with 3:35 left and when Alyssa Monaghan, who had set career highs twice recently to earn A-10 player of the week honors Monday missed, Richardson went inside again and the visitors held their ground the rest of the way.

While a win would have strengthened the Hawks’ situation regarding being one of six hosts beyond the top two first-round bye teams on Tuesday, March 5, they still control their destiny heading to Sunday’s  visit to 13th-place Rhode Island at 2 p.m. in the Ryan Center in Kingston before continuing to George Mason in Fairfax, Va., next Wednesday and finishing the schedule back here against Fordham on Saturday, March 2.

After two major performances, Monaghan was held to five points but Kristalyn Baisden scored 20, shooting 7-for-12 from the field while Sheehan had 13 points.

Julijana Vojinovic had 20 points for Duquesne, Richardson had 12, and Libby Bazelak scored 10.

The outcome produced a bit of history for Duquesne in the series because in the seasons the Dukes have have played home-and-home with the Hawks, such as this one that saw them win 81-73 last month in Pittsburgh, it’s the team’s first-ever sweep of Saint Joseph’s.

“Really, I didn’t know that,” said Duquesne coach Dan Burt, now in his sixth season after former Penn State star Suzie McConnell-Serio moved on nearby to Pittsburgh through last March.

What he does know is this time around is not one of those old stellar seasons for the conference and there’s no saving grace for the top seed, which is VCU by two games as of the moment and visiting the Dukes on Saturday.

“It’s a league that anybody can win it, and the team that does win it is the only team that’s going to go to the NCAA tournament, so it’s going to make for a great Atlantic 10  tournament,” Burt observed.

“It should have been a good year to spend the money for the Dukes (to make the bid), we were picked first, and we have a lot of talent and a lot of depth but we have not performed up to our standards,” he said.

“Especially in November and December. We’ve been a little bit better in February but, still … “

With that in mind, it was hard to gauge what his group would deal with here, given that, though with a later start than a year ago when Saint Joseph’s dashed all the way to the A-10 championship game, the Hawks had improved since last month’s meeting so there was not any comfort off that previous win.

“Oh yeah, they were winning four in a row, it’s always a concern and we were just trying to get some rhythm, ourselves, and get on a roll also, especially having to play a first-round game that Tuesday before the tournament.”

The Dukes moved into a fifth-place tie with Saint Louis but the sixth slot after a loss to the Billikins.

 After Saturday’s game with VCU, Duquesne will finish up next week at George Washington and hosting St. Bonaventure.

Temple Edged 53-52 at SMU As Rally Squandered at the End

In the Tonya Cardoza era there have been tougher losses than what happened in Texas Wednesday like two seasons ago the blocked shot at the finish that separated the Owls from a first-round victory and Oregon jump started to a run to the Elite Eight and where the Ducks are on the national scene today.

Though this loss was to the last place Mustangs 9-17, 3-10 AAC) in the American Athletic Conference and at least a for now, it’s a momentum-killer from the best performance the Owls (9-16, 5-7) had been on in recent weeks winning four of five — the fifth at UConn — heading into Saturday’s visit to second place UCF in Florida.

Before disaster struck at the finish Temple gave signs of still on the way to returning to a force below the Huskies in the AAC.

Unfortunately, because of the way it went down, now comes a test of psyche to move forward and finish out the season with the best possible face.

The tale of the flow went like this: Temple fell 19 points behind but rallied on a 25-2 run to take a 10-point 51-41 lead with two minutes left in the game.

And just like that the power went out, extinguished by SMU’s 12-1 run, forcing four turnovers.

A three-ball with 16 seconds left tied it for the home team before Temple had a chance to salvage the outcome.

But a foul shooting opportunity was only half successful as the 1-for-2 left Temple only a point up.

 Then the Mustangs’ Ariana Whitfield drove inside with eight seconds left.

Still time enough for one more attempt on offense but the Owls turned it over and SMU had done enough to help provide footage for their highlight film at the post-season banquet.

In the win just one SMU player scored in double digits, Kayla White had 10 points.

Temple’s Mia Davis had 20 points and nine rebounds while Alliya Butts scored eight points, dealt seven assists and grabbed five steals, and Lena Niang and Marissa Mackins each scored nine points.

Looking Ahead: Rutgers Looking to Keep Pace While Rider Takes on Quinnipiac

Just three games schedule on Thursday and Rider trying to maintain second takes on its toughest game of the season at home in Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J., as the Broncs host Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference heavyweight Quinnipiac, which is again unbeaten down the stretch.

Rutgers after snapping its skid Monday with a win at Indiana is holding third in the Big Ten a game behind co-leaders Iowa and Michigan.

Penn State, mired in a 12th-place tie with Wisconsin, hosts Purdue in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College. All three games are set to tip at 7.

The Guru will wait till the next report to look ahead to a big weekend.

Small Colleges: Jefferson Stunned By Georgian Court Rally at Finish; USciences Keeps Streaking

That coin being held on standby to determine the hosts of next month’s Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Playoffs between Jefferson U. and USciences may not be needed after all.

Until Tuesday night Jefferson and USciences had only lost to each other all season long, each winning on their home courts.

 Not any more.

In a game bringing news on both sides of the outcome, Jefferson coughed up leads that had been 19 points and as many as 14 going into the last period at Georgian Court in Lakewood, N.J., to see the home team’s Carna Prokic  of Serbia flip a three-pointer into the net with 0.7 seconds left to give the Lions a stunning 74-73 upset and a place in the conference playoffs for the first time in 16 years when the program was then a member of NAIA.

The winners are coached by Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer and former Maryland and WNBA star Jasmina Perazic.

The winning basket gave Prokic a team-high 19 points for the Lions (11-13, 11-5 CACC) while Destiny Thompson scored 18 points.

The outcome ruined another stellar night of performances by the Rams (23-2, 14-2), which had been ranked as high as a consensus second and this week is ranked 8th in the WBCA D2 Poll and 9th in the D@SIDA Poll.

Jefferson won its first 20 games until a recent loss at USciences, which avenged its earlier setback in East Falls.

Jessica Kaminski had 20 points, 8 rebounds, and three assists, two steals and a block for the visitors, while Alynna Williams had 19 points, shooting 7-for-10. 

Caitlyn Cunningham was the big individual story for the Rams scoring 14 points but collecting 12 steals, highest in Division II this season and tied across all three divisions.

Beverly Kum had 17 points and 14 rebounds.

Georgian Court outscored the Rams 27- 12 in the final period to erase a 14-point deficit when the quarter got under way.

Jefferson concludes its three-game road trip Saturday at Bloomfield.

Meanwhile, USciences, ranked fifth in both polls, on Tuesday night had an easy time wining at Wilmington 55-39 in Newark, Delaware, to take sole possession of first.

It’s the 14th straight win for the Devils (25-1, 16-1) since the loss to Jefferson and the outcome enabled them to tie last regular season’s record for most overall wins.

Alex Thomas and Jordan Vitelli both tied or set career highs with 13 points and nine rebounds for USciences.

Irisa Ye scored 15 points for the visitors and Jess Huber off the bench scored 10 against Wilmington (6-18, 6-10).

In extra news for the Devils, the first NCAA D2 Regional rankings came out  and they are first while Jefferson is third. 

The rankings ultimately  determine who will be the top seed and host the eight-team tourney next month, likely to be USciences at the Bobby Morgan Arena in Southwest Philadelphia right now but could swing to Jefferson if the Rams win the CACC tourney.

Bentley, coached by Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee finalist Barb Stevens, with over 1000 victories, is ranked second.

The Devils on Saturday will play at Goldey Beacom in Wilmington, Del.   

Rosemont Postponed

After a record season that saw Division III Rosemont go unbeaten in the Colonial States Athletic Conference, the top-seeded Ravens’ semifinal game with Wilson was postponed in Alumni Hall on the Main Line until Thursday night due to the weather situation.

A Rosemont win puts the Ravens at home in Saturday’s title game at 2 p.m.

Division III Arcadia, hosting its first home playoff game ever Monday night as a fourth seed fell to fifth-seeded Lebanon Valley in a game decided in the fourth quarter.

In the Division III NJAC semifinals, weather also forced postponements till Thursday at 7 so top-seeded The College of New Jersey hosts Rutgers-Newark, which ousted Rutgers-Camden on Saturday, while second seeded Rowan will host Kean, both games at 7 p.m.

The highest seeded survivor hosts the championship Saturday.

And that’s the report.