Guru Report: Siegrist and Gedaka Lead Villanova Over Manhattan

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

VILLANOVA, Pa. – To paraphrase the opening of an old standard melody, Villanova took Manhattan Thursday night and the Wildcats didn’t even have to leave the comforts of home here in Finneran Pavilion to grab a second straight victory, this time beating the Jaspers of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 63-51  after losing the first three games of the season.

Elsewhere, only one other team of the Guru’s local 11 played and in that one Penn State bounced back from Sunday’s home loss to La Salle, blowing a late 20-point lead, to return to the Bryce Jordan Center and top Atlantic Coast Conference representative Clemson, 68-55.

The Tigers, incidentally, were Penn State’s first-ever opponent, playing home at nearby Rec Hall, in the NCAA, which the Lady Lions won in November 1981. 

By virtue of the time zone that night, everything that happened, initially, were first-ever marks for NCAA women’s basketball. 

Meanwhile, back here, maybe it’s a thing that 6-1 redshirt freshman forward Maddy Siegrist from the upstate New York town of Poughkeepsie near Albany has for the Empire State’s downstate schools.

After celebrating her first start Sunday by helping Villanova (2-3) stop its season-opening slide by scoring 29 points in the Wildcats’ win over the Rams in the Bronx, Siegrist delivered a double double against the Jaspers, scoring just a point off her last outing with 28 and grabbing 14 rebounds besides rejecting four shots.

Her array of points this time came from a shooting performance of 13-for-22 from the field.

Veteran Mary Gedaka also scored in double figures with 17 points while Bridget Herlihy grabbed 10 rebounds, tying a career mark, to help Villanova with an overall 44-33 advantage on the backboards. Herlihy also set a career mark dealing six assists.

“I’m just doing whatever I can to help our team win and continue to win,” Siegrist said afterwards. “Getting those boards, hopefully, I’ll be able to step up defensively to help.

“In the first few games I was very nervous, but now the more games I play, it’s just basketball. “

Siegriest praised the leadership from Gedaka, whose mother Lisa (Angelotti) played for the Wildcats.

“Oh my gosh, she’s just unbelievable,” Siegrist said. “She’s so helpful, on the court, off the court. Anything, she’s been great. And so has Bridget.”

Though Siegrist’s hometown includes the campus of longtime MAAC power Marist, she mentioned why she chose to come play for Harry Perretta.

“I chose Villanova because it’s great academically and athletically, and it’s still close enough to home, I mean my parents haven’t missed a game and hopefully they’ll keep coming. It was a good decision.”

One of the many newcomers making good quickly among Big Five teams, Siegrist’s recent effort brought her freshman player of the week honors Monday from the Big Five, the Big East Conference, and a national acclamation from the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).

Manhattan (1-3) got 18 points from freshman Emily LaPointe and 11 from reserve Julie Hoier, while Pamela Miceus grabbed 11 rebounds.

The visit made it a homecoming trip of sorts for fourth-year coach Heather Vulin, who previously served as a Villanova assistant in charge of recruiting, and Courtney Warley, originally from West Chester, but she finished her high school career at Downingtown’s Bishop Shanahan.

Though Villanova held a 23-16 lead at the intermission mark and then surged to the Wildcats’ largest lead of 15 points at 34-19 with 4 minutes, 34 seconds left of the third quarter, a mid-period rally in the fourth brought Manhattan within seven and then within four at 47-43 with 4:50 left in regulation.

Gedaka then got the Wildcats some distance with four points while defensively Villanova held Manhattan scoreless off a 2:50 stretch as the game neared its finish.

Nearly perfect 9-of-10 foul shooting over the final 1:30 carried Villanova to the victory lane with walk-on Brie Wajer getting four of the attempts for her first collegiate points.

After staying perfect against Fordham, series-wise, the win against Manhattan extended another perfect series mark at 6-0.

Despite the budding streak that Villanova will try to continue when playing Georgia Sunday at 6 on the road in Athens, Perretta isn’t ready to concede major improvement by his squad.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, when you have a young and inexperienced team, you play worse at home then you do at home. I’m telling you, I’ve coached for 42 (seasons),” he said.

“They come to home games, all they’re trying to do is play individual basketball. Up at Fordham we were a completely different team than we were today. Completely different,” Perretta continued.

“We’re passing the ball. We’re cutting. We’re moving. We come here and everything is one-and-one. We try to force a guard right, she’s goes left and goes inside, You’ve got to be able to focus.”

Perretta, whose whole career has been spent here on the Main Line, announced before the season began that he’ll be retiring in the spring.

The two wins brings his overall record to date to 767-479.

Penn State 68, Clemson 55 – This one also almost got away as Clemson (2-3) rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit with a 13-0 run before the Lady Lions (3-2) then answered with a 13-0 run under new coach Carolyn Kieger, who previously was with Marquette.

Senior Siyeh Frazier had 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and three steals while Lauren Ebo had a career-high 16 points, shooting 7-for-8 from the field. 

Kamaria McDaniel scored 13 points, while Anna Camden scored 11.

“That’s a great bounce-back win against an extremely well-coached team, an NCAA tourrnament team last year,” Kieger said. “I loved that the team weathered the storm and we kept our heads. I think we did a good job holdIu in  them to 55 points and shooting 33 percent for the game.

“That’s absolutely what we wanted to do. This is definitely a growth moment for us and a big time performance coming back after that loss.”

Kobi Thornton was the only Clemson player scoring in double figures, collecting 16 on 7-for-11 shooting from the By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

VILLANOVA, Pa. – To paraphrase an old standard melody, Villanova took Manhattan Thursday night and the Wildcats didn’t even have to leave the comforts of home here in Finneran Pavilion to grab a second straight victory, this time beating the Jaspers of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 63-51  after losing the first three games of the season.

Elsewhere, only one other team of the Guru’s local 11 played and in that one Penn State bounced back from Sunday’s home loss to La Salle, blowing a late 20-point lead, to return to the Bryce Jordan Center and top Atlantic Coast Conference representative Clemson, 68-55.

The Tigers, incidentally, were Penn State’s first-ever opponent, playing home at nearby Rec Hall, in the NCAA, which the Lady Lions won in November 1981. By virtue of the time zone that night, everything that happened, initially, were first-ever marks for NCAA women’s basketball. 

Meanwhile, back here, maybe it’s a thing 6-1 redshirt freshman forward Maddy Siegrist from the upstate New York town of Poughkeepsie near Albany has for the Empire State’s downstate schools.

After celebrating her first start Sunday by helping Villanova (2-3) stop its season-opening three-game slide by scoring 29 points in the Wildcats’ win over the Rams in the Bronx, Siegrist delivered a double double, scoring just a point off her last outing with 28 and grabbing 14 rebounds besides rejecting four shots.

Her array of points this time came from a shooting performance of 13-for-22 from the field.

Veteran Mary Gedaka also scored in double figures with 17 points while Bridget Herlihy grabbed 10 rebounds, tying a career mark, to help Villanova with an overall 44-33 from the field. Herlihy also set a career mark dealing six assists.

“I’m just doing whatever I can to help our team win and continue to win,” Siegrist said afterwards. “Getting those boards, hopefully, I’ll be able to step up defensively to help.

“In the first few games I was very nervous, but now the more games I play, it’s just basketball. “

Siegriest praised the leadership from Gedaka, whose mother Lisa (Angelotti) played for the Wildcats.

“Oh my gosh, she’s just unbelievable,” Siegrist said. “She’s so helpful, on the court, off the court. Anything, she’s been great. And so has Bridget.”

Though Siegrist’s hometown is includes the campus of longtime MAC power Marist, she mentioned why she chose to come play for Perretta.

“I chose Villanova because it’s great academically and athletically, and it’s still close enough to home, I mean my parents haven’t missed a game and hopefully they’ll keep coming. It was a good decision.”

One of the many newcomers making good quickly among Big Five teams, Siegrist’s recent effort brought her freshman player of the week honors Monday from the Big Five, the Big East Conference, and a national acclamation from the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).

Manhattan (1-3) got 18 points from freshman Emily LaPointe and 11 from reserve Julie Hoier while Pamela Miceus grabbed 11 rebounds.

The visit made it a homecoming trip of sorts for fourth-year coach Heather Vulin, who previously served as a Villanova assistant in charge of recruiting under Harry Perretta, and Courtney Warley, originally from West Chester, but finished her high school career at Downingtown’s Bishop Shanahan.

Though Villanova held a 23-16 lead at the intermission mark and then surged to the Wildcats’ largest lead of 15 points at 34-19 with 4 minutes, 34 seconds of the third quarter, a mid-quarter rally in the next period brought Manhattan within seven and then within four at 47-43 with 4:50 left in regulation.

Gedaka then got the Wildcats some distance with four points and defensively Villanova held Manhattan scoreless off a 2:50 stretch as the game neared its finish.

Nearly perfect 9-of-10 foul shooting over the final 1:30 carried Villanova to the victory lane with walk-on Brie Wajer getting four of the attempts for her first collegiate points.

After staying perfect against Fordham, series-wise, the win against Manhattan extended another perfect series mark at 6-0.

Despite the budding streak that Villanova will try to continue when playing Georgia Sunday at 6 on the road in Athens, Perretta isn’t ready to concede major improvement by his squad.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, when you have a young and inexperienced team, you play worse at home then you do at home. I’m telling you, I’ve coached for 42 (seasons),” he said.

“They come to home games, all they’re trying to do is play individual basketball. Up at Fordham we were a completely different team than we were today. Completely different,” Perretta continued.

“We’re passing the ball. We’re cutting. We’re moving. We come here and everything is one-and-one. We try to force a guard right, she’s goes left and goes inside, You’ve got to be able to focus.”

Perretta, whose whole career has been spent here on the Main Line, announced before the season began that he’ll be retiring in the spring.

The two wins brings his overall record to date to 767-479.

Penn State 68, Clemson 55 – This one also almost got away as Clemson (2-3) rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit with a 13-0 run before the Lady Lions (3-2) then answered with a 13-0 run under new coach Carolyn Kieger, who previously was with Marquette.

Senior Siyeh Frazier had 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and three steals while Lauren Ebo had a career-high 16 points, shooting 7-for-8 from the field. Kamaria McDaniel scored 13 points, while Anna Camden scored 11.

“That’s a great bounce-back win against an extremely well-coached team, an NCAA tourrnament team last year,” Kieger said. “I loved that the team weathered the storm and we kept our heads. I think we did a good job hold them to 55 points and shooting 33 percent for the game.

“That’s absolutely what we wanted to do. This is definitely a growth moment for us and a big time performance coming back after that loss.”

Kobi Thornton was he only Clemson player scoring in double figures, collecting 16 on 7-for-11 shooting from the field.

Penn State next hosts the Atlantic 10’s George Mason, Sunday, at 2 p.m.

Looking Ahead: Rider Visiting the Sunshine State

On Friday (and Saturday) the Broncs join Marist representing the MAAC in the MAAC/ASun Challenge in  Orlando for the two-day event.

 Rider (2-2) first plays Liscomb at 2:30 p.m. on Friday and then North Florida (2:30 p.m.) on Saturday.

La Salle (3-1) in its first game since Sunday’s rally at Penn State will visit Norfolk State in Virginia for the only other local D-1 team of the Guru’s 11 in action Friday.

The Rider game is the only one on Saturday.

On Sunday, besides the previously mentioned Penn State and Villanova games, other action in terms of games played in the area, Richmond visits Drexel at 2 p.m. and Princeton hosts Monmouth at 1 pm.

Saint Joseph’s will try to bounce back from the loss to Penn by visiting Auburn at 7:30 p.m. 

Rutgers, unbeaten but ramping up the opposition, is at LSU at 8 p.m. while Delaware visits UCF at 2 p.m.

Nationally, on the weekend, Notre Dame is at Michigan on Saturday while on Sunday Syracuse is hosting top-ranked Oregon, Connecticut is at Ohio State, and Maryland is hosting Quinnipiac.

Small Colleges: Holy Family at home in the Tigers’ Campus Center Gym in Northeast Philadelphia topped UDC 72-59 to improve to 2-1 as Elizabeth Radlley scored 20 points. The Tigers next visit Bloomsburg at 5:30 on Tuesday.

USciences (4-1), whose only loss was a narrow 65-61 outcome Sunday to Stonehill in Rockville Centra, N.Y., is at Molloy at noon on Saturday.

And that’s the report.