Guru’s WBB Report: Siegrist Powers Villanova to Narrow Win at Quinnipiac

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

If conferences gave out sophomore of the week awards, Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist would be off to earning them in the Big East the way she monopolized the freshman honor all last season on the way to the big rookie award at the finish.

 

The native of upstate New York had her second straight monster effort out of two in 2020-21, scoring a game-high 25 points, the last two of which with nine seconds left in regulation came by way of two foul shots, as the Wildcats held on for a 63-60 non-conference win at Quinnipiac Sunday afternoon at the Bobcats’ Peoples United Center in Hamden, Conn.

 

Siegrist also grabbed 10 rebounds for her second straight double double out of the gate while the scoring column in 17 of her 33 career collegiate games has seen her score 20 or more points dating to last season when she broke freshman marks on the Main Line held by the immortal Shelly Pennefather that existed for decades.

 

Villanova is now 2-0 under new coach and alum Denise Dillon on the heels of Wednesday’s home-opener easier to achieve triumph over nearby Rider in Finneran Pavilion.

 

The opposition coach Sunday is no stranger to Dillon, having gone against MAAC power Quinnipiac coached by Delran(N.J.)’s Trish Sacca Fabbri during Dillon’s long-running Drexel era.

 

Sunday’s game was cobbled off what is now becoming an ongoing national preoccupation in the men’s and women’s collegiate world called the Covid-19 shuffle in which teams on a daily basis are poised with scrambling for new opponents on the fly when their originally intended foe gets quarantined off someone landing a positive test for the virus.

 

In all, 18 women’s game on Sunday’s Division I card were either postponed or cancelled.

 

Swapping from the summer schedule, Manhattan, coached by former Villanova assistant Heather Vulin, was suppose to play the Wildcats Saturday afternoon until the Jaspers got hit with a no-go off a tier one member of the program getting informed of a positive result.

 

Meanwhile, the same day, Quinnipiac was set to meet in-state and national power Connecticut at the Mohegan Sun bubblevillemen’s and women’s setup near New London, Conn., in a tournament also involving nationally-ranked Mississippi State and Maine.

 

But a week ago Monday, the Huskies reported a positive result and are now going through lockdown procedures, forcing Quinnipiac to scramble and hence the two programs hooked upafter the Bobcats had found another replacement to win their opener last week against Providence.

 

So much for the background.

 

As for the basketball, the way it went Sunday was along the lines of countless scenarios in the 42-year coaching era of Wildcats legend Harry Perretta in which key individual performances were notable but some scoring droughts along the way allowed the other side to stay involved until the end to rally or lose.

 

In this one, Villanova jumped to an 11-0 lead and never trailed, though several times squandered almost all of the advantage and was in danger of doing so near the end until Siegrist’s free throws saved the day.

 

Minutes earlier a three-ball from Miami transfer Sarah Mortensen had given the Wildcats a 54-45 lead with 7 minutes, 30 seconds left in regulation before Quinnipiac began a claw back taking advantage of a three-minute drought to move within a point after consecutive threes from Sajada Bonner.

 

Finally, Villanova used back-to-back shots from Mortensen andfreshman Bella Runyan, the daughter of former NFL Philadelphia Eagle Jon Runyan for a six-points advantage with two minutes left.

 

Then another drought until Siegrist got the Wildcats to victory lane, though Quinnipiac had a chance to launch a potential game-tying three that failed.

 

Villanova shared the ball well in this one, getting 21 assists on 26 baskets.

 

Mortensen finished with 16, her best with the Wildcats, while Briana Herlihy had 10 points and seven rebounds. Runyan dealt six assists in the early phase of her collegiate career while Sam Carangi dealt three.

 

Mackenzie DeWeese topped Quinnipiac with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and three steals.

 

Having gotten two non-conference game in the books through all the chaos — Temple became a no-go along the way and Saint Joseph’s, currently in quarantine mode, will come along later if the schools can arrange it — Villanova now looks to Friday night’s Big East opener against defending champion DePaul at home.

 

The ‘Cats were the only local in play Sunday, while Monday has La Salle opening its home and season slate, meeting Towson at the Tom Gola Arena at 4 p.m. and Penn State in its second game, both at home, will host nearby Saint Francis, Pa., at 6 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College.

 

National highlights: In the bubble jam in Estero, Fla., No. 12 Maryland bounced back from Saturday’s upset loss to No. 24 Missouri State by beating No. 14 Arkansas 115-96 as the Terrapins set a program record scoring against a ranked opponent paced by Harvard transfer Katie Benzan, who had eight three-balls and tied a career high with 28 points. 

 

Destiny Slocum, a former Terrapins star, had had 16 for the Razorbacks.

 

“This was a terrific response by our team today,” Maryland veteran head coach Brenda Frese said. “They were locked in. You can see where the talent is on our team.”

 

Meanwhile, Missouri State turned around from the Maryland upset and was the sole ranked team to get upset, losing to Wake Forest 68-59.

 

Top-ranked South Carolina held off No. 21 Gonzaga 79-72 in the Bad Mowers Classic in Sioux Falls, S.D., as Destanni Henderson had a career high 23 points and Zia Cooke had 16 for the Gamecocks while Jenn Wirth led three players in double figures for the Zags, scoring 16 points.

 

Follow closely on this one, after being upset on the road on last week, No. 22 Notre Dame turned around and thumped Miami (Ohio) in the Irish home opener 88-68 giving new coach and alum Niele Ivey her first win as Destinee Walker scored 24 points and Maddy Westbeld scored 19. Anya People had a double double of 14 points and 11 rebounds.

 

Peyton Scott had 18 for the visitors while Katie Davidson had 16 points and 10 rebounds.

 

However, going into the weekend, the Irish had Duquesne on the schedule but the Dukes ended up at No. 20 Ohio State’s season opener in Columbus won by the Buckeyes 82-47 as JacySheldon scored 20 points.

 

No. 23 Syracuse won its opener at defending regular season America East champion Stony Brook, taking a 50-39 victory on Long Island, the game notable for the return of Tiana Mangakahia, who scored a team high 16 points, grabbing 7 rebounds, dealing three assists and and grabbing 4 steals after missing last season fighting breast cancer.

 

Syracuse next will host Philadelphia suburban Division II power Lincoln Wednesday at 6 p.m.

 

No. 6 Mississippi State, which lost out on the bubbleville tourney at Mohegan when Uconn got sidelined, opened at home 88-58 over Jackson State giving new coach Nikki McCray-Penson, formerly at Old Dominion, her first win with her new team.

 

As for the former coach, Vic Schaefer was down in Austin guiding Texas to a 106-69 win over North Texas as Charli Collier scored 44 points, the fourth highest total in program history.

 

Elsewhere, new Duke coach Kara Lawson went to 2-0 with the Blue Devils’ 83-56 home win over Western Carolina as the winners tied a school record with 13 three-pointers. 

 

North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart made it 3-0 with a lopsided 95-70 ome over High Point while No. 7 Arizona took its season opener in Tucson at home, beating Northern Arizona 76-63, its only non-conference foe, as Cate Reese scored a game-high 21 points and Aari McDonald scored 16.

 

“My teammates this year are making my job so much easier,” McDonald said. “I can focus on other things, like I can can communicate, I can lockdown on defense.

 

Coach Adia Barnes praised Reese, saying, “I thought she played really well. I’m not surprised at all. She played today like she does every day in practice.”

 

McDonald has scored in double figures in 67 straight games, which leads the nation.

 

And that’s the report.

 

 

 

 

Guru’s WBB Report: Drexel Rallies Over Rider to Launch Amy Mallon Era

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

It took awhile with some bumping along the runway but eventually in a game plugged in by both teams  to replace others due to Covid19 the Drexel women got airborne to launch their season with a 62-49 win at Rider, Saturday afternoon, at Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J., giving former associate head coach Amy Mallon her first win in her promoted position in her debut appearance.

 

Rider was coming into its first home appearance after getting routed at Villanova Wednesday in what was former Drexel coach Denise Dillon’s first outing returning to her alma mater succeeding the retired Harry Perretta.

 

Fans were not allowed in the arena Saturday among most other places per the protocols.

 

Drexel scored first before the Broncs tore off on a 10-0 run in an opening quarter in which the Dragons shot 7.1 percent from the field.

 

But then the visitors found their footing with a 14-0 run to go ahead in the next period and after a 9-0 Rider run put the Broncs back in front 33-31, the Dragons regained control and went on to finish with the victory.

 

As is everywhere else across the country, Saturday’s game was cobbled together after both teams lost originally scheduled games due to positive tests by opponents.

 

“It’s certainly different at this level,” Mallon said of the on-the-fly, day-to-day navigation of the early season that the NCAA delayed its start by two weeks. “I mean, you’ve seen it at the AAU level, you go to a tournament, the team you’re supposed to play doesn’t show, so it’s, ok, then you play this team over here.

 

“And even now, if you get to play someone else nearby, there’s still a lot going into to it to set up the protocols and testing,” she added.

 

“I knew we could run into the start like we did because they played a game and we hadn’t done anything with referees and all the formalities, but eventually we took a deep breath and settled in, and Hannah (Nihill) gave us the role you’d expect from an upperclassman.”

 

Nihill missed her first six shots but then found her mark, finishing 7-for-13 from the floor to set a game and career high with 22 points, nine of which were off three-pointers, while also shooting 5-for-7 from the line.

 

Keishana Washington scored 12, along with seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals, while Hetta Saatman had game and career-highs of nine rebounds.

 

Ultimately, the Drexel trademark defense that carried the Dragons to the regular season title in the Colonial Athletic Association before the tournament was cancelled with the start of the massive sports shutdown, made itself felt Saturday forcing Rider into 23 turnovers allowing a 28-7 advantage in points scored off the miscues.

 

Rider was also a regular season champion in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference whose tournament was similarly cut short in Atlantic City, forcing an abrupt end to the collegiate career of Stella Johnson, the nation’s leading scorer who was drafted by the WNBA Phoenix Mercury before landing on the Washington Mystics.

 

Amanda Mobley had 13 points for the Broncs, while Ralphaela Toussaint had 11 points. 

 

Though Drexel now holds a 21-9 lead in the series, it was the first time the two squads met in the now long-running Lynn Milligan coaching era.

 

Rider next hosts Army Wednesday at at 2 p.m. on Wednesday while Drexel heads to Monmouth Saturday at 2 p.m. in West Long Branch, N.J.

 

Meanwhile, Delaware was the only other local set to play Saturday but the Blue Hens’ game with in-state rival Delaware State down in Dover is now scheduled for Wednesday with a tip time not yet known.

 

On Sunday, the lone local has Villanova heading to Quinnipiac up in Hamden, Conn., at 3 p.m.

 

On Monday, Penn State will host St. Francis, Pa., in the Bryce Jordan Center at 6 p.m. while La Salle will get its delayed season start launched hosting Towson at 4 p.m. in the Tom Gola Arena at 20th & Olney.

 

Closer Games and Upsets Hit Ranked Teams: Scores were closer with a few upsets thrown into the mix on day three of the young, delayed season, with No. 24 Missouri State beating No. 12 Maryland in the Beach Bubble Jam in Estero, Fla., while South Dakota State took down No. 15 Iowa State, 76-69, played elsewhere.

 

A tight battle in Chicago at the Wintrust Arena saw No. 13 Texas A&M edged host and No. 19 DePaul, 93-91, while another Beach Bubble game had No. 14 Arkansas top Florida Gulf Coast 86-80. Other games with ranked teams had top-ranked South Carolina go to 2-0 beating South Dakota 81-71 while host and No. 10 Oregon walloped Seattle 116-51.

 

Among unranked teams, North Carolina cruised over visiting UNC Greensboro 96-35, Tennessee got its season started at home beating Western Kentucky 87-47, and George Washington won its second game, ruining the debut of Old Dominion’s DeLisha Milton-Jones, beating the Lady Monarchs 55-37, and American Athletic Conference pick South Florida at home in Tampa beat Jacksonville 84-46.

 

Mike Carey got his 700th win while coaching West Virginia to a 62-42 triumph over LSU in the South Point tourney in Las Vegas, his 412th in his 20th season guiding the Mountaineers.

 

Kysre Gondrezick had 22 points for the winners.

 

“First of all, I’m old, that’s why,” Carey jested of his milestone. “So when you stay in it long enough, you have to win some of them.”

 

Missouri State trailed the Terrapins 43-27 in the first half before rallying and outscoring Maryland by 25 points over the final 21 minutes for the largest win by a Missouri Valley team over a ranked opponent in the top 15 in 19 seasons.

 

Brice Calip had a career-high 26 points for Missouri State.

 

“We weren’t able to get stops on the defensive end and then we were really impatient on the offensive end,” said Maryland coach Brenda Frese.

 

Katie Benzan, the transfer from Harvard, had 16 points for the Terrapins and shot 4-for-7 from beyond the arc.

 

In South Carolina’s win, Destanni Henderson and Zia Cooke each scored 19 points for the Gamecocks.

 

Texas A&M held off a late rally by DePaul as the Aggies got 22 points from Kayla Wells while N’dea Jones had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Ciera Johnson had 12 rebounds, and reserve Destiny Pitts scored 12, including a huge three-pointer in the final period.

 

Dee Bekelja had a career high 24 points for the Blue Demons, and Deja Church had a career mark with 22 points.

 

Oregon began the post-Sabrina Ionescu era as potent as ever as Maryland transfer Taylor Mikesell scored 28 points and Lydia Giomi had 15 points and 13 rebounds.

 

Sedona Prince and Nyara Sabally, both sidelined the previous two seasons with injuries, scored 17 and 10 points, respectively.

 

“It was awesome,” Mikesell said. “I think it was really good for all of us collectively just to get back out there on the court and play basketball again. And then super excited for Sedona and Nyara to put on a jersey again.”

 

And that’s the report.

Guru’s WBB Report: Rutgers Sails on Black Friday Over Monmouth While Notre Dame Victim of Ohio University’s First Ranking Upset

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Following a two-day delay due to a positive test of Covid-19 on the Monmouth side of the ledger, the Rutgers women’s basketball team celebrated Black Friday by ringing up a resounding 82-38 victory over the Hawks in their season and home opener in the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, N.J.

 

Getting on the books on what was a relatively light schedule across the country, the game also served as the formal start of Rutgers’ coach C. Vivian Stringer’s 50th season on the sidelines, a first in women’s basketball and only the fourth overall.

 

Like everywhere else, it was a scene like no other with fans barred from the arena causing artificial crowd electricity to be supplied by technology.

 

“To be honest, when a game starts, I don’t normally pay attention to all that stuff anyway,” said Arella Guirantes, the prolific Scarlet Knights scorer and Big Ten coaches choice as co-conference player of the year, who bypassed a chance to leave early for the WNBA’s recent summer action and poured in a game-high 22 points, shooting 7-of-13 from the field.

 

Stringer, after the long layoff since last winter’s Big Ten tournament due to the sports shutdown depriving Rutgers of an NCAA tournament, said she didn’t know what to expect with the first official mixture of veterans as Guirantes and newcomers like the talented Diamond Johnson, the No. 6 overall recruit in the country who arrived from Philadelphia’s powerful Neumann-Goretti High.

 

Johnson fit right in when she she hit the floor, making her first three shots and scoring 15 overall, connecting on 5-of-6 from the field, of which 3-of-4 attempts succeeded from beyond the arc.

 

In a game such as the rout was, two other newcomer freshmen also saw action as Liz Martino and Sakima Walker combined for 12 points.

 

Like the shoppers who gave up the comfort of online purchasing to arrive early ahead of the rest of whatever crowd did likewise, the Scarlet Knights took care of business very quickly with a 33-4 blastoff from the opening tip into the middle of the second quarter.

 

No Monmouth player scored in double figures, the best effort being eight points by reserve Jania Hall.

 

Johnson’s points were the most for a Scarlet Knights newcomer debut since Betnijah Laney, now with the WNBA Atlanta Dream, scored 18 to start the 2011-12 season. The aforementioned Laney is the daughter of former Cheyney all-American Yolanda Laney, whom Stringer coached at Cheyney before moving on for a long stay coaching at Iowa and then Rutgers in her now-50 seasons that included Final Four appearances with each program.

 

Like many other places, Rutgers’ non-conference schedule assembly continues to be a work in progress ahead of the Scarlet Knights’ Big Ten opener at Wisconsin on Dec. 11. Besides Guru central trying to keep up here, always check with all teams websites for game-day info, in the case of the Jersey folks at ScarletKnights.com.

 

Notre Dame Upset: Off a talented recruiting class, the Irish made it back into the Associated Press rankings following an unprecedented off year, clocking in at 22 in the preseason media vote under former Irish star Niele Ivey, who succeeded retired Hall of Famer Muffet McGraw last spring.

 

How long they stay will be depending on Sunday’s home opener at 4 p.m. with Duquesne, if that’s enough, after being upset by Mid-American Conference member Oho University 86-85 at the Bobcats’ Convocation Center in Athens for the program’s first-ever win over a nationally-ranked team.

 

“This team never seems to be overwhelmed by the moment,” Ohio U. Coach Bob Bolden said after his team improved to 2-0 while the Irish were in their first game of the season.

 

Notre Dame held a 77-70 lead with 6:03 left in regulation when the home team rallied.

 

“Today was no exception,” Bolden said. “We don’t get seven or eight chances to beat a Top-25 team, we get one or two. I’m proud of them for seizing that moment.”

 

An 8-0 rally from the deficit put the Bobcats in front 78-77 with 4:47 left. The teams traded baskets and then Ohio U. senior Cece Hooks scored with 52 seconds left and a half-minute later extended it with a free throw.

 

Hooks finished with 32 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

 

Erica Johnson, a redshirt junior guard, added 24 points to the Bobcats total.

 

Dara Mabrey scored a career-high 34 points for the depleted Irish, who lost a season opener for the first time in  25 years dating to a setback to Seton Hall.

 

Notre Dame had trailed by 14 points early in the third quarter before rallying for the 77-70 lead that was squandered.

 

“A lot of highs and lows, but I feel encouraged by this group,” Ivey said, “and that’s what I told them, not to hang their heads.

 

“My focus is for them to learn how to compete and get better, and I felt like we did that in the second half.”

 

Mabrey is a transfer from Virginia Tech and her 7-for-14 on three-point attempts was just one short of the program record for completions.

 

“I thought Ohio played amazing,” Ivey said. “Those two guards in double figures, with their experience, really took over the game. I thought they played exceptionally well.”

 

Anya Peoples had 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the visitors, while Destinee Walker scored 16, and freshman Maddy Westbeld scored 11 but was extremely limited by foul trouble.

 

Three returning Irish starters and two freshman posts did not play for undisclosed reasons and are not expected to play in Sunday’s home opener with Duquesne.

 

Elsewhere, the ranked teams who played all easily stayed out of harm’s way. 

It was No. 14 Arkansas over Wake Forest 98-82, No. 12 Maryland topping Davidson 94-72, No. 24 Missouri State over Florida Gulf Coast 74-49, No. 25 Michigan beat Oakland 95-62, and UCLA cruised over Cal State Fullerton in a delayed game 98-49 as Charisma Osbourne scored 31 points and Michaela Onyenwere scored 22 for the Bruins.

 

The New Math With Nova: Quinnipiac lost out on playing a tourney at the Mohegan Sun starting Saturday when Connecticut went into quarantine while the Wildcats lost their game at Manhattan when the Jaspers were sidelined.

 

Add the two subtractions and you now get Villanova will visit Quinnipiac in Hamden, Conn., on Sunday at 3 p.m. in the People’s United Center.

 

Longtime Quinnipiac coach and Delran (N.J.) native Trish Fabbri, whose team has been a traditional MAAC power, and new Villanova coach Denise Dillon used to play non-conference against each other when Dillon coached at Drexel.

 

Meanwhile, Saint Joseph’s is expecting to play a local D-II rival on Dec. 13 when the Hawks come out of quarantine, which Sacred Heart has now entered in Fairfield, Conn.

 

La Salle’s game Saturday at Coppin State was previously cancelled, but Drexel under new head coach Amy Mallon is set to play at Rider at 2 p.m. on ESPN3 in Lawrenceville, N.J., above Trenton, while Delaware is at Delaware State.

 

La Salle will now host Towson Monday at 4 p.m. while Penn State will host Saint Francis, Pa., at 6 p.m.

 

Two key national games Saturday has No. 12 Maryland meeting No. 24 Missouri State in Estero, Fla., in the continuation of that tourney, while No. 19 DePaul hosts No. 13 Texas A&M at 5 p.m. in Chicago.

 

No. 14 Arkansas in Florida plays Florida Gulf Coast in the tourney at Estero, while in the Northwest No. 10 Oregon opens at home against Seattle at 4 p.m.

 

Information on the Notre Dame – Ohio game was drawn on repeorting from The Post,  the Ohio U. Student newspaper, and NDInsider.

 

And that’s the report.

 

Guru’s WBB Report: Dillon Era at Villanova Off to a Roaring Start While Penn State and Delaware Also Win But Rutgers Gets a 48-Hour Delay

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

For the most part, the locals got off to a near-perfect winning start Wednesday with Villanova women’s basketball blasting Rider 70-37 at home in Finneran Pavilion to start the homecoming Denise Dillon era as Harry Perretta enjoyed his first time away from the helm in 43 seasons, using his retirement to play a round of golf elsewhere, though he will still be around a lot this winter.

 

Delaware at home in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark rocked Salem International 111-54 while Penn State up at home in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College handled Coppin State 84-45.

 

However, the new world of uncertainty caused by the coronavirus quickly made its presence felt at Rutgers in the RAC in Piscataway, N.J., as well as many other places.

 

Poised to tip at 11 a.m. and boasting of holding the honor of being the first game of the season anywhere, Covid-19 said not so fast minutes earlier to the Scarlet Knights as visiting Monmouth from nearby in Central Jersey came up with a positive test to postpone the contest.

 

The two teams will try to start again at the same time Friday morning on a delayed launch to the 50^th season of Hall of Famer C. Vivian Stringer, whose long run at Rutgers was preceded by stints at Cheyney in suburban Philadelphia and Iowa, all of which collectively saw her become the first men’s or women’s coach to lead all three programs to NCAA Women’s Final Fours, including the very first one held at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Va., in 1982.

 

Given the last-minute delay on the top of the self-proclaimed buildup was reminiscent of the old NASA Mercury program, which saw a late weather event put a hold on astronaut Alan Shepard’s journey to become the first American to reach outer space.

 

And so it went throughout the day and night with several dozen schools claiming cancellations or postponements on the Wednesday card as well as other upcoming events also being made known of similar occurrences.

 

While we’re here, a breaking add-in has Towson meeting La Salle Monday at Tom Gola Arena at 4 p.m.

 

For the most part men’s and women’s teams played in arenas empty of fans or limited to a set number for families of players and coaches.

 

Losing his opener with Middle Tennessee State, Jeff Walz, coach of Louisville, had set up a clearing house of sorts among his colleagues and was able to do a last-minute replacement with Southeast Missouri to join all the nationally-ranked teams who played Wednesday with easy victories, his Cardinals winning 74-53.

 

No. 2 Stanford got a win to bring coach Tara VanDerveer within three of passing the late Tennessee legend Pat Summitt for all-time victories, which would put her at 1,099.

 

That gives her one more game to be ahead of UConn’s Geno Auriemma, whose team is in a 14-day quarantine shut-down due to a tier-one member of the program, though not a player or coach, having received a positive test.

 

Of the teams ranked that played, No. 1 South Carolina, whose coach Dawn Staley was victimized by the NCAA abrupt shutdown last March after finishing No. 1 for the first time in the AP women’s poll, and also saw her USA Olympic squad get delayed to this summer, thumped Charleston 119-38.

 

At No. 11 Kentucky, former Tennessee star promoted to head coach Kyra Elzy in the wake of Matthew Mitchell’s abrupt retirement caused by health conditions, the Wildcats routed Murray State 86-60.

 

Next week she’ll join an elite group of coaches who played on and coached AP ranked women’s teams, in some cases doing both at their alma maters.

 

Rhyne Howard, a preseason national player of the year contender off the Wildcats, did not play, having been suspended for two games for “not upholding the standards of the program.”

 

Elsewhere off the summer merry go round of coaches on the move, former Mississippi State coach Vic Schaefer got Texas off to a 90-51 win over SMU, being replaced by former Tennessee star and ODU coach Nikki McCray-Penson.

 

She was replaced on the Monarchs by by sister former WNBA and Olympic star DeLisha Milton-Jones.

 

Dillon was succeeded at Drexel by longtime associate head coach Amy Mallon. Another WNBA great in Kara Lawson, having replaced Joanne P. McCallie at Duke, got the Blue Devils to a winning 94-64 start at home over Longwood.

 

Former Notre Dame star Niele Ivy has succeeded longtime Hall of Fame coach Muffet McGraw with the Irish, while some other changes of note has Maureen Magarity, daughter of Army’s Bill Magarity, moving from New Hampshire to Holy Cross,  former  WNBA and Maryland star Laura Harper taking over at Coppin State, Doshia Woods in charge at Denver, Krista Gerlich at Texas Tech, while former longtime Delaware coach Tina Martin is serving as interim coach at UNCW while Karen Barefoot is away tending to personal matters.

 

Though longtime Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly is sidelined during the front part of the season due to a positive virus test, it didn’t stop the Cyclones, who beat Omaha 69-43.

 

In the mighty PAC-12, nationally-ranked UCLA was virus-sidelined, California fell to San Jose 56-48 at home, and Washington narrowly edged San Diego State 61-59 but otherwise it was Stanford over Cal Poly 108-40, Southern Cal over Loyola Marymount 85-55, Arizona State over Stephen F. Austin 56-47 and Colorado over Western Colorado 77-50.

 

Local Lincoln University, who had a breakthrough Division II season a year ago, is playing some D-1 schools early and fell to George Washington 53-38, while in a New York area tilt, Fordham beat Stony Brook 62-58.

 

Looking at the three local winners in more depth:

 

Villanova 70, Rider 37 — In a game where both teams scrambled to hook up in the wake of virus cancellations, Denise Dillon got off to an easy winning start with the Wildcats, though the visiting Broncs forged a narrow 20-16 second quarter deficit.

 

Rider is rebuilding off its marquee season that was paced by eventual WNBA draftee Stella Johnson, moving the primary scoring role to Amanda Mobley, who had 14 points. 

 

“We were able to get a lot freshmen in so that was good,” said Dillon, originally set to play Saint Joseph’s until the Hawks went into quarantine, and off the original season start of two weeks ago also had Temple on tap.

 

Sophomore Maddy Siegrist picked up where she left off a stellar frosh season, scoring 28 points and grabbing ten rebounds.

 

Freshman Lior Garzon scored 11.

 

The Wildcats are 9-0 on Rider and Dillon’s win was her 330^th overall.

 

Still running a trademark defense, Villanova held Rider to 12 of 48 for 25 percent from the field and got 25 points off 20 turnovers.

 

“I was pleased with the connection,” Dillon said. “They worked together to play both ends of the floor. I was pleased with their buy-in.”

 

As for the Rider side of things, longtime coach Lynn Milligan told Broncs beat writer Dylan Manfre, “The score is what it is but I like the shots we got. We didn’t make any shots, that was clear.

 

“I think our biggest issue today was we just didn’t defend as well as I thought we were.”

 

As for dealing with Siegrist, Milligan said, “ We had a couple of defensive plays on her and she was still able to make a bucket.

 

“She found a couple of looks and you can’t keep her open. If you make a mistake on a switch or x-out or something, she is going to make you pay.”

 

Rider is set to host Drexel at 2 on Saturday while the Wildcats were suppose to play MAAC favorite Manhattan on the same day and time but that now is off the books making the Big East overall and home opener next Friday against DePaul the next game on tap.

 

Penn State 84, Coppin State 45 — A balanced attack carried the Lady Lions to their home and overall opening win, led by freshman Tova Sabel, eho scored 14 points. 

 

Transfer and former Villanova star Kelly Jekot made her debut, scoring 11 points, including her 1,000^th carrier point, and also grabbed 11 rebounds.

 

Sophomore Anna Camden had 13 points and 10 rebounds, while sophomore Makenna Marisa had 12 points and dealt seven assists.

 

“Excited that we were able to get out there and play Coppin State and get the jitters out,” said second-year coach Carolyn Kieger, formally at Marquette. “I thought we had a lot of great moments, obviously a lot to learn, we need to fix some things defensively but with 13 newcomer I’m pleased.

 

“It’s obvious an adjustment coaching in a mask, players having to put a mask on,” Kieger referenced playing under the new conditions. “I thought everyone adjusted well. Credit to our game operations staff getting us into a position where we’re safe and healthy and I thought the setup was fantastic.

 

“I feel joy for our players being able to press on. I know they’ve been waiting for this a long time,” Kieger echoed what had been said at many other places that held opening day games.

 

“I thought (Sabel) she played phenomenal,” she said. “Our first intersquad scrimmage she got a little nervous. But, first game in America, I thought she settled in. She’s a scorer, she can put the ball on the floor, she can shoot the three. She’s going to be a prime time player for us.”

 

Penn State next hosts Saint Francis, Pa., Monday night at 6 p.m.

 

Delaware 111, Salem (W. Va.) 54 — The Blue Hens broke new records in playing inside the Bob Carpenter Center in the first Blue Hens athletic event in 260 days since the shutdown caused by the Covid-19 virus.

 

The points and 71 rebounds were program marks.

 

Jasmine Dickey set a career high with 31 points and Lizzie Oleary did likewise scoring 14 off 5-for-6 from the field. Redshirt junior Ty Battle had 16 points and 10 rebounds in her first Blue Hens game, while sophomore Brynn Wade had seven points and 12 rebounds, both personal marks as a Blue Hens member.

 

Freshman Tyi Skinner debuted with 15 points.

 

On teams matchups, Delaware dominated, 71-31 on rebounds, 64-22 on points in the paint, 21-2 on second chance points, and 32-3 on points off turnovers.

 

The Blue Hens next go to neighboring rival Delaware State Wednesday next week in Dover.

 

And that’s the report.

 

Happy Thanksgiving.