The Guru Report: Mayock’s Shot Ends Saint Joseph’s Losing Streak

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Katie Mayock put back an offensive rebound from freshman Kaliah Henderson’s missed shot as time expired and Saint Joseph’s nipped St. Bonaventure 61-60 on the road Wednesday night in an Atlantic 10 game at the Bonnies’ Reilly Center that ended the Hawks’ four-game losing streak.

Ironically, it’s the second time in four days the Bonnies (4-15, 1-5 A-10) became the cure for losing woes suffered by the Philadelphia women’s duo in the conference.

On Sunday here in town, La Salle closed out with a fourth quarter run to snap a longer 10-game frustration of their own.

The finish in Olean, N.Y., brought a wave of excitement as observed from the video posted by the team twitter account that even caught veteran coach Cindy Griffin jumping up and down for joy.

“I knew Kaliah was going to take the shot and I had to be in there ready to rebound,” said Mayock, a 6-2 sophomore from Conestoga High and suburban Berwyn, Pa., whose mother Alix played on four-straight Hawks contingents that went to the NCAA tournament.

“That moment was awesome,” Mayock said. “I never experienced anything like that.”

 “Katie’s play was unbelievable,” Griffin said. “She was in the right place at the right time. She knew that was going to be her role, to get in there and rebound and clean up anything that came her way.

“She’s been in that situation a couple of times, and I’m happy to see her covert a couple on her effort.”

The game was the only one Wednesday involving any of the Guru’s 11 local D-1 teams.

The Hawks (8-10, 2-4) used a balanced attack out of the starting lineup with Lula Roig getting 10 points and six rebounds, freshman Gabby Smalls also scoring 10 points, while Naikah Delinois, Mary Sheehan, and Katie Jekot each scored eight points.

“It way very balanced,” Griffin said. “We had different scoring opportunities from different players. We went a little bit cold there for a while, but then Kaliah Henderson came in and gave us a little bit of a punch. 

“It’s going to take all of us to step up, and I’m really proud of the way they stepped up.”

It almost was another disappointing finish to add to recent narrow setbacks where leads were blown and scoring had become a hardship for Saint Joseph’s, which held a 55-48 lead with 4:30 left in regulation.

An 8-0 rally from the Bonnies brought the home team ahead 56-55 with 1:30 left. Then Smalls with a put back got the Hawks up by one with 43 seconds and counting down.

Then Deja Francis nailed two foul shots and the Bonnies took over again by a point at 58-57 with 32 left in regulation.

Henderson’s layup swung it back to the Hawks but the  Bonnies struck with a score to regain control 61-60 with 21 seconds left.

Mayock grabbed an offensive bound off a missed shot with 11 seconds left and then got another offensive rebound off Henderson’s attempt to go back up with what became the game-winner.

It was a rare operation by Saint Joseph’s off recent performances in which this time the Hawks got it done both ends of the floor, defensively allowing St. Bonaventure only two assisted scores while offensively committing just 10 turnovers while 42 of the 61 points came from inside.

“We needed this win for a lot of reasons,” Griffin said. “We’ve lost some close games in our last two outings, and this win does a lot for the team’s confidence, to know they can pull out the win in close games.

“It’s important for their confidence for the rest of the season.”

Saint Joseph’s is off until Sunday when the Hawks travel cross town to La Salle for a combo A-10/Big Five game at 2 p.m. at the Tom Gola Arena.

Everything else as far the city series goes will have been settled while this one will determine whether Saint Joseph’s with a victory finishes third tied with Temple or Penn at 2-2 and La Salle is fifth at 0-4,  or off an Explorers win the two will finish tied for fourth at 1-3.

Looking Ahead: Penn Visits Temple as Each Go for a Piece of the Big Five

As it turns out, starting this part of the report flows right off finishing the last part, though the Guru has to go on the national circuit up to Connecticut for the revival of the 22-dormant seasons series with Tennessee.

Temple hosts Penn at McGonigle Hall in town Thursday night at 7 and this might have had even more pizzazz if last Wednesday had the visiting Quakers won at Villanova, giving them a chance to go after their first-ever singular 4-0 Big Five crown.

The Wildcats’ victory, however, gave Villanova a share of the crown at 3-1, attached with sentimentality in that it was coach Harry Perretta’s final local game heading into retirement at the end of his 42^nd season on the Main Line.

Still, it’s exciting enough in that winner of Temple-Penn earns a tie with ‘Nova at 3-1 and the loser will finish 2-2 either alone in third or tied there with Saint Joseph’s pending the Hawks’ outcome Sunday at La Salle as mentioned in the previous section.

Temple is coming off the weekend’s tough loss at the finish at Wichita State, snapping a five-game win streak, mostly in the American Athletic Conference.

Penn, off a previous Ivy opening loss at home to Princeton, and the setback at Villanova, gives the Quakers back-to-back losses for the first time in several seasons.

When Penn and Temple were both at the bottom of the city in the local round robin for a long time, the Owls usually owned the Quakers.

However, with the ongoing combined Dawn Staley-Tonya Cardoza era on North Broad Street and the arrival of Mike McLaughlin at Penn, it’s been an up-for-grabs situation.

After Penn’s nine-game loss in the series, since 2014 the Quakers have won five of the last seven, plus, unless that’s one of the losses, a narrow setback in a second-round WNIT game postseason at The Palestra.

The game features three of five players being touted as Big Five women’s player of the year, which, when extended to Philly Six player, would put Drexel’s Bailey Greenberg in the mix.

 But in this match, Temple offers Mia Davis, the Owls’ double double Queen, and transfer newcomer Ashley Jones off West Virginia and graduate of Nuemann-Goretti here.

 Penn has freshman sensation Kayla Padilla, while Villanova has freshman Maddy Siegrist and senior Mary Gedaka.

The Quakers have two earlier Big Five ties under Mike McLaughlin, the only claims at the top.

Counting his Division II years at Holy Family in Northeast Philadelphia, McLaughlin’s 189 wins at Penn has him four short triumphs of 600, which would make him the 19^th active coach to gain that total.

Penn as a program can reach 600 when it wins its next game.

Meanwhile, on Thursday morning, La Salle will be in Richmond, playing the Spiders with an 11 a.m. tip at the Robins Center in an Atlantic 10 match in Virginia.

Coming off the win back home, the Explorers will be looking for two straight since early in the season and ahead of returning home Sunday to host Saint Joseph’s, which has been discussed above.

In the Big Ten, one of the two locals in the conference, Penn State will be hosting No. 17 Indiana at the Bryce Jordan Center at 6 p.m. in State College.

Rider, tied for first with Fairfield, both unbeaten within the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, visits Canisius in Western, N.Y., while two other MAAC attractions affecting Rider has preseason favorite Marist hosting past multi-champion Quinnipiac, which has two conference defeats, while Fairfield hosts Manhattan.

Nationally, besides the No. 4 Connecticut hosting No. 23 Tennessee in the intersectional rivalry resumption in Hartford at 7 p.m., newly-ranked No. 22 Northwestern visits Michigan State in the Big Ten. There are others which will be addressed in postgame coverage where upsets occur.

On Friday, locally, Villanova visits No. 11 DePaul, which leads the Big East, in Chicago, and in the Colonial Athletic Association, Drexel, riding in a tie at the top of the conference, visits Elon at 7 p.m., and Delaware visits William & Mary, same time.

Another two big national showdowns out of the Pac-12 has rivalry set-ups, both involving all ranked teams, with No. 4 Oregon hosting No. 7 Oregon State (until recently, this might have been a 1 vs. 2 game), while No. 18 Arizona host No. 16 Arizona State.

Small Colleges: Lincoln and USciences Still on Winning Ways

Catching up to games played this week, since there were no reports off Monday and Tuesday offered here, in Lincoln news beyond games, Kwanza Murray and Alisia Machado, respectively, were the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) player and defensive player of the week honorees.

And for a paragraph, while on awards, Villanova’s Maggie Siegrist picked up her eighth Big East freshman honor, two short of the record held by former UConn stars Maya Moore and Natalie Butler, who later transferred to George Mason. La Salle’s Claire Jacobs got the Atlantic 10 freshman award, while Temple’s Mia Davis got her second straight Big Five award.

Back to Lincoln, the Lions later Monday went on to beat Elizabeth City State 69-43, in a CIAA home game Monday night at Manuel Rivero Hall. 

Holding first place in the CIAA North, Lincoln (17-3, 7-1 CIAA) has equaled its total victories from last season, as Murray scored 17 points and DeAshia Young and Kenzie Spencer each scored 12 against the Vikings (7-12, 3-6). Young had six assists to reach 100 on the season, the second Lincoln player in Lions history to reach that total in back-to-back seasons.

Lincoln is also 3-0 in Division games.

Next up is a Saturday CIAA visit from Bowie State at 2 p.m. Both the visitors and Lincoln are now tied for fourth in the latest D2SIDA Atlantic Region Media Poll.

USciences on Tuesday defeated Wilmington 76-67 in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Game in Delaware. 

The No.24 Devils (16-3, 9-1 CACC), on a 10-game win streak since their CACC home opening upset loss to Holy Family, have won 10 straight games after twice holding off near-double digit rallies by the Wildcats (2-15, 2-7).

Irisa Ye for the visitors had 25 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three blocks, while Jess Huber scored 20, fueled by four triplets, and Jordan Vitelli scored 17.

Sabreen Muslim had 22 points and 15 rebounds off the bench for Wilmington.

The Devils are off until visiting Jefferson next Wednesday at 6 p.m. across town in the Gallagher Center in East Falls.

Jefferson on Tuesday fell at home in a CACC game to Chestnut Hill 76-72. The Rams host Bloomfield Saturday in the Gallagher Center at 6:30 before taking on USciences next week.

In the game with the Griffins (7-11, 5-3), Jefferson (7-10, 4-5) had an early 10-3 lead.

Leah Miller had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the visitors, who, like USciences, Jefferson, and Holy Family play as almost total units in the Philadelphia/Suburban NCAA Certified Women’s Summer League in Hatboro.

Lauren Crim had 26 points, Reserve Morgan Orloski had 18 points, and Cassie Siebold scored 11.

Jefferson’s Alynna Williams scored 21, while Haley Meinel, Allie Warren, and Sabria Lytes each scored 13 points.

Holy Family is off all week until visiting Concordia College in a CACC game Sunday at 1 p.m. in Bronxville, N.Y.

Over in South Jersey, Rowan Wednesday night edged host Rutgers-Camden 65-61 in an NJAC game as Nicole Mallard and Alexis Kriley each hit two free throws at the end of the game.

Mallard finished with 19 points and six rebounds for The Profs (15-2, 9-1 NJAC), while Kriley, Paige Caldwell, and Savannah Holt each scored eight points, and forward Jazlyn Duverglass had a career-high nine rebounds.

Fatimah Williams had a game-high 25 points for the Scarlet Raptors (9-8, 2-8).

The Profs on Saturday head to New Jersey City University, in an NJAC game moved up to noon.

And that’s the report on this stuff.