Guru’s WBB Report - Local: La Salle Gets Revenge, Penn State Snaps Loss Streak, Delaware Sweeps

Guru’s note: So much happened Sunday the Guru is splitting the report locally and nationally to give more their moments.

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Just 48 hours later after suffering one of the worst defeats in the history of  the La Salle-Saint Joseph’s series, the Explorers, off a 65-36 defeat, came back in their own Tom Gola Arena Sunday afternoon and handed the Hawks a series-matching worst setback of their own, emerging with an 81-66  triumph that also became La Salle’s first win in the Atlantic 10 this season and Saint Joseph’s overall first loss.

Neither game also counted as a Big Five standings result with the formal City Series round-robin closed off this season due to the effect of the coronavirus causing the Ivy League to cancel winter sports, which includes Penn in the Big Five besides Princeton on the list of Guru locals.

Both squads have had shutdowns and schedule changes off Covid-19 protocols.

The last of three times La Salle (4-6, 1-3 A-10) also beat the Hawks by 15 points was on Jan. 22, 2006, which was 15 seasons ago.

In this one, Saint Joseph’s (3-1, 1-1) took a brief lead in the first 17 seconds, and then the Explorers launched a 6-0  run that only incrementally grew larger and they never trailed again.

Claire Jacobs, the reigning Big Five player of the week (awards are still being given for performance with member programs), had 21 points for the home team and the Australian also grabbed a career-best nine rebounds. Kate Hill also checked in with a personal best, scoring 15 points on 6-of-13 overall from the field, including 3-of-4 from deep.

Deja King added 10 points as the Explorers had one of their better team shooting days at 46.8 percent.

On Saint Joseph’s side, Jaiden Walker and Gabby Smalls each scored 14 points, while Smalls completed a double double with 14 rebounds for a career-high..

Telling was rebounding. 

In Friday’s win, the Hawks were all over the boards while the total Sunday was knocked down to a mere one-carom 39-38 advantage.

La Salle’s scoring total of 81 is the most ever under coach Mountain MacGillivray, who is in his third season.

“Everyone was getting open and that really helped today,” said Jacobs of the turnaround. 

“I probably put more emphasis on getting my teammates open and getting open shots. They work hard on getting  the ball in the right position.,” Hill said.

“And they’re great shooters, so when they knock it down, that’s why I got some assists, but shoutout to them for making the shots.

“That was definitely a hard one on Friday, so we all didn’t forget it. Today we kind of had a chip on our shoulder and came in with the mindset that this is kind of a revenge game and we’re not going 0-2 against them.”

The game was the conference’s nationally televised contest of the week.

“It’s definitely exciting when we take the shots and they’re falling in and it motivates us when the shots are falling,” said Jacobs, whose twin sister Amy is also an Explorer both in their sophomore seasons.

As for the magnitude of the reversal, Hill said, “We really practiced hard on Saturday, and we knew what we had to do, and made the changes. One of the reasons we lost was we didn’t shoot the ball that great. And each of us visualized the ball going in last night. Rivalry here in Philadelphia is real. We didn’t want to go 0-2, so to get a win, we’re just glad we came out on top.”

MacGillivray philosophized the weekend, saying, “I guess if you’re going to get blown out one game and doing the blowing out the other, I guess it’s better to do the blowing out on national TV than on the internet.”

Most of La Salle’s home game are on the ESPN+ apps for computers, tablets, and smart phones.

“The turnaround — I can’t underscore it, we were really shook after that game,” MacGillivray said of the weekend’s events. “It’s probably the lowest I’ve seen the team. Practice on Saturday was not great. They were trying, but they just couldn’t put two and two together. But they really want to be good and they really want to get better and I’m just so happy for them that they were able to bounce back.

“For them to go out tonight and go 16-for-18 (foul shots), that’s just so huge for such a young team to get off the mat. That’s what we talked about at the beginning of practice yesterday. Can we get off the mat? And we did. So really proud of them.

“So now we got a tough stretch, we got Drexel (non-conference at home) on Wednesday (6 p.m.),  (at) St. Bonaventure on Friday (12 p.m.) and (at) Duquesne (2 p.m.) on Sunday.”

The Hawks will make the same trip in reverse, playing at Duquesne in Pittsburgh, Friday at 6 p.m., and then off to St. Bonaventure in Olean (N.Y.) near Buffalo to play at Sunday at noon.

Going into Friday’s game, Saint Joseph’s hadn’t played in three weeks, while La Salle had played a decent amount on schedule stitched among 11 changes so far caused by shutdowns on both sides, including opponents.

“It was a perfect storm, everything that can go wrong, did. We’re a team that can make open shots and boy we didn’t make them Friday.”

“We were just a step slow today and La Salle really took advantage of it,” Hawks coach Cindy Griffin said.

The Hawks won’t ever make excuses for adversity but it can be speculated through all their stops and starts and lack of games whether they finally hit a wall, which doesn’t necessarily mean they win otherwise, the way MacGillivray has been rebuilding the program during his early time.

“I was worried,” he said. “Because when you’re confidence is shaken, sometimes you don’t bounce back. But they did.

“Sometimes the game plan works, sometimes it doesn’t, but today it did. But give Saint Joe’s some credit (on Friday), we took away option a and option b and they found others.”

Friday’s game was a makeup from last month, the La Salle coach noting that the local back-to-back wasn’t intentional.

“In this Covid season, honestly, I just want to get games in. So any day we’re playing, I’m grateful, I’m happy about it, whether it was Friday, Saturday, or Saturday, Sunday, or two games in the same day. As long as we get a chance to play, I’m alright with it.”

Penn State Second Half Gets First Conference Win: The Lady Lions hit the road Sunday and used a second half effort with a 10-point lead at the end of three and then some timely 10-for-12 foul shooting in the fourth to beat Minnesota 69-60 for their first Big Ten triumph of the season and first win in Williams Arena in Minneapolis in nearly nine years.

Former Villanovan Kelly Jekot led Penn State (4-5, 1-4 Big Ten) with 15 points, Johnasia Cash had a double double of 14 points and game-best 12 rebounds, while freshman Maddie Burke scored 13 points.

The Gophers (2-6, 1-5), coached by alum and former WNBA playmaker Lindsay Whalen, got 19 points from Jasmine Powell and 12 from Laura Bagwell Katalinich.

“A total team effort and 24 points off the bench, I thought our bench was phenomenal,” said Penn State coach Carolyn Kieger. “Not only by their production, but also how they were with their juice on the bench. I thought that was the best chemistry we had all year and it obviously showed.

“Getting your first Big Ten win on the road, extra special when it’s my hometown, which is awesome. Very thankful for the team and how they performed  today and stepped up.

“Johnasia Cash with back-to-back awesome performances. If we can keep her rolling and keep her in the game, she’s going to be a difference maker for us.”

Penn State has an original bye not related to Covid-19 midweek in the conference schedule, returning to action at home next weekend Sunday when No. 22 Northwestern visits the Bryce Jordan Center in State College.

Delaware Sweeps Again: The days of Delle Donne, even though the WNBA superstar Elena Delle Donne is long gone, seem to be returning for now to the Blue Hens program.

Though somewhat more competitive than Saturday’s rout, coach Natasha Adair’s squad put down William & Mary 77-64  at home in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark to complete its fourth straight overall triumph and second straight weekend sweep of back-to-back 24-hour games in the Colonial Athletic Association.

The Blue Hens (7-1, 4-0 CAA) lead the conference and the start is the best since Delle Donne’s senior season in 2011-12, when then-vice president and future USA president Joe Biden, an alum and former U.S. Senator from the state, made several appearances, including the NCAA second-round win that led to the Sweet 16.

The name of the game in this one to offset mediocre shooting from the field was 31-of-44 foul shots in dropping the Tribe to 4-5 overall and 1-3 in the CAA.

The pile of made charity shots are the third best in program history and most since 1997, more than two decades ago.

Jasmine Dickey had 28 points, making 16-of-20 free throw attempts, a career-high and one short of the Blue Hens mark shared by Delle Donne and Marian Moorer.

The Delaware defense again held William & Mary under 40 percent from the field, this time to 32.7 percent.

Ty Battle had her sixth straight double double with 18 points and 12 rebounds bringing her to seventh overall, tops in the conference.

Lizzie Oleary had 11 points to complete the double figures scoring outputs.

William & Mary’s Sydney Wagner had a game-high 31 points, going 7-for-14 from down deep.

Next up is a back-to-back CAA trip to Hofstra, Saturday and Sunday in Hempstead, L.I. Both games will tip at 2 p.m.

Rider Swept Again: For a while it looked like this might be the day the Broncs finally get post a score on the left side of the won-lost result but alas Siena pulled away in the second half on the way to a 69-60 victory for a weekend sweep at home over Rider (1-12, 0-8 MAAC) in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in Loudonville, N.Y. just outside Albany.

The bright side was the differential was closer than some had been recently and Raphaela Toussaint, a freshman forward, had her second double double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Daiji Moses also scored in double figures with 15 points, tying a career-best.

The Saints (2-2, 2-2), who have played far less than the Broncs due to pauses and postponements from Covid-19, outscored the visitors 38-30 in the second half or final two quarters to emerge victorious.

The third quarter was deadly for the Broncs, entering with a one-point deficit but then forced into nine turnovers and held to 37 percent shooting to trail by eight with ten minutes left in the game.

It then grew to 14 before Rider battled back to reduce it for the final score.

Though Siena has an overwhelming 35-16 advantage in the series, it’s the first sweep for the Saints in nine seasons since 2011-12.

The next back-to-back in the conference comes Saturday and Sunday at home in Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J., with the opening tip both days set for 1 p.m.

And that’s the local report.