The Guru Weekend Report - Part 1: Penn and Princeton Finish Two-Games Sweeps

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – Of the only two of the Guru’s 11-team D-1 group that saw action Saturday, Penn and Princeton completed a weekend sweep in the Ivy League while in the small college mix, buzzer beaters, rallies, and a straight grind it out approach also made for a perfect afternoon from Jefferson, Holy Family, USciences, and Rowan.

Penn’s Sterba and the inside attack of Parker and Crawford Carry Quakers to Third Straight Win

Shaking off feelings of fatigue from Friday night’s overtime thriller in beating Columbia, the Quakers blasted Cornell 63-41 at home at The Palestra to claim a third straight win coming back from the previous four-game slide.

Phoebe Sterba nailed a three-pointer from the outset on the way to near career highs in triplets and points while the Quakers (13-5, 3-2 Ivy) never looked to move into the Ivy League standings’ critical fourth place with the chance to get to second very much attainable.

As in the previous three Ivy tourney formats, the top four finishers get to battle for the NCAA automatic bid in this year’s playoffs at Harvard’s Lavietes Pavilion next month in Boston.

Sterba was just one off her career best in connecting three-pointers, shooting 6-for-8 in her opening attempts from beyond the arc, while she missed another milestone by just a point, scoring 22 against the Big Red (9-9. 2-4), which was only mildly better on the offensive end after being shut down 60-29 at frontrunner Princeton Friday night.

Parker, meanwhile, is starting to resemble the Eleah Parker who was impressive her first two seasons as one of the top players in the area, as well as the Ivies. 

In this one a night after joining the Quakers’ 1,000-point career club, she scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds, near what would have been fourth double-double in her last five games.

Tori Crawford, one of the most improved players in the city, had 10 points and nine rebounds.

“She’s worked very hard over the summer so while last year there were players here who were in front of her, she very much deserves that acclaim and I’m pleased to see her mentioned that way,” said Penn coach Mike McLaughlin.

As for the team coping with fatigue from the intense battle with Columbia, he noted, “We were physically fatigued from last night. I just wanted them to play as hard as they could, even if they were short runs. I didn’t want to slow the game down – I wanted them to go fast.”

Penn forced 13 turnovers enabling the Quakers to outscore Cornell 15-4 in points off the miscues.

McLaughlin was also pleased with the play of Kendall Grasela, saying, “Kendall really did a heck of a job to get us started. I think that was one of her better performances on both ends of the floor in a really long time.”

Two players on Cornell made it to scoring in double figures with Laura Bagwell-Katalinich and Halley Miklos each scoring 10 points.

Penn was also 14-of-19 in making foul shots.

As to how much making her first shot helped fuel her attack, Sterba said, “it definitely helps to get the first ones in, and it also helps to really open the floor for other teammates. We played really hard last night but tonight we also played hard, but we also played a lot smarter.”

Penn hits the road next weekend to complete the first half of the league slate, visiting Brown at 7 p.m. on Valentines Day Friday night at the Bears’ Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, R.I., and then on the way back down south playing Yale at 4 p.m. Saturday at Payne Whitney Gym’s Edwin Lee Amphitheater, the Bulldogs’ home in New Haven, Conn.

Princeton Continues to Roll with Win Over Columbia

The two-time defending league tournament champs claimed their 13^th straight victory, beating Columbia 77-55 at home in Jadwin Gym in central New Jersey.

The Tigers (17-1, 5-0 Ivy) have only lost at Iowa, which was by two points in overtime, which, if reversed could have them on the road to their second unbeaten season in program history.

Two-time reigning player of the year Bella Alarie, likely to go high in April’s WNBA draft, scored 24 points for Princeton, while Carlie Littlefield scored 19 and reserve Abby Meyers scored 10 against the Lions (11-8, 2-4), whom the home  team now has beaten 21 straight times.

Columbia, which got 11 points from Abey Hsu and 10 from Sienna Durr, was also coming in off Friday night’s tough overtime loss down the road at Penn.

Princeton, under first-year coach Carla Berube, next weekend as Penn’s travel partner makes the same trip but in reverse order stopping at Yale Friday to play the Bulldogs at 6 p.m. and then heading north Saturday to play at Brown at 5 p.m.

Small Colleges: Rowan Buzzer-Beater Snaps First-Place Tie in the NJAC

The Profs got revenge and first place all to themselves in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Saturday when Nicole Mallard took a pass from Eliana Santana and scored with one second left in regulation to beat Montclair State University 67-65 at home in Glassboro, N.J.

The Red Hawks, who had beaten Rowan (19-3, 13-2 NJAC) by a lopsided 76-50 margin at home in North Jersey earlier this season, had tied the game with five seconds remaining when Nickie Carter put down a three-ball.

The Profs’ other league loss recently was to The College of New Jersey (15-7, 12-3), which is tied with the Red Hawks for second after winning over Ramapo 71-51 at home in Packer Hall in Ewing, N.J.

Carter scored 20 points for Montclair State (17-5, 12-3), while Kayla Bush scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. The Red Hawks, now in a second-place tie with TcNJ, also got 11 points from Taylor Brown.

Rowan’s Santana had17 points and nine rebounds, Grace Marshall scored 16, Mallard had 14 points and six rebounds, Kennedy Brown scored 11, and Ayanna Marshall grabbed 23 rebounds.  

The Division III Profs next go to William Paterson in Wayne, N.J., at 6 p.m. Wednesday before finishing up hosting Rutgers-Newark next Saturday and then hosting Kean a week from Wednesday.

The NJAC tourney opens Saturday, Feb. 22.

CACC: USciences Rallies to Stay Ahead of Holy Family While Jefferson Upsets Post

The No. 19 Devils rallied from a small deficit to go on and beat Dominican 67-58 at home in Bobby Morgan Arena in Southwest Philadelphia for their 14^th-straight victory since being upset at Holy Family in the league opener of the DII-Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.

The Tigers after the win over USciences, held first over the Devils in the CACC South until they hit a two-game losing streak.

Holy Family finally stopped the two-game negative run Saturday on Alumni Day, beating Felician 76-53 at home in Campus Center in Northeast Philadelphia.

In the win by USciences (20-3, 13-1 CACC), which trailed at the beginning of the fourth quarter by a basket, Jordan Vitelli scored all  the points in an 8-0 eruption to open the final period on the way to scoring 23 points and grabbing eight rebounds.

But that was only good enough for second on the day with USciences, which got a game-high 27 points from Irisa Ye, who also grabbed a game-best eight rebounds. Vitelli now has 1,307 career points, which is seventh on the Devils charts.

Ashley Merritt had a team-high 12 points for the Chargers (11-11, 9-4).

USciences Wednesday visits Georgian Court in Lakewood, N.J. at 6 p.m.

Holy Family (14-8, 12-2 CACC), meanwhile, got nine of Mia Ehling’s 17 points in the first quarter in the win over Felician (2-18, 1-12). Though the score was tied four times, the Tigers never trailed the Golden Falcons.

Elizabeth Radley had a game-high 19 points for the Tigers, while Moe Moore, the reigning CACC freshman of the week, got another double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Holy Family had a season-high 13 triplets in making the series record with Felician now 23-1 dating back to the 2002-03 season.

The Tigers on Wednesday host Goldey-Beacom at 5:30 p.m. and the next showdown with USciences comes Feb. 18 down in Southwest Philadelphia.

Jefferson finally got to .500 overall in crossing divisions to upset Post 69-65 in Waterbury, Conn.

The Rams (11-11, 7-6 CACC) in beating the North Division leader used a 15-6 run to end the game.

Alynna Williams scored 29 points and grabbed five rebounds against the Eagles (16-5, 11-3), while Sabria Lytes scored 16 points, Maddie Haney scored 10, and Morgan Robinson dealt seven assists.

Jefferson travels to Wilmington in Delaware Wednesday for a 6 p.m. tip.

Rams coach Tom Shirley now has 788 wins in his career of which 639 are with Jefferson. 

And that’s part one of your weekend report.