Guru’s WBB Report: Drexel, Delaware, and Rider Gain a Local Sweep While Iowa State Ends No. 6 Baylor’s 61-Home Win Streak

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

  With Drexel winning at William & Mary 64-58 and Delaware winning at Hofstra 76-55 on the road in the first of two back-to-back games Saturday in the Colonial Athletic Association, and Rider at home topping St. Peter’s 65-62 in the opening of another back-to-back affair in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, the outcomes made it a three-game sweep for the locals that played Saturday afternoon.

Back in conference play, Drexel reversed direction following Wednesday’s narrow loss at La Salle, edging the Tribe (4-6, 1-4 CAA) at Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg, Va.

Holding a narrow three-point lead at the half, the Dragons burst open the third period with a 13-0 run for a 43-27 advantage before cooling off allowing William & Mary to surge back into contention within three points at 55-52 with 2 minutes, 27 seconds left in regulation.

However, first-year coach Amy Mallon’s group connected with seven free throws, including 5-of-6 from senior Mariah Leonard to stay ahead and emerge with the victory.

A balanced attack saw four players score in double figures for the Dragons (6-2, 3-0 CAA), paced by Leonard, who had her first collegiate double double with career highs of 17 points and 11 rebounds. With a hot hand all afternoon, she was 6-for-8 from the field.

Keishana Washington scored 13 for the visitors, while Kayla Bacon was also hot, shooting 5-for-7 to account for all 10 of her points, and Hannah Nilhill also scored 10, while dealing a game-high six assists. Kate Connolly added eight points to the cause.

Sydney Wagner topped three Tribe players scoring in double figures, collecting 18 points and helped by nailing 4-of-9 three-pointers, while Emma Krause scored 11, and Chaniqwa Gilliam scored 

10.

Drexel’s only other loss overall was at Villanova to former Dragons coach Denise Dillon by two points near the close of regulation.

The Dragons will finish the weekend trip Sunday at 2 p.m. with the contest airing on the Flohoops apps streaming service.

Delaware Keeps Rolling: It was a career afternoon for Blue Hens junior guard Jasmine Dickey, who scored 37 in the win at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex in Hempstead, N.Y., out on Long Island.

Delaware (8-1, 5-0 CAA) currently leads the conference with its unbeaten mark in the CAA with Drexel close behind. The two local conference rivals meet next month and because of their geographical nearness will play the weekend series on Feb. 12,  a Friday, at the Blue Hens’ Bob Carpenter Center in Newark and then move to Drexel’s Daskalakis Athletic Center the following Sunday on Valentine’s Day.

In Saturday’s game, Dick shot 15-for-26 from the field for 57.7 percent, including 3-of-6 from down deep. Her point total is 10th on the individual game-high list in program history behind a bunch from WNBA sensation Elena Delle Donne and a few others.

Dickey made it a double double with 10 rebounds.

Lizzy Oleary tied a career best with 14 points, built on 8-for-7 from the line. Ty Battle just missed a double double with nine points and 10 rebounds.

Though the Blue Hens jumped to a 13-2 lead on the Pride (4-7, 2-3), the home team whittled its way back in the second half to just a three-point deficit in the third period before a 10-0 surge in the fourth quarter got Delaware out of harm’s way.

The series concludes Sunday afternoon with a 2 p.m. tipoff and the game will air on the Flohoops apps streamining service.

Rider Snaps Losing Streak:  The Broncs duplicated the way they won several games a year ago in their vintage landmark season, this time rallying from a 10-point deficit in the fourth and final quarter to earn just their second overall win in 2020-21 overall and first in the MAAC by downing the Peahens (5-9, 4-5 MAAC) at home in Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Rider (2-12, 1-8) surged at the finish with an 18-4 run.

Freshman Raphaela Toussaint had her personal best in her young career with 19 points and also grabbed 11 rebounds, while Victoria Toomey set career highs in her double double with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

“It was a much needed and hard fought win for us,” said veteran Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “I’m really proud of the effort our young ladies put together today. Being down 14 in the second half and 10 to start the fourth quarter, we needed to execute on offense. which we really did.

“We also got some big stops on the defensive end as well.”

With her 19th win in the series, the total is the most for Milligan against MAAC rivals. The 65 points for the game are a season high.

The defense seems to be coming around, the Broncs forced 17 turnovers, the third straight game they’ve made the opposition cough up the ball 16 or more times.

The two teams are back in the arena Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. to complete the series.

Nationally Speaking: No. 6 Baylor came off a two-week shutdown and got upended in the Big 12 by Iowa State 75-71 to end the Bear’s 61-game home win streak. It was the second straight win over Kim Mulkey’s squad by Bill Fennelly’s Cyclones, having won at the finish in the final game of the 2019-20 regular season to end Baylor’s long conference win streak of 58-straight games.

The shutdown began after Mulkey came up with a positive test, claiming the anticipated showdown of Baylor hosting No. 4 Connecticut on Jan. Jan. 7.

The Bears had no chance for revenge because the B-12 tournament was among the mass number of sports victims when the national reaction to the coronavirus got under way.

The home streak was second best in program history and tenth best in the NCAA books dating to the start of women’s sponsorships in 1981-82.

The other ranked victim Saturday and losing its first game of the season was No. 15 Ohio State, which fell at Nebraska 63-55 in the Big Ten. The setback for the Buckeyes (7-1, 3-1 Big Ten) came despite the return for the first time in over a month by Dorka Juhasz, who had 13 points and 12 rebounds.

The visitors, who has previously ruled themselves out of the postseason after a long pause set off by COVID-19 protocols, also got 13 points from Aaliyah Patty, and 11 each from Madison Greene and Jacy Sheldon.

Kate Cain powered inside for the Cornhuskers, scoring 22 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, while blocking nine shots.

Nebraska (7-4, 5-3) held Ohio State to its lowest scoring and shooting half of the season while taking a 30-21 lead into the locker room at the break.

The Buckeyes fought back to a three-point deficit at 57-54, but couldn’t make another shot while the Cornhuskers connected at the line to take the victory.

“Give Nebraska credit,” said Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff. “They played harder. They played more to win. It’s a disappointing loss on our part.”

Meanwhile, back in Waco, Texas, where the Baylor-Iowa State game was played, Ashley Joens for the visitors had 27 points, of which 14 were in the final quarter, and 12 rebounds, while Lexi Donarski scored 17, and Emily Ryan scored 15 for the Cyclones (9-4, 5-1 Big 12).

Joens made the foul shot with 0.1 seconds left last season that gave Iowa State it’s 57-56 victory to end the Baylor conference win streak. It’s been four years since Baylor’s last home loss, which was to Texas on Feb. 6, 2017.

Reserve Jaden Owens scored 15 for Baylor (8-2, 3-1), while NaLyssa Smith scored 14 and grabbed 12 rebounds, Moon Ursin scored 12, and Queen Egbo scored 11.

Baylor, however, was missing key reserves DiJonai Carrington and Caitlin Bickle, who are sidelined observing COVID-19 protocols.

Elsewhere, among ranked teams playing Saturday, the Big East return matchup of No. 4 Connecticut hosting Villanova was postponed with the Wildcats on a pause, one of 33 games postponed or cancelled Saturday, but No. 19 DePaul easily won at Georgetown 78-54, the first of six of seven games the Blue Demons (8-3, 5-1 Big East) are playing on the road. The one home game is the Jan. 31 matchup with UConn in Wintrust Arena in Chicago that will be televised on the prime FOX sports network.

Sonya Morris tied a season high for DePaul with 26 points, while Lexi Held scored 15, and Darrione Rogers scored 10 against the Hoyas (1-3, 1-3).

No. 20 Gonzaga made it a weekend sweep, beating host San Francisco, 76-52 in the West Coast Conference.

A week after getting into the win column twice against her father Dave Magarity’s Army squad, Holy Cross’s Maureen Magarity got another victory in the start of the Crusaders’ weekend series with Colgate, winning at home 77-48 in the Patriot League in Worcester, Mass., with a second game to be played between the two teams in Worcester, Sunday afternoon.

Looking Ahead: On the Sunday local slate, as mentioned, Delaware completes is CAA series at Hofstra, while Drexel does likewise at William & Mary, both at 2 p.m. on the Flohoops streaming service. Rider will be going for its first weekend sweep in the conclusion of its MAAC series, hosting St. Peter’s at 1 p.m.

Penn State will be hosting No. 22 Northwestern in the Big Ten in the Bryce Jordan Center at home in State College, looking to follow up last Sunday’s win at Minnesota. La Salle will finish up its weekend two-team road trip in the Atlantic 10, visiting Duquesne in Pittsburgh at 2 p.m. The Saint Joseph’s game at St. Bonaventure in the A-10 is postponed after the Hawks came up with positive test results prior to Friday’s scheduled tipoff at Duquesne.

Key matchups of ranked teams has No. 7 Texas A&M hosting an SEC game against No. 14 Mississippi State at 1 p.m. after both teams were upset on Thursday, while No. 25 Washington State, which was upset in overtime Friday night at Southern Cal in the PAC-12, must now travel to play across town in Los Angeles at No. 8 UCLA at 2 p.m.

Elsewhere in the ranked teams category, in the ACC. No. 2 Louisville was to host No. 3 N.C. State, but that game has been moved to Feb. 1 and in its place the Cardinal will host Florida State at 3 p.m., while No. 24 Syracuse will host Miami at noon.

Other SEC games have No. 23 Tennessee, coming off its upset loss at home to Georgia for the first time in 25 years, losing to the Bulldogs in Knoxville, visiting Alabama, which is coming off an upset win at Mississippi State. That contest is set for 3 p.m. No. 12 Kentucky will host Vanderbilt at 5 p.m.

In the PAC-12, No. 11 Arizona coming off its big win over No. 10 Oregon, will host Oregon State, which is coming off a long quarantine, at 4 p.m. No. 1 Stanford is at Colorado to complete its weekend scheduled road trip at 2 p.m. The Cardinal have not been on their campus since Dec. 1 due to the stringent protocols in place in Santa Clara County.

In the Big Ten, No. 9 Maryland will look to continue its dominating run, visiting Wisconsin at 3 p.m., while in the Big 12, No. 21 Texas visits Texas Tech in Lubbock at 4 p.m.

No. 5 South Carolina hosts No. 17 Arkansas in the SEC Monday at 7 p.m.