Guru’s WBB Report: Weekend Sweeps Completed by Drexel, Stanford, Kentucky Along With Upset by UCLA at Oregon

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Drexel coach Amy Mallon Got a Pleasing Answer Sunday afternoon as her Dragons smoked UNCW 61-34 to complete their first 24 hour back-to-back weekend sweep on the road in the special Colonial Athletic Association schedule for this season due to the coronavirus.

Local-wise, it didn’t go as well for the other three teams that played.

La Salle finished on the wrong end of an Atlantic 10 opening weekend sweep, falling to UMass 78-61 in the Explorers’ Tom Gola Arena, while Rider, playing a similar Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 24-hour back-to-back finished getting swept by Fairfield, 66-45 at home in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J. 

Rutgers, meanwhile, got the brakes applied to its recent high-powered scoring offense, following the narrow New Year’s Eve loss at Iowa with another setback at Nebraska, 53-50, following the Cornhuskers recent win over No. 15 Northwestern, all in the Big Ten.

Delaware stayed idle having been dislodged by Charleston’s issues with Covid-19, likewise to Saint Joseph’s, off its own situation. The Hawks are expected to resume action this weekend in an combo local/A-10 game at La Salle.

Villanova, meanwhile, after handed a postponement by the Big East Saturday because Georgetown was unable to attend, quickly got plugged into a re-schedule Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. at DePaul in Chicago. Both teams are coming into the game off losses to Connecticut, though the Wildcats hadn’t played since its home game with the Huskies on Dec. 22.

In the win by Drexel (4-1, 2-0 CAA), the 20th straight by the Dragons in the series with the Seahawks (3-5, 0-2), the visitors exploded on a 20-0 run between the third and fourth quarter.

Hannah Nihill had a game-high 18 points, Kayla Bacon, getting a start, had a career-high 12 points, and Maura Hendrixson scored 11.

“Holding them to 13 second half points was key, Mallon said. “It was a total team effort, especially with starter Keyshana Washington out.

“Two road wins back-to-back is a big step for this team.”

Washington suffered a lower body injury Saturday but considering the length ahead before Drexel plays again she’ll likely be back.

Next weekend’s home games with Charleston are postponed due to Covid-19 issues on the visitors side. In two weeks Drexel plays at William & Mary

That’s the report.