The Guru Report: USciences Clinches CACC South; Baylor’s Mulkey Reaches 600

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – Two streaks were extended, and one killed.

That’s the way it went here at Bobby Morgan Arena in Southwest Philadelphia Tuesday night where DII-USciences avenged its Central Atlantic College Conference-opener loss to Holy Family, beating the Tigers 74-53 to snap the two-game set of losses if one wants to include the surprise win by the Northeast Philadelphia bunch last August in the title game of the Philadelphia/Suburban NCAA Certified Women’s Basketball Summer League in Hatboro.

In the process, the No. 16 Devils (23-3, 16-1 CACC) claimed their 17^th straight victory since that loss to the Tigers (15-9, 13-4) and fourth straight CACC South Title and fifth in the last six years.

At the outset, this looked like it might be another wire-to-wire donnybrook with five lead changes and three ties until the Devils went to their speedy configuration to begin separation with a 6-0 run.

 In the next stanza, USciences kept it up to take a 39-24 lead at the break while the rest of the way each Tiger threat that began reducing the differential was quickly answered.

Jordan Vitelli was an inside force on the Devils’ attack in which they outscored the Tigers inside the paint 38-22 as she scored a game-high 26 points on 9-for-13 from the field and she drew eight fouls to shoot 6-for-7 from the line.

Irisa Ye scored 22, shooting 10-for-19 from the field.

Holy Family’s Anjelai Hayes scored 17 and Elizabeth Radley scored 16 and shared game rebounding honors with Casey Schweitzer, each grabbing seven off the boards.

Vitelli is now sixth on the Devils’ career scoring chart with 1,365 points.

Overall USciences shot 13-of-14 from the line compared to 9-for-14 from the Tigers.

Holy Family, already holding second, had already clinched a spot in the playoff under new coach and alumna Bernadette Laukaitis after a year’s absence and can clinch a quarterfinal playoff game at home with a win in either of their next two games.

The Tigers are off until next Wednesday, Feb. 26, when they will hold their senior day at their Campus Center Gym while hosting Chestnut Hill at 5:30 p.m.

USciences will host its final regular season home game Saturday at 1 p.m. facing Wilmington (Del.).

Besides hosting a quarterfinal game Tuesday, March 3 at 6 p.m., the Devils will host the CACC semifinals whether they advance or not on Saturday, March 7, with games set for 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., and will host the championship Sunday March 8 at noon.

Another Jefferson Rally Keeps the Rams on a Playoffs Course

Within nine games of his 800^th career victory, while that date when it comes will be memorable, in the interim, No. 791 that went into Tom Shirley’s collection Tuesday night, (which was also his 642^nd at Jefferson), will be hard to forget.

Trailing by 18 to Georgian Court in the third quarter at home in the Gallagher Center in East Falls, the Rams exploded and went on to emerge with an 82-76 victory to extend their current win streak to six.

For most of the season, Jefferson (14-11, 10-6 CACC) had struggled due to a key injury near the end of the Philly summer league season. 

The Rams operate annually in the Hatboro competition and under NCAA rules, as a small college, can compete as a unit.

In this one, the Lions (7-16, 5-11) were upset bound, building a 58-40 lead with 4:44 left in the third before the Rams came to life and went on a 15-3 run to pull within six as the period neared its close.

In the next one, Jefferson took off on a 12-0 run at the outset to go ahead 67-63 and stay there, finishing out the last minute connecting on 9-for-10 from the line.

Alynna Williams had 28 of her 30 points for Jefferson in the second half.

 She also had five triplets and dealt four assists. Haley Meinel had a season-best 20 points with five steals, four blocks, three assists, and two rebounds.

Sabria Lytes scored 11 and Allie Warren grabbed nine rebounds.

The Rams defense forced 22 turnovers, mining them into 26 points.

Jefferson and Chestnut Hill opened up a two-game lead for the last two playoff spots in the three-team chase for them courtesy of Chestnut Hill beating Goldey-Beacom 64-54 in Wilmington, Del.

The Rams go to Chestnut Hill Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in Sorgenti Arena with the winner in solid position to grab one of the postseason spots.

In Chestnut Hill’s win, Cassie Siebold and Lauren Crim each scored 19 points for the Griffins (11-14, 10-6  CACC) with Crim nailing three triples and Siebold connecting on 6-for-10 to account for all nine scored from beyond the arc.

Bri Hewlitt had 12 points off the bench accounting for all scored by Chestnut Hill reserves.

Sarah Round and Alexis Harrison each scored 11 for the Lightining (8-16, 8-8), which hosts Georgian Court Saturday at 1 p.m.

Rowan and Haverford Go After Top Seeds

There were no local Division I games out of the Guru group Tuesday night but two other small colleges needed to be on the immediate radar are Rowan and Haverford, trying to wrap up top seeds for their conference tournaments when they play Wednesday.

Rowan, which is first by a game over Montclair State, moved into the WBCA Division III coaches poll for the first time this season at 23 and will host Kean Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Glassboro. 

If the Profs win to take the regular season crown in the New Jersey Athletic Conference they get a bye in Saturday’s quarterfinal round action into Tuesday’s semifinals while the final will be Friday, Feb. 28 at the home of the higher seed.

Bobbi Morgan’s Haverford team has won 10 straight and is alone in first place in the Division III Centennial Conference heading into Wednesday’s game against Hood Trophy rival Swarthmore at 6 p.m. in Gooding ’84 Arena.

Division II Lincoln finishes its regular season in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) on Saturday at Bowie State in Bowie, Md. The Lions are also chasing a top seed.

Nationally noted: Mulkey Gets to 600

Former Louisiana Tech star Kim Mulkey, who is a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame finalists besides existing Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer in Knoxville, Tenn., on Tuesday as coach of No. 2 Baylor’s defending NCAA champions, became the fastest men’s or women’s D-1 coach to reach 600 career victories when the Bears beat Texas Tech, 77-62, in a Big 12 game in Lubbock, Texas.

Juicy Landrum had 19 points for the Bears (24-1, 13-0 Big 12).0)

In reaching 600-100 for her career in her 700^th game, she eclipsed Geno Auriemma (716) in her 20^th season as the fastest women’s coach, the UConn Hall of Famer took 22 seasons, while on the men’s side she passed Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp (716), who took 28 seasons.

“I can draw up every play in America,” Mulkey said. “I can be the smartest coach in the world. But if you don’t have players, and they don’t go out there and perform, you don’t win basketball games.

She went on to cite her players, her assistants, who for the most part have been with her all the way at the school in Waco, Texas, and then concluded, saying, “I’m getting old. I’m just getting old, but I still have a lot of fight left.”

Looking Ahead: Temple and La Salle Go for Positioning

Temple hosts Memphis at noon on Wednesday in the Liacouras Center in the annual Kids Day game but it is also an American Athletic Conference game and the Owls are looking to get as many wins the rest of the way to land a high seed for a first-day bye in the conference tournament next month as well as gain eligibility for the WNIT, since the NCAA is not likely.

La Salle, meanwhile, will be looking for its third straight to try to land a first-round home game in the Atlantic 10 when the Explorers host VCU at 5 p.m. in Tom Gola Arena before the men play in a doubleheader.

Saint Joseph’s is on the road, visiting Davidson in North Carolina in the Atlantic 10 trying to halt a six-game slide.

Rutgers in the Big Ten is at Northwestern at 8 p.m. in Evanston, Ill., trying to finish in the top six for a bye in the conference tourney but the Scarlet Knights are playing a Wildcats team in a virtual tie for first with Maryland.

That’s it for locals on Wednesday.

But in an interesting note, Tulane is at UConn at 7 p.m., which, because of the Huskies’ drop from fifth to sixth this week in the AP poll, the first time since 2007 over 453 weeks, it’s the first time someone will play UConn in an AAC game when the Huskies are not in the Top five.

On Thursday, Rider, in a first-place tie with preseason favorite Marist in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, visits Quinnipiac at 6 p.m., in Hamden, Conn.

Fairfield got upset in overtime by Saint Peter’s, which is Rider’s other loss. 

But with the Stags now locked in third with the Bobcats, Rider needs to gain a sweep so Fairfield is still the tiebreak if Marist, which split with Fairfield, and the Broncs are deadlocked at the finish.

 Furthermore, Rider still has the second game with Fairfield to be played.

Nationally, Old Dominion, now alone in first in C-USA, on Thursday is at Charlotte, which followed the Lady Monarchs in upsetting Rice last week.

You’ll get the rest of the Thursday card out of the Southeastern Conference, which is interesting, in the next report.

But that’s it for this one.