The Guru Report: Temple, La Salle and Saint Joseph’s Swept Away in Narrow Losses

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – From a bunch of sweeps or near-sweeps nights recently, the pendulum swung over to swept night for the three Guru’s D-1 teams that played Wednesday.

Beginning in the morning, La Salle at it’s annual Kids Day Game in Tom Gola Arena let a late lead vanish and the Explorers fell to Davidson, 70-61 in overtime in an Atlantic 10 game turning the occasion into the final regular season home game per schedule and final home game, period, per the conference tournament.

Likewise, the other Guru local in the A-10, Saint Joseph’s, which had no chance to be back here in Hagan Arena next week, fell 51-47 to Massachusetts to close out the home season slate. 

For the first time in the campus opening round games format in the conference, the Hawks will not have the word host associated with their matchup.

And down south another close one got by Temple, losing to UCF 67-64 at the Knights’ Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Fla., in the American Athletic Conference.

The news is better among teams that were idle and the small colleges, which the Guru will get to shortly in the report.

La Salle Falls in Overtime as Davidson Rallies

The Explorers in the second year under Mountain MacGillivray certainly have earned a grade of forward progress, but to get to the next evaluation will now take a little more work.

When Wednesday began, they were a capable two-game win streak away from finishing high enough in the A-10 standings to earn an opening home game when the conference tournament begins on campus sites next week. 

The six winners will join the two bye teams later in the weekend for the quarterfinal, semifinal, and championship rounds at UD Arena on the University of Dayton campus in Ohio.

However, holding a 55-51 lead with 2 minutes, 33 seconds left in regulation, La Salle went cold, overtaken by a 7-3 run from Davidson to force overtime.

 When the fourth quarter began, the La Salle lead was nine points.

In the overtime, the Explorers got it going with a basket to begin the extra five-minute session, only to succumb on the spot as the Wildcats used a 12-0 surge to wrap up the visit 70-61.

 La Salle (12-16, 6-9 A-10) will finish on the road Saturday at 2 p.m. against host George Mason in the Patriots’ EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Va.

Davidson (15-13, 8-7) will host VCU at 1 p.m. in North Carolina.

The Explorers are currently in a 10^th place tie in the 10^th seed and would need to get to the eighth seed, which, with George Washington playing Richmond, which beat La Salle twice, is not possible.

However, it is not out of the question that if the Explorers win Saturday and steal an opener on the road, they can earn a next grade even a little more positive.

In the tale of the individual tape, La Salle rookie Claire Jacobs from Australia had 18 points and mark her down on any area all-newcomer team. 

Kayla Spruill, an area most improved candidate, had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Shalina Miller said farewell to Gola Arena with six points, 12 rebounds, and three more blocks to her program career record.

Saint Joseph’s Rally Dies at the Finish

The Hawks have been below the waterline for some time now lying on the seabed of the 14-team Atlantic 10 standings.

Conference-wise, it’s gruesome considering the Hawks’ proud history, especially once they got to conference competition.

So when longtime coach Cindy Griffin, who becomes the Philadelphia Big 5 women’s dean – this is her 19^th season, once Harry Perretta officially becomes retired at Villanova – claims “one more scorer,” a look at the ship’s log shows that could have been worth eight more wins and the more normal third place to find the program neighborhood placing annually.

And they had that scorer, in fact two, at the beginning when freshman Claire Melia from Ireland impressed early before departing, citing homesickness, and the fact that Imogen Ayliffe, a prized player from Australia, never suited up.

But a season must go forward, nevertheless, though it has meant one more go-round with inexperience.

In Wednesday’s game, UMass, a program on the rise under fourth-year coach Tory Verdi, never led by much until starting a run near the end of the third and continuing to a 51-40 advantage with 1:35 left in regulation.

The Hawks (9-18, 3-12) then came to life, got within six with 42 seconds left, but didn’t score again until Mary Sheehan nailed an outside shot at the buzzer for the 51-47 final.

Katie Jekot scored 16 points for Saint Joseph’s, while Katie Mayock scored 10. Vashnie Perry had 18 points for UMass (18-10, 8-7), while Sam Breen had a double double of 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The Hawks finish at Fordham at Rose Hilll Gym in the Bronx on Saturday at 2 p.m. and right now it’s looking like they could be right up there next Tuesday again playing the Rams in an A-10 opener.

Temple Drops Second Straight

This ain’t the regular season finish Owls coach Tonya Cardoza had in mind, considering many view Temple of being a contender in the American Athletic Conference after No. 6 UConn has departed for the Big East.

It became two straight narrow setbacks Wednesday night following the weekend’s 56-50 loss at ECU, as Temple fell again, this time at UCF 67-64 in Orlando, Fla, which enabled the Knights (17-9, 9-5 AAC) to come back and earn a split on the season series.

The Owls (15-12, 7-7) are in a three-way tie for fifth with Wichita State, which swept them, and Tulane, which they visit for their one-time matchup Monday night in New Orleans, the home of this year’s Women’s Final Four at the beginning of April.

Mia Davis had 23 points and 14 rebounds with six assists for her 16^th double-double on the season for the visitors, while Ashley Jones had 16 points, and Emani Mayo scored 11. Shannen Atkinson had seven points and 10 rebounds.

Though Temple owned the boards, 43-29, the Owls gave up 19 points through 14 turnovers.

Saturday’s final home game, against Tulsa, is at 2 p.m. in McGonigle Hall.

Nationally Noted: Hartford’s First Win Comes Against America East Leader Stony Brook

Call it a trap game or what you will but if betting existed on a wide scale in women’s basketball, anyone laying money on Hartford, poised to become the 60^th NCAA Division I program to go through a whole season without a victory, would take down America East frontrunner Stony Brook, one of the nation’s top mid-major teams, they’d be flashing a large smile right now.

The final was 70-67 at the Reich Family Pavilion in West Hartford, Conn.

Even UConn coach Geno Aurienna reacted in postgame astonishment after his Huskies’ win over Cincinnati when informed of the news. 

Morgan Valley, one of his former players, is in her first season coaching the squad.

In fact, at the beginning of the year Diana Taurasi had sent her a bottle of champagne to open when the occasion was right and earning her first victory was good enough for Valley.

Jada Lucas had 20 points for the hometown Hawks (1-28, 1-15 AEC), while Carmen Villalobos had 16 and six rebounds. Hartford used an early 17-5 run to stun the Seawolves (25-3, 13-2).

A 6-0 run gave Stony Brook a 56-49 lead early in the fourth quarter and then Hartford exploded again with 20-6 attack for a seven-point lead under two minutes remaining which the Hawks spent hanging on to grab the contest.

Small Colleges: Matthews Leads D-III Cabrini to Atlantic East Championship Contest

A career night from Meghan Matthews with 29 points and 22 rebounds led second-seed Cabrini to a 93-87 victory over third-seed Gwynedd Mercy in the semifinal.

Cabrini (29-7) advances to top seed Marymount (22-4) Saturday in Arlington, Va., at a time to be determined for the first Atlantic East title.

Marymount advanced with a semifinal home win over fifth-seeded Marywood 70-47 to end the visitors’ season at 9-16. They had upset 4^th-seeded Immaculata to advance.

Lexi Edwards had 24 points for Cabrini while Ashley Tutzauer had 20 points and Kirsten Searcy scored 10. 

Sydney Thompson had 19 points for Gwynedd Mercy (15-12)

CACC: Jefferson Tops Goldey-Beacom for Third Seed

The late season run by D-II Jefferson University continued with the Rams winning at Goldey-Beacom 79-52 in Wilmington, Del., to lock up third place out of the South in next week’s Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference tournament as Chestnut Hill fell at Holy Family 64-61.

The Griffins had clinched the other Southern spot but were contending for the third seed with Jefferson.

It was the eighth straight win for the Rams (16-11, 12-6 CACC), who got 28 points from Alynna Williams while Haley Meinel, a freshman, had 15 points and eight steals. Maeve McCann had 11 points off the bench against Goldey-Beacom (8-118, 8-10).

Jefferson will open at Dominican out of the North on Tuesday after finishing the season hosting Holy Family Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Gallagher Center.

Rams coach Tom Shirley now has 793 career wins, of which 644 have come at Jefferson.

Holy Family (16-9, 14-4) had already locked up the second seed behind top-seeded USciences, on an 18-win streak but idle Wednesday before finishing with Chestnut Hill (11-16, 10-8) Saturday.

In the Tigers’ win against the Griffins at Campus Center Gymnasium in Northeast Philadelphia, the home team held firm despite a closing rally by the visitors.

Elizabeth Radley had 20 points for Holy Family, while Mia Ehling scored 12 points and Moe Moore had 11 rebounds.

Chestnut Hill’s Cassie Sebold had 16 points, Lauren Crimm scored 15, and Leah Miller scored 14.

In the North in the playoffs, Post has the No. 1 seed, Dominican is second, Caldwell is third, while fourth is up for grabs on the final day between Concordia, which needs to win and Nyack to lose its game to get the last spot.

CIAA: Lincoln Gets Under Way

After sitting out the two-day opening rounds in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association playoffs in Charlotte, N.C., D-II Lincoln, the second seed, gets under way at 1 p.m. in Spectrum Center Thursday against Winston-Salem, the third seed out of the South, which advanced Tuesday, beating Clafflin.

Virginia Union, the top seed out of the North which had a bye, on Wednesday ousted Virginia State, 83-43 in the quarterfinals, while Fayetteville State, the top seed out of the South beat No. 4 Elizabeth City State, 64-52.

In another quarterfinal Thursday after Lincoln plays, Bowie State, the third seed out of the North, meets Johnson C. Smith, the second seed out of the South.

The semifinals are on Friday at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. with the championship Saturday at 2 p.m., all in the Spectrum Center.

Looking Ahead: Rider Goes for Tying Marist and More

Thursday has a slim schedule in Guru nation, but a big one is Rider is at Fairfield at 7 in Connecticut going for a sweep of the difficult-to-play Stags.

A win makes the Broncs even across the board with preseason favorite Marist at the top of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference again.

Each has three games remaining and both are assured if they don’t land in the NCAA tourney, whichever doesn’t, will go land in the WNIT, though if a dark horse wins the MAAC, both would go.

But in terms of seed and honor if both win out, Rider gets the top seed for next month’s tournament at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, off a sweep by winning Thursday because Marist split with Fairfield.

On Saturday, Marist is at Quinnipiac, which Rider has already swept, so that’s another potential gain if the Red Foxes stumble against the Bobcats.

The only other two games involving Guru teams Thursday are in the Big Ten, where Rutgers, gunning for a sixth seed in next month’s tournament, is hosting Wisconsin at 7:30 in Piscataway, N.J., while Penn State, which has won only one conference game, is hosting Michigan at 7 p.m.

Both teams finish Sunday.

With a few number of results to chronicle Thursday, the Guru will wait till the next report to preview the weekend.

And that’s the report.