The Guru Report: Penn and Princeton Separate From the Ivy Pack

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – Seven Guru teams in his D-1 group played Saturday in the afternoon and night and four walked away with key victories with Princeton and Penn making it another weekend sweep in the Ivy League, La Salle picking up an important win on the road in the Atlantic 10, and Rutgers likewise doing so at home in the Big Ten.

Penn and Princeton Begin Separating from the Pack in the Ivies

The No. 25 Tigers in Princeton’s Jadwin Gym stayed unbeaten in league play and made it 17 straight on the season overall by beating Dartmouth 87-55 for their weekend sweep and bid to maintain their presence in the Associated Press women’s poll. 

Meanwhile, the Quakers pushed the pace from the outset for a 24-10 first quarter tally at home off a 12-0 start in The Palestra, quickly sending Harvard to a third straight setback, this one being 70-48 for the seventh straight win by Penn (17-5,7-2 Ivy) to stay within two of Princeton but thanks to help from Columbia, which downed Yale, 74-6, at Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn., move to a two game lead over Yale (16-7, 6-4).

“Just our intensity right out of the gate gave us our intensity on both ends of the ball,” said Penn coach Mike McLaughlin, who picked up his 100^th Ivy win not far behind  his recently reaching his 600^th overall triumph, including having coached Holy Family out of Northeast Philadelphia to a Division II powerhouse.

“Offensively, we pushed the ball in transition that got us some easy baskets that gave us a lot of early life, and defensively, we were pretty good. The last time up there they kept us in the half court ninety percent of the time.” 

The Crimson (14-9, 5-5) have now for the first time in formal Ivy play lost three straight games by 20 or more points and the slide within the league schedule is the longest since a slew of losses in 1993-94.

That last slide was an 0-4 end to the season but none of those games were by 20 or more points.

A week ago, Harvard lost to Columbia 89-64 on the road, followed by Friday night’s 66-45 setback at Princeton.

The victory avenged a loss last month to Harvard up in Boston that had become the Quakers’ fourth straight overall setback relegating them to an 0-2 start in league play before the current streak began the next night with a wipeout of Dartmouth.

“I think the chemistry tonight, especially, was on point, Eleah (Parker) has been dominating, by that time (the losses) we reached a sense of urgency and we needed to pick it up and we needed to play our best game to be where we want to be,” said Penn freshman sensation Kayla Padillia, who had a game-high 23 points, fueled by six three-pointers, one off the program mark.

It’s Padilla’s 11^th 20-point game on the season.

On the front end of the attack, Tori Crawford, Parker, and Phoebe Sterba each scored 10 points, while Parker got 10 rebounds for her fifth double double in her last seven games while the Quakers’ defense held the Crimson to just 25 percent from the field.

Penn continues to dominate league play at home in The Palestra, having last lost to an Ivy rival not named Princeton five seasons ago on Feb. 6, 2015.

Tess Sussman and Lola Mullaney each scored 10 points for Harvard, while Jeannie Boehm grabbed 11 rebounds.

Penn inside the paint scored 30 points compared to 14 by the Crimson.

The Quakers will now look to avenge its 75-55 season opening loss here last month when they travel to Princeton on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. tip at Jadwin Gym.

When they met last time, Parker was not playing as well as she had been her first two seasons and while catching the Tigers is still problematical for the regular season, an upset would at least create suspense heading into next month’s Ivy tourney, which will be at Harvard’s Lavietes Pavilion.

Meanwhile, in Princeton’s win over Dartmouth (8-15, 2-8 Ivy), the Tigers exploded for 53 points in the second half by the two-time reigning Ivy tourney champions, who finished tied for first in the regular season with Penn a year ago.

Two-time reigning Ivy player of the year Bella Alarie had 26 points and 12 rebounds for her 39^th career double double and she also had two assists and two steals.

The Big Green seemed going for an upset in the first half chasing the Tigers (21-1, 9-0) to within a basket 34-32 at the conclusion of 20 minutes of play before Princeton began to roar, using a 25-2 run over eight minutes pulling away from its slim 36-34 lead in the third.

In that quarter, the home squad under new coach Carla   shot 73.3 percent from the field.

Princeton’s sole loss was by two points in overtime at Big Ten power Iowa last December.

Columbia (15-8, 6-4), meanwhile, got its second straight weekend sweep with the win at Yale after failing to execute any two-night Ivy triumphs since the 2010 season.

The Lions with the win moved into a third-place tie with Yale, two games behind Penn, but a game ahead of Harvard with an eye that the top four teams qualify for the Ivy tourney.

Columbia’s four-game win streak in league play under former Lions star Megan Griffith, a native of King of Prussia, is just the second in program history and first since 2008 and the 15 total wins are the most in a decade.

Sienna Durr, the top rookie in the Ivies a year ago, led Columbia, scoring 18 points and she grabbv eight rebounds. Freshman Kaitlyn Davis from nearby Norwalk, Conn., to where the game was played, had 14 points and seven rebounds.

Yale’s Camilla Emsbo had a game-high 28 points.

Columbia can enhance its drive for a first-ever Ivy postseason appearance in the event’s fourth season when the Lions visit Harvard at 7 on Friday night and visit Dartmouth at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Penn, after the Princeton game, can enhance its second-place position and drive to make its four straight Ivy tourneys next weekend hosting Yale at 7 p.m. Friday and hosting Brown on Saturday at 6 p.m.

The Tigers next weekend host Brown at 6 p.m. Friday and Yale at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

La Salle Stays in Hosting Hunt While Saint Joseph’s Sinks to Bottom of the A-10

The Explorers on the road beat Rhode Island 54-42 at the Ram’s Ryan Center in South Kingston for La Salle’s top defensive effort of the season in limiting opponents’ points.

More important, La Salle (12-15, 6-8 A-10) is tied for ninth with Rhode Island (13-13, 6-8) and George Washington (12-15, 6-8) which is the last hosting spot for first-round play in next month’s Atlantic 10 tournament before the remaining three rounds are held at Dayton.

But coach Mountain MacGillivray’s squad has beaten both and will finish by hosting Davidson Wednesday at 11 a.m. in the annual Kids Day game at Tom Gola Arena and then visiting at George Mason, Saturday at 2 p.m., both winnable games.

As for the game against Rhode Island on Saturday, La Salle allowed just 15 points in the second half against a Rams team that was averaging 64.9 points per game overall and 61.8 points in league play.

The home team could only manage four field goals in the second half.

Shalina Miller was the secretary of defense in this one for the visitors collecting a double double of 11 points and 13 rebounds, while blocking seven shots. Rookie Claire Jacobs scored 12.

The career leader in blocks, reached recently, Miller has had 20 games with two or more rejections, seven with four or more, and six with five or more.

Meanwhile, in a battle between teams at the bottom of the conference standings, in a close game Saint Joseph’s fell at home in Hagan Arena to George Mason, 54-49.

While Saint Joseph’s (9-17, 3-11 A-10) with the loss fell to a tie with the Patriots (9-18, 3-11) in the 14-team league, the loss would relegate the Hawks to the 14^th and bottom seed in the league tournament.

Saint Joseph’s will finish up hosting Massachusetts at 7 on Wednesday and then visit Fordham Saturday at 2 p.m.

If the Hawks win their last two and St. Bonaventure drops theirs, then they could move to the 12^th seed off io plpthe last-second win on the road over the Bonnies. That could put them in a winnable first-round matchup, even if on the road.

As for the George Mason game played on senior day, Katie Jekot had 13 point for the home, while freshman Kaliah Henderson had a near double double nine points and 11 rebounds.

The Hawks were very much in the game, trailing by a point at 42-41 with 7:55 left in regulation but then the Patriots tore off a 7-0 run to gain control.

Prior to the tip, Saint Joseph’s honored departing seniors Nailah Delinois and Rachel Gartner along with managers Regan Gallagher and Vilma Fermin.

George Mason’s Nicole Cardano-Hillary had 18 points, while Jacy Bolton scored 12.

Rutgers Tops Ohio State on Guirantes’ Career Day While Penn State Falls to Iowa

Arella Guirantes capped her career-high 36-point effort with the winning shot with four seconds left to give Rutgers a 59-57 victory in a Big Ten game at home in Piscataway, N.J., to hold sixth place with two games remaining in the regular season.

The next best scorer for the Scarlet Knights (19-8, 9-7 Big Ten) was Jordan Wallace with nine points.

Dorka Juhasz had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Buckeyes (17-10, 10-6) while Braxtin Miller scored 16, and Rebeka Mikulasikova had 11.

Guirantes was 15-for-21 from the field, including a perfect 3-for-3 from outside the arc in the game that had 13 lead changes.

“I wasn’t afraid to fail,” she said of her attempted game-winner plus the many that dropped all afternoon. “There was no fear.”

The points were the most for a Rutgers player in a game since the legendary Cappie Pondexter, a WNBA All-Star after college, scored 40 in 2006, her senior season, against South Florida on Jan. 11.

“This was a team win for sure, and Arella was in a special kind of zone,” said Rutgers Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer. “Look at those percentages. She took big time shots. Our backs were against the wall, this was a must-win and we did it together.”

The top four teams get double byes in next month’s Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis, while seeds 5-10 get single byes with seeds 5 and 6 meeting the winners from the previous day’s opening round.

Rutgers finishes up hosting Wisconsin Thursday at 7 p.m. and then hosting Iowa next Sunday.

Speaking of the No. 19 Hawkeyes, they hosted the other Guru local in the Big Ten, Penn State and the Lady Lions did not fare well, losing 100-57 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

PSU’s Kamaria McDaniel had 22 points, while Siyeh Frazier scored 14, and freshman Makenna Marisa had 12.

Penn State (7-20, 1-15 Big Ten) held its own in the opening stanza before Iowa (22-5, 13-3) exploded 27-10 in the second quarter to take solid control of the outcome. 

The Hawkeyes have won 35 straight home games, second behind Baylor at 53.

The Lady Lions host Michigan Thursday at 7 for the last home game of the regular season att tbh jn. They finish on the road next Sunday at Michigan State and will play a first round game when the conference tourney begins.

Temple Downed at ECU

The Owls opened the game in Greenville, N.C., in the American Athletic Conference with a 22-11 first quarter domination only to yield to a rally that eventually fed ECU to a comeback 56-50 victory.

Temple turnovers proved costly with ECU (8-19, 5-8 AAC) getting 14 points out of the 19 miscues by the Owls (15-11, 7-6).

Coach Tonya Cardoza’s squad is now tied for fifth with Tulane a game behind UCF and South Florida.

Mia Davis had a double double with 13 points and 13 rebounds for her 15^th of the season in the category. Ashley Jones had 14 points and five assists.

The Owls head to UCF Wednesday at 6 p.m. and then finish at Tulane a week from Monday.

Small Colleges: Lincoln Drops Final

After having a record-setting season run, D-II Lincoln finished up with a two-game losing streak, dropping a road game at Bowie State 60-56 to finish 23-5 overall and 12-3 in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

The host Bulldogs of the game that was played at Bowie, Md., are 22-4 overall and 6-2, like the Lions, in the CIAA north with the teams splitting their series thus forcing a coin toss to determine which is second and  which is third seed for the conference tourney.

Lincoln won the toss and will be second seed, playing against a to-be-determined opponent for Thursday’s opener.

DeAshia Young and Shantel Cheeks each scored 12 points for the Lions against the Bulldogs. Kwanza Murray had 11.

The CIAA tourney opens Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C.

CACC: USciences’ Streak Continues

Having wrapped up the CACC South on Tuesday beating Holy Family at home, the Devils kept their streak alive with an easy 80-51 win at home in Bobby Morgan Arena against Wilmington (5-20, 5-12) on Senior Day for their 18^thstraight to tie a program record set and matched the two previous seasons.

USciences (24-3, 17-1 CACC) could break it in its final game on Saturday visiting Chestnut Hill at 1 p.m.

In this one, senior Jordan Vitelli had three threes to set a season mark with 78, breaking her previous program record two seasons ago. Senior Mikaela Giuliani had a career-high six blocks and became the sixth with the Devils to reach 100 on the career.

Overall, the hosts had eight rejections, the most since 10 in a win at Wilmington on Jan. 12, 2013.

Giuliana also matched a personal best with seven assists, a game high, and her nine rebounds were kust one off the career mark.

Senior Birgit Coleman had 14 points, as did Irisa Ye and Kendall Keyes.

Overall, the hosts connected with 20 threes, the fifth best in Division II this season and one of its record for the conference set on Jan. 30, 2018.

Taylor Hamm had a career best 15 rebounds in 16 minutes. Jess Huber scored 11 and Vitelli scored 10.

Holy Family was idle until hosting Chestnut Hill Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Campus Center Gymnasium in Northeast Philadelphia.

Jefferson, however, launched another rally for the Rams’ seventh straight win, beating Chestnut Hill 51-49 on the road after a fourth-quarter 18-8 run landed them a spot in the playoffs alongside USciences and Holy Family out of the CACC South.

Chestnut Hill (11-15, 10-7 CACC) led 31-20 with 7:33 left in the third period.

An 8-0 run in the fourth put Jefferson (15-11, 11-6) in front 45-43 with 2:42 left in regulation as Alynna Williams got six of the eight in the run.

Williams answered a Griffins three to get back the lead 47-46 with 1:51 left. Haley Meinel’s steal and score with two foul shots expanded the slim margin to three. 

The home-team missed a potential game-tying layup as time expired.

Williams finished with 18 while Sabria Lytes had 17, and Meinel scored 11.

This will be the 14^th straight season the Rams made the playoffs and Jefferson coach Tom Shirley now has 792 wins of which 643 were collected at Jefferson.

The Rams are currently third but Chestnut Hill, which also clinched a spot, could catch them for third behind USciences and Holy Family.

Jefferson is at Goldey-Beacom on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

NJAC: Rowan to Face TCNJ

After finishing first in the regular season New Jersey Athletic Conference and earning a bye, Rowan (22-3) will host The College of New Jersey at 7 on Tuesday in Glassboro in a semifinal game. The teams split their regular season meeting. The championship between the two semifinals winners will be Friday at 7 p.m. at the site of the higher seed.

The fourth-seeded Lions (16-10) beat William Paterson 67-59 in overtime at home on Saturday in Packer Hall in Ewing Township, near Trenton.

Elle Cimilluca had 21 points for TCNJ and dealt five assists while Shannon Devitt grabbed 10 rebounds.

Brianna Brooks had 18 points and 19 rebounds for William Paterson (11-15).

  visitors were on an upset path with a 56-52 lead with a minute left in regulation 

Devitt forced the overtime scoring before the defense stopped Paterson on its last possession.

In the other semifinal Tuesday, Montclair State (20-5), which also split with Rowan, will meet Jersey City, (13-13), the sixth seed, which shocked No. 3 seed Kean 59-58 in the Cougars’ arena in Union.

Ayanna Lewis hit a pair of foul shots with 1:17 left in regulation and the Cougars (17-9) besides the Gothic Knights couldn’t score in the remaining time.

Dayjah Anderson had a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds for Jersey City. Cindy Foresta had 17 points and 10 rebounds for Kean.

Centennial League: Haverford Loses Final

Having already clinched first in the Centennial League in Division III, Haverford College fell 45-39 at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore in the last regular game of the season.

The setback in the Goldfarb Gymnasium snapped an 11-game win streak by the Fords (21-4, 18-2 CC), which fell just short in a closing rally to the Blue Jays (17-8, 14-6).

Haverford in the semifinals at home in Gooding ’84 Arena on Friday at 6 will meet the winner of Tuesday’s opening round between Swarthmore and Dickinson, which play at 7 that night.

The other semifinal Friday at 8 p.m.  has third-seeded Johns Hopkins meeting second-seeded Gettysburg.

Nationally Noted: Milestones at Rice

In a C-USA game in Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday, Rice edged UAB 74-65 as Erica Ogwumike, the younger sister of former Stanford sister stars Nneka and Chiney, scored 21 points thus joining Oregon’s Ruthie Hebard as the only active NCAA Division I players to reach 2,000 points and 1,000 career rebounds.

Ogwumike with 2,017 points and 1,067 rebounds joins Jessica Kuster, the only other Rice player to achieve those marks.

Meanwhile, Rice coach Tina Langley, a former Maryland assistant, is the quickest coach to reach 100 wins in Rice history.

In the AAC, No. 6 UConn, which is headed to the Big East next season, beat UCF 66-53 in Storrs on campus and claimed its seventh outright regular season conference crown, all of which have been achieved with unbeaten conference marks.

The Huskies have also won all six previous AAC tournaments.

Fairfield in the Metro Atlantic Collegiate Conference (MAAC) beat Quinnipiac at home 72-60 to take sole possession of third.

 If Rider ends up sweeping the Stags, that could be the deal maker if the Broncs and Marist tie for first because the Red Foxes have a loss to Fairfield.

Looking Ahead: Farewell to Harry Perretta Day at Villanova

On one hand, it’s senior day for the Wildcats at Finneran Pavilion at 1 p.m. as Mary Gedaka and Bridget Herlihy make their final regular season home appearance.

For two, the opposition will be No. 12 DePaul, which has already clinched the top seed for next month’s Big East tournament at the Blue Demons’ Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

But beyond that the day circled back in November when Villanova’s Harry Perretta announced that his 42nd season would be his last on the Main Line has arrived.

Chances are there will be an encore in the WNIT in an early round.

But this is the last formal in-season appearance and following the game with DePaul there will be a ceremony of tributes.

Nova, by the way, is holding fourth place in the standings with one more weekend, which is at Creighton and Providence, left to determine the seeds.

DePaul coach Doug Bruno has been around almost as long as Perretta, who was one of the original coaches when the Big East women formed.

The two have combined for almost 1,500 wins, including 500 in the Big East.

Elsewhere on the Guru local card, Drexel will look to keep its streak going and stay ahead of JMU when the Dragons host Elon at 2 p.m. in the Daskalakis Athletic Center in a Colonial Athletic Association game.

The Dragons are coming out of an overtime win at home against William & Mary Friday night.

Delaware at 1 p.m. hosts William & Mary in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark for the other CAA action involving a Guru local team.

Rider, looking to stay tied for first in the MAAC with Marist, will host Iona at 1 p.m. in Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J.

As for national games of note, there is nothing that jumps out but on Monday in the MAAC, Fairfield will be at Marist at 7 while in the ACC Duke is at North Carolina State, and a biggie in the Pac-12 at 9 p.m. No. 3 Oregon visits No. 4 Stanford.

And that’s your report.