The Guru Report: Alarie and Littlefield Power Princeton While Rider Edges Georgetown

(Note: updated with small college items at the bottom)

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PRINCETON, N.J. – It was a nice Saturday afternoon along the Route 206 corridor in Central Jersey for both Princeton here in Jadwin Gym and Rider, which from just to the south was out of town down in the nation’s capital visiting Georgetown.

The ruling Tigers of the Ivy League had been doing quite nicely without their senior superstar, Bella Alarie, who had missed several games with a nagging ankle injury. 

But with her return they were even better in a 72-55 win over Penn State to atone for last season’s overtime loss up in Happy Valley that came during a period Alarie was also out of action.

Rider, meanwhile, edged Georgetown 65-64 in the final seconds for the Broncs’ first-ever win in seven games with the Hoyas as well as a nice reversal of a 79-49 loss down the road from here last season in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville.

Back here Saturday for good measure, Princeton (9-1) even had a scoring sidekick alongside Alarie setting a career high in Carlie Littlefield, whose Iowa High School coach, Chris Guess, picked the right game to drive out and watch her score 25 points off 9-for-13 shooting from the field, including 3-of-4 three-pointers.

As for Alarie, it was another stat stuffer, scoring 23 points off 8-of-13 from the field, including 4-of-5 from deep beyond the arc, five rebounds, three blocked shots and a pair of steals.

“I feel good, I was excited to be out there with my teammates again,” said Alarie, who earlier this past week was announced as recipient of the annual Philadelphia Sportswriters Association amateur athlete of the year award which she will receive January 20 at the annual banquet in Cherry Hill, N.J.

“This was a really big game for us and to be able to come in and contribute was kind of all I wanted to do today. And I was glad I felt good, shooting, and just playing out there, but mostly just happy to be back.”

Penn State (5-5) got 12 points each from Siyeh Frazier, off 5-for-9 from the field, and reserve Marissa Makenna.

The visiting Lady Lions jumped to an 8-2 lead from the outset, but the Tigers countered with a 9-3 run and by the end of the period edged into a 15-13 lead.

With 12 points from Alarie, Princeton took it from there in the next period with a 14-0 eruption at the outset and then after the half just kept the pedal down the rest of the way.

It was a game featuring a brand new coach for each program – Carolyn Kieger coming from a successful stint at Marquette to Penn State while former Connecticut star Carla Berube, who had made Tufts into a Division III national powerhouse, was hired here to succeed Courtney Banghart, who had left for North Carolina after making the Tigers nationally relevant besides an annual force in the Ivy League.

Berube brought an emphasis on defense beside the wealth of talent she inherited, and it showed in this one with the Tigers forcing Penn State into 27 turnovers while committing just 12 resulting in a lopsided 31-6 advantage in transition scoring.

Princeton also managed to shut down Kamaria McDaniel, limiting her to just three points after her program history-making 40-point effort against Pittsburgh in Penn State’s previous game at home in the Bryce Jordan Center.

“She was coming off a really big game and we knew we had to focus on her because she really makes them go,” Littlefield said.

As for each of their games, Alarie said, “When I feel hot, I’m going to just keep shooting until someone gets out on me. To be able to do that and spread the floor for the team opens a lot of stuff up.”

Added Littlefield, “I was open, and I also got hot in the second half, so I just kept shooting and they kept finding me.”

Princeton’s sole loss to date is a narrow overtime defeat at Iowa.

“I do think we’re getting better every game in different ways,” Berube said. “I think there’s so much better for us to get, that’s good, we’re nowhere near our ceiling, so I’m excited we’re 9-1, excited for this road trip to Missouri, two big games to end of this semester, looking forward to being with the group out there.”

Princeton visits Missouri, Wednesday, then moves on to play Saint Louis, Friday, and after the holiday break, returns here to finish the first half of the schedule closing by hosting New Hampshire, Dec. 29, at 1 p.m.

The Tigers then open the Ivy Schedule down in Philadelphia Jan. 11 against defending regular season co-champion Penn at 1 p.m. in The Palestra before taking the three-week academic break for the last time before the system changes next year which will cause a revamp of how the league goes about its weekend competition.

Penn State hosts Sacred Heart next Sunday and then opens Big Ten play Dec. 28 hosting Minnesota.

Rider 65, Georgetown 64 – A Johnson won another key game for the Broncos and for a change her first name is Aubre, not Stella.

Stella’s senior classmate scored the game-winner with eight seconds left in regulation in the Hoyas’ McDonough Gymnasium.

A scramble for a loose ball at midcourt resulted in Amanda Mobley with possession and she found Aubre Johnson, who scored through contact. 

She missed the ensuing foul shot and Georgetown (2-8) got the rebound and called timeout with 6.6 seconds left in regulation.

But the Broncs (5-2) played tough, defensively, and the baseline shot from the home team bounced off the side of the backcourt as time expired.

Rider and the two opponents here were the Guru’s only three of his local 11 Division I teams in action, Saturday, with the schedule proceeding light through finals period into the pre-holiday finish.

The Rider game had 28 lead changes and was closely fought all the way with neither side being ahead by more than five points.

Stella Johnson had another high-scoring game, collecting 30 points along with eight rebounds, four steals, a blocked shot, and assist. 

She is now the program’s all-time leader in steals (273) and made field goals (591). Earlier this season she set a program record with 40 points and just missed reaching it again the next night when she scored 39. 

Reserve Daija Mosses had a career-high 12 points, while Lea Favre also scored 12 points for the visitors.

“It was a gritty road win by our team today,” said veteran Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “The game went back and forth, and we stuck together. When we needed to make plays today we did.

“Defensively, we did a solid job. Georgetown has a lot of great talent and we locked in with a great stop to end the game. I’m proud of our effort and growth today.”

Rider will conclude its pre-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference phase Wednesday night when the Broncs host Wagner at 7, meeting the Seahawks for the first time since 2007 and only second since 1997.

Looking Ahead: Day and Night Slates On Tap This Week

Just two games on tap Sunday has Rutgers hosting Marshall at 2 p.m. in finishing out its pre-Big Ten slate while Delaware will be visiting Gardner-Webb in North Carolina.

On Tuesday, Drexel hosts La Salle at 11:30 a.m. while Delaware stays on the road visiting Charlotte at the same time.

Already mentioned are the two Wednesday games with Princeton at Missouri while Rider hosts Wagner.

On Friday, Saint Joseph’s comes off its finals break and meets Harvard in the first round of the tournament at Florida Atlantic, which also has Furman in the field. 

Drexel travels south down 33^rd straight for another 11:30 morning game, this time visiting Penn, which has been on break, while Princeton, as mentioned, makes its second road stop at night, visiting Saint Louis.

On Saturday, Villanova plays its next Big Five game, visiting La Salle at 2:30 p.m., while Saint Joseph’s plays the second day in the FAU tourney.

Next Sunday, Temple hosts Florida Gulf Coast at noon, playing a team that recently won a tournament in the tropics, beating South Florida and Notre Dame. As mentioned, Sacred Heart visits Penn State.

And that will be it for the locals until after the break for Christmas.

Nationally Noted: Some Intersectional Delights

Looking at some pre-Christmas fare, we start on Sunday as in right now with Louisville at Kentucky in a match of two nationally ranked teams in the Blue Grass State at 1 p.m. while Ohio State visits top-ranked Stanford at 8:30 p.m.

The Cardinal have been off for two weeks for finals since assuming the No. 1 position in the polls.

On Monday No. 2 Connecticut will visit former and future Big East rival, No. 16 DePaul, in Chicago.

On Wednesday, Tennessee is at Stanford at 10:30 p.m., while on Thursday Duke is at South Carolina at 7 p.m. while UCLA is at Georgia at 11 a.m.

Next Sunday, Oklahoma visits Connecticut at 4 p.m. at the Mohegan Sun, while Stanford visits Texas at 1 p.m., Michigan visits Florida State at 1:30 p.m., and UCLA visits Indiana at noon.

Small Colleges – Lincoln History Continues

A hard to believe rally nearly became a harder to believe wasted effort but when the game that seemed over but wasn’t over was finally over Lincoln’s best start ever and ongoing win streak were still alive off a 69-68 victory over Johnson C. Smith at home at Manuel Rivero Hall.

What had seemed the looming end of a six-game win streak that existed early in the fourth quarter as the Lions trailed 59-44 with 8 minutes, 51 seconds left in regulation turned into a new life as Lincoln (10-1) used almost all that time to launch a rally that resulted in Joy Morton connecting with her  her 11^th and 12^th foul shots of the game and a lead with 0.5 seconds left on the clock.

But, incredibly, it was not time yet to celebrate due to a Lincoln foul on the Golden Bulls’ ensuing possession sending Maiya Green to the line and a chance to force overtime with 0.3 seconds left.

Green made the first but missed the second extending Lincoln’s streak to seven after being voted No. 5 earlier in the week in the D2SIDA Atlantic Region media poll. 

The Lions are also drawing votes in the D2 rankings of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

Kwanza Murray scored 22 for Lincoln, 12 in the decisive fourth quarter, while DeAshia Young scored 16 and Morton came off the bench to be perfect on the line at 12-for-12 to tie a Lincoln record for foul shooting percentage.

Slightly ahead in one facet in the Lincoln record book is a 14-for-14 from Sharay DuBose against Fayetteville State in 2010. 

Alisia Machada added eight points and grabbed eight rebounds against Johnson C. Smith (4-5), which got 19 points from Malia Rivers, who was one of four Golden Bulls with seven rebounds. The visitors’ Green added 15 points to the JCS total.

Lincoln set a team free-throw shooting percentage in a game, going 25-for-26 for 96.2 percent from the line.

Morton’s winning score came at the end of an 8-0 run.

Lincoln next travels to Caldwell University in Caldwell, N.J., on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Holy Family, off a 2-0 start in the Central Atlantic College Conference, steps out of league play, Sunday, visiting nationally prominent Bentley in Waltham, Mass.

The Tigers (4-3 overall) return to league play Wednesday, visiting Chestnut Hill and then will host Jefferson on Saturday at noon at Campus Center in Northeast Philadelphia.

Jefferson (4-5) suffered a 79-68 loss at Bloomsburg in non-conference play Saturday and play at Georgian Court Thursday ahead of the Holy Family game on Saturday. Alynna Williams had 24 points in the loss to Bloomsburg.

USciences (7-3) comes off its break for finals Wednesday, visiting Goldey Beacom in a CACC game at 6 and then hosts Chestnut Hill in another CACC game Saturday at 1 p.m. at home in the Bobby Morgan Arena in West Philadelphia.

And that is the end of what became an extended report.