The Guru Report: Villanova Takes Big East Opener While Princeton and Delaware Win Big

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova women took their first steps in the Big East Conference race Sunday afternoon in Finneran Pavilion and produced a much better start than the launch to the overall season executed here several months ago.

However, though coach Harry Perretta’s squad built a 16-point lead in the second quarter, the outcome was not determined until the very finish when Providence could not get a potential game-tying or winning shot off in time and the Wildcats walked out with a 51-49 victory.

The triumph capped a three-game sweep by the Guru’s 11 local D-1 teams who played Sunday and came after two lopsided homecourt triumphs at Delaware and Princeton earlier in the day.

Villanova (6-5, 1-0 Big East) was powered from an equal distribution by something veteran in senior Mary Gedaka and something excitingly new in freshman Maddy Siegrist, who each scored 18 points, while Gedaka, the daughter of former Wildcats Big East player of the year Lisa Angelotti, made it a double-double by grabbing 10 rebounds.

Raven James shot 3-for-5 to account for most of the five other connected field goals for seven points while Bridget Herlihy and redshirt freshman Kenzie Gardler each got one of the remaining two.

Of the eight completed three-pointers by Villanova, Seegrist had three and Gedaka two with the overall total being five more than collected by the Friars (9-4, 0-1).

Providence’s Kaela Webb got all three of the opponent shots connected from beyond arc and was the only Friar scoring in double figures with 13 points.

“I don’t know what to say,” commented Perretta afterwards. “We played pretty good defense, passed the ball pretty well, but we have to be able to make a shot. 

“I’m not sure we had a player score beyond Mary or Maddy in the second half – I’ll have to look that up.”

The veteran mentor is correct.

“We took some shots, we didn’t take bad shots, but you have to make some. Kenzie shot the ball aggressively, Bridget took some shots,” he said. 

“Unfortunately, you have to make some. There are two things you have to do, make shots and not turn the ball over,” he continued. “We did exactly opposite of both of those things.

We’re just going to keep playing the way we’re playing and hopefully they will go in. They went in the first half, they didn’t go in the second half.”

The Wildcats for the game shot 20-for-58 from the field for 34.5 percent, while Providence was 22-for-57 for 38.6 percent.

However, in the fourth and final quarter in which the visitors entered with a 12-point deficit, trailing 41-29, the Friars got hot, shooting 64.3 percent to move within a basket until they failed to at least get things knotted at the end of regulation.

“Today, we played pretty good defense. If we had played defense like we did at La Salle last week, we would have lost,” Perretta said.

This was Villanova’s first game since Saturday a week ago against the Explorers down in the city when Siegrist rewrote the record books with a 41-point performance in the Big Five matchup. 

Hall of Fame NBA broadcaster Doris Burke, who starred for Providence and now lives in the area, was in the house to view her former team.

The game was also the start of the final run in the conference for Perretta, who announced last month prior to the start of the first game hosting George Washington,  that his 42^nd season, all here on the Main Line with the Wildcats, would be his last.

As of Sunday’s victory, Perretta is 771-481 while in the conference he is 335-270.

In the series in which Villanova has been the opponent the most of all Providence’s rivalries, the Wildcats now lead 49-27 in the 76 games they have played with another to be contested up in Rhode Island on March 1, the final game of the regular season.

There’s also the possibility of one more with Perretta still in charge if they compete in the Big East tournament in Chicago.

Villanova will be back on the court here Tuesday at 1 p.m. on New Year’s Eve hosting Creighton, which opened Big East play beating Georgetown 65-56 in the nation’s capital to improve the overall record to 10-3 while the Hoyas fell to 3-9.

In other conference openers, No. 16 DePaul at home handled Marquette 89-71 in their first meeting since DePaul took the conference title game last season.

The host Blue Demons (11-2) trailed early but outscored the Golden Eagles 56-41 across the second and third quarters. 

DePaul’s Lexi Held scored 22 points, while Chante Stonewall had 13 of her 20 in the second quarter as the Demons have won 10 of 11, losing just to now-No. 1 Connecticut, which returns to the Big East from The American Athletic Conference next season.

Lauren Van Kleunen had a season-high 19 points for Marquette (9-3).

Elsewhere in the Big East, Seton Hall, who Villanova visits Friday, topped host Butler 67-62, while St. John’s, whom the Wildcats visit next Sunday, beat host Xavier, 75-67.

Princeton and Delaware Gain Lopsided Triumphs

The Tigers of the Ivy League kept their hot overall start alive  under new coach Carla Berube, beating New Hampshire 77-37 at home in Jadwin Gym while Delaware handled George Mason 63-44.

Princeton (12-1) has won eight straight and has been playing a tenacious defense.

The Tigers put this one away quickly with an 18-0 start and were never seriously threatened as reigning two-time Ivy player of the year Bella Alarie notched her 37th double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds while also blocking four shots.

Maggie Connolly had a career-high 17 points, shooting 7-of-11 from the field, while Julia Cunningham scored 15 points.

Amanda Torres scored 12 points while Ashley Storey scored 11 for New Hampshire (3-9), which was blanked 0-for-7 attempting three-point shots and was held to an overall low scoring total.

Princeton is now off until January 11 when the Tigers travel South to open Ivy play meeting Penn at 1 p.m. in The Palestra in a match of last season’s tournament opponents won by the Tigers after the two tied for the regular season championship.

Penn is out in the Pacific visiting Hawaii 8 p.m. on Tuesday and Chaminade at 7 on Thursday before returning home to ready for the opening showdown with the Tigers.

Meanwhile, Delaware had one of its better outings to date, beating the Atlantic 10’s George Mason 63-44 at home in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark to wrap up non-league play.

It’s just the second time in six weeks the Blue Hens (4-7) have been able to leave their travel bags unpacked.

The last time Delaware held an opponent to a low yield was a year ago when the Blue Hens beat Saint Joseph’s 48-39.

Nicole Enabosi, the 2018 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) player of the year who missed last season with a knee injury, scored 20 for Delaware while also grabbing eight rebounds and three steals and also blocking two shots.

Reserve Tee Johnson scored 11 and Jasmine Dickey had 11 points and 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double.

Jacy Bolton had 18 points for George Mason (5-7), a former CAA member and rival of the Blue Hens, while Nicole Cardano-Hillary scored 12 for the Patriots.

“Even more than the win, was how we did it,” said Delaware coach Natasha Adair. “This is a group that is steadily growing, and we’re trending upward. “This is a group that’s hungry They’re steadily learning,  they want to be better.”

Delaware next opens CAA play on the road this weekend, visiting UNCW in Wilmington, N.C., Friday night and then heading to Charleston, Sunday.

Looking Ahead: Temple Visits La Salle Seeking to Stay in the Big 5 Hunt

The Owls on Monday night at 7 will be at the Explorers’ home in Tom Gola Arena at Trumark Center seeking to have a shot to at least tie for the City Series championship while the Explorers will be seeking a first City Series win for second-year coach Mountain MacGillivray.

After this will be three remaining City Series matchups, Penn visits Villanova on Wednesday, Jan. 15 followed by a trip to Temple the following Wednesday on Jan. 22.

Later, Saint Joseph’s visits La Salle on Sunday, Jan. 26, in the first of two home-and-home Atlantic 10 games. 

However, this one also counts in the Big 5, though they will be playing just for positioning considering both have two losses – the Explorers to Penn and Villanova, while the Hawks have a win over Temple but losses to Penn and Villanova.

The Quakers can win a first-ever outright title by winning the remaining two games.

 If Temple wins Monday night, having beaten Villanova and lost to Saint Joseph’s, a win over Penn creates a share with the Wildcats if Villanova (2-1) then beats Penn.

Conversely, if Temple at 2-1 loses to Penn but Penn loses to Villanova, then the Quakers and Wildcats share.

The Guru will revisit this list of potentials of Big 5 finishes once the Temple-La Salle result becomes official Monday night.

Earlier in the day on Monday, Drexel will host Maine at 4:30 p.m. ahead of a men’s game in the nightcap of a Dragons doubleheader at home in the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

Drexel then opens CAA play on the road this weekend visiting Charleston Friday and UNCW Sunday.

At the same time as the Temple/La Salle game at 7 on Monday, Saint Joseph’s wraps up its non-conference hosting Navy and then opens Atlantic 10 play Saturday hosting Richmond Saturday at 2 p.m. in Hagan Arena.

The other local contest Monday has Rider visiting Delaware State at 4 p.m. to wrap up non-conference play in Dover before hosting its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opener Thursday at 7 p.m. against Niagara in the Broncs’ Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Rider then will take a short road trip north in the MAAC Saturday visiting Iona in New Rochelle, N.Y.

On Tuesday on New Year’s Eve, Rutgers, off its Big 10 opening comeback victory at Wisconsin, comes home to host No. 14 Indiana in a conference game at 3 p.m. in the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, N.J., while Penn State off its near comeback at home against Minnesota, heads to Michigan at 2 p.m. 

On Saturday La Salle opens play hosting Dayton in an Atlantic 10 game at 2 p.m. while Sunday Rutgers is at Purdue in a Big 10 game. 

And that gives you all the Guru 11 Group contests ahead toward the weekend.

Nationally Noted: PAC-12 Fireworks as Conference Race Opens

Two rivalries, one that’s cross-state and the other crosstown, highlighted the start of the widely anticipated race in the PAC-12, which has three teams in the Associated Press women’s poll in the Top Five, a fourth in the Top 10, and a fifth in the Top 20 with several others who have been ranked earlier.

In the desert, No. 18 Arizona held tough at the end in a road trip north to beat previously ranked Arizona State 58-53 in Tempe to give the Wildcats their first season win of relevance.

Aari McDonald scored 20 points for Arizona (12-0), the WNIT champs of last season who are among a dwindling group of unbeaten squads. Cate Reese had a double-double 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Eboni Walker had 12 points for the host Sun Devils (10-3), while Jamie Ruden scored 10.

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, No. 10 UCLA (12-0) matched its best overall start in the program’s history in beating Southern Cal 83-59 at home in Pauley Pavilion and equaling the overall Bruins 12-0 start in 1980-81.

Michaela Onyenwere and Japreece Dean each scored 20 for UCLA, while Charisma Osbourne had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Lauryn Miller scored 11.

The visiting Trojans (8-4) got 28 points and 10 rebounds from Alissa Pili.

Ironically, the desert teams head to the city this weekend with Arizona State dropping in on UCLA Friday night while Arizona visits Southern Cal and then on Sunday Arizona will be at UCLA in a huge early conference meeting while Arizona State then visits Southern Cal.

FGC Handles Blue Devils

In a non-conference hookup, Florida Gulf Coast, which recently zipped through Temple a week ago, continues to flex its strength in the Mid-Majors as the Atlantic Sun heavyweight ripped the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Duke 78-56 at home in Fort Myers, Fla., as Davion Wingate scored 30 for FGC (13-2) while Haley Gorecki scored 19 for the Blue Devils (7-5).

ACC Opens: No. 7 Louisville Edges Syracuse While Clemson Rips Notre Dame

Though Syracuse is no longer ranked for the moment, the Orange don’t look like an also-ran, especially after challenging No. 7 Louisville on the road Sunday in an Atlantic Coast Confeence opener the Cardinals held on for a 62-58 win.

Jazmine Jones shook off a quad cramp being treated late in the game to come off the bench and score the deciding points on a pair of foul shots while finishing with 24 points for Louisville (12-1).

As the Orange (6-6) neared an upset, Louisville got stronger, defensively.

“We didn’t give them one clean look in the last minute of the game when they had to get one,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. “And that’s a tribute to these kids, saying, ‘We’re not going to let them have one.’”

Meanwhile, Notre Dame got its latest in paybacks for past domination since joining the ACC, this time in a first-ever ACC-opening loss, falling to Clemson 71-55 at home in Purcell Pavilion as the Irish (6-8) continue to struggle following the graduation of five starters who went drafted by the WNBA.

Clemson improved to 5-8.

Elsewhere No. 9 North Carolina State made it easy up north in an ACC win over Boston College 72-54 in Chestnut Hill, Mass., as Kia Crutchfield scored 14 points for the Wolfpack (12-0), another of the few unbeaten squads.

It was the first home loss for the Eagles (7-6, 0-2 ACC).

Gonzaga Avoids Upset

The Zags zigged at the finish, fending off a rally at home in Spokane, Wash., after successfully driving their own rally from a 20-point deficit in the second quarter to down Portland 62-57 in a West Coast Conference opener.

Jill Townsend had 18 points for Gonzaga (13-1) while Portland (7-5) was led by Kate Andersen, who scored 20 points and was propelled by four three-pointers.

And that’s the report.