Guru’s WBB Report: Villanova Avoids Upset From St. John’s While No. 14 Ohio State Fells No. 7 Maryland and No. 22 Georgia Takes Down No. 19 Arkansas

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Villanova was back on the court Monday night on the Big East circuit for the first time in 19 days, forced into a pause by Tier 1 Positive tests of the coronavirus, but when the action in the Wildcats’ Finneran Pavilion finally concluded they had escaped a blown 17-point lead late in the game and prevailed over St. John’s 81-78 in overtime for a season’s sweep of the Red Storm.

Penn State wasn’t as fortunate earlier at home in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, falling to Minnesota 85-76 for a season split in the Big Ten with the Gophers.

Nationally, No. 14 Ohio State upset No. 7 Maryland 88-86 in the Buckeyes’ Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio, while No. 22 Georgia took down No. 19 Arkansas, 75-73, in a Southeastern Conference game at home in Athens in Stegeman Coliseum, the winning shot as time expired from Gabby Connally.

Villanova Overcomes Blown Lead: Having been sequestered for most of this month in the Villanova Inn, but not even with each other, adhering to COVID-19 protocols, the Wildcats finally reunited Friday for a team practice and were thrilled to take the floor three days later to host St. John’s to the extent that they were able to spend a large portion of the night riding their mainstay sophomore Maddy Siegrist to an 18-point lead in the second quarter,.

Two quarters later all seemed safe and sound with the advantage still seemingly insurmountable at 17 points over the visitors (4-9, 1-7 Big East).

Suddenly, however, led by Leilani Correa, the Red Storm became part of a perfect storm, picking up the tempo, while fatigue on ‘Nova’s side became a bit of a factor, causing turnovers and missed shots, resulting in a 22-5 run carrying St. John’s to a 65-65 tie just before the end of regulation on Kadaja Bailey’s shot.

Not to worry, however, in the extra five minutes.

Freshman Lior Garzon from Israel quickly snapped the the deadlock from deep, though the Red Storm weren’t totally through, moving back to a 70-70 tie with just under three minutes left.

Garzon then struck with another three-ball for ‘Nova (9-2, 4-2) followed by a Siegrist score for a five-point lead before fouling out but freshman Bella Runyon hit some timely foul shots as did Brianna Herlihy to send the Wildcats into the victory lane.

‘I’m obviously really pleased with the win and finding a way,”said first-year Villanova coach Denise Dillon, the former Wildcats star who previously had a 17-year successful run downtown coaching Drexel in West Philadelphia. “Especially losing a lead significantly and then getting into overtime and gutting it out. 

“The biggest thing we’ve been trying to do was push pace on the offensive end and we weren’t able to do that to continue. St. John’s made some speed adjustments and understood they could get the ball down and score quickly.”

On Garzon’s three-ball, Dillon said, “That was huge. Things weren’t going our way and St. John’s had momentum going into overtime.”

Raven James had eight assists while Herlihy dished six.

“They’re a really talented team and they can score quickly,” said Siegrist, last season’s Big East freshman of the year,  explaining how things fell apart and who had 24 points and 10 rebounds in this one.  “Part of it was a little bit of rust and toward the end you could see we were getting a little bit tired. We made some silly errors in those last six minutes or so.”

The freshmen duo combined for 31 points, Garzon scoring 16 points and Runyon 15. Herlihy and Sarah Mortensen also had double doubles, the former with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while the latter with 

 12 points and 11 rebounds.

“Lior and Bella Ryon had career highs, we’re playing the young ‘uns,” Dillon said. “I told the team when I got here, I don’t care what year my players are, if you are ready to go and do whatever we need to be successful, you’re going to be out on the floor. So you’re going to learn on the fly.”

Dillon talked about the unknown in the first game back, the same feeling her men’s counterpart Jay Wright experienced when his team returned from a long pause.

“I don’t like that feeling. You kind of want to know what you can rely on out there. But I will say that you know with this group, Maddy is always going to set the tone and the others are going to follow. And any chance she steps on the floor she is embracing that opportunity. 

“The biggest thing is not having a lot of time. It’s amazing when you get away from each other how quickly things you have forgotten. I was pleased conditioning-wise. They did things when we weren’t together to keep themselves in shape. We’re going to refreshen the basketball IQs. Real quick turnaround for Wednesday night.”

Marquette will visit at 7 p.m. The game will air on the Flohoops/ Big East Digital network apps streaming service.

“It’s brutal,” Siegrist said of the long break. “But this is the reality of the situation. “Every team in our conference has been hit by it. You just try to learn from it and do everything right and get in as many games as you can.

“It was great. I was so glad to get back on the floor today. Especially after the pause you just can’t wait to play a game. We were so fortunate we had this game tonight. You feel normal. You’re not wearing masks. The other team is not wearing masks. Then you look to the sidelines and all the coaches have masks on. Then you remember.”

Correa scored 29 for the opposition, while Unique Drake had 21, shooting 8-for-10 from the field, and Bailey had 19 points and 14 rebounds.

Penn State Falls to Minnesota: In a game with 13 lead changes and 12 ties, the Lady Lions were overcome in the fourth quarter by the Gophers (4-7, 3-6 Big Ten), scoring 13 of the final 17 points, and had to settle for a split in their Big Ten series.

Johnasia Cash had 22 points and 15 rebounds while Makenna Marisa had a game-high 25 points for Penn State (4-7, 1-6), which had won its sole conference game earlier this month in Minneapolis.

Sara Scalia hit five treys on the way to 21 points for Minnesota, while Gadiva Hubbard topped two other teammates scoring in double figures, collecting 18 points.

“We had a great third quarter that I was really proud of,” said Penn State coach Carolyn Kieger. “I thought it was one of our best third quarters followed by one of our worst fourth quarters.

“We have to toughen up, we have to have a team that can command and direct and slow the pace down when we need to.

“We have to keep learning and growing the basketball IQ for our team. A lot of things to fix. Credit Minnesota for their tough finish. We have to learn from it and be ready to play four quarters against Illinois.”

The Lady Lions visit the Illini Thursday night at 7 p.m.

Ohio State Upends Maryland: A rally from the No. 7 Terrapins fell just short as the No. 14 Buckeyes (9-1, 5-1 Big Ten) in their Value City Arena in the Schottenstein Center in Columbus tagged Maryland (11-2, 7-1) with its first conference loss and won their second straight off a Big Ten team ranked in the Top 15.

Last week  Ohio State overcame 50 points from Michigan’s Naz Hillmon while on Monday night it survived a 55-combo from Ashley Owusu, who had 23 of her 33 points in the second half, and former Harvard standout Katie Benzan, who scored 22, built from 7 3-pointers. Chloe Bibby added 13 while Diamond Miller was held to 10.

Ohio State countered with 24 points and seven assists from Madison Greene, 21 from Jay Sheldon, and 18 from Braxtin Miller, while Dorka Juhasz pulled down 16 rebounds.

It’s the first time since 2006 the Buckeyes have won two straight against Top 15 squads.

Maryland had won 21 straight conference games.

“I knew it was going to be a challenge,” said Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff. “It was a great game. Both teams played really well. Both teams made big plays, I just thought we made a couple more down the stretch to give us a chance to win.

“The key for us is just go day-by-day,” he said of a current four-game stretch with two more ranked teams ahead. “I just told them, celebrate the win, it’s a great win, you guys really earned it, but then tomorrow turn the page. Our competitive character is as good as it’s been since I’ve been here, These kids fight and scratch and claw for each other. That’s how you have to play to beat a team like Maryland.”

Ohio State heads to Bloomington Thursday night to face No. 16 Indiana at 8 p.m. on the Big Ten network.

“We always have great battles with Ohio State,” said Maryland coach Brenda Frese. “These kind of games prepare us for what lies ahead, postseason.”

The Terrapins’ Thursday game with Rutgers is postponed because of the current virus-caused pause on the Scarlet Knights, which will now keep Maryland idle until Wisconsin visits the XFINITY Center a week from Thursday with the tipoff time to be determined.

Georgia Edges Arkansas: The Bulldogs’ domination of the Razorbacks continued, making it seven of eight courtesy of Gabby Connally’s 20 points and the game winner as time expired. Jenna Staiti also scored 20 and completed a double double with 13 rebounds for Georgia (13-2m 5-2 SEC) in the Southeastern Conference meeting. Reserve Sarah Ashlee Barker scored 10.

“They are so battle tested and their record does not reflect how good they are,” Georgia coach Joni Taylor said afterwards. “I wanted to have the last shot. I’ve always said when you’re playing Arkansas you have to score with them, and whoever can score with them is going to win the game, and that’s a tall task because they average almost 80  points a game, but we were able to find some different ways to score tonight.”

Jordan Isaacs’ offensive rebound put Georgia in position to go for the game winner.

“I don’t think I  should actually be sitting here, “ Connally said. “She grabbed the board which was probably the biggest rebound of the night.”

Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors said of the final moments, “We played good defense on the initial possession, gave up the offensive rebound. We were hoping to get that thing back tied. We forced the first miss and didn’t come up with the rebound.

“She made a great play, hit that shot.”

Chelsea Dungee scored 25 for Arkansas (11-6, 2-5) while three others scored in double figures and Taylah Thomas grabbed 10 rebounds.

Georgia next hosts LSU at 7 Thursday night while Arkansas in a game put together in the last week will host No. 3 Connecticut at 5 p.m. Thursday in Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

On Tuesday No. Louisville hosts Miami in an ACC game at 4 p.m. while No. 9 Baylor hosts TCU at 8 p.m. in a Big 12 game.

On Wednesday Temple is at No. 13 South Florida at 4 p.m. in an AAC game in Tampa with the conference frontrunner. No, 6 Stanford is at Washington State in a PAC-12 game at 9 p.m.

And that’s the report.