The Guru Report: Lincoln Matches Win Mark While Temple Fumbles Against Wichita State

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Counting Monday’s result off which night the Guru didn’t do a report, DII-Lincoln finished the home portion of its season with a ninth-straight overall victory Wednesday night cruising over Saint Augustine’s University 81-50 at Manuel Rivero Hall paced by DeAshia Young’s 23 points in a Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) that gave the Lions a program-record tying 22 victories.

The win total for Lincoln (22-3, 11-1 CIAA) matched the mark set five seasons ago in 2014-15 while several games are still ahead.

 The Lions now own a new home slate mark of 10-1 and are 5-0 against CIAA North Division opponents.

Young had a season-high nine field goals shooting 9-11 in getting to her total against the Falcons (8-15, 3-10). She also had seven rebounds and dealt six assists and grabbed five steals to set game marks in each category.

Lincoln’s Bryanna Brown scored 13 points while Skydajah Patterson and Kwanza Murray added nine and eight points, respectively.

 Murray on Monday earned the BOXTOROW Women’s Basketball National Player of the Week, chosen from all three NCAA Divisions naming a player at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU).

The Lions forced 26 turnovers and got 30 points off the opposing team’s miscues. 

On Monday night, Lincoln defeated Winston-Salem State University 65-59 at home in overtime after rallying from an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter. 

Joy Morton hit four free throws in the final 13 seconds of the overtime while Brown made a steal to clinch the victory and keep the win streak alive.

Young dealt eight assists in the game to have 117 prior to Wednesday’s addition breaking the program mark of 114 set by Brianna Logan in 2017-18.

Lincoln is now ranked second in the D2SIDA Atlantic Region Media Poll, besides landing as the second highest also-ran in the WBCA Division II Top 25. 

The bigger news came on Tuesday with the first-ever national ranking at No. 18 in the Division II Sports Information Director’s Association (D2SIDA) National Media Poll.

Finishing out on the road, Lincoln’s next stop is on Feb. 13 at Virginia State University at 5:30 p.m. before continuing to Virginia Union on Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. and at Bowie State a week later at 2 p.m. on Feb. 22.

The CIAA tourney will get under way the following Monday.

Rowan Maintains Tie in NJAC

The Division III Profs Wednesday night pulled away in the fourth quarter with a 29-17 outburst to win at Stockton 73-47 in Galloway, N.J., to stay tied for first with Montclair State in the New Jersey Athletic Conference.

The two losses in conference by Rowan (18-3, 12-2) came at the hands of Montclair State in North Jersey and at home in Glassboro to The College of New Jersey.

The Red Hawks won their game Wednesday setting up a first-place showdown Saturday at Rowan at 1 p.m.

In Wednesday’s win over Stockton (8-13, 3-11), Grace Marshall had 17 points and seven rebounds for the Profs, while Eliana Santana had 16 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double, Nicole Mallard scored 14 and grabbed seven rebounds, dealt four assists and had four steals; and Ayanna Johnson grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked five shots.

USciences Takes Sole Possession of First in CACC South

On Tuesday night, though D-II USciences was missing coach Jackie Hartzell due to a stomach virus, the Devils kept their winning streak alive at 13 straight games by blasting Goldey-Beacom 80-52 with outside shooting at home in Bobby Morgan Arena in Southwest Philadelphia and took over sole possession of first place in the wake of Holy Family’s 78-60 loss at Georgian Court.

The Tigers had upset USciences in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference opener but the Devils haven’t lost since while the Tigers have now suffered two straight setbacks, including Saturday’s loss at Dominican.

In Tuesday’s win, the Devils (19-3, 12-1 CACC) clinched their 10^th straight conference tournament berth.

The home team bolted from a 27-20 halftime lead to outscore the Lightning 29-15 in the third quarter.

Jess Huber bombed away for a game-high 26 points, fueled by shooting 7-for-7 from 3-point land in the second half in which USciences overall shot 13-of-19 from beyond the arc.

 Overall, she was 8-of-12 for a career high while the Devils were 18-of-40 just three treys short of the CACC record they set with 21 on Jan.30, 2018, at Wilmington.

Jordan Vitelli was 7-for-8 on the night, including 5-of-6 triplets for 19 points in just 21 minutes of action against the Lightning (5-15, 5-7).

Irisa Ye contributed 21, of which 14 came in the explosive third quarter, and had six rebounds.

The Devils remain home Saturday at 1 p.m., hosting Dominican.

In the Holy Family game at Georgian Court’s Wellness Center in Lakewood, N.J., a 12-0 run in the first quarter put the Lions (6-13, 4-8 CACC) on the road to victory against the Tigers (13-7, 11-2).

Georgian Court had answers every time Holy Family began to rally.

Anjelai Hayes had a game-high 19 points and season-high 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season, while freshman Moe Moore, the CACC rookie of the week, had her third double-double with 15 points and a season-high 17 rebounds. Elizabeth Radley also scored in double figures with 12 points and blocked four shots.

Holy Family next hosts Felician University Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Tigers’ Campus Center in Northeast Philadelphia.

On Wednesday night, Jefferson U. temporarily stepped outside the CACC and beat Southern Connecticut 66-54 at home at the Gallagher Center.

Alynna Williams had a game-high 24 points for the Rams (10-11) while Haley Meinel had 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals. 

Sabria Lytes had 14 points, eight rebounds, and a pair of steals with one assist while Maddie Haney had nine rebounds against the Owls (8-14).

The win was career number 787 for coach Tom Shirley, who has 638 of them at Jefferson.

The Rams step back into the CACC Saturday heading to visit Post at 1 p.m.

Shocker on Broad Street as Temple Falls to Wichita State

There was only one local team of the Guru’s 11 Division 1 group in action Wednesday and judging by its placement right here in the blog you can tell things did not go well at home in McGonigle Hall for a Temple team that had been upset at the finish in the Owls’ previous meeting with Wichita State in the American Athletic Conference in Kansas last month.

“Right from the start I could tell we did not have good body language that we should have had after losing to them last month,” Temple coach Tonya Cardoza said after the Owls fell 85-75.

“We don’t shoot well and then we stop paying attention to defense.”

As bunched as the conference standings are with second -place teams three games behind No. 4 Connecticut, one could say Temple (13-9, 5-4 AAC) didn’t lose a lot of ground as that time of the year approaches with the AAC tournament at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., likely for the last time, nearing the horizon.

But the disappointment comes with not gaining ground since another nice run could land Temple a decent seed in the field.

“A team getting (63.5) points a game shouldn’t be getting 85 against us,” Cardoza said.

Ball-handling was a major culprit in dealing with the Shockers (13-10, 5-5), who got their first win in the series here.

The Owls committed 20 and the visitors took advantage outscoring Temple 34-14 in points off turnovers. 

There was also the matter of Wichita State connecting on three-pointers with 15 to Temple’s seven and the Shocker bench out of all this had a lopsided 43-12 differential.

That in part was factored by Shocker reserve Maya Brewer going 5-for-9 from beyond the arc on the way to 19 points, reserve DJ McCarty going 3-for-4 long range and collecting 14 points, Asia Henderson going 4-for- from the field for 10 points, while from the starters, Ashley Reid got all 15 of her points, shooting 5-of-7, and Seraphine Bastin shooting 6-for-10 from the field for 13 points.

The Owls had a 23-15 lead at the end of the first period before Wichita State rallied to own the next period 24-9.

In the fourth period Temple sliced a 13-point deficit to seven but then the Shockers stopped the rally and went on to fire away three straight triplets while shutting Temple down to increase the lead to 16 points with 2:35 left in the game.

Newcomer Ashley Jones, the Neumann-Goretti grad and transfer from West Virginia, had 24 points but committed seven turnovers, while Marissa Mackins scored 18, Alexa Williamson scored 12, as did reserve Asonah Alexander.

“That should not happen in a game, no matter what,” Jones said of the turnovers. “Sometimes we were trying to be quick and rushed. We should have settled down and taken it easy.”

The Owls next go to South Florida Sunday for a noon game looking for a sweep in Tampa after an earlier win here over the Bulls squad that was picked second in the preseason poll by the American coaches.

Looking Ahead: Rider Looks to Keep Grip on the MAAC

There aren’t many playing from the Guru group on Thursday and two go against each other with Rutgers looking for a sweep of Penn State at 7 p.m. at the RAC at home in Piscataway, N.J., with the Scarlet Knights coming home off a tough double overtime loss by two points at Minnesota in the Big Ten while the Lady Lions, who lost to Northwestern at home Sunday, have just one win in the conference.

Rider, holding a two-game lead in the Metro Atlantic Athletics Conference, visits St. Peter’s at 7 p.m. in Jersey City. If you want to peak a bit ahead, the Broncs will be going for a sweep when preseason favorite Marist visits Tuesday night at seven and it is the only D-1 game in the area.

Saint Joseph’s is at Saint Louis at 8 p.m. looking to get a win in the Atlantic 10 at the start of a two-game road swing, that includes a Sunday stop at Duquesne.

Nationally, North Carolina, which has been going great guns under former Princeton coach Courtney Banghart, visits Duke, a place that many Blue Devils types had always hoped she could end up whenever the next coaching change comes.

On Friday, Penn, hoping to build momentum off the turn-around win at Dartmouth last Saturday, hosts Columbia at 7 p.m. in The Palestra while Princeton, looking to keep the hammer down, hosts Cornell at 6 p.m. in Jadwin Gym.

On Saturday, which is alumni night for the Quakers, the Ivy travelers switch with Penn hosting Cornell at 7 and Penn hosting Columbia at 5.

Also, on Friday, Drexel takes its one-game lead in the Colonial Athletic Association to Hofstra at 5 p.m. on Long Island while in the same conference Delaware hopes to build off its Towson win when the Blue Hens visit Northeastern at 7.

On Sunday, the travelers switch with Drexel at Northeastern and Delaware at Hofstra, both at 2 p.m.

Villanova will be looking to bounce back from Sunday’s tough loss in the Big East when the Wildcats visit Xavier in Cincinnati at 7 and on Sunday the Wildcats visit Butler in Indianapolis at legendary Hinkle Fieldhouse at 3 p.m.

Nationally, the PAC-12 is the AP conference this weekend with a bunch of ranked teams in key matchups. On Friday, off its big win at Connecticut, Oregon hosts Arizona at 9 while Oregon State hosts Arizona State at 11 p.m.

Stanford hosts UCLA at 11 p.m.

On Saturday, there are just the two Ivy games mentioned, though you can take in some of the small colleges in the afternoon, whose events were mentioned with their reports.

As for other locals playing Sunday, not previously discussed, La Salle hosts Richmond in an A-10 game at Tom Gola Arena at 2 p.m.; Penn State in the Big Ten is hosting Illinois at 2 p.m. while Rutgers in a key Big Ten game heads to Maryland to play the preseason favorite Terrapins at noon.

Nationally, back in the PAC-12, Oregon State hosts Arizona while Oregon hosts Arizona State. In the SEC, Mississippi State hosts Texas A&M.

On Monday, Dawn Staley’s South Carolina squad will be the favorite with a shot at a first-ever win in the series when her No. 1 Gamecocks host No. 4 Connecticut at 7 p.m.

And that’s the report.