The Guru Report: Rider Day of History

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP, N.J./VILLANOVA, Pa. /PHILADELPHIA - As the Guru now has a chance to actually chronicle the front part of an extended marathon travel weekend, such was the case Thursday where things could not have resulted better in the front part of the combo-dateline where Rider made program history in the stands and on the court with a record sellout crowd and first-ever win over Quinnipiac, the giant of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) until perhaps this time around where Marist seems to be regarded set to regain that former role.

And on Friday morning it was Villanova, which got schooled in a 50-35 loss to Butler in a Big East setback in Finneran Pavilion to dim the aura from last weekend’s conference road sweep at Seton Hall and in overtime at St. John’s.

Later Friday night on the Guru’s next stop at Drexel, in a low-scoring game, the host Dragons emerged with a 50-41 victory  over Northeastern in a Colonial Athletic Association matchup at the Daskalakis Athletic Center while just to the south Delaware got its first CAA win, beating Hofstra 80-59 at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.

Elsewhere Thursday it was a sweep in the three-locally focused games with the Big Ten duo Penn State at home getting its first conference win of the season, upsetting Michigan State 86-73 while Rutgers continued to show itself as a player in the conference regular season race crushing Illinois 75-51 on the road in Champagne.

Nationally, it was a night of upsets highlighting the second stop in a unique Guru day where No. 6 Baylor took down No. 1 Connecticut 74-58 in the XL Center in Hartford; unranked Georgia Tech took down No. 11 Florida State on the road and unranked North Carolina upended unbeaten and No. 9 North Carolina State 66-60 at home in two Atlantic Coast Conference games; unranked Iowa at home hit No. 17 Maryland with a 66-61 setback, the preseason favoriteTerrapins’ third in the Big Ten, while another Big Ten upset saw No. 24 Michigan on the road fall to unranked Ohio State 78-69, and over in the SEC, unranked LSU edged host and No. 10 Texas A&M 57-54 in College Station.

The upsets continued Friday night nationally out of the ranked teams in the PAC-12 as unranked Arizona State at home in Tempe ruined No. 2 Oregon’s chances to regain the top by edging the Ducks 72-66 allowing No. 3 Oregon State to be in position to gain a first-ever No. 1 but the Beavers almost joined the victims list before buzzer-beating No. 18 Arizona 63-61 in Tucson.

No. 5 Stanford had no such dangerous moments blasting Bay rival California 73-40 at home in Palo Alto, giving Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer her 500th conference victory, the first coach to win that many in the same league.

But first lets first go with the Thursday locals.

Rider Third Period Outburst Carries Broncs Over Quinnipiac

Several seasons after its historic breakthrough run in the MAAC in 2016-17 to a second-place finish and first-ever appearance in the WNIT, Rider may be on the way to even greater things.

That was evident as a first-ever sellout crowd of 1,700 joined by a nationwide TV audience saw the Broncs bust loose from a narrow 32-29 halftime lead to explode with a 23-9 third quarter and ultimate 75-59 win over the Bobcats in Alumni Gymnasium.

After 15 games of futility in the series the Broncs (10-2, 3-0 MAAC) finally turned the tide on their seventh straight overall victory, marking only a second-ever 10-2 start in program history, matching the rush out of the gates by the 1993-94 group since Rider became a Division I school prior to the 1982-83 season.

With the crowd energizing the building, the Broncs hit the third period with a 14-1 run and went on to build a 20-point lead in the final quarter in which they shot 9-of-11 for 81 percent from the field.

It may not be the finest season for Quinnipiac (4-8, 1-2), which had a long-running conference streak recently snapped by Iona, but the Bobcats are still formidable.

Stella Johnson, who recently set the all-time career-scoring mark in Rider women’s history and is the MAAC preseason player of the year, had another huge production, pouring 25 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, while Amanda Mobley equaled a career-best 18 points and Lea Favre scored 15.

Taylor Herd scored 20 for the visitors, reserve Sajada Bonner scored 12, and MacKenzie DeWeese scored 11.

The Broncs defense just missed making the Bobcats double the number of turnovers 17-9.

Rider dominated the inside outscoring Quinnipiac 44-20 in the paint, spurred by a 12-1 advantage in fast break points.

“For us to have a sellout for the first time in program history, for it to be on national television, and for us to get our first win over Quinnipiac, it was a great day all around,” said veteran coach Lynn Milligan.

“I’m super proud of our effort, particularly in that second half. We made a couple of adjustments and everyone really bought into them,” she continued. “When our defense formulates the way we want it to, it usually leads to some offensive looks that we like. That’s what we saw in the fourth quarter.”

Doing the analysis on the broadcast was former Tennessee coach Holly Warlick, who appears to be moving on to her next chapter after the long-time associated head coach to the legendary and late Pat Summitt was not retained after last season.

The 5-0 start at home is the first time to be that perfect in Alumni Gym since the 1996-97 season, over two decades ago.

Prior to the recent breakthrough, Rider spent a long time with the underbelly crowd of the conference. And when the won-loss record slid back the following year, there was some concern whether that earlier season was a flash in a pan.

But the reality was that a large dose of graduation followed and last season the Broncs finished 19-12 overall and second for another WNIT appearance.

Thus, Thursday’s result could cause more interest as Rider shows to now be a serious threat to take the MAAC throne, which will get a quick look next Thursday when the Broncs travel to Marist in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

“Yeah, we’ve worked long and hard to put ourselves, where we feel, is in the top two in this conference,” Milligan said. “It’s an everyday effort. It’s an everyday work habit.

“ The culture of our program puts us in these situations where we’re in the same conversation as the Marists and the Quinnipiacs , who have hung a tremendous amount of banners and have winning cultures in their programs and that’s where we want to be and we feel where we are. 

“We just have to make sure that where we’re in our day-to-day process, and, like Stella said, `It’s just another game on the schedule and we had to prepare and we had to scout and we had to make sure we’re effective at both ends of the floor.”

Rutgers Handles Illinois

The Scarlet Knights jumped ahead and stayed there, beating the Illini 72-51 at the State Farm Center in Champaign as they improved their recent run to eight of the past nine including the front end of the Big Ten race.

Arella Guirantes had 21 points, eight rebounds, and six assists for Rutgers (13-2, 3-1 Big Ten), while Mael Gilles scored 12 points, Khadaizha Sanders scored 11, and Tekia Mack scored 10.

The Scarlet Knights are tied with three teams for second place behind No. 12 Indiana, which is unbeaten in Big Ten competition.

Rutgers next is back home Sunday hosting Nebraska in a conference matchup at 2 p.m. in the Rutgers Athletic Center.

Petra Holesinka was the only one in double figures for Illinois (9-6, 0-4), scoring 18 points as the Illini were left still looking for their first conference win of the season.

Penn State Downs Michigan State 

That’s not the case for the Lady Lions, who finally broke into the Big Ten victory column for the first time this season and first for new coach Carolyn Kieger, beating the Spartans, 86-73, in the Bryce Jordan Center.

Siyeh Frazier and Kamaria McDaniel each scored 24 points for Penn State (7-8, 1-3 Big Ten) while McDaniel just missed a triple double with career bests 11 rebounds and nine assists.

Alisia Smith scored 16 points and Shay Hagans scored 12, while Nia Clouden scored 11 for Michigan State (8-7, 1-3). 

“We’ve been talking about max effort for the last three weeks and trying to get them to ply with the sense of urgency we need them to,” Kieger said. “We watched some film to fix our first three steps on offense and I thought they did a great job on primary and transition.

“I can’t say enough about Kamaria McDaniel tonight. I thought our posts were fantastic and were setting screens and doing the little things for us.”

The Lady Lions next on Sunday travel to Ohio State to play the Buckeyes at 2 p.m. in Columbus.

Butler Does It to Villanova

If school day helped Rider win on Thursday, the special promotion did nothing for the Wildcats Friday morning despite a vocal crowd of 3,241 primarily young students in the house as Butler short-circuited the joy of the previous weekend with a 58-41 victory in the Big East.

Freshman Maddy Siegrist still had a nice working day with a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds but even she had shooting woes, going 4-for-14 from the field while it was nada for everyone else on a 22.4 percent total effort, in part comprised with an 8-for-31 effort on threes by Villanova (8-7, 3-2 Big East).

Reserve  Samantha Carangi scored nine points.

On the other side, three players scored in double figures for Butler (10-5, 2-2) as Kristen Spolyar scored 15 points, Katherine Strong scored 14, Genesis Parker scored 11, and Shae Brey pulled down 13 rebounds helping a domination of 50-35 on the glass.

“Butler stayed very steady,” veteran Villanova coach Harry Perretta said as he got one game closer to his retirement this spring in his 42^nd season on the Main Line. “They moved the ball. They stayed in the game plan. They made shots. They also made bad shots when they needed to make them.

“I also thought our passing was not very good. I thought our mental in the game was terrible. Like, we were not throwing the ball to the right spot, so when that starts happening, it’s like a snowball going down a hill. 

“It gets bigger, bigger, and bigger, and then the missed shots start. And once that starts, it’s pretty much over at that point,” he said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, they made more baskets, but the difference was the attitudes of both teams were distinctly different. The one team that was mentally prepared looked like they were mentally in the game and the other team, us, were not mentally in the game and when you’re not mentally in the game it leads to shooting the ball terrible and when you are mentally into the game, it leads to shooting the ball better.”

In the second quarter, Butler took it both offensively and defensively with a 20-4 differential.

“In the second half, I was just trying to get us to play better, which we did.

“ At one stretch between the five minutes of the third quarter and the five minutes of the fourth quarter we began playing better, and what do you do when you play better, we began making shots, and what we did was we began cutting the lead. But you have to sustain that stuff. We did that in games we won. We didn’t do that, today.

“Butler just ran their offense. They didn’t have to do anything specific. They just ran their offense and ran their offense really hard.”

Villanova is back here Sunday at 1 p.m. hosting Xavier, which beat Georgetown 85-64 in Washington.

Drexel Overcomes Maladies While Delaware Finally Wins in CAA Action

The only other action Friday in local games of the Guru’s 11 D-1 group, in a match of offensive ineptness from both teams – both were still in the 30s in the fourth quarter – Drexel ultimately stirred down the stretch for a 50-41 victory at home in the Daskalakis Athletic Center while Delaware beat Hofstra, both in CAA action.

On a night when Bailey Greenberg scored just six points, Niki Metzel and Mariah Leonard each scored 13 points for the Dragons (9-6. 2-1 CAA) and Hannah Nilhill scored eight points.

Alexis Hill had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Northeastern (5-8, 1-1) while an Archbishop Wood product was on the same team in Katie May who had three points and seven rebounds.

 Drexel’s Greenberg and Aubree Brown are also out of the Wood program in Bucks County.

“Obviously, pleased with the win,” said longtime Drexel coach Denise Dillon. “With Northeastern, it’s typically a game of possessions. That’s what we expected going in and I’m really proud of the team being steady when things weren’t going well, and we won without Bailey playing her normal game.”

The Dragons on Sunday host Hofstra while Delaware gets Northeastern on the tradeoff of opponents.

The Blue Hens (5-9, 1-2 CAA) blasted Hofstra 80-59 as Jasmine Dickey matched a career-high with 21 points, and grabbed 16 rebounds, and the trio of Lizzie Oleary, Kayla Shaw, and Nicole enabosi each scored 12 points.

Jayla Hines had 15 points and Marianne Kalin scored 10 for the Pride (3-10, 0-2).

“I’m pround of the fact that tonight was a total team effort,” said Delaware coach Natasha Adair. “Everyone contributed positively to this win.”

Looking Ahead: Penn-Princeton in a Ivy Showdown

Nitty gritty time has arrived for the two teams, both in the Guru’s local mix, who have owned the Ivy League for the past decade.

It’s the opener for both teams but while in the past 10-1 or 12-1 on each team have been the Ivy showing at the end of the season as the fight for an NCAA bid concluded.

This time Penn hosting the Tigers at The Palestra is at an all-time high non-conference 10-1 while Princeton is ranked No. 25 and is 12-1 making it the largest combined record at this point of the season in an Ivy matchup.

Princeton features senior Bella Alarie, the two-time Ivy player of the year while the Quakers have a prized newcomer in Kayla Padilla, who twice has won both player and freshman of the week from the league.

The 2015 Big Five champion Penn unit will also be honored. 

Elsewhere, Temple will try to continue its win streak hosting SMU in an AAC game at 3 p.m. while La Salle is at Duquesne in Pittsburgh and Saint Joseph’s is at Massachusetts in Atlantic 10 games.

And that is the report for now.