The Guru Report: Jersey Girls Look to Postseason After Key Wins

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The Guru local D-1 schedule consisted of just two games Thursday night happening within 35 minutes of each other in the Garden State and when completed things couldn’t be more peachy in terms of the postseason for Rutgers here and nearby Rider.

Rutgers avenged a previous loss at the outset of last month to Minnesota in Minneapolis by rallying from a nine-point deficit existing  in the third quarter to go ahead at the 6:20 mark in the fourth and power its way to a 60-54 win in the Big Ten in the Rutgers Athletic Center to clinch third seed in next week’s conference tournament at Indianapolis.

It’s the highest placement since Rutgers left the old Big East and began Big Ten competition in 2015.

Given, the season record, which includes two wins Monday and this one without Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer, who has been told by medical people to take rest time until after the conference tourney, the Scarlet Knights (20-8, 12-5 Big Ten) seem a lock to land at least an at-large bid to gain a berth in the NCAA tournament for the first since 2015.

Of course they could turn Selection Night’s watch party on March 18 into a matter of just  where? And not also if? by winning the Big Ten and automatic bid but that is more likely to occur from top seed Maryland or second seed Iowa, which both beat Rutgers, though the Knights also have a win at Maryland among its conference victims.

While this was going on up here in the RAC, down below 20 miles away to the South in a game  that began a half-hour later, Rider completed another season series sweep in a 77-54 win over Siena at home in Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J., to clinch the second seed in next week’s Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament, which will be played once more in the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y., before moving next year to Atlantic City, N.J.

By having the second seed, Rider (17-11, 13-4 MAAC) is virtually  guaranteed to return to the WNIT for the second time in three years unless top-seeded Quinnipiac is knocked out and the Broncs return from  upstate New York with the MAAC automatic NCAA bid. 

The Times Union Center is also the venue for the second straight season later this month for one of four NCAA women’s tournament regions sending the winners onto the Women’s Final Four in Tampa Bay, Fla., at Amalie Arena (April 5-7).

Before all this begins in this month of annual Madness, Rutgers has one more game to finish the regular season, playing Sunday at Ohio State in Columbus at 2 p.m. while Rider will get a chance to add another MAAC season sweep Saturday when the Broncs visit Fairfield in Connecticut, also at 2 p.m.

In the win here, Rutgers’ decisive 22-12 four quarter was highlighted by Texas Tech redshirt sophomore transfer Arella Guirantes of Bellport, N.Y, shooting 5-for-6 from the floor and a perfect 4-for-4 ftom the line to collect 14 of her game-high 25 points.

Stasha Carey also scored in double figures  overall for the Knights, collecting 13 points.

Minnesota (19-9, 8-9), which was ranked earlier in the season, is now more likely to land a spot in the WNIT. 

The Gophers in this one were dominated in the paint 38-14, and also committed 20 turnovers.

“They got physical and for us we committed too many turnovers and give them credit, they played hard, it was Senior Night and they were playing for C. Viv,” said Minnesota first-year coach Lindsay Whelan, the former all-American with the  Gophers who retired as a WNBA All-Timer after last summer in a pro career that included several pro titles and USA Olympic gold medals.

Minnesota’s Destiny Pitts scored 24 points and Kanisha Bell scored 14.

In the Rider game, also on a senior night, the Broncs’ Lexi Posset scored a game-high 19 points against the Saints (12-16, 8-9) after being one of the pre-game honorees with graduate transfer Mia Farmer, previously with George Washington following a high school career at Cardinal O’Hara in Philadelphia; and Taylour Jones.           

Also scoring in double figures for the Broncs were Junior forward Lea Favre, who had her first carer double double with 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Amari Johnson, who had 16 points, most of which were courtesy of a near perfect 11-of-12 effort on free throw attempts.

"I'm really pleased with the effort we had today,” said veteran Rider coach Lynn Milligan.  “We talked about how Senior Day is a remember when moment. 

I” believe we did that for TJ, LP and Mia. I think the three of them played really well. We had a solid defensive effort. We have to clean some things up inside as we move forward, but I think we're heading in the right direction." 

Rutgers gets a double bye in the Big Ten tourney with 14 members participating, while Rider gets a first-day bye in the smaller MAAC.

"Clinching the number two seed feels good. It's definitely going to help us when we get to the MAAC Tournament because we'll have a bye,” said Posset.

“ It's very beneficial for us to clinch that especially with one game left in the regular season." 

 Besides Johnson’s 11 made free throws for a new career-high, she also grabbed seven rebounds, one steal and also had one block. Farmer had a career-high three steals.

Nationally Noted: Vanderbilt Wins First Time in 34 Visits to Tennessee

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It keeps getting worse for the once-dominate Tennessee program that won 10 NCAA titles under the late and legendary Pat Summitt but hasn’t been to the Women’s Final Four since 2008.

From one point in a record three-decade plus streak of appearances in the Associated Press women’s poll, the Lady Vols have been in and out since and fell out earlier this season.

 This time around they have hit losing streaks that had not existed competing in the Southeastern Conference.

On Thursday, Vanderbilt’s Mariella Fasoula had 19 points and nine rebounds to help lead the Commodores to a 76-69 victory  in Knoxville for the first time ever.

Overall the group from across the state in Nashville have won 10 in the 82-game series, previously all nine prior to Thursday  back home or in neutral environments.

For the Lady Vols ((17-11, 6-9 Southeastern Conference), unless they turn things around quickly through next week’s conference tournament, they could be out of the NCAAs for the first time after being in every one from the inaugural 1982 season, a period of 37 years.

Vanderbilt (7-21, 2-13 SEC) had been struggling all season under the guidance of Stephanie White, a former Purdue all-American who had coached the WNBA Indiana Fever, leading them to one title in her pro coaching career.

Cheridene Green had 20 points and eight rebounds for Tennessee, which earlier this season won in Nashville for the school’s 10th straight in the series.

Looking Ahead: Penn and Princeton Seek Conference Berths While Drexel Looks to Keep Streaking

The entire weekend look is in the previous report under this but to repeat Friday night’s action, with Penn and Princeton now tied in first in the Ivies after Princeton’s win Tuesday at The Palestra in Philadelphia, both will look to clinch spots in the four-team Ivy tourney, which will be at Yale in two weeks in New Haven, Conn., after the first two were held at Penn.

That can happen by each beating Dartmouth, in a fourth-place tie with Yale. The Big Green will be first at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym Friday night at 7, while Harvard, which beat Penn in double overtime in Cambridge earlier, visits the Quakers at The Palestra at 7.

On Saturday, Dartmouth comes to Penn at 6 while Harvard moves up to Princeton at 5.

Drexel, meanwhile, which has been on a run since dropping the first two games, both at home at the dawn of 2019 , in the Colonial Athletic Association, is holding second behind James Madison and hosts William & Mary Friday night while Elon is at Delaware the same time.

Sunday, Elon moves to Drexel while William & Mary moves to Delaware.

Villanova in the Big East is at Xavier Friday night at 7 and then at Butler Sunday at 2 to wrap up the regular season prior to the Big East tourney next week at DePaul’s still relatively new Wintrust Arena in downtown Chicago.

And That’s the report.