The Guru Report: Rider Opens Two-Game Lead in MAAC

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – Three years removed from their greatest season in program history, the Rider women continue to blaze a path toward even greater achievements and Thursday night the Broncs forged ahead on two fronts continuing to help themselves and getting help from afar.

Here in Alumni Gymnasium it was another night for star-gazing performances from Rider’s Stella Johnson, the nation’s leading scorer, and Amari Johnson, the MAAC’s double-double machine, powering the Broncs to a 76-53 win over Manhattan.

The two Johnsons each scored 24 points, with Stella being deadly shooting 9-for-12 from the field, including 4-of-5 triplets, while Amari grabbed 16 rebounds, and Lea Favre was 5-for-7 from the field and finished with 12 points.

Amanda Mobley had eight points and dealt five assists.

Only three of the Guru’s local 11 D-1 teams were in action, the other two being the Big Ten duo of Rutgers, which won, and Penn State, which lost, both playing at home.

Back here, Rider (16-2, 9-0 MAAC) has now won a Broncs record 13 in a row and in terms of perfection, the Broncs now overlook the rest of the MAAC from the top of standings at 9-0 for the first time and here in Alumni Gymnasium they are now 8-0.

Manhattan (8-11, 5-5), coached by former Villanova recruiting director Heather Vulin, challenged early with a six-point lead but after Rider caught up to tie at the end of the first quarter, 14-14, Stella Johnson got unleashed while Amari had her 11^th double-double by the half as the Broncs outscored the Jaspers 47-29 over the next two periods.

The visitors did get three of their group in double figures with Emily LaPointe scoring 13 points, while Courtney Warley and Gabby Cajou each scored 10 points.

Meanwhile, as play progressed down here, further north Fairfield shook off its 60-52 setback here Tuesday night and upset preseason favorite Marist 52-48 at home in Alumni Hall in Connecticut, limiting the MAAC’s top-ranked offense to 27 points in the second half.

The loss by the Red Foxes (10-8, 7-2), who had already lost at home in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in overtime to the Broncs, brought them to a second-place tie with Fairfield (10-8, 7-2), which rallied from a 21-8, 13-point deficit that existed in the first quarter.

The Stags went on to outscore Marist 44-27 the final three quarters and give Rider a two-game lead heading into the final of a three-game homestand on Saturday when Monmouth visits here at 2 p.m. on Alumni Day.

In 2017, the Broncs finished just behind existing ruler Quinnipiac in the regular season standings and then advanced to the title game, losing to the Bobcats but landing a first-ever postseason appearance in the WNIT, which they reappeared last season after finishing second again.

“I’m glad to see (Fairfield) do that to someone else besides us, even though we won our game,” said Rider veteran coach Lynn Milligan. “It’s a credit to the Stags that they were able to shake off a loss from a game they had a chance to win and then do that well against Marist.”

In the fourth period, after Fairfield went ahead late in the previous quarter, the Stags built an 11-point lead with just under five minutes left in regulation and then had to withstand a furious Marist rally in which the Red Foxes sliced the differential to a basket at 49-47 with 1:05 left to play.

But Fairfield then cut off the comeback, yielding just a foul shot while scoring three more points.

“I think you have to experience tough times and tough games and you have to grow from them,” said Fairfield longtime coach Joe Frager after their game. “You can either grow from it or bad things can keep happening.

“I’m just so happy that they kept their composure when we were down 13 and withstood a furious rally. I’m just thrilled with the win.”

It was Fairfield’s fourth game in seven days  but Rider here has had a heavy workload, also, playing four games in eight days with Saturday’s contest to make it five out of ten.

“One more to get through,” Milligan said.

As to her assessment of the night, “I’m really proud of our overall effort,” Milligan said. “We talked collectively as a group after Tuesday’s game and we really weren’t happy how we executed.

“We came out today with a purpose. We really locked in on the scout. We handled pressure pretty good and shared the ball terrific. Our pace on offense was really solid. We good some good looks just by taking that half a step and extra breath.”

The Broncs had 27 turnovers against the Stags.

As impressive Thursday as the firepower was, Rider continues to get it done on the defensive end.

“It was great. We are built on our defense. People watch on offense and seeing Stella putting numbers up and Amari putting numbers up but our defense is what fuels our offense and I thought tonight, particularly in that third quarter I thought that’s what happened, Milligan said. 

“I thought that third quarter was one of the more solid quarters we played all year.”

Rider’s only two losses were the season opener up the road at Ivy power Princeton and a few weeks later down in Orlando to North Florida at the MAAC/ASUN Challenge at Disney’s Wide World of Sports.

The night’s events here and up north places Rider in terrific position barring injury and when it comes to potential tiebreakers should the Broncs slip.

But Milligan is worried to just keep matters at hand under control, though, interestingly, prior to the Broncs taking over the MAAC, Amari Johnson had proclaimed her squad the team to beat in the conference.

That hasn’t changed.

“We are the best. We play like we’re the best and we are the team to beat,” she said after getting her MAAC-leading 11^th double-double.

The coach, however, is not getting carried away over a performance to date even better than the breakthrough 2016-17 season.

“We’re never content. No content here. We’re a game-to-game, week-to-week, kind of team,” she said. 

“We certainly don’t look back and we certainly do not look ahead,” said Milligan, noting the team already has its scouts for Monmouth and is ready for Friday’s practice.

“To me, it’s a little early for scoreboard watching for us. But like I said, the MAAC’s a grind. 

“And this year the way the schedule is set with Thursdays-Saturdays, you kind of tend to look at what’s going on because we’re playing and everyone else is playing at the same time, but we stay locked in on us and what we do and prepare to do our best and make sure we’re ready to go.”

Rutgers Snaps Two-Game Skid Beating Illinois

Back home in the RAC in Piscataway, N.J, Rutgers halted its recent losses beating Illinois in a one-sided 72-41 outcome in the Big Ten as Arella Guirantes had 20 points and nine rebounds, with four assists and two blocked shots and two steals.

Jordan Wallace had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds while Khadaizha Sanders had 10 of her 12 points in the first quarter for the Scarlet Knights (16-4, 6-3 Big Ten).

Rutgers owned the boards 52-32 while in the paint topped the Illini 44-12.

 A 19-0 run across the first and second quarters settled matters with the visitors (10-10, 1-8) for a season sweep of the two games.

“Our biggest issue is that we didn’t want them to get close because we needed to have a killer instinct basically and be stingy on defense and continue to attack and do the things we need to do on the offensive side,” said Rutgers Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer.

“We did a good job with all of that.”

Rutgers next goes to Minnesota to play the Gophers at 3 p.m. on Sunday and returns home Thursday to host longtime geographical rival Penn State, trying to sweep the series.

Penn State Rally Falls Short in Fourth Period

Speaking of the Lady Lions, they faced frontrunning Iowa in the Bryce Jordan  Center where they fell 77-66 though they did reduced a 23-point deficit to the Hawkeyes (18-3, 9-1 Big Ten) down to single digits in the fourth period.

Iowa’s Kathleen Doyle had 23 points, while McKenna Warnock had 16 points, Alexis Sevillian scored 15, and Makenzie Meyer scored 14.

Kamaria McDaniel scored 19 for the Lady Lions (7-14, 1-9), while Makenna Marisa scored 10 and Shay Hagans had a career-high nine rebounds and grabbed three steals.

“I’m extremely proud of our underclassmen tonight for the fight they showed in that fourth quarter,” said Penn State first-year coach Carolyn Kieger, previously with Marquette. “I just thought they poured their heart out in the fourth quarter, which is the team we need to be moving forward.

“I just want to say I’ve had so much respect for Iowa, not only this year but in years past. They share the basketball. They do things the right way,” she added. “They develop their kids and Lisa (Bluder) has done a great job with their program and we have to get there.

“We have to get to that level of intensity. We have to get to that level of sharing the basketball and we’re taking strides and we’re getting better every day, but that fight we had in the fourth quarter needs to be the team that we are moving forward.”

Penn State next hosts Northwestern Sunday at noon and it’s alumni weekend with several members of the Final Four team of 2000 that played in Philadelphia at the now-called Wells Fargo Center expected to return.

And then as mentioned above, the squad heads to Rutgers next Thursday.

Nationally Noted: North Carolina Continues to Rise

The Tar Heels beat visiting Virginia 78-68 in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at home in Chapel Hill as Janelle Bailey had 23 points. Elsewhere in the ACC, unranked Boston College took down No. 14 Florida State, 65-56, on the road, while Louisville won at Notre Dame 86-54.

Old Dominion at home beat Southern Miss. 67-50, in a C-USA game in Norfolk, Va., to go 17-3 overall.

Looking Ahead: Showdown Weekends for Drexel and Villanova

Something has to give in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in terms of top of the standings and down in Philly is the place where it will happen. James Madison, the preseason favorite, and Drexel are tied for first at 6-1 at the top of the standings and Towson is a game behind.

It begins Friday night with JMU visiting Delaware at the Bob Carpenter Center at 7 in Newark and then heading to Drexel at the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Drexel on Friday at 7 hosts second-place Towson in the first meeting between the two since Towson rallied to beat Drexel at Delaware last March in the closing minutes of the CAA title game. 

It’s Dollar Dog Night, meaning hot dogs are just a buck at the Drexel concession stand.

Towson on Sunday will be at Delaware at 1 p.m.

Meanwhile, Villanova on Friday will host St. John’s at 7 at Finneran Pavilion with both teams in a large standings crunch in the Big East behind No. 11 DePaul. The Wildcats beat the Red Storm in overtime in Queens in New York earlier this month.

Villanova will be looking for a sweep also Sunday at 1 hosting Seton Hall.

The Ivy Race finally resumes on Friday with Penn visiting Harvard at 7 while at the same time Princeton visits Dartmouth. On Saturday, they switch with Penn at Dartmouth and Princeton at Harvard.

The rest of the D-1 group not previously mentioned has La Salle going for a third straight win visiting Fordham Saturday at 2 while on Sunday Saint Joseph’s will be hosting Dayton at 2 p.m.

And that’s the report. 

 

The Guru Report:Saint Joes Falls to Geo Wash but La Salle and Temple Win

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA - There was a time when a Saint Joseph’s/George Washington matchup was a must-attend requirement with women’s basketball supremacy in the Atlantic 10 many times up for grabs.

But Wednesday night here at Hagan Arena on Hawk Hill the home team and the visiting Colonials arrived several levels below what used to be commonplace in the conference standings.

“It will be that way again,” promised George Washington coach Jen Rizzotti after her team fought back from an early eight-point deficit to then build a 10-point advantage late in the third and ultimately escape from a Saint Joseph’s rally late in the game to win 56-50. “Both our teams are very young right now.

“I guess that was different, we both made it to 50,” Rizzotti quipped. “Not what you usually see when we play.”

Only three of the Guru’s 11 Division I teams played but the results were brighter elsewhere with La Salle downing George Mason while Temple edged UCF.

Meanwhile, in the game back here, just two seasons ago, George Washington and Saint Joseph’s knocked off higher seeds to play for the Atlantic 10 championship, which was won by the Colonials.

The Hawks avenged the loss a year ago winning twice, the second time eliminating GWU in the first round of the conference tournament to take a lead in the long-running series between the two that got tied again at 32-32 with Wednesday night’s win by the Colonials.

This was Rizzotti’s team’s second trip here this season after beating Villanova in the non-conference opener for both teams at Finneran Pavilion out on the Main Line in November.

For George Washington (9-11, 3-4 A-10), Wednesday,s result brought the first back-to-back schedule wins since early December in coming off Sunday’s rally at home in the nation’s capital to edge Massachusetts 50-47. That triumph snapped a three-game losing streak.

For Saint Joseph’s (8-12, 2-6), the loss is the second straight following Sunday’s setback at La Salle that was the first at the hands of the Explorers in eight games in the local rivalry.

George Washington’s Alexandra Maund had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds while Faith Blethen and Sydney Zambrotta each scored 11 points.

Nailah Delinois on Saint Joseph’s had a career-high 14 points while freshman Kaliah Henderson had another strong performance with 13 points and three steals off the bench and reserve Rachel Gartner, a graduate transfer from Boston College also had a career high, scoring 10 points.

A comfortable 51-41 Colonials lead with 2:20 left in regulation suddenly evaporated into an old-time traditional nail-biter in the series on a 9-1 run by the home team as Gartner scored five off a field goal and three-pointer while Henderson and Delinois scored around a Zambrotta foul shot to bring the Hawks within a basket at 52-50 with 46 seconds left in regulation.

But Maund scored in the paint with 20 seconds left to get the Colonials back in front by four points.

Henderson missed a shot with 19 seconds left but Zambrotta turned it over only to have Henderson throw the ball the away with six seconds left.

Forced to foul, the Hawks sent Blethen to the line with five seconds left and she converted both chances for the game’s final points.

The outcome has George Washington in 9^th but the Colonials are tied in terms of conference record with three other teams for sixth, a game behind fourth-place UMass (15-6, 5-3) and fifth-place Fordham (12-8, 4-3).

The Hawks, on the other hand, are in 13^th-place in the 14-team league, a game ahead of George Mason. 

The good news is that below leaders Dayton (14-7, 7-0) and VCU (12-8, 7-0), who have yet to get hit with a conference loss, Saint Joseph’s is close enough to make some headway toward the middle of the standings.

The bad news is next up Dayton visits Sunday at 2 p.m. followed a two-stop road trip next week to Duquesne, which rallied here earlier for a win over the Hawks, and to Saint Louis.

La Salle Beats George Mason to Equal A-10 Win Total From 2019

The Explorers followed up on Sunday’s home win over Saint Joseph’s to return to Tom Gola Arena Wednesday night and beat George Mason 77-65 to match La Salle’s entire A-10 conference win total from last season when Mountain MacGillivray made his coaching debut.

The winners thrived on their early season formula getting a 43-point combination from their freshmen Aussie guard twin sister sensation of Claire and Amy Jacobs as the Explorers (9-12, A-10 3-5) have won three games around a tough two-point loss at Richmond.

La Salle had control most of the way until the fourth quarter when the Patriots (7-14, 1-7), who sit last in the A-10, used a 12-3 outburst to move within four points before the Explorers then stopped the rally with an 18-10 run the rest of the way to grab the win.

MacGillivray had his team push the tempo resulting in 26 points scored in transition. 

Claire Jacobs matched her early season high scoring 29 points, of which 4-of-9 were connected three balls, while on the line she was 7-of-8. Amy scored 14 off 4-of-6 shooting from the field, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Shalina Miller, who recently set the La Salle career block record, added five to her collection and she also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. Her last two games against the Patriots have resulted in a combination 27 rebounds and 11 blocked shots.

The second half for La Salle was run by Explorers associate head coach Chris Day after MacGillivray was ejected off a series of technical fouls assessed in the front part of the game.

Hilary Cardano-Nicole scored 18 points for George Mason while Marika Korpinen and Jazmyn Doster scored 11 each, and Jacy Bolton scored 10 while Doster made it a double-double with 12 rebounds.

La Salle next hits the road traveling Saturday up to the Bronx in New York City for a 2 p.m. tip against Fordham at Rose Hill Gym. 

The Explorers will then be off eight days until returning home a week from Sunday to host Richmond at 2 p.m.

Temple Tops UCF

Building a 12-point lead that they were unable to hold, nevertheless, the Owls came up with defensive stops at the finish when needed and Temple gained a 67-65 win back home in an American Athletic Conference game in McGonigle Hall.

The victory atoned for Sunday’s conference loss in Cincinnati.

Temple (13-8, 5-3 AAC) bolted from a 30-30 halftime tie to a 48-36 lead in the third period but UCF (11-8, 3-4) answered with a rally to move within a point of the hosts.

The Owls got it done on the boards with a 41-30 advantage to offset 18 turnovers and also outshot UCF from beyond the arc making nine triplets to three.

Temple’s Marissa Mackins had 22 points and five rebounds, while Ashley Jones scored 13, and Lena Niang had a near double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. Mia Davis also scored in double figures with 12 points.

In the closing minutes of the fourth and final quarter Temple used four Mackins foul shots and a Davis putback for a six-point lead that reduced to one at 66-65 on the Knights’ response.

The Owls couldn’t score on the ensuing possession, but they then got a stop and went to the line making 1-of-2 foul shots for a two-point lead. 

UCF then went for the tie to force overtime, but the Knights’ shot fell short.

Temple now has a week off until hosting Wichita State, Wednesday, at 7 p.m. in McGonigle Hall looking to avenge a last-second loss to the Shockers earlier this month in Kansas.

Small Colleges: Holy Family-USciences 1-2 CACC Race Continues

Still unbeaten in play in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, Holy Family beat Wilmington University from Delaware 71-63 at home in Campus Center Gymnasium in Northeast Philadelphia for the Tigers’ seventh straight win with a late surge.

In the fourth period, Holy Family (13-5, 11-0 CACC) used a 15-0 run  over six minutes to go up on the Wildcats 67-54 with 2 minutes, 17 seconds left in regulation.

Wilmington (3-16, 3-8) then rallied but couldn’t get close enough trailing 69-61 with 37 seconds left in regulation.

Elizabeth Radley, who recently reached her 1,000^th point and was honored for doing so before the game, had a game-high 26 points, of which 14 she scored in the first quarter. 

Moe More had 15 points, 13 of them in the second half, and grabbed eight rebounds and dealt five assists.

Mia Ehling and Angelai Hayes each scored 10 points for the Tigers, who are in their first year under former Penn associate head coach Bernadette Laukaitis, a Holy Family alumna who played for Mike McLaughlin at the school and then served under him on the coaching staff at her alma mater and at Penn.

LaShyra Williams had 18 points and 13 rebounds for Wilmington, which also got a double-double of 17 points, shooting 8-for-11 from the field, and 13 rebounds from Emily Ansah.

The Tigers, which beat USciences in August for the title of the Philadelphia/Suburban NCAA Certified Women’s Summer League, are playing their best in the CACC in a decade as the last unbeaten team and first time 11-0 in the standings since 2009-10. That season Holy Family started 19-0.

They next play Saturday, heading to Dominican in a CACC game in Orangeburg, N.Y. at 1 p.m. near the Tappan Zee Bridge.

Meanwhile, since its upset loss in the conference opener at home, to Holy Family, USciences has kept pace with the Tigers, the most recent Wednesday night winning 78-62 at Jefferson University in the Gallagher Center in East Falls.

 In winning their 11^th straight game, the No. 24 Devils (17-3, 10-1 CACC) got 21 of her 25 points in the first half from Jess Huber, who shot 9-of-12 from the field, including 6-of-7 from beyond the arc.

Irisa Ye scored 18 points and Jordan Vitelli scored 17 while Taylor Hamm grabbed seven rebounds.

USciences continues its road trip to wrap up the three-game journey Saturday at Nyack in North Jersey at 1 p.m. 

Jefferson (8-11, 5-6), meanwhile, got 19 points from Alynna Williams, who also collected her 1,500^th career point, while Sabria Lytes and Morgan Robinson each scored 14 points.

The Rams next travel to Caldwell Saturday at 1 p.m.

Lincoln Cruises Over Virginia State University

On Monday night, since the Guru didn’t file a report, in catching up, Lincoln continued to soar, this time beating Virginia State University 88-44 at home in a Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) contest at Manuel Rivero Gymnasium.

The Lions (19-3, 9-1 CIAA) have now won six straight and are the first team in the Atlantic Region to reach 19 wins, which also ties for second highest in program history with the 2006-07 contingent. 

The Trojans (8-14, 4-6) were held to 14 field goals.

Janya Lilly and Kwanza Murray scored 11 each for Lincoln, while Skyedajah Patterson had ten points and nine rebounds.

Bianca White had 11 points for VSU.

Lincoln is off until hosting Shaw at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Lions women’s coach Darrell Mosley was named WhoopDirt.com NCAA DII Coach of the Week, making him eligible for earning national coach of the year to be announced at the end of the season.

Rowan Streak Ends

The Profs were ambushed at home by The College of New Jersey 70-59 on Wednesday night in Glassboro, N.J., and now Rowan (16-3) and the Lions (13-6) are tied for first at 10-2 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference.

Rachel Gazzola had a game-high 21 point for the visitors while Elle Cimilluca had 19  points for a career high and dealt six assists. Shannon Devitt had nine points and 10 rebounds while Jen Byrne had nine points.

The Profs’ Eliana Santana had 16 points and six rebounds, while Grace Marshall scored 12 points and Nicole Mallard scored 11.

TCNJ led by as many as 13 points in the fourth period, though in the closing minute, Rowan was able to come within eight points before Gazzola sealed it with an old-fashioned three-point play.

She had 14 points for the Lions in the second half and Marshall scored 10 for the Profs.

Rowan hosts Ramapo College Saturday at 3 p.m. while TCNJ hosts Montclair State on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Packer Hall in Ewing, N.J.

Looking Ahead: Rider Looks to Continue Streak

Owning a school-record 12-game win streak and alone in first and unbeaten in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), Rider will be looking to taking the second of a three-game homestand Thursday when the Broncs (15-2, 8-0 MAAC) host Manhattan College (8-10, 5-4) at 7 p.m. at Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Marist, the preseason favorite who trail Rider by a game, will be at Fairfield, which fell two games off the pace resulting from the loss to the Broncs in Lawrenceville on Tuesday.

Quinnipiac, the recent long-time champion who now have three MAAC losses, will be at St. Peters.

Meanwhile, besides Rider, the other two of the Guru’s 11 Division I teams playing Thursday, are the Big Ten duo of Rutgers and Penn State.

Rutgers (15-4, 5-3 Big Ten), which has fallen to fifth after a two-game losing streak, will be hosting Illinois (10-9, 1-7) at 7 p.m. in the RAC in Piscataway, N.J.

Penn State (7-13, 1-8), mired in 14^th and last place, will be hosting first-place Iowa (17-3, 8-1) at 7 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa.

On Friday, in the Colonial Athletic Association, Drexel hosts Towson at the Dragons’ Daskalakis Athletic Center trying to extend a win streak and stay at the top of the standings when the teams meet at 7 

It will be their first clash since last March when Towson rallied in the closing minutes to deprive Drexel of the conference championship and second trip to the NCAA tourney.

Delaware, at 7 p.m. in the Blue Hens’ Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, will be hosting James Madison, the preseason favorite, which is tied with Drexel for first in the CAA. The Dragons and Dukes meet Sunday.

Villanova, coming off a weekend losing sweep to defeat at DePaul and Marquette, will be hosting St. John’s at 7 p.m. in the Wildcats’ Finneran Pavilion, looking for a series sweep after beating the Red Storm in overtime in Queens earlier this month.

And that is the report for now. 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                         

 

  

 

 

 

 

The Guru Report: Rider Holds Off Fairfield to Set Record Win Streak; Ivies Reveal New Format

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – It may have been primarily a mostly ugly 40-minute adventure of basketball Tuesday night here in Alumni Gymnasium but the result continued to be a thing of beauty for the Rider women in topping Fairfield 60-52 in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) game to keep the Broncs (15-2, 8-0 MAAC) alone in first and unbeaten at the start of a three-game home stand.

 

The Stags (9-8, 6-2) were able to keep the tempo to their slower pace though Rider was still able to obtain enough of a burst to build a 13-point lead late in the third period that became good to have when a Fairfield rally had the visitors threatening to go ahead in the closing minutes.

 

The game was the only of the 11 Guru local D-1 teams in action Tuesday and like at most places in the last several days in contests prior to the opening tip a 24.8 seconds of silence occurred to honor the memories of retired NBA great Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gigi and the other victims of Sunday’s helicopter crash on the way to his daughter’s basketball game.

 

“Since he retired he’s been one of the faces of women’s basketball as far as being one of the supporters of our sport,” said Rider veteran coach Lynn Milligan. “I envisioned him to be a WNBA owner, to be honest with you.

 

“His love for basketball transcended gender. The relationships he had with a lot of women’s players was huge. He was an iconic figure particularly for this generation. I mean I grew up with Dr. J (Julius Erving) and Michael (Jordan). These guys grew up with Kobe,” Milligan said.

 

“It was definitely something that hit home in the basketball community and it hit our family. We talk about impacting young girls all the time. 

“And to think of those three young girls that don’t get to try to realize their dream of playing in the WNBA is really heartbreaking so it was something little (pre-game) we could do to pay our respects and continue to play in that form that Kobe had for everybody that greatness is a choice and work hard and be disciplined.”

 

In the contest, two Broncs got double-doubles with MAAC preseason player of the year and once more player of the week Stella Johnson gaining 15 points and 11 rebounds while Amari Johnson had 16 points and 10 rebounds with pairs of blocks and steals.

 

Amanda Mobley had nine points while also dishing five assists. Lea Favre scored 11 points and was the sole Bronc effective from the field shooting 5-for-9 but Rider was able to cash in from the charity stripe shooting 18-of-21 free throw attempts of which Stella Johnson was 9-for-10.

 

Fairfield’s Katie Armstrong scored 14 points, Sam Kramer scored 13, and Lou Lopez-Senechal scored 12.

 

   “We stick together, play tough defense, shot great from the free throw line, shot great from the three (6-for-15), we really made some great talking movements in that second half and in the end of the game when they made a little run on defense,” Milligan said of the keys to the win.

 

“That’s what veteran teams do when we have an off night on offense when we’re not clicking as we normally are, we have to find other ways to win and that’s what good teams and veteran players trust each other and I think we did that tonight.

 

“We got the win against a good Fairfield team that was sitting at 6-1. So for us to do that says a lot about the character of our team.”

 

Rider’s only losses to date are the season-opener at powerful Princeton just up the road near here and a setback against North Florida in November at the MAAC/ASUN Challenge at Disney’s Wide World of Sports near Orlando.

 

Since then, the Broncs are now on what became Tuesday night a program record 12-0 win streak, topping an 11-game run in 191-82 as a Division I team and it’s the first Rider has ever opened the MAAC at 8-0.

 

“We need to be first in a few things, that other season kept being first in anything,” Milligan quipped.

 

That was in 2016-17 when the Broncs became a winning machine falling just short of Quinnipiac in the regular season standings and advanced to the title game against the Bobcats and landed in the postseason for the first time in the WNIT, which Rider returned as MAAC runners up in the standings last year.

 

Amari Johnson now has 11 double-doubles, the most since 12 by Julia Duggan that historic season.

 

The Broncs will be looking to extend their perfect home record to 8-0 Thursday night at 7 here when they host Manhattan. At the moment they hold a one-game lead over preseason favorite Marist, whom they beat earlier this month in overtime up in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

 

Ivy Schedule Change

 

Primarily off the forthcoming switch in Princeton’s finals schedule from a three-week January period over to the December portion of the seasonal calendar, the Ivy League announced Tuesday off future planning committees a new league slate for the next two seasons beginning a year from now on Jan. 2 to an expanded 10-week period in which the a large portion of the traditional Friday-Saturday back-to-back competitions for men and women will be dispensed.

 

The regular season will end prior to the Ivy Tournament with games against the travel partners. 

 

That’s interesting because while Penn and Princeton used to end the regular season in the old days, when the tournament was launched the schools moved away from that in that the Tigers and Quakers have owned the league the last decade and didn’t want to play back-to-back weekends due to the likely chance they’d meet for the title and NCAA automatic bid.

 

The Penn men have already announced all their Big Five games will conclude in December.

 It is not known what the women desire — in recent seasons the Quakers have filled the three-week gap playing  Villanova and Temple with the title at stake with Penn in play in those contests.

 

That gap that existed for Princeton factored in Penn winning the first of the Ivy crowns under Mike McLaughlin.

In the pre-Ivy tourney days that year when final standings determined the NCAA berth held for the league, Princeton romped over Penn in the league opener.

 

Three weeks later, however, a very good Harvard team was scheduled this way to begin the rest of the Ivy season and they caught the powerful Tigers with a bit of rust and pulled an upset but the next night in the Palestra the Penn women set series records beating the Crimson and it became a three-way race.

 

Ultimately Harvard got dispatched and the last day came down to the winner of the Princeton/Penn game up at Jadwin claiming the title. The Quakers prevailed in one of the all-time wins in the history of the program.

 

In the new schedule, one of the games will be played on Monday, Martin Luther King Day, by all the teams.

 

Here’s the structure of the season off the Ivy site.

 

Ivy Schedule Format for 2020-21 and 2021-22

 

Week 1 – one game

Week 2 – two games (back-to-back)

Week 3 – two games (Saturday and MLK Day)

Week 4 – one game 

Week 5 – one game

Week 6 – two games (back-to-back)

Week 7 – one game

Week 8 – two games (back-to-back)

Week 9 – one game

Week 10 – one game (vs. travel partner) 

 

Looking Ahead

 

Locally, just three games Wednesday night in the Guru group with Temple hosting UCF at 7 in McGonigle Hall in an American Athletic Conference game as the Owls try to recover from Sunday’s loss at Cincinnati.

 

The other two are Atlantic 10 contests. La Salle, off its Big Five Sunday win over Saint Joseph’s will try to extend the triumph, which also counted in the league, hosting George Mason at 5 in Tom Gola Arena prior to a men’s nightcap.

 

Saint Joseph’s, trying to bounce back from the loss to the Explorers, will host George Washington at 7 in Hagan Arena.

 

On Thursday, as mentioned, Rider here hosts Manhattan College at 7, while in the Big Ten up the road Rutgers will be hosting Illinois at 7 trying to bounce back from Sunday’s loss to Michigan. 

Meanwhile, Penn State at home against Iowa at 7 in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College will be trying to recover from Sunday’s loss at Purdue.

 

Taking you to Friday, in the CAA, Drexel hosts Towson at 7 in the Daskalakis Athletic Center in the first meeting between the two since Towson rallied in the closing minutes last March to beat the Dragons in the conference tournament title game at Delaware.

 

Speaking of the Blue Hens, at 7 p.m., they will be hosting James Madison, the preseason favorite but currently tied for first with Drexel, which hosts the Dukes on Sunday. Delaware plays in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark just below Wilmington.

 

Villanova returning home  from last weekend’s road losses at Big East frontrunner DePaul and Marquette will host St. John’s at 7 in Finneran Pavilion.

 In their previous meeting several weeks ago up in Queens, the Wildcats edged the Red Storm in overtime to complete a weekend road sweep that began at Seton Hall, which will be at Finneran Sunday.

 

The current Ivy season of back-to-back weekend games after several traveling partners have already played once, begins with Penn at Harvard, site of this year’s Ivy tourney, at 7 in Lavietes Pavilion in Boston, and then on to Dartmouth on Saturday while opposite, Princeton is at Dartmouth at 7 on Friday and then at Harvard on Saturday.

 

Penn is on a three-game losing streak having fallen to Princeton earlier this month at The Palestra in the league opener, and then suffering Big Five setbacks at Villanova and then squandering a fourth-quarter lead last Thursday at Temple that enabled the Owls to tie the Wildcats for the Big Five crown at 3-1 each.

 

And that’s your report.

 

 

 

 

  

 

The Guru Weekend Report: La Salle Snaps Seven-Game Losing Streak to Saint Joseph’s

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – Since there was but one of the Guru’s 11 Division I local teams in action Saturday, the report for this time around is going from a daily to weekend wrap up edition in which two of them faced each other and the rest resulted in a 4-3 slightly losing split while Penn and Princeton stayed idle before heading to Friday’s re-opening of the Ivy regular season title pursuit following their clash won by Princeton earlier this month at Penn’s Palestra.

The headliner winners Sunday were La Salle topping Saint Joseph’s for the Explorers’ first Big Five game winner in two seasons while Drexel and Delaware claimed Colonial Athletic Association wins and Rider on Saturday continued its win streak and now is all alone atop the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference race.

On the other side of the ledger Rutgers and Penn State were taken down in the Big Ten while Villanova suffered the completion of a weekend sweep of loses, dropping a close game at Marquette in the Big East. 

The national story of note was Oregon finishing the weekend with a win at Oregon State to complete a sweep of their Civil War series in the Pac-12 after beating the Beavers at home Friday night.

The four of five small colleges, however, who have been appearing in the report all gained wins to add to a building collection.

Now that you have been given the overture, let’s get to the specifics.

La Salle Snaps Losing Streaks in the Big Five and Against Saint Joseph’s.

The Explorers picked a combo appropriate moment at home in Tom Gola Arena of Hall of Athletes Induction and Alumni weekend to get second-year coach Mountain MacGillivray his first Big Five triumph as the Explorers, coming off a tough narrow loss at Richmond, beat Saint Joseph’s 67-59 in a game that also counts in the Atlantic 10 standings and snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Hawks (8-11, 2-5 A-10, 1-3 Big Five).

The Sunday triumph by 18 points is the widest margin of victory in the series in 14 seasons since a 65-50 triumph in 2006 by La Salle (8-12, 2-5, 1-3), which never trailed.

The result was the final of the 10-game City Series round-robin with the standings showing a first-place tie with Villanova, losing to just Temple at 3-1, and Temple, losing to just Saint Joseph’s at 3-1.

Penn, which at one time seemed poised to gain its first-ever outright crown, finishes alone in third at 2-2 with wins over Saint Joseph’s and La Salle and losses to Temple and Villanova.

The Hawks and Explorers finished tied for fourth at 3-1 with Saint Joseph’s having beaten Temple, and La Salle gaining the win here.

Saint Joseph’s had come into the contest off a buzzer-beating win at Saint Bonaventure earlier in the week.

But in this one the Explorers jumped to a 15-6 lead near the end of the first quarter, got the differential to 11 at the half, and accelerated to as many as 17 points in the third, and then was able to apply the defensive breaks when  a Hawks rally reduced it to six with 1 minute, 28 seconds left in regulation.

“Really excited for our staff to get a Big Five win, didn’t want to go two years without getting one,” MacGillivray said. “For Me and Coach (Chris) Day, growing up here, Big Five’s meant a lot.

“The first college basketball games I ever watched was (Saint Joseph’s coach) Cindy Griffin and her backcourt mate Katie Curry (now Gardler) and we were there screaming our heads off for Saint Joe’s and to be able to get a big win over a great coach who’s done a great job over the years, who’s team years in and out is one of the toughest in our league, it’s a real thrill for me and pleased to be a part of it.”

Kayla Spruill had a career-high 24 points and 12 rebounds and Claire Jacobs, a freshman guard with her twin sister Amy from Australia, had 21. 

Shalina Miller had 10 points and added six blocks to her program-best career mark which she recently attained and was honored for before the game.

“These two players are the reasons we got it done,” MacGillivray said. “You need players to make plays and put the ball in the basket. 

“I challenged our players to match Saint Joe’s ferocity and intensity. I said, if we do it, we will win. The question is, will we do it. Not everyone can do it against Saint Joe’s and we did it tonight.

“We’ve been getting better since the Navy game and tonight we got better and it’ s something we can grow on.”

Spruill has scored in double digits in eight straight games, the longest Explorers streak since Amy Griffin did so in 26 games during the 2016-17 season.

The win comes one day after the bulk of the 1988-89 team coached by John Miller returned on Saturday to be part of the latest La Salle Hall of Athletes induction. 

The squad set records for wins, got nationally-ranked, won the Big Five outright and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, knocking out Connecticut in its first appearance in a game played in Storrs, and advancing to eventual champion Tennessee.

Sunday was the annual Alumni Game welcoming more former stars home.

“Seeing that team that had so much success and most wins in our school history, I really want this for our girls, to experience what they had,” MacGillivray noted.

The feeling they have for 30 some years, of having been together and accomplishing great things on the court, it’s amazing.

“That’s what we’re working towards. We’re not getting 20 wins this year but we can still strive for greatness and have a bond they’ll have forever.”

Katie Jekot had 16 points for Saint Joseph’s, freshman Kaliah Henderson, who has stepped up recently, had 14 points, and Gabby Smalls scored 11.

But La Salle owned the boards with a 48-36 rebounding advantage.

“Our point guard getting two quick fouls really hurts with the flow of our offense,” Griffin said of Lula Roig. “That was disappointing because she obviously runs the show for us.

“At the same time, our defense really failed us, giving up threes, that’s not who we are. 

“They made shots, you got to give them credit, when they needed to and every time we made a run and we thought it was going in and it didn’t go in, it was disappointing but you have to move on.

“I knew it was going to be a close game. They’re coming off a tough loss, we’re coming off a great win. But, that’s why you play, you have to keep your head up and keep moving forward.”

On Wednesday, Saint Joseph’s will host George Washington at 7 p.m. at home in Hagan Arena while La Salle will host George Mason at 5 p.m.

The two teams get to meet a second time, being one of the A 10 home-and-home rivals, with the Hawks hosting the Explorers Saturday, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m.

Drexel Completes Weekend Sweep While Delaware Snaps Drought In CAA

The Dragons kept their win streak going to six straight games to stayed tied for first in the CAA with preseason   61-54 win over William & Mary Sunday at Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg, Va.

Delaware salvaged the second part of the same road trip in reverse, beating Elon 65-56 to snap a three-game losing streak after dropping the third one at the Tribe on Friday night.

Drexel (13-6, 6-1 CAA) took a double-double digit lead early and later was tied twice but never fell behind in the contest in a season that has seen coach Denise Dillon’ s squad win four in overtime.

The Dragon defense forced the Tribe (13-6, 4-4) to suffer foul trouble, enabling Drexel to spend much time on the line and connecting on 19-of 22 points.

Drexel’s Niki Metzel shot 5-of-10 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 from the line for game and season personal best honors with 16 points, while Bailey Greenberg scored 13 points and Aubree Brown had 10 points with six assists.

 A 10-0 run in the fourth quarter enabled Drexel to secure the triumph ahead of this weekend’s return home at the Daskalakis Athletic Center hosting Towson at 7 p.m. on Friday and a potential record-matching clash for sole possession of first with JMU on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Delaware (6-12, 2-5) struggled early before rallying from the 11-2 deficit at the outset to go on and outlast the Phoenix (9-10, 4-4).

Nicole Enabosi had 21 points for the Blue Hens with 11 rebounds, shooting 5-for-10 from the field and 11-of-12 foul shots.

 Jasmine Dickey and Kayla Shaw each scored 17 points while Dickey also had a double-double with 12 rebounds.

The Blue Hens had a 22-point lead late in the third period.

Ariel Colon had 16 points while Saadia Munford scored 11 for William & Mary.

Delaware can help snap the tie at the top of the CAA Friday night for Drexel, should the Dragons win their game since the Blue Hens will host James Madison at 7 in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark before hosting Towson at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Towson’s meeting at Drexel Friday night is the first since the Tigers rallied and beat the Dragons in the closing minutes of the CAA tournament title game at Delaware last season for an NCAA automatic bid.

Rider Finishes Niagara Sweep to Stand Alone in First in the MAAC

How sweep it was for the Broncs with a little help elsewhere from Quinnipiac on Saturday as Rider had less difficulty than the conference opener at home in Alumni Gym in early January to start the MAAC schedule against Niagara, where in this one the visitors took a 71-55 win over the Purple Eagles (6-11, 4-4 MAAC).

Rider (14-2, 7-0), whose only losses are non-conference setbacks in the season opener at powerful Princeton and against North Florida as part of the ASUN/MAAC Challenge at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando in November, has won 11 straight heading into Tuesday’s hosting of Fairfield at home in Lawrenceville, Nn  

Quinnipiac’s win dropped Fairfield a game below the Broncs in the MAAC standings.

Rider went wire-to-wire in front of this one, building a lopsided 25-point lead late in the third quarter.

Lea Favre was 8-for-10 from the field and finished with 18 points, Amari Johnson and Stella Johnson each scored 15 while Amari also had 15 rebounds and blocked six shots for her MAAC-leading 10^th double-double on the season. 

That’s the most since Jullie Duggan had 12 in Rider’s historic 206-17 season that could soon be surpassed by this one.

Amanda Mobley had 12 points and nine assists.

Rider’s two losses came when Favre was sidelined with an injury in the early season.

“Lea had a great game today,” said Rider veteran coach Lynn Milligan. “Last year she led the MAAC in field goal percentage and she’s right up there again this year.  Her teammates trust her and she’s got great hands and is very confident at 15 feet.

She’s expanded her game to be better on the block and she runs the floor extremely hard.”

Rutgers and Penn State get Downed in the Big Ten

Suddenly, Rutgers is having trouble with the Big Ten after a blazing start to the season that extended to the 2020 portion of the calendar.

The latest setback came Sunday on the road with a 71-57 loss to Michigan at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.

The host Wolverines (13-6, 4-4 Big Ten), who had been ranked in different stretches, shot 50 percent from the floor and claimed a 34-28 rebounding advantage.

Arella Guirantes had 16 points for Rutgers (15-4, 5-3) while Zipporah Broughton had a season-best 13 points and Khadaizha Sanders scored 11.

Two 10-0 runs by Michigan spurred the home team to a 22-point lead in the first half.

“When we applied the pressure and put it on, we could have put it on at the beginning,” Hall of Fame Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer said of the problem falling behind early. “I don’t know why, somebody’s kicking us in the behind and suddenly we decided we’re going to play. 

“So we’re messing with our future. Period. 

“It’s not that Michigan is anything less than who they are and that’s great. But we should have played much tougher.”

Stringer said the problem stems from the earlier non-conference schedule “and we weren’t prepared to take on the giants in the league and so now we’ve been stunned by Michigan and Michigan State. Hopefully, we’re going to run the table on the next group of games that we have.”

That begins Thursday night at 7 when Rutgers returns home to host Illinois at the Rutgers Athletic Center.

Meanwhile, Penn State got 35 points from Kamaria McDaniel, her third 30-plus effort this season, but the Lady Lions suffered at the hands of a totally hot Purdue squad for an 81-68 loss on the road to the Boilermakers at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind.

The fate of the visitors (7-13, 1-8 Big Ten) was sealed in the fourth period by the Boilermakers’ own Dominique Oden going on a personal 8-1 run for the home team (14-7, 5-4).

Oden finished with 28 points, Ae’Rianna Harris had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Karissa McLaughlin scored 14.

Penn State starts a two-game home stand Thursday night hosting Iowa at 7 at the  Bryce Jordan Center at State College.

Temple Falls at Cincinnati

Climbing back into American Athletic Conference play for the rest of the season, the Owls were unable to build on Thursday’s comeback back home at the finish that brought them a share of the Big Five title over Penn in losing 86-61 to the Bearcats at Fifth Third Arena.

It was another double-double for Temple’s Mia Davis, her 14^th on the season with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds while Lena Niang had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Marissa Mackins scored 14 points for the Owls (12-8, 4-3 AAC) while Ashley Jones had 13 points.

Antoinette Miller had 21 points for Cincinnati (13-6, 4-2), while Angel Rizor and Limar’l Thomas each scored 19 points, and Sam Rodgers had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Temple comes home to host UCF Wednesday night at 7 at MicGonigle Hall

Villanova Suffers Weekend Sweep Losing to Marquette

Most would have called losing Friday night at No. 11 DePaul, the runaway Big East leader, a sort of concession going in on the trip meaning topping Marquette in the logjam behind the Demons could still cause some happiness with a split off the two visits.

But the tightly fought contest Sunday afternoon did not bring that about with Villanova losing 57-52 in Milwaukee at the Al McGuire Center.

The setback wasted another stellar performance from freshman redshirt Maddy Siegrist, who had 25 points for the Wildcats (11-9, 5-4 Big East).

The Golden Eagles (15-6, 6-3), who were part of the six-way tie with Villanova for second when the day began,  moved ahead, though still three games behind frontrunning DePaul, which routed Georgetown 92-66 at home in Chicago.

Siegrist shot 10-for-19 from the field and 5-for-10 on three-point attempts giving her a strong chance to earn her ninth Big East weekly freshman award on Monday. 

She leads the conference with 10 games scoring 20 or more points.

Mary Gedaka had 16 points for the Wildcats with seven assists while Bridget Herlihy had nine points off three assists.

Lauren Van Kleunen had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Marquette, while Isabelle Spingola had 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Altia Anderson scored 10.

Villanova returns home looking to gain a season sweep over each of St. John’s, which will be at Finneran Pavilion Friday at 7 p.m., and Seton Hall, which visits Sunday at 1 p.m.

Nationally Noted: Oregon Claims Sweep of Oregon State in Top 10 Border Wall Showdown

Down three 37-34 at the half, No. 4 Oregon took control the rest of the way, riding to a 76-60 win over No. 7 Oregon State in a PAC-12 game that gave the Ducks (17-2, 7-1 PAC-12) a weekend sweep of the conference’s border war after Oregon had won at home Friday in Eugene to start the annual battle of the duo that has become more intensified with the growth of each in recent years as national powers.

Oregon is going to step out of the conference a week from Monday and get into a cross-country showdown when the Ducks visit No. 3 Connecticut in the Huskies’ Gampel Pavilion.

Coming out of a dominating 60-45 victory Thursday night in the series revival game in Hartford with No. 23 Tennessee, UConn’s next challenge comes just ahead of playing Monday night back in Hartford hosting an exhibition game with the USA women’s national team.

Meanwhile back in the Northwest, the sweep for Oregon comes the first time in a decade since 2009-10, when Scott Rueck was still a year away from arriving to build the Beavers’ notoriety at Oregon State in Corvallis.

Events further down the Pacific coastline Sunday made it a day of mixed emotions, especially for Oregon senior star Sabrina Ionescu with the shocking news of the death of former NBA great Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi among several others in a helicopter crash while traveling to a basketball practice for his daughter.

Ionescu, who had been mentored by the Philadelphian, scored 19 at Oregon State (16-4, 4-4) and is considered the frontrunner for player of the year as well as likely the top overall pick in this spring’s WNBA draft going to the New York Liberty.

‘’Everything I do, I do it for him. This season is for him,” she said in an emotional state during a postgame TV interview. Her shoes had “Forever 24” and a heart on them.

On the court, besides the effort from Ionescu, who holds the NCAA combined men’s and women’s record for most triple-doubles at 22, Satou Sabally scored scored 16 points.

Oregon State’s Mila Pivec scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

The Beavers have lost three straight games, falling to No. 6 Stanford, and in the two Oregon games. 

In other games of note, several spots could be up for grab at the bottom Monday’s new poll due to losses, which would offer Princeton an opportunity to return after being knocked out two weeks ago without loss.

The Tigers have not played a real game since their win over Penn at the beginning of this month to start the Ivy schedule.

No. 25 West Virginia fell Sunday night to host TCU 73-60 in a Big 12 game in Fort Worth, while earlier in the day No. 8 N.C. State avenged an upset loss to North Carolina in an ACC game in Raleigh after the Tar Heels took the first game in Chapel Hill.

Tennessee  came off its loss to UConn to edge LSU 63-58 at home in Knoxville in the Lady Vols’ first game since the loss to Texas.

No. 20 Maryland at home in College Park avenged a Big 10 loss on the road beating No. 22 Northwestern 70-61 Sunday.

Earlier in the week, No. 21 Arkansas fell at home 64-55 to unranked Georgia.

Small Colleges: Grand Day for Holy Family’s Radley as Tigers Keep Winning; Lincoln Star Gets Some Pub

Elizabeth Radley surpassed her 1,000^th point to become the 25^th member of the prestigious scoring group and went on to make it 1,005 with her team high 16^th point as Holy Family on the road in Bronxville, N.Y., took a 61-56 win over Concordia (4-15, 3-7 CACC) in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference game at Meyer Athletic Center.

The Tigers have won six straight under alum and new coach Bernadette Laukaitis, the former associate head coach under Mike McLaughlin at Penn and at her alma mater previously.

Holy Family (12-5, 10-0) continues to stay unbeaten in the conference following  an opening upset win at USciences, which hasn’t lost in the CACC since. 

The Tigers also beat the Devils in the title game of the Philadelphia/Suburban NCAA Certified Women’s Summer League in Hatboro, Pa.

Radley got her milestone late in the third quarter.

Holy Family reached a double digit lead late in the third period, but the Clippers used a 12-4 rally to move within a basket at 56-54 late in the game. 

But Radley then scored, Concordia committed a turnover, and Radley connected on 1 of -2 foul shots for a five-point lead with 52 seconds left.

The Clippers got back within three on two foul shots, but they missed a triplet and the Tigers’ Moe Moore grabbed a rebound, got fouled, though there was still a foul to give.

Radley scored two more free throws to end it with her 16^th and final point while Moore added 14 to the team totals. Anjelai Hayes shot 6-for-8 from the field for 13 points.

Christina Brown had 14 points for Concordia while Shanice Graves had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Holy Family snapped a two-game losing streak in the brief series the Tigers lead 9-3 dating back to the start of the last decade in 2009-10.

 It’s the first time the team has had double digit wins in the conference in four seasons.

The next game is Wednesday at home hosting Wilmington in Campus Center Gymnasium in Northeast Philadelphia at 5:30 p.m.

In other CACC play, USciences has been idle until playing at Jefferson 6 p.m. Wednesday but on Saturday the Rams beat Bloomfield, rallying for a 68-63 win at home in the Gallagher Center after trailing 52-48 heading into the fourth quarter.

Still trailing 59-52 with 6:20 left in regulation, Jefferson (8-10, 5-5) launched a 9-0 run to take its lead in the game before the visiting Bears (3-15, 3-7) tied it. 

However, Alynna Williams, who collected 23 points, scored twice around her grabbing a steal to make it 65-61 with 22 seconds left in regulation.

Bloomfield then score but Williams then hit a pair of free throws, Bloomfield missed a three, and she scored another foul shot to end it. 

She also had six assists while Allie Warren had her first double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Haley Meinel scored 11 points and Sabria Lytles scored 10.

Coach Tom Shirley now has won 785 games, including 636 at Jefferson.

Lincoln Stops Bowie State for Fifth Straight

A balanced attack carried Lincoln University over Bowie State 63-59 on Saturday for the fifth straight win by the Lions (18-3, 8-1 CIAA) in a Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association game at home at Manuel Rivero Gym.

Lincoln is the only other Atlantic Region squad behind No. 1 ranked Indiana, Pa., to reach 18 wins to date. 

It’s the third highest victory total in program history behind 22 in 2014-15 and 19 in 2006-07.

Bowie State is 16-3 overall and 6-2 in the CIAA while the Lions are 4-0 in Division play compared to 0-1 for the Bulldogs.

Bryanna Brown and Kwanza Murray each scored 11 points and were joined by eight more teammates in the scoring column. Lincoln showed depth outscoring the Bowie bench 30-14.

The Lions next play Monday (tonight) hosting Virginia State at 5:30 p.m. in a North Division contest.

In other Lincoln news, Murray is featured in the Faces in the Crowd section of the Feb. 1 issue of Sports Illustrated.

She’s the first women’s hoops player from the program to be featured in the magazine and the first CIAA student-athlete since two St. Augustine track stars in June 2017.

She leads the conference in scoring. Murray is the first Lincoln athlete to appear in Sports Illustrated since 2008 and sixth in school history.

The 18-3 record is the best start in Lincoln women’s basketball history. 

A new poll comes out the next 24 hours but right now the Lions are tied for fourth in the D2SIDA Region Poll, highest ranking in program history.

Rowan Cruises Over Jersey City

Traveling north on Saturday, Rowan took an easy 83-55 win in Division III at New Jersey City University as Nicole Mallard scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Grace Marshall scored 14 points in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game.

Eliana Santana had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Ayanna Johnson grabbed nine rebounds and blocked six shots as Rowan (16-2, 10-1 NJAC) maintain first.

Hannah Johnson had 15 points for NJCU (6-11, 4-7).

Next up is a visit Wednesday from The College of New Jersey (12-6, 9-2) at 6 p.m. in Glassboro.

Looking Ahead

Your Guru on Monday night will be back in Hartford tweeting from Connecticut’s exhibition hosting the USA National Team at 7 from the XL Center.

As mentioned, on Tuesday, Rider hosts Fairfield at 7 p.m. in an MAAC game at Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J., the only one on the books. The Stags were also unbeaten in the conference until Saturday.

On Wednesday, as mentioned, La Salle hosts George Mason while Saint Joseph’s hosts George Washington in Atlantic 10 games, while Temple hosts UCF in the American Athletic Conference.

Thursday, Penn State hosts Iowa while Rutgers hosts Illinois in the Big Ten, and Rider hosts Manhattan College in the MAAC as part of a three-game Broncs home stand.

On Friday, Villanova hosting St. John’s in the Big East has been mentioned as also has been Drexel hosting Towson and Delaware hosting James Madison in the CAA. 

And as the Ivy Friday-Saturday slate gets under way on Friday, Penn is at Harvard while Princeton is at Dartmouth with the two visitors switching off on Saturday.

And that is your comprehensive weekend report.