The Guru Report: Temple Edges La Salle in Big 5 Thriller

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – Five of the Guru 11 Local D-1 squads played Monday on the next to the final day of both the year and decade and the maximum number of potential four teams made it another sweep.

The highlight was the intra-battle here at La Salle where Temple launched a big rally in the second quarter to make it a tight contest in the Explorers’ Tom Gola Arena where the Owls emerged with a 72-69 victory to stay in the hunt for a tie for the Big Five title.

Elsewhere, Drexel and Saint Joseph’s turned in wins to prepare for the launch of conference play this weekend, while Rider was in another tight one turning in a 71-69 win at Delaware State in overtime in Dover.

Here, La Salle (6-7, 0-3 Big Five) opened with a blitzing 25-13 quarter poised to give second-year coach Mountain MacGillivray his first City Series triumph coming just after a near-win last Saturday against Villanova.

But Temple (7-6, 2-1) finally stirred in the next period with a 25-10 onslaught to go into the half with a 38-35 lead and then the two battled the rest of the way to an end that saw the Owls’ Lena Niang block Carley Lytton’s attempted three-ball from the sideline attempting  to tie the  game.

Ultimately, it was Marissa Mackins (28 points), using seven three-pointers to spur her total, and Ashley Jones (23) combining for 51 points along with a large 49-28 rebound advantage to offset four Explorers, who scored in double figures.

The Australian freshmen twin sisters of Clair and Amy Jacobs combined for 34 points, Claire scored 19 and Amy had 15, while Kayla Spruill scored 12, and Shalina Miller double-doubled her way with 10 points and 10 rebounds while blocking five Temple attempts.

The air filled with long balls on the night, La Salle shooting 11-for-28 and Temple connecting 10-for-30.

The game was jokingly referred to by some as the Bill Bradshaw Classic with the now retired former athletic director at both schools having hired Temple coach Tonya Cardoza in 2008 and MacGillivray at La Salle prior to last season.

But the game’s typical ugliness that often occurs when Big Five schools, both male and female genders, battle did not make the next-to-the-last non-conference result a joyous moment for Cardoza.

“I’m upset,” Cardoza said, though with a chuckle. “Obviously, I’m happy we won the game, but that was disgusting. That was not good. I feel bad for (La Salle) because we did everything in our power to lose, even down to the last seconds of the game.

“We just have to be smarter. That was, that was bad basketball. But obviously I’m happy we won because I would feel worse if we loss,“ she continued.

“Marissa was knocking down some big shots down the stretch. Big block at the end. Big rebound. We made some big plays, but we made some bonehead plays that is just hard to describe.”

The outcome leaves the Big Five standings currently like this: Penn 2-0, Villanova 2-1, Temple 2-1, Saint Joseph’s 1-2, La Salle 0-3. 

Still to be played are Penn visiting Villanova on Jan. 15, visiting Temple on Jan. 23, and La Salle hosting Saint Joseph’s. Jan. 26, in a game that is also the first of the home-and-home series in the Atlantic 10. 

That game is just for positioning considering the losses already taken by the Hawks and Explorers.

A Penn sweep will give the Quakers their first-ever outright Big Five crown at 4-0 but if they lose both then Temple and Villanova will be co-champs.

If Penn splits, the Quakers will share with one of the other two.

For now, La Salle starts the new year on the calendar Saturday hosting the Explorers’ Atlantic 10 opener playing traditional contender Dayton at 2 p.m. 

Temple, actually uses the phrase, resumes, play in the American Athletic Conference Saturday at Tulsa at 3 p.m. 

The Owls already have everyone’s dreaded AAC game in their rear-view mirror, having lost to now No. 1 Connecticut at home on Nov. 17, an arrangement agreed to due to the Huskies’ large number of non-conference games playing Oregon, Baylor, Tennessee, and the USA National Team the next two months, which is now part of the farewell tour.

This spring UConn returns to the Big East Conference.

Greenberg’s Big Night Carries Drexel Over Maine

Drexel senior Bailey Greenberg continues to set and break her own scoring marks and thus it became business as usual with the Dragons senior rewriting her career scoring mark with 32 points at home in the Daskalakis Athletic Center in a 70-57 win over Maine (4-10), the reigning America East champs who are riddled with injuries.

Greenberg is now in the top 10 on the all-time scoring list at Drexel (7-5), which completed its non-conference slate and opens play in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) this weekend on the road visiting Charleston Friday night and UNCW on Sunday.

Aubree Brown dealt seven assists.

Saint Joseph’s Scuttles Navy

It was low-scoring, but it was a win, enough to make the Hawks happy at home in Hagan Arena with a 49-40 outcome to get back to .500 at 6-6 as freshman Gabby Smalls had a team-high 10 points. 

Navy of the Patriot League dipped below the mark falling to 5-6.

Smalls shot 4-of-7 from the field and grabbed nine rebounds.

Freshman Claire Melia from Ireland scored nine points and Mary Sheehan each scored nine for balance, while Lula Roig and Katie Mayock each had eight points and six rebounds.

Coach Cindy Griffin’s squad begins its Atlantic 10 slate at home Saturday hosting Richmond at 2 p.m.

Rider Survives Delaware State

The Broncs have a commendable 7-2 non-conference record outside of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference with just a season-opening loss at nearby Ivy power Princeton and to North Florida last month down at Disney’s Wide World of Sports near Orlando in the ASUN/MAAC Challenge.

But there have been some spine-tingling affairs along the way, including Monday afternoon’s 71-69 win in overtime at Delaware State in Dover, which came down to Lea Favre hitting the game-winner with 0.7 seconds left in the extended period.

The Broncs had to rally from a 10-point deficit late in the game to rescue this one.

The triumph made it four straight building into Thursday night’s MAAC home opener at 7 against Niagara in Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J.

The finish saw Rider advance the ball off a timeout after the Hornets (4-9) tied the score at 69-69 on two foul shots.

Amanda Mobley’s attempt rimmed out but the missed shot went off a Delaware State player heading out of bounds.

Favre then took the inbound and hooked a shot to the basket followed by the home team falling short with a desperate heave from three-quarters out.

Ultimately, the heavy lifting throughout was done by the Broncs’ Stella Johnson, the MAAC preseason player of the year, who scored 29 points while Amari Johnson had 15 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double and Favre scored 11, shooting 5-for-8 from the field.

“It was a great finish to our non-conference schedule,” said veteran coach Lynn Milligan. “We were tested in many levels throughout the game by a well-coached and tough Delaware State team.

“We executed down the stretch on both ends and had some big, step-up play by a lot of different players. Being down 10 late in the game took everyone doing their job and believing in what we do and how we do it.”

Looking Ahead: Rutgers Seeks to Maintain the Momentum

Equaling Rutgers’ best start at 11-1 since the 1990-91 team went 13-0 from the season opener, the Scarlet Knights return home after rallying at Wisconsin Saturday in their Big Ten opener and now have a conference challenge before 2020 arrives, hosting No. 14 Indiana at 3 p.m. at the Rutgers Athletic Center.

Penn State takes its Big Ten business on the road Tuesday visiting Michigan at 2 p.m. after the host Wolverines just got bounced from the Associated Press women’s poll.

Villanova will try to make it two straight wins at the start of the Big East hosting Creighton at 2 p.m. at Finneran Pavilion while Penn plays host Hawaii at 8 p.m. Eastern time before remaining in the middle of the Pacific to play at Chaminade on Thursday at 7.

And that’s the report. The Guru will be at Villanova and more end of the decade blog stuff to come.