Guru Report: Drexel Snaps Losing Streak While Villanova Win Streak Extends to Three

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – Drexel senior Bailey Greenberg was back in the high life again Sunday afternoon and with a little help from some of her friends the Dragons erased deficits of eight and seven points in separate first and second quarters and went on to slip past Atlantic 10 representative Richmond 58-52 at home in the Daskalakis Athletic Center in a non-conference matchup.

The victory simultaneously snapped Richmond’s three-game win streak as well Drexel’s own two-game losing streak that occurred over two weeks playing in the Preseason WNIT with setbacks in the second round at then-No. 18 DePaul in Chicago and then back here last Saturday against Pacific.

Greenberg, the reigning Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) player of the year, finished with 25 points, five rebounds, two steals, and three assists. 

Part of a basketball royalty family in the city that have seen men’s and women’s players star at La Salle and USciences, Greenberg kept Drexel (3-2) alive against the Spiders (4-2), who had gotten off to a surprising season start under new coach Aaron Roussell, who had previously coached Bucknell in the Patriot League.

But in crunch time after being held scoreless in the first half, Keishana Washington provided some breathing room with a layup with 3 minutes, 28 seconds left in regulation. 

That was followed soon thereafter with a three-ball for a six-point lead.

Richmond, however, whose three previous games were wins by two points or less, wasn’t going down to defeat easily and sliced the deficit to a point.

Then Washington went to the line with 20 seconds left and made one of her two chances but the missed second attempt landed in reserve Kate Connolly’s hands.

And with Richmond forced to foul as the seconds ticked down, Washington went back to the line and made both with 16 seconds left for what became her 10^th and 11^th point of the half and game.

The Drexel defense then forced a turnover and Greenberg was sent to the line and made both chances to take care of the final points of the game.

Senior Mariah Leonard also came up big in the closing minutes with a steal that resulted in Drexel regaining the lead on two foul shots by Aubree Brown, which then extended to a 7-0 run highlighted by Washington’s work. 

Brown dealt seven assists in the game while Leonard finished with six points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field, five rebounds, two steals, two assists, and a blocked shot.

Richmond, which will return to the city on the back end of the schedule visiting A-10 rivals Saint Joseph’s and La Salle, got 14 points from Emma Squires, while Jaide Hinds-Clarke and Aniyah Carpenter each scored 10.

“We know it was an important game here at home, to start off a tough week, after a tough loss last week, I was really proud of the girls’ resilience in a back-and-forth battle, but we got the stops we needed,” said Drexel veteran coach Denise Dillon.

“For us, … is offensive rebounds and we need to play defense,” said Greenberg of the primary Drexel options, “so we need to hustle every play, we can’t take possessions off, we can’t afford that at all. So everyone is buying into that that we’re doing, which is really nice.”

Of the contributions by Washington and Leonard, the Drexel coach said, “We run a continuity offense for a reason,” Dillon said of the multiple options the Dragons can use.

The period that Drexel suffered the two losses came in a two-week period and now the Dragons will be off five more days but then comes a bunch of games in a short period, though travel will be minimal.

This weekend they head to Saint Joseph’s tournament, though the format for the four teams is predetermined. 

Thus, Drexel will meet Buffalo at Hagan Arena on Saturday at 2 p.m. while the Hawks will meet American University at noon.

On Sunday, American will meet Buffalo at noon before Drexel and Saint Joseph’s plays at 2 p.m.

Then three days later the Dragons will host Villanova, Dillon’s alma mater, at 5 p.m. on the front end of a doubleheader with the Drexel men on Wednesday on Dec. 4. 

On Sunday, Dec. 8, Dillon’s team travels to Bucknell before taking another long break over the traditional final exams period.

The Dragons will then finish up the non-conference portion beginning Dec. 17, hosting La Salle at 11:30 a.m., followed by another 11:30 a.m. tip on Dec. 20 when they head down 33^rd Street to visit Penn in The Palestra.

The 2019 portion concludes when Drexel hosts America East power Maine before beginning league play in the Colonial Athletic Association on Jan. 3 at the College of Charleston. 

In all from the Guru’s local 11, six other teams were in play Sunday with Princeton beating Monmouth, Penn State squandering another lead, losing to visitor George Mason, Delaware losing at UCF, while  Villanova beat Georgia, Saint Joseph’s lost close at Auburn, and Rutgers lost close at LSU.

On Saturday, Rider lost the second day of the MAAC/ASUN Challenge to North Florida in their first-ever meeting, though the Broncs’ Stella Johnson followed up her record 41 points in Friday’s win over Lipscomb by scoring 39.

Rider is now off two weeks until hosting La Salle on Dec. 7 at Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J. 

Villanova 63, Georgia 58 – The Wildcats have now won three straight games after dropping their first three, winning over the Bulldogs (3-2) in Stegeman Coliseum in Athens in a closely-fought contest.

A three-point shot with 30 seconds left in regulation put the visitors (3-3) ahead before Georgia got back to within one, only to have the Wildcats hit two foul shots to go ahead by three with 20 seconds left.

Mary Gedaka picked up 21 points for Villanova, while Raven James scored 12 and the ‘Cats now lead their brief series 2-1 after winning on the Main Line back home last season.

Georgia’s Jenna Staiti scored 17 points and the Bulldogs’ Kaila Hubbard scored 10.

 “I thought we played as well as we could play,” said Villanova’s veteran coach Harry Perretta after his team won its second straight in two seasons against Georgia.

“We have a very inexperienced team, and they’re learning how to play strategy. They’re learning how to follow instructions,” he continued.

 “They’re doing a much better job than they had been doing. The other thing was, we made open shots when we got them. So, it’s just a great win for our team.”

Prior to the start of the season, Perretta’s 42^nd, all coached at `Nova, he announced he will retire at the end next spring.

“The only way to beat (Georgia) is to make threes and that’s what we did at the end of the game.”

Villanova is off until its game at Drexel, Dec. 4.

George Mason 78, Penn State 68 – Never on Sunday has become a dubious theme for the Lady Lions (3-3) at home when it comes to attempting to tuck away victories.

For the third straight Sunday, Penn State yielded leads to non-conference foes in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College.

First, the Lady Lions were tripped up by Rider of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, followed last week by the Atlantic 10’s La Salle huge rally. 

Now another A-10 team struck as the Patriots (4-1) surged in the third period from a 15-point deficit near the outset of the period to an 18-2 run that put George Mason in front 51-50.

The Patriots finished out in the closing three minutes going 3-or-3 from the field and 10-for-10 from the line.

Nicole Cardano-Hillary had a career-high 41 points for George Mason to lead the Patriots to their first-ever win over Penn State and first over a Power 5 school since topping Virginia Tech Nov. 14, 2014, five seasons ago.  

“The character of our women was put on display today,” George Mason coach Nyla Milleson said. “The resilience, gut and grit of this team.

Kamaria McDaniel had 15 points and dealt a career-high seven assists for the Lady Lions while Alisia Smith and Makenna Marisa each scored 14. Points.

“I’m obviously severely disappointed in our fight and in our sense of urgency,” said Penn State first year coach Carolyn Kieger, formerly with Marquette. “We have to get better and we have to get better in a hurry.

“We have to value winning and we have to value every single possession. I didn’t see that tonight. I saw us lose ouI saw us lose our composure, and I saw a lot of fake toughness. I’m very disappointed in our effort.”

Penn State next travels to the Cal Classic in Berkeley, where, ironically, athletic director Sandy Barbour was hired for her present position while serving as the senior women’s administrator.

The Lady Lions on Friday go against Long Beach State and then will meet either the host Bears or North Carolina Central on Saturday.  

Princeton 52, Monmouth 40 – The Tigers (5-1) recovered from Wednesday’s tough narrow loss in overtime at Iowa to top the Hawks (0-3) at home in Jadwin Gym by holding the visitors to three points in the fourth period and blocking a season-high 10 points for the game.

Taylor Baur had a double double with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers besides blocking three shots and dealing two assists and grabbing two steals.

Carlie Littlefield had 12 points and eight rebounds while reigning Ivy player of the year Bella Alarie was held to seven points but grabbed nine rebounds, dealt three assists and blocked two shots.

Sierra Green had 16 points for Monmouth.

Princeton next hosts St. Francis-Brooklyn on Sunday at 1 p.m.

 UCF 75, Delaware 49 – The Blue Hens (0-4) were still looking for their first win and continued to struggle and committed 25 turnovers in the road loss to UCF at Additional Financial Arena in Orlando, Fla.

Delaware’s Samone DeFreese had 14 points while Jasmine Dickey had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

UCF (3-2) got 18 points from Georgia Gayle, while Kay Kay Wright scored 11, and Sianni Martin scored 16.

The Blue Hens also head West this weekend, playing host Cal State Fullerton in Titan Gym at 9 p.m. Eastern Time and then on Saturday will meet Santa Clara at 5:30 p.m.

Auburn 66, Saint Joseph’s 62 – Freshman Gabby Smalls made good in her first career start, scoring game and career highs of 19 points, shooting 9-of-10 from the field, but the Hawks could not build on their one-point lead after the Tigers scored the first five of the final period to take a lead for good in the road game at Auburn Arena in Alabama. 

Saint Joseph’s (2-3) has lost three straight games after the wins at Columbia and home against Temple to start the season.

Mary Sheehan also hit a career mark, scoring 15 points off 6-for-19 from the field.

“Tonight, was a battle between two very young teams that are trying to find themselves at this time of the year,” said veteran Saint Joseph’s coach Cindy Griffin, now in her 19^th season. “Our kids came out fighting and I thought we handled the pressure very well without our point guard.”

Spaniard Lula Roig missed her second straight game undergoing a concussion protocol.

The visitors were down by six points at 64-58 with 1:16 left in regulation but got within a basket on four straight free throws from Katie Jekot.

Devyne Newman then put the Hawks in position to tie the game with a rebound but following a timeout with 25 seconds left, the visitors then committed a turnover as the clocked got down  to seven seconds and the Tigers’ Unique Thompson put the game out of reach with a pair of foul shots for what became the final score.

There were 10 lead changes and 11 ties with neither team leading by more than six points.

“I thought we were right there,” Griffin said. “Moving forward, I feel great. This team has a lot of talent. They have a lot of will. We are better than what our record says, and we are going to continue to get better as the season goes along.”

A pair of career nights were enjoyed by Kiyae’ White and Lauren Hansen of the Tigers (2-2) of the Southeastern Conference, with each making a key defensive stop on the Hawks down the stretch.

Auburn, coached by former Penn State star Terri Williams-Flournoy after a previous stop at Georgetown, had dropped two straight following a season-opening win.

Hansen’s mark of 18 points was a personal best fueled by connecting on 4-of-6 three-pointers. White’s milestone was 12 points. Thompson had a double double with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

The Tigers, who won against the Hawks 81-70 last season in Philadelphia, now leads the series 3-1, though this was the first time the two played in Alabama.

Saint Joseph’s returns home to play the aforementioned Hawk Classic this weekend playing American University this weekend at noon  before Drexel meets Buffalo at 2 on Saturday and then on Sunday following the American-Buffalo game that has a noon tip at Hagan Arena, the Hawks will meet Drexel at 2 in a Philadelphia Six matchup.

LSU 64, Rutgers 58 – Facing their toughest test of the season, the Scarlet Knights (4-1) had a rally cut short after slicing an earlier 11-point deficit to one as the Tigers (5-1) regrouped and scored the final five points of the game to hand Rutgers its first loss on the season at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La.

Had Rutgers won, it would have enabled the first 5-0 start in five seasons dating to 2014. 

LSU’s win snapped a three-game losing streak in the series between the two across the same stretch, though the Scarlet Knights still have an 8-3 lead in the meetings between the two. 

The telling team statistic in this one was LSU’s attack on the offensive glass, 22-13, to gain a 22-6 advantage in second chance points. 

Rutgers was also forced into 21 turnovers by the SEC representative, a season high.

Tekia Mack keyed the comeback, scoring 14 of her 16 points in the second half. Arella Guirantes, a recent Big Ten player of the week honoree, had 11 points, five rebounds, and four assists.

A Scarlet Knights’ scoring drought of 6:23 of the second quarter enabled LSU to build a nine-point lead.

Ayana Mitchell had a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds for LSU, while Faustine Aifuwa scored 16, and Khayla Pointer scored 12.

Rutgers next heads to the tropics playing Vanderbilt on Thanksgiving at 3 p.m. as part of the Junkanoo Jam at World Resorts Bimini in the Bahamas. 

A win will lead to a game on Saturday at 2 p.m. against the winner of the Georgia Tech/Seton Hall contest while a loss will lead to a game Friday at 7:45 p.m. against the loser of that contest.

Rutgers’ next home contest is Thursday, Dec. 5, at 6 p.m. against Virginia as part of the Big 10/ACC challenge.

Nationally Noted: Facing its first road test, top-ranked Oregon broke from a slim 31-30 halftime lead to defeat No. 17 Syracuse 81-64 in the Orangewomen’s Carrier Dome in upstate New York before a crowd of 3,091.

Satou Sabally, who had been away from the Ducks to play for her country’s German national team in an Olympic qualifying tournament, scored 23 in her first game with Oregon (4-0) this season.

Sabrina Ionescu, a leading contender for national player of the year and projected overall No. 1 pick in next spring’s WNBA draft, scored 19, as did Ducks teammate Erin Boley.

Syracuse (4-1) hadn’t hosted the top-ranked team in nearly a decade, having bypassed Connecticut during the years the Huskies were dominating with local resident Breanna Stewart.

Having meet UConn when both were part of the old Big East, the failure to beat the Huskies in lots of chances are a big part of the team’s 0-18 futility playing teams ranked first.

This season has brought Oregon’s first-ever No. 1 ranking so had not Syracuse lost a lead at Oregon in the final two minutes to fall 75-73 a year ago, an upset would not have affected the 0-18 futility.

After the break, the Ducks took control Sunday the rest of the way on the strength of a 31-16 third quarter.

Kiara Lewis scored 23 for Syracuse while Emily Engster had 10 points.

Speaking of UConn, the No. 4 Huskies were tested at unranked Ohio State before winning 73-62 over the Buckeyes (3-2) as Crystal Dangerfield scored 23 points and Christyn Williams had 20 in Columbus. 

Megan Walker added 19, though it took a 9-4 run late in he game to subdue the home team, who got 16 points from Kierstan Bell.

The win will keep UConn in the top five so Now the Huskies need to stay there for the remaining five polls to the end of December to have spent the entire decade in the penthouse district.

Meanwhile, on the heels of nationally ranked Michigan being upset Saturday by the first unranked Notre Dame squad in 12 seasons, No. 20 Arkansas was upset at unranked Cal 84-80 as the Bears’ Jaelyn Brown had career highs of 30 points and 12 rebounds in the game played in Berkeley.

Cailyn Crocker sealed the win for Cal (3-2) with a pair of foul shots with 2.5 seconds left in regulation.

Chelsea Dungee had 24 points for the Razorbacks (5-1).

Arizona (6-0), which knocked Texas out of the AP poll last week but did not benefit to move into the ranking to end a long drought, stayed unbeaten by topping Montana 77-42 on the road. Aari McDonald, who won several national player of the week awards last Monday, had 19 points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats.

In a game between two state rivals with long absences from the rankings but who have reached No. 1 in their programs’ histories, Virginia at home in Charlottesville topped Old Dominion 56-53 in overtime as Kylie Kornegay-Lucas had 31 points and 12 rebounds for the host Cavaliers (3-3), while Victoria Morris had 26 points for the Lady Monarchs (3-1).

ODU held an 11-point lead in the third quarter at Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena.

Jocelyn Wiloughby hit a three-ball with 10.8 left in regulation to tie it up for the Cavaliers.

Old Dominion trailed by two with 3.0 seconds left in the extra period but Virginia’s Kornegay-Lucas stole the inbounds pass to seal the outcome.

Looking Ahead: On Tuesday La Salle will look to keep its renaissance start alive when the Explorers (4-1) host Coppin State at 7 in Tom Gola Arena.

Everyone else’s next game was mentioned in the local recaps except the two who did not play, Temple, which will meet North Carolina on Thanksgiving Day at 9 p.m. in Cancun, Mexico, and Penn, which will play at Duke Friday afternoon, in Durham, N.C.

Nationally, in the front part of the week, TCU will be at Army Tuesday at 5 p.m. when host Knights coach Dave Magarity will be making his third attempt to win his 250^th game with the Army.

That would earn some good notoriety since he previous won over 250 games with the Marist men’s team and researchers are checking if he would be the first to do a unique 250 double-double with both genders.

We’ll talk about the big holiday tourneys with our La Salle game story Tuesday since that’s the only thing happening locally among our D-1 group until the Turkey Day arrives.

And that’s the report.