Guru Report-Part 3: Penn, Princeton and Rutgers Cruise to Victories

(Guru’s note: Because of the large array of news Sunday,the report has been rolled out in three segments. 

This is the third and final in terms of the weekend wrapup.

 Part one was the extraordinary la salle comeback, part two covered Villanova, st. joe, temple, Delaware) 

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

No doubt the most explosive action among the Guru’s local 11 Sunday to complete the weekend occurred from Penn, Princeton and Rutgers.

The Quakers at The Palestra made program history by getting off to a first-ever 3-0 won-loss start after demolishing Iona 74-42 that completed the string of Penn routes that began over Siena, at NJIT, and then the Gaels.

Each game produced a Penn lopsided victory margin of more than 30 points, each.

Of course, this achievement might have happened earlier were it not for scheduling such placed heavyweights as Duke and Notre Dame in the front-end mix for the Quakers.

But tests are about to ramp up beginning Wednesday when Penn makes the short trip to Hawk Hill for a 7 pm. Tip in Hagan Arena for the Quakers’ first Big Five game of the year.

It’s the second for Saint Joe’s after beating Temple Monday a week ago.

 Penn also has a Black Friday matinee visit to Durham, N.C., where coach Mike McLaughlin’s bunch will visit Duke in fabled Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Several years ago, Penn got a Power 5 win at Miami.

As for the details out of the Iona game, four Quakers were involved with double figures with four three-balls carrying Phoebe Sterbe to an overall total of 17 points, while Kennedy Suttle posted her first double double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Kendall Grasela dealt 10 of Penn’s 23 assists.

Penn’s freshman contribution, or at least one, is Kayla Padilla, who scored 14 points, a total she passed in her previous two games. And junior Eleah Parker also scored 14 to go with eight rebounds.

Shyan Mwai scored 12 points for Iona (1-2), while De’jah Williams scored 11 for the Gaels.

Rutgers 74, Harvard 46 – The Scarlet Knights (4-0) are still humming after making it four straight using a well-fueled offense to go with their traditional tight defense.

The Crimson (3-2) were coming out of Friday’s loss at La Salle, which erased a 14-point lead from the half.

The win put 1,023 as the new number on Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer’s career total accumulated at Cheyney, Iowa, and Rutgers. 

That ties her for fifth on the Division I list with former North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell.

“It’s the small things that are going to be important in the bigger games,” said Stringer. “We did those things well today; in transition, rebounding, sharing the basketball.”

Arella Guirantes, last Monday’s Big Ten player of the week, scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. 

Double doubles were also turned in by Jordan Wallace with 14 points and 10 rebounds, both career highs; and Tekia Mack, who had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Khadazia Sanders scored 14.

Lola Mullaney, who did not play in the La Salle game, returned for the Crimson and scored 17 points, while Rachel Levy scored 11.

Rutgers next heads to LSU in Baton Rouge on Sunday.

Princeton 67, Florida Gulf Coast 53 – The Tigers shook off injuries to stay unbeaten at 4-0 by beating one of the recently risen newer programs at home in Jadwin Gym.

Carli Littlefield had 18 points before she had to leave the game, and Bella Alarie, who missed the last Tigers game with a hyper-extended knee suffered last weekend, had to leave when it was re-aggravated.

Taylor Baur had 10 points and eight rebounds, while Julia Cunningham had nine points, and freshman Ellie Mitchell had a career-high 10 rebounds.

Keri Gilles-Jewett had 16 points for the Eagles (3-1), while Nasrin Ulel scored 13, and Davion Wingate scored 12.

And that’s the report – all of them off the weekend but more to come in the overnight.