Guru’s WBB Report: Saint Joseph’s Routs La Salle in Opening A-10 Weekend Duo With Explorers While No. 1 Stanford Clips No. 11 Oregon in PAC-12

By Mel Greenberg @womhoops guru

Saint Joseph’s showed little rust Friday afternoon emerging from a three-week hiatus due to coronavirus protocols and cruising over La Salle 65-36 at home in the Hawks’s Atlantic 10 opener in Hagan Arena in the the first of two with its conference partner.

The local series concludes Sunday afternoon at the Explorers’ Tom Gola Arena at 2 p.m. in the conference national telecast of the week on CBSSN.

Neither game is also a formal Big Five event with the series cancelled this season in the wake of the Ivy League suspension of winter sports that includes Penn, though weekly performance citations at City Series member schools are still being presented.

There was Penn news Friday with word that Quakers senior Eleah Parker, a former defensive player of the year, has entered the NCAA transfer portal as a graduate student immediately eligible next season.

Parker is a native of Charlotte, N.C.

“It certainly is,” Griffin noted. “We have a lot of upper classmen

Meanwhile both La Salle (3-6, 0-3 A-10) and Saint Joseph’s (3-0, 1-0) have been stymied with Covid-19 issues and positive tests causing shutdowns.

The Explorers were paused early and have undergone 11 schedule changes with drops, postponements, and inserts, with Friday’s game a makeup from last month.

The Hawks were delayed starting the season before rallying over Division II Lincoln and whipping Monmouth before a positive test closed them down until this weekend.

The home team hit the floor roaring at the outset, outscoring the opposition in every quarter to get to 31-17 at the half  before going 34-19 the rest of the way for one of  the larger lopsided win in the long history of the series.

“I just thought we came out really strong,” said Saint Joseph’s coach Cindy Griffin. “And confident. and just being able to defend multiple actions I thought our defense was exceptional today and the kids bought into game plan and we were able to shut down some of their top scorers and keep them from making threes because that’s what they do.’’

Hawks depth was also a factor.

“It certainly was,” Griffin noted. ‘We have a lot of upperclassmen that have had some experience. They were ready to roll. And you gotta love (Elizabeth Marsicano) coming in and drilling threes and being an opportunist.

“She really seized the opportunity and l’m proud of her for being ready.”

Marsicano drilled 3-of-4 from deep and 6-for-8 overall for 15 points while Kaliah Henderson scored 14, and Gabby Smalls scored 11 with nine rebounds. Jaden Walker also grabbed nine as part of a relentless board attack producing 55.

La Salle’s Claire Jacobs, the reigning Big Five women’s player of the week was the only Explorer in double figures, scoring 13, with the team held to 20.7 percent from the field.

Stanford Tops Oregon: While Saint Joseph’s was handling its adversity, out in northern California, Stanford continues to deal its hurdles off the court while performing as the the nation’s top team since replacing No.5 South Carolina as No. 1 early in the season.

With tight rules closing down much activity in Santa Clara, the Cardinal have been road warriors, spending much of last month in Arizona before opening PAC-12 play and then still being on the road coming home.

Such was the situation Friday afternoon in Santa Cruz where Stanford hosted No. 11 Oregon at Kaiser Permanente Arena, the home of the NBA Golden State Warriors G League affiliate, and stopped the Ducks 70-63 to stay unbeaten overall at 10-0 and 7-0 in the conference.

Stanford had last played in the Bay Area since crossing the water to beat rival California on Dec. 13 and haven’t been on campus since the Nov. 28 shutdown, leaving Palo Alto, Dec. 2.

The Cardinal were also short three players absent due to virus contact tracing but are expected to return to practice next week and the next game.

Oregon (8-2, 6-2), which owned the league last season, lost its second straight following the upset home loss to then No. 11 UCLA last weekend and had a three-game win streak on the Cardinal snapped. 

The Ducks, a prime NCAA contender 12 months ago before the eventual tourney cancellation, have never beaten a team ranked No. 1. They fell out of the Top 10 this week for the first time in four seasons.

Haley Jones scored 18 points for the winners in her hometown, while  Kiana Williams had 14 points and Anna Wilson had 11 points and nine rebounds for Stanford.

Hall of fame Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer extended her Division l career women’s mark to 1,104 wins while Connecticut Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma, whose No. 3 Huskies host Providence in a Big East game Saturday, is at 1,097, one behind the late legendary Tennessee Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt, who held the previous mark.

Stanford committed 17 turnovers.

“That was the thing I was most disappointed about,” VanDerveer said. “We were way too careless with the ball.”

Though Oregon graduated three that became WNBA first round picks, including overall No. 1 Sabrina Ionescu to the New York Liberty, the Ducks were still considered one of the national elite squads coming into the season.

Sydney Parish had 14 points for the Ducks, while Te-Hina Paopao scored 12, Erin Boley and Nyara Sabally each scored 10, while Sabally had a double double off 11 rebounds.

“I’m disappointed, quite frankly,” said Oregon coach Kelly Graves. “I’m proud of the players for how we continued to battle. But l’m disappointed we lost the game. We’ve won this conference three times in a row now. We expected to win.”

Oregon moves on to play at California Sunday in Berkeley, but Stanford is postponed out of Sunday’s game with Oregon State due to virus protocols in the Beavers’ program so the Cardinal next visit Utah Friday.

Looking Ahead: Locally, after knocked out of the weekend’s original Charleston two games in the Colonial Athletic Association, Drexel came up with a non-conference foe, hosting Delaware State in the home opener, 2 p.m., in the Daskalakis Athletic Center on NBCSports. 

Delaware will be hosting a CAA pair with William &Mary 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark on flohoops, while Rider, in a switch of games, will be at Siena Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPN+ and ESPN3 respectfully in suburban Albany, N.Y., looking for its second overall win and first this season in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Temple will host UCF Saturday at 2 p.m. in McGonigle Hall trying to stay unbeaten in the American Athletic Conference.

The UConn - Providence game in the Big East in which Auriemma will be seeking to move into a tie for second on the all-time win list wiil air on SNY and the Focnow apps. at 1 p.m. from  Gampel Pavilion in Storrs after having the showdown at No. 6 Baylor cancelled last aThursday due to a positive test on Bears coach Kim Mulkey.

After two different Big East postponements Saturday, Villanova is standing down till visiting Providrnce in the Big East Wednesday.

Penn State is at Minnesota Sunday looking for its first Big Ten win at 5 p.m. but a positive test on Rutgers has caused a postponement on Sunday’s game with nationally-ranked Ohio State.

In the SEC Sunday No. 5 South Carolina is at No. 10 Kentucky, while No. 8 Texas A&M hosts No. 13 Arkansas. 

And that’s the Report.