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.