Guru’s WBB Report: Rutgers Takes Seventh Straight; La Salle and Saint Joseph’s Get Senior Day Wins; No. 3 Texas A&M Wins SEC Over No. 5 South Carolina

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

On a Sunday that the NCAA tournament committee took its final dress rehearsal with a second set of top 16 seeds Reveal ahead of Selection Monday on March 15 (ESPN, 7 p.m.),, conference tournament brackets began taking shape and there were upsets in what was for many the final day of the regular season.

The latest Number One Seeds in terms of overall placement has top ranked Connecticut leading the pack, followed by Stanford, Texas A&M and South Carolina, despite the loss to A&M that gave the Aggies their first regular season Southeastern Conference title.

The second seeds are (5) North Carolina State, (6) Maryland, (7) Arizona, and (8) Baylor while the third seeds are (9) Louisville, which was a No. 1 seed in the first reveal, (10) UCLA, (11) Georgia, and (12) Indiana, followed on the fourth line by (13) Tennessee, (14) Kentucky, (15) Oregon, and (16) Arkansas.

In that group, the SEC has six teams, the PAC-12 has four, the Big Ten has two, as does the Atlantic Coast, with 1 for the Big East in UConn, and 1 for the Big 12 in defending champion Baylor.

Furthermore, with the entire tournament be played in the San Antonio area of Texas, the normal geographic placement of regionals has ceded to names honoring the local area — Alamo, Hemisfair, Mercado, and River Walk.

The alignment top to bottom and one to four with the true S curve being used for the first time except when mutual conference teams had to be shuffled to avoid not meeting until the Elite Eight if they advance shakes out this way:

Alamo: 1. Connecticut, 2. Arizona, 3. Georgia, 4. Arkansas

River Walk: 1. Stanford, 2. Baylor, 3. Louisville, 4. Tennessee

Mercado: 1. Texas A&M, 2. Maryland, 3. UCLA, 4. Kentucky

Hemisfair: 1. South Carolina, 2. N.C. State, 3. Indiana, 4. Oregon

You should know, before raising questions, this latest exercise was completed before Sunday’s losses by South Carolina, Arizona, Kentucky, and Oregon.

Rutgers Takes Seventh Straight: Though the way the Big Ten outcome was achieved was not as pleasing as the previous six to Hall of Fame Scarlet Knights coach C. Vivian Stringer, she was happy enough to get the first of what will be two back-to-back contests with longtime regional rival Penn State, this one 60-55 at the Lady Lions’ Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa.

On Tuesday, getting a makeup from the string of postponed games during the six-week pause under COVID-19 protocols before returning with the current streak, the two teams will be back at No. 25 Rutgers’ arena in Piscataway, N.J., at 5:3 p.m. on the Big Ten network with the chance that a win will result in a fourth or third seed for the upcoming Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis, which carry double byes for the holder.

The finish Friday hosting No. 16 Ohio State at the Rutgers Athletic Center at 8 p.m. on the network.

In Sunday’s game, the Scarlet Knights (12-3, 8-3 Big Ten) were facing a Penn State squad riding some momentum from its upset of Ohio State at home last week.

“It was another gutsy win because we weren’t playing our best,” Stringer said;. “Credit to Penn State, who was prepared and ran it down our throats. We had to stave them off.

“We didn’t have the performances that we would like on a consistent basis. We appreciate the composure we had to pull this one off.”

Mael Gilles had 16 points for the visitors, while Arella Guirantes scored 14 and dealt five assists, Tekia Mack had 12 points and six assists, Tyia Singleton had 10 rebounds, and Sakima Walker had seven rebounds in her ten minutes of action.

A key to the win was a 10-0 run in the final period after a 10-point halftime lead was erased and it became a one-possession game in the final minute before Rutgers emerged.

Shay Hagans had 15 points for the Lady Lions (9-12, 6-11), while Makenna Marisa scored 12, and Johnasia Cash had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

With Rutgers being explosive on offense this season, Penn State had the satisfaction of holding the opposition to its second lowest total besides 10 percent off of its 48.1 shooting. Percentage from the field.

“Very pleased with our third quarter and thought we showed a lot of fight and a lot of character there,” said Penn State second-year coach Carolyn Kieger, who previously coached at Marquette. 

“When we play with pace and share the basketball, we’re as very good offensive team, and when we don’t, we struggle.  Seeing some fight and I’m excited to make some adjustments and come back and see what we can do on Tuesday.

After Penn State visits the Scarlet Knights, the Lady Lions will finish traveling to conference frontrunner No. 8 Maryland on Saturday at the XFINITY Center in College Park.

The Big Ten tourney opens next Tuesday, March 9.

Saint Joseph’s and La Salle Take Senior Day Wins: For all the struggles along the way in the Atlantic 10, Saint Joseph’s finished with a home-weekend sweep beating Duquesne 60-52 in Hagan Arena after ending an eight-game slide Friday with the win over the Saint Bonaventure. Meanwhile the Explorers pulled out of their slide, beating the Bonnies 77-51, in the Tom Gola Arena.

The entire A-10 women’s tournament, moved out of its original first-round home sites format this week, will begin next Wednesday at VCU’s Siegel Center in Richmond, Va. 

In the Saint Joseph’s game, which was tied 32-32 at the half, the Hawks (7-9, 5-9 A-10) tossed a 9-0 shutout in the third quarter at the Dukes (5-10, 4-7), who made just one point back in the final period.

Coach Cindy Griffin’s squad got the 10th seed and will open  the second round of the A-10 Thursday next week at 5 p.m. on ESPN+ against seventh-seeded Massachusetts, whom the Hawks beat 76-69 in Amherst during the season.

“I thought the second half really set the tone,” she said. “We were obviously going back and forth in the first two quarters, tied at the half, Holding them to zero points in the third quarter was pretty impressive.

“Our defense stepped up. We executed when we needed to and got stops when we needed to.”

Pre-game ceremonies paid tribute to seniors Lula Roig from Spain, Mary Sheehan, and transfer graduate students Olivia Ramil and Alexis Santarelli.

Kaliah Henderson had a game-high 16 points for the Hawks, while Katie Jekot scored 13. Per tradition, the starting lineup contained all four seniors.

La Salle, meanwhile, who will be the eighth seed against 9th-seeded Duquesne, saluted seniors Kate Hill, Deja King, and Haleigh Hill in the pre-game and then went out and dealt the Bonnies (6-14, 5-12 A-10) the Explorers’ large opponent setback since beating UMass 78-41 seven seasons ago on Jan. 11, 2014.

Claire Jacobs had a game-high 20 points, shooting 6-for-8 from the field for the host Explorers (11-13, 7-10),  including making all four attempted from deep, while Kayla Spruill had 17 points, and Haleigh Hill had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Deja King and Molly Mosciantonio each scored eight points while King had four steals and four assists.

La Salle will play Duquesne in the second round at 11 a.m.

A-10 Pairs: The A-10 tourney bracket will exist as follows:

First Round (Wed., March 10): No. 12 Davidson vs. No. 13 St. Bonaventure, 1 p.m.; No. 11 George Washington vs. No. 14 George Mason, 4 p.m ., both games on ESPN.

Second Round (Thurs., March 11): No. 8 La Salle vs. No. 9 Duquesne, 11 a.m. No. 5 VCU vs. Davidson-St. Bonaventure winner, 2 p.m.; No. 7 UMass vs. No. 10 Saint Joseph’s, 5 p.m.; No. 6 Richmond vs. George Washington-George Mason winner, 8 p.m. All games on ESPN+

Quarterfinals (Fri., March 12): No. 1 Dayton vs. La Salle-Duquesne winner, 11 a.m.; No. 4 Rhode Island vs. VCU-Davidson-St. Bonaventure winner, 2 p.m.; No. 2 Fordham vs. UMass Saint Joseph’s winner, 5 p.m. No. 3 Saint Louis vs. Richmond-George Washington-George Mason winner, 8 p.m. All games on ESPN+

Semifinals (Sat., March 13): 1. Dayton side winner vs. No. 4 Rhode Island side winner, 1 p.m.; No. 2 Fordham side winner vs. No. 3 Saint Louis side winner, 4 p.m.. Both games on CBSSN.

Championship (Sunday,March 14): Semifinal winners, 12 p.m., ESPNU.

Delaware Perfect Home Finish While JMU Splits Drexel: In the Colonial Athletic Association, Delaware, which claimed No. 1 on Saturday, made it the seventh weekend sweep out of 10 and a perfect season at home in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, beating second-place Towson for the second day, 86-55. The Blue Hens had a bonus sweep on Northeastern, the two paired up in early January in Boston to replace previous opponents knocked from the schedule due to COVID-19 protocols.

Drexel, meanwhile, fell at home in the Daskalakis Athletic Center to preseason favorite James Madison, slipping back behind the Dukes to fourth place.

The Delaware game featured the top two scoring stars in the conference and the new order in the CAA, which flipped on Saturday, saw Jasmine Dickey of the Blue Hens (19-3, 16-2 CAA, 11-0 Home) get another double double with 30 points and 11 rebounds with four steals, while Kionna Jeter on Towson (11-7, 6-5) scored 24 points.

During the game out of an abundance of caution, head coach Diane Richardson was taken to a nearby hospital for observation and Tigers associate head coach Zach Kancher guided the team in the second half.

Delaware was the only team in the league to play a full schedule and Towson is getting to make up two games with UNCW on Thursday and Friday ahead of next week’s tournament.

Ty Battle added one more to her conference-leading double double collection, this one with 15 points and 10 rebounds, which also has gotten her to a second-place tie in the nation in NCAA Division I.

Texas’ Charli Collier, who plays Monday night when No. 6 Baylor visits, and Oklahoma State’s Natasha Mack also match Battle’s performances.

Chyna Latimer and Ty Skinner each scored nine for Delaware.

“What a statement to close out regular season against the No. 2 team in our conference,” said coach Natasha Adair, who previously had coached Georgetown in the Big East. “Un defeated at home! 

“We talked about putting together two back to back games and we did,” Adair said. “I’m proud of our growth and consistency. We have to feed off this momentum going into the CAA tournament. 

“Eyes forward because we’re not done yet!”

Drexel, meanwhile, was unable to follow Saturday’s big comeback on James Madison, in losing 61-51 to the Dukes in the regular season final.

Keishana Washington had 16 points for the host Dragons (11-8, 8-6 CAA), who now trail JMU (13-9, 9-6) by a half-game. However, Towson, which is tied with Drexel in the loss column, is now in third.

Mariah Leonard had 15 points for Drexel, while Kayla Bacon and Leonard each grabbed seven rebounds.

Claire Neff had 17 points for James Madison, while Peyton McDaniel scored 11.

Both teams are now off until the quarterfinals next week on Thursday at Elon in North Carolina, where it was set to continue a year ago with quarterfinals but called as the rest of the sports world began shutting down with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

With Towson having to play those two games, the exact placement pairings for the CAA tourney are undetermined but the event begins in the first round Wednesday and concludes Saturday.

Texas A&M Claims First SEC Crown: With Mike Siroky coming along with his in-depth Southeastern Conference weekly report we’ll avoid the reverse duplication and just give you the important stuff off the final day of the regular season heading to this week’s conference tournament in Greenville, S.C. At the Bon Secours Wellness Arena.

In what became the penultimate showdown with No. 5 South Carolina holding one league loss in the upset to No. 20 Tennessee while No. 3 Texas A&M’s one setback was an upset at LSU, which was later atoned for, the fate of the schedule made the Sunday closeout at Reed Arena in College Station the winner-take-No. 1 seed but not yet all till next weekend.

Two other upsets within the league saw Ole Miss beat No. 19 Kentucky fall at home to Ole Miss, while Mississippi State’s brief two-game win streak got short-circuited by visiting Missouri 77-57.

The other ranked teams survived, easily, with No. 17 Georgia winning at Florida, 95-80, No. 10 Tennessee at home beating Auburn, 88-54, and No. 16 Arkansas beating Alabama, 94-76.

As mentioned high above, six SEC teams were in Sunday’s NCAA Reveal for Top 16 seeds but it was all moot since results came in after the pseudo mock bracket was set.

But here’s your set up with numerical references mentioned for seed, not ranking unless otherwise stated, considering a new poll comes out early Monday afternoon.

Opening Wednesday, No. 13 Auburn, which went winless in league play, meets No. 12 Florida at 4 p.m. on the SEC network.

On Thursday, with all games on the SEC channel, No. 8 LSU meets No. 9 Mississippi State at 11 a.m., while No. 5 Kentucky next plays Wednesday’s winner 25 minutes after the previous game ends, No. 7 Alabama meets No. 10 Missouri at 6 p.m., and No. 6 Arkansas meets No. 11 Ole Miss 25 minutes after the prior game ends.

In Friday’s quarterfinals, No. 1 Texas A&M meets the Mississippi State-LSU winner at 11; No. 4 Georgia meets the Kentucky winner 25 minutes after the previous game; No. 2 South Carolina meets the Missouri-Alabama winner at 6 p.m., and No. 3 Tennessee meets Arkansas-Ole Miss winner 25 minutes after the prior game ends and all four still televised on the SEC network.

Saturday’s semifinals, both televised on ESPN, has the Texas A&M-Georgia side of the bracket meeting at 4 p.m. and 25 minutes after that concludes the Tennessee-South Carolina side meets.

Sunday’s championship will be at 2 p.m. on ESPN2.

ACC Tourney Set:  The Atlantic Coast Conference Tourney is also this week and again with seed, not ranking, numbers, here’s the day-today setup at the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina.

Though the heart of televising is the ACC network, the league says all games will be on the ESPN and FOX Sports Apps.

On. Wednesday, a first-round game between No. 12 Pittsburgh and No. 13 Boston College airs at 2 p.m.

On Thursday, the second round begin and continues with No. 8 North Carolina and No.  9 Wake Forest at noon followed by No. 5 Syracuse, which was ranked half the season, meeting the Pitt-B.C. Winner at 2:30 p.m., No. 7 Virginia Tech meeting No. 10 Miami at 6 p.m., and No. 6 Notre Dame meeting No. 11 Clemson at 8:30 p.m.

On Friday in the quarterfinals: No. 1 Louisville, which had been No;. 1 for several weeks, meets the UNC-Wake winner at 12 p.m., No. 4 Florida State meets the Syracuse winner at 2:30 p.m., No. 2 N.C. State, which has reached an all-time poll high at No. 2, meets the Virginia Tech winner at 6 p.m., and the No. 3 Georgia Tech winner meets the Notre Dame winner at 8:30 p.m.

On Saturday’s semifinals, the first is at noon, the second is at 2:30 p.m.

Finally, Sunday’s ACC championship is at noon on ESPN2.

PAC-12: The third of the Power-5 conferences holding tourneys this week, with the Big Ten and Big 12 next week, has set its field after a day of upsets to close out the regular season. No. 9 Arizona fell to host Arizona State 66-64 in overtime in Tempe, while Oregon State won at No. 14 Oregon State 88-77 in Eugene. No. 4 Stanford, which clinched the top spot a week ago, beat Cal 72-33 and Tara VanDerveer won her record 1,116 game ahead of UConn’s Geno Auriemma, who is at 1,111 and his No. 1 Huskies host Marquette Monday night to close out the regular season.

That and several other games Monday night are holding up the complete seed structure for this weekend at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville.

As for the PAC-12 event totally in Las Vegas, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, it all will air on the conference network, with the championship on ESPN2 

If teams have to opt out due to the virus, the bracket will be reseeded along the way for the games in the Michelob Ultra Arena.

On Wednesday, again beginning with the first round these are seed numbers, No. 5 Oregon State meets No. 12 California at 2 p.m. EDT followed by No. 8 Southern Cal meeting No.9 Arizona State at 5 p.m.; No. 7 Washington State meeting No. 10 Utah at 8 p.m., and No. 6 Colorado meeting No. 11 Washington at 11 p.m.

On Thursday, the quarterfinals feature N o. 4 Oregon meeting the Oregon State-California winner at 2 p.m.; No.1 Stanford meeting the USC-Arizona State winner at 5 p.m.; No. 2 Arizona meeting the No. Washington State-Utah winner at 8 p.m.; and No. 3 UCLA meeting the Washington-Colorado winner at 11 p.m.

On Friday, in the semifinals, the Stanford-Oregon side meets at 8 p.m. followed by the Arizona-UCLA side at 11 p.m.

Saturday will be a break added to the schedule followed by Sunday’s championship at 8 p.m.

Maryland Moves Close: Other than Rutgers-Penn State discussed way at the top there were two other Big Ten tests on Sunday.

Frontrunner No. 8 Maryland won 62-50 at Northwestern, which was bounced out of the rankings last week for the first time this season. In the other game, Iowa at home beat visiting Purdue.

The Terrapins (19-2, 15-1 Big Ten) didn’t explode all over the place in defeating the Wildcats (13-6, 11-6) on the road win at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill., but they got their ‘W’ to start to crack open the door to another regular season crown.

“Road wins are precious,” said Maryland coach Brenda Frese. “I’m really proud of the fight, this game was not an easy one for us today. I loved their response, especially in the second half.”

Mimi Collins had 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Diamond Miller had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the visitors. Ashley Owusu added to the attack with 10 points and eight rebounds.

The visitors took the lead early and held it the rest of the way.

Northwestern’s Veronica Burton scored 15 and Lindsay Pulliam scored 13.

The Terrapins visit No. 12 Michigan Thursday and return home Saturday to finish out by hosting Penn State.

Meanwhile, Iowa beat Wisconsin 84-80 on the road in the Badgers’ Kohl Center in Madison, making it 24 straight in the series with the hosts.

Hawkeyes freshman star Caitlin Clark wasn’t offensively off the chart in this one but productive nonetheless with 18 points and dishing a career-high 14 assists, matching the total UConn rookie Paige Bueckers set for her program against Butler Saturday.

Like Bueckers, Clark also set the all-time freshman season assist record for her school with 149, just beating 148 from Kathleen Doyle in 2016-17.

In addition to Clark, Gabbie Marshall scored in double figures for Iowa (14-7, 10-7 Big Ten) with 19, while Monika Czinano scored 18, and McKenna Warnock scored 14 on Wisconsin (5-17, 2-17).

Iowa goes to No. 11 Indiana on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

America East Tourney:  Some conferences don’ wait for March Madness to arrive in March, the top four seeds at home played Sunday in the America East and escaped upset-free as No. 3 UMass-Lowell and No. 4 Albany emerged victorious.

The third seeded River Hawks of UMass Lowell (13-8) had four in double figures to eliminate No. 6 NJIT and closed out with a 19-5 run for a 72-52 triumph as senior Tiaha Sears scored 15, to top three other teammates in double figures to send the opposition home with a 4-15 record.  It was a little closer with the Great Danes of fourth-seeded Albany (7-10), who eliminated fifth-seed New Hampshire 49-43 and finish off the opposition at 5-15.

Kenna Squier and Kiana Brereton each scored 12 NJIT while Adara Groman had 13 for New Hampshire. Four players scored at least 11 for Albany.

Of course, two of the four teams were already advanced through byes setting up a semifinal Sunday when Albany visits No. 1 Maine at 1 p.m. in Orono, while UMass Lowell visits No. 2 Stony Brook on Lon g Island at 3 p.m. Both will air on ESPN+. 

The highest seed will host the championship a week from Friday, March 12 at 5 p.m.

West Coast Tourney Set: OK, here’s your West Coast Conference set up, which will be devoid of fans throughout when it tips on Thursday in Las Vegas.

On Thursday when it opens, No. 8 Loyola Marymount meets No. 9 Pepperdine at 3:30 EDT. No. 7 Saint Mary’s gets an automatic advance due to a withdrawal.

On Friday, in the second round, No. 5 Portland will meet the Loyola Marymount-Pepperdine winner at 2 p.m., while No. 6 Pacific and No. 7 Saint Mary’s will meet at 5.

On Saturday in the Quarterfinals, No. 4 Santa Clara meets the Portland winner at 2 p.m., followed by No. 3 San Francisco going against the the Pacific-Saint Mary’s winner at 5 p.m.

There are no games on Sunday.

On Monday, No. 1 Gonzaga meets Saint Mary’s game at 2 p.m., while No. 2 BYU meets the Pepperdine winner.

And next Tuesday, March 9. The West Coast Conference championship will air at 4 p.m. on ESPNU.

Looking Ahead: Monday night, No. 1 Connecticut looks to finish the regular Big East season with a clean sheet upon running the conference table in the Huskies’ return when they host Marquette at 8 p.m. on CBSSN. 

No. 24 DePaul hosts Butler in another key Big East game at 5 p.m. while No. 7 Baylor visits Texas at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 seeking to get an outright Big 12 regular season title.

And that’s the report:

 

  

  

Guru’s WBB Report: Delaware and Drexel Get CAA Triumphs: Bueckers Sets a UConn Record Doing it to Butler; No. 13 South Florida Upset By Houston

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Delaware topped second-place Towson 80-54 and the Blue Hens claimed their first Colonial Athletic Association regular season title at home Saturday afternoon in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark since running the table all the way to the 2013 conference crown in 2013, the senior season of all-time program great Elena Delle Donne.

Drexel, meanwhile, rallied at home in the Daskalakis Athletic Center from a 17-point deficit to emerge with a 51-48 triumph over preseason favorite James Madison and slip past the Dukes into third place on the conference.

Life, meanwhile, wasn’t as good for the other two locals in action, though Villanova’s Maddy Segrist made it into the history books, the Wildcats had to settle for a season-split losing to Seton Hall 67-55 and switching to a 4-5 seeding finish with the Pirates for next weekend’s Big East tournament at the Mohegan Sun.

Temple fell at UCF, 61-37, on the road in the American Athletic Conference in Orlando, Fla., enabling the winners to move into a first-place tie with No. 13 South Florida, which was shocked host Houston 67-49.

Freshman sensation Paige Bueckers added to her on-growing lore at No. 1 Connecticut, dealing a program-record 14 assists to lead the Huskies to a lopsided 97-68 win at Butler and move within Marquette’s Monday night visit to finishing the Big East with a perfect record in the regular season in their return to the conference after a seven-year absence.

No one else among the Top 25 in the Associated Press women’s poll who played Saturday suffered setbacks except in a head-to-head match where second-place and No. 11 Indiana in the Big Ten took a road win at No. 15 Ohio State, 87-75, in the Buckeyes’ Value City Arena in Columbus.

Delaware Earns CAA Regular Season Crown: The 2012-13 Blue Hens edition had scoring sensation and future WNBA/Olympic star Elena Delle Donne when they ran the table all the way through the regular season to the Colonial Athletic Association tournament championship title and ultimate appearance in the NCAA Sweet 16.

The current group has Jasmine Dickey, who have been dominant enough, if not perfect to date, as the Blue Hens romped over second-place Towson 80-54 paced by Dickey’s thunderous double double of 29 points and 18 rebounds to clinch the regular season title a game ahead of Sunday’s encore hosting of the Tigers at 1 p.m. on the Flohoops streaming network. The rebound total tied a career-high for the Delaware junior.

“Today was special for our players, coaches, support staff, families, fans, and university,” said Delaware coach Natasha Adair, who previously coached at Georgetown. “Our players have worked hard and today was a testament of it playing off.

“CAA Regular Season Champions isn’t a small feat. We’re glad to return that regular season trophy back to Newark, DE., We will enjoy this tonight and be back to work tomorrow. We’re not done yet. Go Hens!!”

The game featured the top two scorers in the conference, with tip-off time leader Kionna Jeter averaging 23.4 points with the Tigers (12-6, 7-4 CAA) but held to 17 points on 7-of-22 shooting from the field in this one. And just like a narrow election when Saturday’s returns were factored, Dickey moved in front 23.3 to 23.1 while being fifth in rebounding with an 8.7 average.

It was Dickey’s sixth double double and 15th 20-point game of the season for Delaware (18-3, 15-2), which has swept six of the eight special back-to-back weekend series to date with Sunday’s remaining set up by the CAA in the format of several other conferences to contend with combating the coronavirus and getting through the season.

Lizze Oleary tied a career-high with 14 points for the home team, while defensively grabbing six rebounds and rejecting three shots. Ty Battle, a redshirt junior, up her CAA-leading double double count to 15 with 10 points and 15 rebounds, along with three blocks. Ty Skinner had another productive day with 13 points, propelled by three-of-six from deep.

The board work on the part of the Blue Hens was massive, 63-38, including 28 on the offensive glass, the overall total second best in program history behind the 71 pulled in the season-opening triumph over Salem.

With all this, it was still a competitive game with a Delaware 42-35 lead midway into the third period when the Blue Hens then put distance on the visitors with a 9-0 run followed by a 13-0 dash at the outset of the fourth and final quarter.

Drexel Rally Dooms James Madison: A year ago in what became an ill-fated finish with the cancellation of the CAA tourney at the start of the quarterfinals at Elon, which will host the event again next week, the Dragons crushed the preseason-favorite Dukes in the first of two minutes, ending in a tie for the first but the No. 1 seed, which made them briefly the NCAA qualifier until the national tourney went down along with virtually everything else in sports across the globe.

On Saturday, Drexel caught JMU again, this time rallying from a 17-point deficit to slip past the Dukes at the end for a 51-48 victory to for the moment move past the visitors into third place with a chance to reach second, though being one or the other seed is academic, but Drexel (11-7,  8-5) could land in a less arduous bracket path to the championship game in the tournament.

The Dragons completed the rally when Keishana Washington scored on a driving layup on the Dukes (12-9, 8-6) for the lead with 1:11 left in regulation. They then got a stop in the other direction and increased the lead to three on a Washington score off a bounce pass from Hannah Nihill. JMU had two chances to tie with a three and force overtime but came up empty sending the thrilling weekend finish to Sunday’s 1 p.m. tip on the Flohoops streaming service.

“We had a rough start missing shots and not getting stops,” said first-year Drexel coach Amy Mallon, promoted in the offseason from her long stint as an associate under Denise Dillon, who returned to her alma mater at Villanova in the wake of longtimer Harry Perretta’s retirement after 42 seasons on the Main Line. “We proved we can make adjustments and continue to fight and play Drexel basketball, which is always finding a way to win.”

Washington and Nilhill were a 1-2 act in this one for a combined 38 of the 51 points collected by Drexel, with Nihill playing her final home games in the DAC scoring 20 points, helped by a personal-best five three-pointers while dishing five assists and grabbing five steals. Washington did heavyweight work in the comeback scoring 16 of her 18 points in the second half off 7-for-11 from the field.

Kayla Bacon, another senior, fried the opposition for eight points and five rebounds while grad student Mariah Leonard also grabbed five rebounds.

JMU’s Anne Diouf had nine points and a game-high 16 rebounds.

Early in the third Drexel seemed headed for defeat when the Dragons came to life with a 15-0 run sparked by a pair of three-balls from Nihill. Bacon’s shot with 21 seconds in the third tied it heading into the decisive fourth quarter.

Another traditional Dragons defensive stand at the close held the Dukes scoreless over the final 3:13, the visitors missing five shots in that stretch.

Seton Hall Too Much for Villanova: The Wildcats had the record-breaker in sophomore Maddy Siegrist but Seton Hall had the wreckers in a 67-55 victory that wrapped up the regular season for Villanova (14-5, 9-5 Big East) at home in Finneran Pavilion while the Pirates (13-6, 11-5) will play one more Monday night against St. John’s on the road in Queens.

But what the outcome did do after the outcome became a series split with Villanova having won their visit to Seton Hall back in December is flip both teams in the standings sending the Wildcats to fifth and Seton Hall up a notch to fourth.

Academically, it’s virtually moot in that it becomes the same game from either side this Saturday when the two face each other with a first-round bye into the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., near New London.

The virtually is that there is a long shot that a Butler upset of DePaul Monday coupled with a Pirates win over St. John’s zips Seton Hall to third and the Blue Demons to fourth.

That 4-5 Saturday quarterfinal winner gets the worst poison in Sunday’s semifinal in that teams is likely to face No. 1 UConn, who will be in familiar settings having been the perfect winner in seven straight seasons in the American Athletic Conference at the venue prior to the Huskies’ return to the Big East this season. 

With UConn gone, so is the American, which still has Temple, and will open play March 8 a week from Monday in Fort Worth, Texas.

On Saturday night, Siegrist, who finished with 27 points, had her big moment early, connecting on two foul shots to become the fastest in program history to reach 1,000 career-points in 50 games, edging the immortal Shelly Pennefather, who didn’t play three-pointers in the rules, by two followed by Laura Kurz, who is now an assistant at Drexel after having been on Perretta’s staff at her alma mater in recent season.

Siegrist had 10 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season and now has scored 20 or more points in 13 games.

Even with the return of UConn, Siegrist is on track to be only the third person to lead the conference in scoring and rebounding, the other two being future WNBA stars Rebekkah Brunson at Georgetown and Angel McCoughtry, who did it three straight times when Louisville, now in the Atlantic Coast Conference, was a Big East member.

“Maddy accomplishes such a great milestone,” said first-year coach Denise Dillon, who inherited the star from the regime of her former coach Harry Perretta, who retired at the end of last season. “It’s so impressive and you saw why she accomplished it so early in her career.

“She’s relentless, she continues to work at every level to help her team succeed, and put her name in the history books.”

However, while there was a lot of the native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., who spurned nearby Marist for the Wildcats, there wasn’t much of anyone else in this one, with the normally reliable Wildcats hounded into a myriad of turnovers.

It was still close at the half, but a 9-0 run in the third by the visitors enabled Seton Hall off a balanced attack to break away.

“Give them credit for knocking us off our mark,” Dillon said. “They pressured the basketball a great bit, and not only were they pressuring the basketball, they were playing the passing lanes. They dared us to put the ball on the floor, and that’s not something we want to do. It fueled the fire.

“I didn’t feel that offensively we got into any rhythm,” she continued. “It went back to us just looking for Maddy to bail us out every possession. We did hold them below their average, which was great. But it was tough for us to play both ends of the floor for 40 minutes.”

Dillon noted the improvement of the Pirates, having seen them when they weren’t as good in the win back in December, and now when they are playing at their best. Along the way with a bunch of Big East teams, the two have gone through extended shutdowns with Seton Hall coach Tony Bozzella himself catching the coronavirus and missing games.

The Pirates’ Desire Elmore had 21 points and 16 rebounds, while Lauren Park-Lane had 20, and Andra Espinoza-Hunter, who played previously at UConn, scored 16.

Behind Siegrist, Villanova’s Sarah Mortensen scored 11.

Off Saturday’s outcome, at least the Wildcats will know what’s ahead if the two meet at Mohegan.

“A little reminder is a good thing, and there won’t be any letup,” Dillon said.

UConn and DePaul Both Win: At the high end of the Big East Conference, both No. 1 Connecticut and No. 24 DePaul turned in victories, though the Blue Demons off their previous upset loss at home to Marquette, the second of a two-game losing streak, snapped Saturday with the 75-49 win at Providence in Alumni Hall in Rhode Island, could be in great jeopardy, depending on what happened elsewhere, when the next AP Poll is released Monday afternoon.

UConn finished its five-game road trip with a 97-68 win at Butler in the Bulldogs’ Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis none-the-worse for wear considering the first stop at Georgetown came at the end of as compacted series of games. But then the Huskies (20-1, 17-0 Big East) got some rest and decent practice time in and continued their merry way, having clinched the regular season outright at Creighton Thursday and remaining unbeaten in league play with just the Marquette visit remaining Monday night at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs on campus.

Paige Bueckers, the freshman disc jockey who keeps spinning program records, flipped two more in this one, setting an overall assist game record with 14 and a freshman season assist mark with 130.

She had already set a do-it-yourself overall program mark with three-straight 30-plus scoring games, though another freshman sensation, Caitlin Clark at Iowa has already done better with nine on the season and a string slightly more.

The native of suburban Minneapolis did get her share of points, also, with 20, shooting 8-for-21 from the field.

“Paige is a past-first-guard,” said Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma, whose overall career mark in second among Division I women’s coaches reached 1,111 behind Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, who is the record leader at 1,115 going into Sunday’s PAC-12 regular-season final against Bay Area rival California. The late Tennessee legend Pat Sumitt, is third at 1,098, which was the record at the time of her retirement battling Alzheimer’s Disease when she retired at the end of the 2012 season.

VanDerveer took the record in early December and Auriemma moved into second in the middle of last month.

Continuing on Bueckers, the team scoring leader whose exploits are making it harder for him to make negative quips as he so easily did at times in Diana Taura’s collegiate career, Auriemma said, “If you can’t score, you can’t pass.

“I love when these people say, that kid’s a great passer. Well, can they shoot? No.

“Well, how many passes do you think she’s going to be able to complete if nobody’s guarding her? If you can score and people have to guard you, now all of the sudden you have the opportunity to find people,” Auriemma said.

Of the 20 points in the same outing, he noted, “That’s a lot for her, a lot for anybody on our team, really. But they were shots you’re supposed to take. I guarantee you, those 14 assists, I bet you 10 of them she was more open than the person she passed to and just decided not to shoot.

“The biggest part is the mindset. The next biggest is, I can score. And then, I have the ability to make the play I want to make. It’s rare. Very rare. Rare when you’re a senior or a freshman, high school, college pros. Doesn’t matter. It’s just a rare quality to have.”

Said Bueckers, “I couldn’t make a shot (at the outset). I had no choice but to get everybody involved and get other people open shots because I wasn’t making any. That was my mindset.”

Auriemma noting some of the greats of the past who are among the program leaders such as Renee Montgomery, who last week in the wake of her WNBA retirement became a co-owner of the Atlanta Dream, said of Bueckers, “If somebody told you she’s a senior, you wouldn’t be surprised. She plays like one. She handles the ball like one. She sees the floor like one.”

Of course, Bueckers is not the only newcomer in a bounty of freshman on the squad.

Aaliyah Edwards, the recipient of the pass she scored that gave Bueckers the game record, had a personal-best 24 points and 14 rebounds as a substitute.

“She just plays the game the way big guys are supposed to play,” said Auriemma. “She plays big. Paige and Nika (Muhl) have done a great job with the ball. Obviously, we got a great game out of Paige.

“If you’re saying every night, ‘We’re going to get a game like this from Aaliyah, then I would say we’re going to be really, really hard to beat.”

Additionally, Tennessee transfer Evina Westbrook had 16 points, while Christyn Williams scored 15 with six rebounds, and Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 11 and nine rebounds.

Butler (2-16, 2-15), which only had 35 points in the first meeting last month, had the most points on the Huskies by a Big East foe in this one, courtesy of some nifty long-range 10-for-21 shooting in the first half.

“Monday night, our defense against Marquette is going to have to be a lot better than it was today,” Auriemma said.  

UConn has now gone 28 seasons, consecutively, with 20 wins, which this time is remarkable, considering the COVID-19 protocol disruptions to erveryone’s schedules, nationwide, had Auriemma in early January just wanting to get to the 13-game played minimal requirement to formally qualify for NCAA tournament eligibility.

“That used to be the standard,” Auriemma said of the 20-win mark. “You were a hell of a team if you won 20 games. And if you could win 20 games consistently, you were a great program. So the consistency over the 30-something years is what’s most remarkable to me, especially in a pandemic year like this year when so much was upside down.”

DePaul (14-6, 11-4 Big East), meanwhile, got 21 points, five assists and three steals from Lexi Held, who was 5-for-7 from deep to match a career high. Deja Church set a career mark with four treys on the way to 16 points, while Darrione Rogers scored 13, and Sonya Morris had 10 points and 11 rebounds against the Friars (6-13, 4-10).

Coach Doug Bruno, as mentioned earlier, needs a win or a Seton Hall loss Monday to finish third off the visit from Butler to Wintrust Arena in Chicago at 5 p.m. on the Big East Digital Network.

The win over Providence was the 18th straight in the series.

Temple Loss Factors American Showdown: The Owls unwittingly have set up an even tighter finish at the top of the American Athletic Conference that as of Saturday with UConn having left for the Big East will not have an unbeaten team in conference play as the No. 1 seed when tournament opens a week from Monday at the Dickey Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

Temple got rocked at UCF, 61-37, at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, that with the stunning Houston 67-49 upset of No. 13 South Florida has the losing Bulls and winning Knights virtually tied for first in the standings ahead of a home-and-home finish in Tampa at USF on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN+ and then back in Orlando on Thursday at 5 p.m. on ESPNU.

Technically, within the AAC, USF is 12-2, having been awarded a forfeit win on Memphis for standings purposes, but not affecting the overall record, while UCF is 11-1.

The Owls (9-10, 9-7 AAC), who will finish with two home games Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. and a makeup on Thursday at noon both with Memphis, both on ESPN+, are locked into the fifth seed no matter how the week plays out. 

They could catch Tulane, which has two games left, but the Green Wave would get the fourth seed off a sweep at the end of last month in New Orleans. However, like Villanova-Seton Hall in the Big East, the 4-5 pairing either side is the same game in the quarterfinals.

Temple had edged UCF 61-58 in early January in Philadelphia.

In this one against the Knights (13-2, 11-1), the Owls did have a piece of the record book rewritten as Mia Davis, with 2:38 left in regulation, connected on two attempts from the charity stripe to become the all-time career leader in made foul shots with 404, eclipsing the mark set by Feyonda Fitzgerald at 402.

Other than that, it was not a great day across the board, particularly the boards for Temple, which got out-rebounded 47-34, including 15 on the offensive glass leading to 20 second-chance points.

It was worse on the offensive end in Temple’s lowest scoring output since an 80-36 loss to then-No. 1 Connecticut seven seasons ago on Jan. 11, 2014.

Furthermore, if they fed the Owls’ shooting percentage into the local crime statistics, there would be a major decline off Temple’s 22.2 percentage from the field, the lowest of the season.

Rookie Jasha Clinton had 10 points, while Davis scored eight and Alexa Williamson had seven.

Emani Mayo had seven rebounds, while Williamson grabbed six.

On the UCF side, Courtajia Sanders had 22 points and eight boards, while Destiny Thomas had 11 points and also eight boards, and Alisha Lewis dealt eight assists.

Considering that Temple was in the game through three quarters with South Florida on Wednesday and that the Owls played better against UCF in their first meeting, should the squad get to the semifinals a potential upset if they meet is not out of the question, though one doesn’t know if the Saturday disaster was an anomaly.

Meanwhile, as UCF took the step up, South Florida (14-2, 12-1) took a step down to set up the two-game showdown, though they could meet once more after this week for the conference championship, with the loser hoping to get an at-large bid to the NCAA tourney, though they likely at worst could also land in the WNIT.

Jose Fernandez’s squad had been on a program-record 13-game win streak until the Cougars (15-5, 12-4) struck in its Fertitta Center.

Elaine Tsineke had a game-high 24 points for the visitors.

The Bulls’ state seemed ok with a 14-10 lead in the second quarter off a 9-0 run at the outset of the period until the offense died in a limited four-point scoring drought that put the home team ahead 29-18 at the break and worse at 53-33 with the fourth quarter remaining.

USF also committed 24 turnovers.

“I thought Houston played with a great deal of emotion, energy, and enthusiasm,” said USF coach Jose Fernandez. “We have to give them a great deal of credit on this win.”

Freshman guard Laila Blair had 15 points and three steals in Houston’s first win over a ranked team since downing then-No. 21 Nebraska on on Dec. 18, 2010, ten seasons ago, and win over the highest ranked opponent since a 76-71 win over No. 13 TCU on Feb. 27, 2004, 17 seasons ago.

Houston, in getting its seventh straight win, got 26 points off the 24 miscues by the Bulls.

Dymon Gladney added 11 points for the Cougars, while Britney Onyeje had eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Houston finishes Tuesday at 7 p.m. hosting Cincinnati (6-15, 5-12), which won 71-58 at Tulsa, Saturday, to drop the home team to 5-12 overall and 4-12 in the conference.

This gets a mention because the winning Bearcats’ Llmar’l Thomas scored 28 one game after her 51-points in the previous 76-61 win at ECU in Greenville, N.C. 

That was the first 50-point game in the eight-year history of the AAC and also set Cincy records for points and the 20-made field goals, besides being an individual season high across the NCAA in Division I.

The only Cincy player male or female to have a 50-point game was the Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson, who the 50-mark six times, the last against North Texas on Feb. 22, 1960.

No. 11 Indiana Stays in Big Ten Title Hunt With Win at No. 15 Ohio State: The Hoosiers kept the pressure on first-place Maryland in the Big Ten by ruining No. 15 Ohio State’s perfect home record with an 87-75 win over the Buckeyes inside the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Indiana (16-4, 14-2 Big Ten), a game behind the explosive No. eight Terrapins, got their first win at Ohio State (13-6, 9-6) since 2002, which is 19 seasons ago, and first win overall in the series since 2010.

The triumph eclipses the coach Teri Moren era record set last season by one, reaching 14 wins in Big Ten competition.

Grace Berger scored 20 points for the visitors, while Ali Patberg scored 19 with seven rebounds, and Mackenzie Holmes had 17 points, eight rebounds, and four blocked shots.

Shooting a season-high 41 foul shots, Indiana connected with 31.

Nicole Cardano-Hillary, a former George Mason player, had a career-high 11 rebounds to go with 16 points, while also scoring in double figures was Aleksa Gulbe with 10 points.

Braxtin Miller had 23 for the home team, while Kateri Poole had 17 points, and Jay Sheldon and Dorka Juhasz with 11 each and Juhasz produced a double double adding 12 rebounds.

“Terrific win for our program and obviously one we had to fight hard for,” Moren said afterwards. “We’re smart enough as players and coaches to know they were not going to go away. They made a run at us. Give our kids credit for grinding it out on a day which we didn’t have any offensive flow, but I did think we did down the stretch, we showed great composure. I don’t think we panicked. We obviously got the line, we hit free throws and we guarded like we needed to down the stretch.

“To have our five starters in double digits, really happy for those guys. We’ve ever not had that kind of quit in our program. We didn’t blink. We kept telling our kids, let’s just keep doing what we’re doing.

“Winning on the road in the Big Ten is hard. You have to have a different mindset and different toughness, which we have done. We want to end our season playing our best basketball.”

Indiana, which lost narrowly to Maryland 84-80 early in the season, finishes up hosting Iowa Wednesday in a rescheduled game from Feb. 21 on the Big Ten network and then Saturday hosting Purdue at at a time to be announced for telecast on the Big Ten plus network.

Meanwhile, Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff, whose team has opted out of postseason play, said of the Indiana finishing run, “We had a great third quarter. We had a great defense. Rebounded the ball. Took care of the ball. At the end, we didn’t make a stop. Too many turnovers. They’re defense is very good. We didn’t make a lot of good decisions.”

Baylor Takes 12th Big 12 Regular Season Crown: The No. 7 Lady Bears downed Kansas State 85-49 at home in the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas, to win their 12th Big 12 crown and 11th consecutive one as Queen Ebo scored 19 points for Baylor (19-2, 14-1 Big 12), NaLyssa Smith scored 16, and Moon Ursin scored 15.

Kansas State (7-15, 2-13) did not have anyone score in double figures, Rachel Ranke led the team with nine points and Ayoka Lee was held to eight.

In terms of consecutive regular season titles active and all-time Green Bay won 20 from 1999 through last season, Louisiana Tech won 15 as member of both the Sun Belt and WAC across a stretch from 2003 until 2014, Old Dominion won 12 from 1993 when it joined the CAA in. 1993 through 2004, though the Lady Monarchs kept win conference tourney titles until Drexel ended the run, and then Baylor is active at 11 and joins previous other runs of 11 at the Big East by Connecticut (1994-2004), UCSB in the Big West (1996-2006), Chattanooga in the Southern Conference (2000-2010), Marist in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (2004-2014), and Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference (2005-2015).

“It just hits you in the moment,” said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey if the title being won on Senior Day. “It’s just a simplistic statement, Dolly Parton said, `If you’re going to have to enjoy the rainbow, you’re going to have to go through the rain.’ In 35 years, I’ve never coached under these circumstances, it’s scary, it’s frustrating, yet I think of those kids that were in that corner over there with their championship hats on.

“They just kept playing. Whatever was asked of them, they just kept playing, COVID-19 quarantining. Imagine telling, 18, 19, 20-year-old college students, `You can’t socialize anymore.’ Think about that. You go to bars to hang out. You go to clubs to dance, you go to friends’ homes to celebrate. They can’t do that. So we forget out all those rules. They have no life once they leave the gym. And they continue to focus on basketball and win another championship. Very, very special.”

In another Big 12 game involving a ranked team, No. 18 West Virginia topped host Kansas 72-68 in Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence in s game that got close at the finish after the Mountaineers (18-4, 12-4 Big 12) had led the Jayhawks (7-15, 3-13) by double digits most of the afternoon.

Kysre Gondrezick had 25 points for the visitors, while Esmery Martinez had 14 points and 24 rebounds, and Kirsten Dean scored 12. The 24 rebounds were the most in a game for West Virginia since Lanay Montgomery grabbed 24 against Temple in 2015.

Kansas got 19 points from Anjya Thomas, while Holly Kersgieter scored 12,

“Once again the team showed a lot of heart,” said Mountaineers coach Mike Carey. “Still didn’t shoot the ball well, we let them dribble drive us all night, but we found a way to win. Needless to say Emery, 24 rebounds, was big for us. We just got to get a little more balance.”

West Virginia next is at Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum on Wednesday in Manhattan at 7:30 p.m. on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.

In an upset of sorts in the conference, Oklahoma, which recently downed the Mountaineers, topped Texas 68-63 in overtime, in a Big 12 clash in the Longhorns’ Frank Erwin Center in Austin.

Carli Collier had 23 points and seven rebounds for Texas (16-7, 10-6 Big 12), while getting a career-high four steals. Audrey Warren added 13 points off 5-for-10 from the field, and Celeste Taylor and Joanne Allen-Taylor each scored 10 points, with Taylor getting a double double off a career-high 12 rebounds as well as a personal best six assists to go with four steals.

Gabby Gregory had 19 points for the visiting Sooners (10-10, 7-8), while Taylor Robertson scored 14, Skylar Vann scored 13, and Tot Nevaeh scored 10.

Oklahoma had trailed by 12 in the fourth quarter when the Sooners, than in foul trouble, rallied to force overtime and kept the momentum going on a game-ending 8-0 run for the visitors’ first win at Texas in eight seasons since 2013.

“What a privilege it is to coach this basketball team,” said Hall of Fame Sooners coach Sherri Coale. “These seven players just play their tails off, and they play for each other, they believe and they’re connected - they’re just extraordinary. It’s just a fun journey to be part of right now.”

Texas will try to avoid a season sweep when Baylor visits at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.

No. 21 Gonzaga and No. 22 South Dakota State Claim Conference Regular Season Titles: The Zags celebrated Senior Day clinching the West Coast Conference with a 77-39 win over Loyola Marymount in the McCarthey Athletic Center at home in Spokane, Wash. while also paying tribute to seniors Gillian Barfield, Louise Forsyth, LeAnne and Jenn Wirth, and Jill Townsend.

“I’m just really happy for our team and our seniors to be able to celebrate like this,” said coach Lisa Fortier. “I thought we put together another great game against a very physical team. It’s a fun way; that’s how you want Senior Night to go.”

Jenn Wirth had 19 points, shooting 9-for-12 from the field for the Zags (21-3, 16-1 WCC) while Townsend scored 18, and Kayleigh Truong had five assists against LMU (5-18, 4-14). 

The Bulldogs hounded the opposition into 22 turnovers. 

“I thought we did a really nice job with our presses; we were getting trapsin the right spot,” Fortier said.

In another WCC game, San Francisco, which has been beating teams on the back end of the season that had gotten the Dons first time around, topped BYU 86-72 at home against a squad that had dealt Gonzaga its only setback in conference competition.

San Francisco (14-9, 10-7), which has won nine of its last 10, is now 4-1 against teams it lost to in the front end of the conference season.

Joanna Krimili, a redshirt freshman standout from Greece, continued her scoring spree, collecting 27 points for the Dons.

“I thought it was a great win for USF,” said coach Molly Goodenbour, a former member of Stanford’s NCAA championship teams in the early 1990s.

“I think the girls were obviously really excited to play because we are a different team than the last time we played them in December. We were really looking forward to the challenge of playing league teams that were ranked higher than us and testing ourselves against the best teams in the league. To come out and get a good win on our home court against these guys makes me really happy for our team,” she continued.

“They’ve truly taken ownership of their team. Now we are looking forward to playing in the WCC tournament.”

The league will announce its bracket Sunday at midnight in the East.

No. 22 South Dakota State also claimed a crown, going unbeaten at home and in the Summitt League after completing a weekend sweep of UMKC, 72-66, Saturday in the second of the two games.

“What a way to finish off a long grind of a conference season,” said Jackrabbits coach Aaron Johnston. “It kind of felt like that was kind of like how our season has gone.

“We’ve had to fight pretty hard to be in this position and to go undefeated through the Summit League regular season is a accomplishment for the team. This is probably the first time I’ve talked about it,” he continued. “We’re certainly a different team today than we were two weeks ago, four weeks ago. There’s been a lot of changes we’ve had to overcome and then some people have played to a really high level.”

Paiton Burckhard had 24 points for South Dakota State (21-2, 14-0 Summit League), while Tylee Irwin collected 17 points, and Madysen Vlastuin had a personal high 11 points.

After increasing the series domination to 15-1 on UMKC, the unbeaten run through the conference is a first for the Jackrabbits, whose current 18-game win streak is fourth in Division I.

The Summit tourney runs Saturday through the following Tuesday at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. Times and seeding will be announced after all the league games are completed by Sunday.

In the other ranked team that played, No. 23 Missouri State, which clinched the Missouri Valley Conference regular season crown on Wednesday, beat Loyola Chicago 64-50 at home in JQH Arena in Springfield to reach 17-2 overall and a first-ever 13-0 in the league.

Jasmine Franklin scored a career-high 25 points for the Lady. Bears, who have won 16 straight MVC games across two seasons with the 13-game overall total the longest in two seasons, when the program also was 13-0.

Franklin teamed with Abby Hipp to score 18 straight for Missouri State from the second quarter across the break to the third.

The two teams meet again Sunday for Senior Day at 6 p.m.

Looking Ahead: Next NCAA Tournament Committee Reveal Moved Up To 5 p.m. Sunday: Originally set to be trotted out quickly Monday night at halftime of a collegiate basketball game, the second and final of the two Reveals of the NCAA tournament committee with its current assessment of the top 16 seeds will air on ESPN at 5 p.m. Sunday following several key games whose outcomes will impact.

There’s been upsets since the last one two weeks ago and the presentation will now be a half-hour show. The real overall draw of the 64-team field with seedings will be Selection Monday, March 15, at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Looking Local: No. 25 Rutgers will try to solidify a double bye in the Big Ten Tourney Sunday when the Scarlet Knights visit longtime geographical rival Penn State at 12:30 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College on the Big Ten Network. The Scarlet Knights have won six straight since emerging from a six-week pause. A recent make-up from games lost during the shutdown will have the two teams then head East to the Rutgers Athletic Center on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

Saint Joseph’s and La Salle complete their regular seasons in the Atlantic 10 with senior days and looking to finish with a winning note ahead of next week’s tourney in Richmond, Va., at host VCU’s Siegel Center. The Hawks will host Duquesne at 2 p.m. seeking to complete a weekend sweep while the Explorers will try to gain a split hosting St. Bonaventure at the same time. Both games will air on ESPN+.

As mentioned, way back at the top, Delaware, which clinched the regular season CAA crown, will be seeking another weekend sweep, hosting Towson at 1 p.m. in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, while at the same time Drexel at home in the Daskalakis Athletic Center will look for a sweep of James Madison, which had been the preseason favorite, and that would clinch at least third seed in next week’s tournament at Elon. Both games will air on the Floophoops streaming network.

Rider finished its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference slate earlier and remains idle ahead of the conference tourney next week returning to Atlantic City following the cancellation last year that occurred after the first quarterfinal of the day was completed.

Looking National: Besides Rutgers, which is both, the featured attraction in a conference full of ranked teams can be found in the Southeastern where No. 5 South Carolina visits No. 3 Texas A&M for the regular season crown at 2 p.m. in the Aggies’ Reed Arena in College Station on ESPN2. As teams line up for the start of the SEC tourney later this week, No. 17 Georgia is hosting Florida at noon on ESPN2, while at the same time No. 19 Kentucky is hosting Ole Miss. No. 20 Tennessee is hosting Auburn at 2 p.m. in Knoxville’s Thompson-Bolling Arena. 

Mississippi State will be looking for its third straight win, hosting Missouri at 4 p.m. on the SEC Network, while No. 16 Arkansas will be hosting Alabama at 6 p.m. on the SEC Network.

In the Big Ten, No. 8 Maryland seeking to close in on another regular season grown visits Northwestern, which got bumped out of the poll last week, at 4 p.m. on ESPN2. 

The  PAC-12, which saw No. 4 Stanford clinch the regular season crown last Monday, finishes up ahead of its tourney in Las Vegas with a series of rivalry games, excluding No. 10 UCLA, which played its Southern Cal matchup on Friday night. On Sunday, No. 4 Stanford hosts California at 4 p.m., Arizona State hosts No. 9 Arizona at 2 p.m., the same time Utah hosts Colorado, while Washington State hosts Washington at 4 p.m., and No. 14 Oregon hosting Oregon State at 6 p.m., all on the PAC-12 network.

In the Atlantic Coast Conference, No. 2 North Carolina State visits Syracuse at noon, while No. 6 Louisville visits Notre Dame at 3 p.m. on ESPN. Everything else is on the ACC network. Teams jockeying for conference tourney seeding ahead of next weekend’s event in Greensboro, N.C., have Pittsburgh at Georgia Tech at 2 p.m., Wake Forest at Florida State at noon, North Carolina at Virginia Tech at 2 p.m., and Miami at Clemson at 2 p.m.

Previously mentioned, the only other ranked team playing Sunday is No. 23 Missouri State finishing out at 6 p.m. on ESPN+ hosting Loyola Chicago.

And that is the report.  

   

  

 

 

   

    

 

Guru’s WBB Report: Saint Joseph’s Rally Snaps Eight-Game Losing Streak While La Salle Comeback Falls Short

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

In what was a lite night Friday of local action, Saint Joseph’s and La Salle started their regular season weekend finish at home in the Atlantic 10 with the Hawks launching  several second half comebacks to down St. Bonaventure 66-63 at Hagan Arena and snap an eight-game losing streak.

La Salle, meanwhile, erased a 14-point deficit from early in the game to take a lead in the fourth quarter but couldn’t sustain it and fell to Duquesne 74-70.

On Sunday the two visiting teams will switch arenas with La Salle hosting St. Bonaventure while Saint Joseph’s hosts Duquesne, both at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ with both local teams paying tributes to their outgoing seniors, who may not all be departing since the NCAA has allowed an extra year of eligibility as part of dealing with the coronavirus.

In the Saint Joseph’s game, the Hawks (6-9, 4-9 A-10) trailed by six at the half and fought the Bonnies (6-13, 5-11) to a three-point lead at the end of the third. 

But in the roller-coaster game of swings, the visitors seemed headed to the victory column with a 61-54 lead with 4 minutes, 6 seconds left in regulation when the never-say-die Hawks ripped off a 10-0 run to return to winning ways.

“We came back and showed a lot of grit, poise, and composure down the stretch,” said veteran coach Cindy Griffin, soon to complete her 20th season at her alma mater. “I see that we’ve grown. We’ve grown from previous games, and that’s the most important thing.

“Getting the win is icing on the cake. I’m really proud of our team coming together ... We made plays when we needed to make plays, and for that, I’m proud.”

In the penultimate rally, Alayna Gribble, a graduate student guard, and Katie Jakot nailed a pair of three-pointers before Kaliah Henderson fought to grab an offensive rebound and got the second-chance putback to put the home team ahead by one 62-61 with 1:29 left.

Gabby Smalls then forced a Bonnies turnover with 1:06 left and after chewing up some clock time Gribble scored on a jumper with 18 seconds left and a three-point advantage.

Asiane Johnson, who had 18 points and six assists forf the Bonnies got the opposition within a point scoring inside when the outside was cut off but then Gribble hit two foul shots for the final points in the game. Tori Harris, the sister of 76ers standout Tobias Harris, who was in the building, had 13 points and eight rebounds, while Olivia Brown scored 11.

“Our team has been battling,” Griffin said. “We have just lost eight in a row. We came in here and refused to lose, and we could have felt sorry four ourselves, we could have gone down the same path. The resilience of this team and wanting to win so bad for each other, you saw that tonight.”

Jekot had 16 points fueled by four from deep and also dealt six assists while Smalls was hot from the field, shooting 5-of-7 for 15 points, and Henderson scored 10, grabbed seven rebounds, and dealt five assists.

By roster, Alexis Santarelli, a Bishop Eustace graduate from South Jersey and Lafayette transfer; Spaniard Lula Roig, Mary Sheehan from Cardinal O’Hara, and Olivia Ramil, who previously played at Binghamton and Georgetown, are Sunday’s honorees, though as noted all have the option to return next season. Gribble has already committed to return.

Should Saint Joseph’s win Sunday, despite the record, considering how close some games were in the recent losing streak, the two games at the finish and the Atlantic 10 switch from the end of this week to the following, beginning Wednesday, March 10 through March 14, in Richmond at VCU’s Siegel Center., offers a fresh start.

 The only format change is to cut down on travel the entire tournament will be in Richmond instead of opening rounds of the lower seeded teams being played at four campus sites.

“If you at look at scores across the league you say, `Oh wow, they beat so-and-so,” Griffin noted on the season, where even Dayton’s domination was recently punctured at home by Saint Louis. “We’ve played the top half of the league and we know what it’s going to take to beat those teams. We know they’re very, very good, but I also think we were within three points, five points, seven points, so I feel really good about the experience we’ve had, obviously we’ve been having a little bit of bumps and bruises here.

“But we’re all the same in a lot of ways so I think it makes for an exciting finish in the Atlantic 10 and everybody being able to use that extra week to staying health, practice and prepare is going to be really, really healthy going into the week.”

La Salle Comes Up Short: The good and bad with rebuilding when you’re starting from the bottom is the scores and efforts during a game get much better, but many times the losses are now more of heartbreaking finishes as opposed to being crushed by opponents.

Such was the situation for the Explorers (10-13, 6-10 A-10) against Duquesne (5-9, 4-6), who were playing in Tom Gola Arena at the same time Saint Joseph’s was competing, making for some exciting back-and-forth viewing from afar to watch both games.

Early on, it didn’t seem dangerous to spend more time away from La Salle when the Explorers quickly dropped to a 14-point and then trailed 23-11 at the end of the opening period.

The 12-point margin remained through much of the second period before the Explorers suddenly exploded with a 9-1 run to move within four at 32-28 at the break.

Both teams took turns staying close to each other through the third resulting in a 49-49 tie heading into the final 10 minutes of fourth quarter action.

The Dukes had control in the first part of the quarter leading slightly until La Salle grabbed the momentum and tied it with 69-69 on an 11-5 run with 1:26 remaining.

But Duquesne then spoiled the Explorers’ hopes with a 5-1 finish.

La Salle’s Kayla Spruill had a game-high 24 points, shooting 7-of-12 from the field and 9-of-11 on the line. Claire Jacobs, though, was a bit below where she’s been but was still productive with nine points, three assists, and two steals, while her twin sister Amy had eight points and three assists.

Deja King and Haleigh Hill each had seven points, while Hill also had six rebounds and a personal best three bloked shots, while Kate Hill dished five assists. 

All three are seniors for the Blue and Gold.

Easy Wins for No. 10 UCLA and No. 22 South Dakota State: Only two ranked teams played Friday night and had little trouble getting to the winning side with No. 10 UCLA topping Southern Cal at home in Pauley Pavilion 93-51 on the Bruins’ senior night in Los Angeles while South Dakota State won the first of two hosting UM Kansas City 73-53.

In what is rivalry weekend in the PAC-12, all but UCLA and Southern Cal are meeting their travel partners on Sunday completing two-game series that began early on the conference slate.

In the UCLA game, the Bruins ((14-4, 12-4 PAC-12) did it all against their crosstown rivals, as Charisma Osborne registered the ninth triple double in the program’s history, all-American candidate and senior played her final Pauley Pavilion game scoring 30 points, and the home team set a record with 16 connected 3-pointers.

Osborne had 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists, playing 34 minutes. 

Seven players have had nine triple doubles, the most recent last season in November by Japreece Dean.

The Bruins had been upset by Oregon State at home on Sunday prior to playing the Trojans (10-11, 8-10), whom they swept for the first time in three seasons and won this one by the widest margin since 1999, or 22 seasons ago.

“Our ability to consistently shoot 3-pointers has been pretty amazing this season,” said UCLA coach Cori Close. “It is one of the best 3-point teams I have had.” That gives me a lot of confidence going into the tournament.

The PAC-12 begins with lower seeded teams opening Wednesday with UCLA one of four including regular season champion No. 4 Stanford, No. 9 Arizona, and No. 14 Oregon getting byes into Thursday’s quarterfinals in Las Vegas. After Friday’s semifinals, the conference added a rest day so the championship is now next Sunday.

UCLA senior Lindsey Corsaro joined Onyenwere in a farewell appearance scoring 14 points and shooting 4-of-5 in the long distance barrage.

“I’m not really an emotional person, but there were a couple of times that almost got me,” Onyenwere said. “We didn’t start playing well, but the defense was able to get some stops and we were able to have a lot of uncontested three pointers.”

Alissa Pili had 18 points for USC, while Jordyn Jenkins scored 14.

“They have a great team and had a great Senior Night,” said Trojans coach Mark Trakh. “We have to get back to work and get ready for the conference tournament.”

In the other game, No. 22 South Dakota State at home in Brookings beat UMKC 73-53 to clinch the regular season Summit League crown as Palton Burckhard and Tylee Irwin each scored 19 points for the Jackrabbits (20-2, 13-0 Summit League), who have won 17 straight games.

RaVon Nero and Mandy Wilems each scored 11 points for UMKC (10-10, 7-7), which returns to play South Dakota State again on Saturday.

The Jackrabbits are seeking to finish perfect at home for the first time in seven season since 2013-14.

In another game of note, beyond the ranked teams, Old Dominion on the road upset C-USA leader Middle Tennessee 74-57 in Murfreesboro in the Murphy Center.

Ajah Wayne had 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Amari Young had 14 points and 14 rebounds, and Maggie Robinson had 14 points for the Lady Monarchs (8-9, 5-9 C-USA), who surged with 50 points in the second half.

Anastasia Hayes had 32 points and six rebounds for MTSU (12-6, 10-3), who host ODU again on Saturday at 5 p.m. on ESPN+.

“We felt like this was our game for the taking based off the matchups, who we are defensively and offensively,” said first-year coach DeLisa Milton-Jones, and former WNBA All-Star who had been a Syracuse assistant. “Our girls came out a little slow in the beginning, but once we got our momentum, there was no looking back.”

Milton-Jones replaced Nikki McCray-Penson, who left in the offseason for the Mississippi State, which became vacant when Vic Schaefer was lured to his home state to rebuild Texas.

“The month of February has been the kindest to us in terms of the amount of practices we’ve had,” Milton-Jones said. “We have found our rhythm, our identity and now we know what we can hang our hats on at the beginning and end of every day.”

Looking Ahead: Maddie Siegrist, the reigning national co-player of the week from the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), is on the verge of program history when Villanova hosts Seton Hall at 8 p.m. in Finneran Pavilion Saturday night on. FS1 looking to clinch the fourth seed in next weekend’s Big East tournament at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn.

The sophomore is two points short of reaching her 1,000th career point, which would make her the third player to do it in two seasons and fastest ever in what will be her 50th game. Shelly Pennefather, who played before the three-point addition to the women’s game, did it in 52 games, while Laura Kurz, now a Drexel assistant, did it in 60 games.

Siegrist also leading the Big East in scoring and rebounding heading into her final regular season game for 2020-21 ahead of the tournament. She would become just the third Big East player to get the double, the others being longtime WNBA star Rebekkah Brunson at Georgetown in 2003-04 and WNBA All-Star Angel McCoughtry, who did it three times playing for former member Louisville in 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09.

In other games, barring an add-on makeup game, Drexel and Delaware finish the regular season of competition in the Colonial Athletic Association, with Delaware looking to clinch the tournament top seed when the Blue Hens host second-place Towson at 1 p.m. each day in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.

Fourth-place Drexel, meanwhile, hosts third-place James Madison, so if Delaware sweeps, and Drexel sweeps, it looks like the Dragons could finish second but maybe third in that Towson next week will make up two games with UNCW Thursday and Friday. The Delaware and Drexel games will be on the Flohoops streaming service.

The tournament, returning to Elon, where it was cancelled at the start of quarterfinals in North Carolina last season at the outbreak of the pandemic, begins in two weeks.

Temple will be down at UCF at noon in Orlando, Fla., looking to bounce back from the one that got away in No. 13 USF on Wednesday, and then return to finish up the American Athletic Conference at home Tuesday hosting Memphis at 3:30 p.m. in McGonigle Hall and hosting the Tigers again Thursday at noon. All Owls games will televised on ESPN+. The AAC tournament will be in Fort Worth, Texas.

No. 25 Rutgers will be at Penn State at noon Sunday in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College in the Big Ten, and then in a makeup game originally postponed on the Rutgers side, the two teams will go to the RAC in Piscataway, N.J., on Tuesday.

Rider, having finished early, remains idle waiting for the MAAC tourney in two weeks in Atlantic City.

Saturday’s nationally-ranked teams in action have No. 1 UConn making its first-ever appearance in Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis finishing the five-game road trip in the Big East and looking for another perfect conference run when the Huskies host Marquette, Monday night. In another Big East game, No. 24 DePaul, which has lost two straight, is at Providence at 1 p.m.

No. 13 South Florida in the AAC is at Houston at 3 p.m., while in the Big 12, No. 7 Baylor hosts Kansas State at noon in Waco, Texas, while No. 18 West Virginia is at Kansas in Lawrence.

A key Big Ten game has second place and No. 11 Indiana at No. 15 Ohio State at 3 p.m.

No. 23 Missouri State hosts Loyola Chicago in the Missouri Valley at 6 p.m., while No. 21 Gonzaga looks to wrap up the West Coast Conference hosting Loyola Marymount at 4 p.m.

Since Sunday is also loaded, we’ll hold off with all that on the national front until the next overniter.

And that’s the report.

    

Guru’s WBB Report: No. 1 UConn Wins at Creighton to Clinch Big East Regular Season Crown

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

The title town of women’s collegiate basketball added another trophy to its huge collection Thursday night after No. 1 Connecticut ran over Creighton 81-49 in Omaha, Neb., to earn the Big East regular season crown in the Huskies’ return to the conference and first since 2011.

Overall, the total is 27 at this level, which includes the recent seven-year perfect run in the American Athletic Conference — the Huskies won all the AAC tourneys as well —.

About to next visit Butler in Hinkle Pavilion in Indianapolis on Saturday and then welcome Marquette at home Monday night to finish out the schedule, UConn is expected to win both and claim another unbeaten moniker attached to this title as well.

This now becomes the 28th straight year that the Huskies (19-1, 16-0 Big East) have claimed either conference regular season or tournament titles plus the record 11 NCAA national crowns. And, of course, many years it has been multiples but with acclaimed grandiose achievements, Hall of Fame UConn coach Geno Auriemma again noted afterwards, Thursday’s accomplishment still has meaning, especially for the freshmen.

That’s always goal No. 1,” he said. “That’s always the thing I think the players will respond to because it proves that you’re the best team in the league that you play in and you’re the best team against the peers that you compete against every day. We’re consistently in the hunt for that, we consistently put ourselves in that situation, and we’ve been fortunate enough to win it as many times we have.”

Shaking off slow starts in many of the early ongoing battles, the Huskies, whose only loss was a narrow one at nationally-ranked Arkansas, still beat all Big East foes by no less than 21 points.

Temi Carda had a game-high 24 points for Creigton.

Even with UConn past stars who went on to dominate in the WNBA such as Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Sue Bird, and more recently, Breanna Stewart, there are nights when others got to grab the spotlight.

On Thursday, against the Bluejays (7-10, 6-7), that person was newcomer Nika Muhl, who got 15 of her 19 points in the first quarter, shooting 6-for-8 from the field, also had five steals, three assists and three rebounds.

She also quickly nailed three from deep in five tries from the outset.

“She’s not afraid to shoot. She’s not afraid to take chances defensively. She pushes the tempo. She’s kind of an energy source. She’s been working on shooting the ball.”

Muhl’s celebrated backcourt co-newcomer Paige Bueckers scored 13, while Christyn Williams scored 16, and Olivia Nelson-Adoda had her fifth double double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

“I was building my confidence a lot in practice the best few days, and they were leaving me quite wide open at the beginning of the game,” Muhl said. “So I just took the shots, had the confidence and my teammates had the confidence in me.”

This was another game in the recent weeks since getting extra rest that the decision could declare UConn elected after scoring 27 points in the first quarter and reaching the halftime break with a 42-21 lead.

Auriemma was ok with the defense scoring 24 points off 17-forced Creighton turnovers and a lopsided transition attack 20-8 in fast-break points.

Though Bueckers was just 5-for-12, way below her own expectations, she tossed nine assists and with six rebounds and four steals.

“For us to win further down the line, we’re going to have to step up and help her,” said Williams, who at the fourth stop of the five-game road trip, has now had four straight 15-plus games since her scoreless effort before the marathon slate of games away from Gampel Pavilion on campus began. “We can’t leave her by herself and I take that personally because as a junior, I’m supposed to be helping.”

Auriemma picked up his 1,110th victory, second in the nation to Division I women’s record-holder Tara VanDerveer at Stanford at 1,115. The Cardinal finish their regular season Sunday playing Bay-area rival California and having already locked up the regular season PAC-12 title.

The late Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt had the previous record at 1,098 when she retired in 2012 battling Alzheimer's Disease thar claimed her life several years later.

VanDerveer set the new mark in early December with Auriemma moving into second place in late January.

No. 3 Texas A&M-No. 5 South Carolina SEC Showdown Set: The showdown for the regular-season Southeastern Conference title on Sunday was set with what will be the host Aggies winning 73-67 at Alabama, while the Gamecocks downed Ole Miss 68-43 at home in Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.

Had not South Carolina been upset by Tennessee a week ago, Dawn Staley’s squad would already hold an upper hand long-range with a perfect conference record but with A&M getting a win would produce a tie and thus still Sunday’s winner gets the top seed for the SEC tourney the following weekend.

In Thursday’s game in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Texas A&M (21-1, 19-1 SEC) ran its series record on the Tide (15-7, 8-7) to 10-1 and 5-0 in Alabama’s arena.

A triumph Sunday would be the first regular season title in the SEC and overall since claiming the Big 12 trophy in 2006-07.

A&M’s N’dea Jones got her 13th double double with 12 points and 13 rebounds for her 39th overall career mark. She now has 996 career rebounds, just seven short of Anriel Howard’s career achievement.

Jordan Nixon added 16 points, as did Kayla Wells, to the Aggies’ attack, and Aaliyah Wilson scored 10.

Veteran head coach Gary Blair is now 834-331 overall and 426-168 with A&M since arriving in College Station from Arkansas in 1003-04.

Jasmine Walker, who had been averaging 20.8 points was held to just 11 by the A&M defcnse.

“Great defense on Walker,” Blair said, citing Wilson’s play. “The difference was when we made our runs in the second and third quarter, our bench was very important in both of those runs. The thing that hurt in the end was when we had a 21-point lead, ‘Bama still had a run in them. When they have those three players as good as they are, you they’re going to eventually make a run.

“Jordan Nixon, when she’s on a roll, she makes the big time plays.”

Sunday’s showdown at Reed Arena will be at 2 p.m. EST.

Doing its part to get back to top gear after the recent upset losses at Connecticut and to the Lady Vols, South Carolina claimed its 13th straight victory over Mississippi (9-10, 3-10) , which was held to four made goals combined in the second and third quarters.

Staley was responsible for the midweek start time, looking ahead to preparations for the showdown with A&M, her operations people told her off her inquiry that early afternoon would work.

Zia Cooke had a hot start for the Gamecocks (19-3, 14-1 SEC) scoring 10 if their first 12 points, and finished with 17 points. LeLe Grissett scored 12, Victaria Saxton had 10, and Aliyah Boston grabbed 11 rebounds.

Shakira Austin had 22 for the visitors.

This game was set to be an SEC New Year’s Eve opener until the Rebs came up with COVID-19 protocol issues and Florida was moved up from this month to fill the space, become a Gamecocks victim, nonetheless.

“We had stuff we wanted to work on, but Ole Miss, they force you to play a different way,” Staley said. “They apply a lot of pressure in the full court and the half court.”

As for the home stand for the season, now over, Staley reflected, saying, “We built this program where we created a home court advantage and we didn’t have that this year, and it was weird. Honestly, it was just weird, not being able to generate we’ve had in this building. And though we won every game besides one — N.C. State won the game fair and square — but if you had 15,000 people in this building, they may have given .... so many times in this building to win. 

“And it’s hard, the close games, we talked about this last week, and Destiny Henderson said, ‘It’s hard the energy. The energy is not there.’ We have to figure a way to create the energy that our fans give us. But I’m happy we got through a season. We still sell 3,500 tickets and they’re gone in a couple of minutes. We’re still proud of that moment somebody was here when we took the floor,” Staley explained.

“When you look at what could have been, we’re proud to say that we got through with people in the building and we didn’t hear anybody being impacted in a negative way by coming to the games.” 

Upset: Kentucky Over Georgia: Meanwhile, elsewhere in the conference in an upset of sorts by ranking number, No. 19 Kentucky went on the road and won at No. 17 Georgia 62-58, its fifth win over a ranked opponent, in the Bulldogs’ Stegemen Coliseum in Athens after the Lady Dawgs were coming off a home upset of Tennessee, Sunday, to complete a season sweep of the Lady Vols for the first time in 36 seasons.

Rhyne Howard had 27 points for the Wildcats (16-6, 9-5 SEC), who also got 15 from Chasity Patterson and 11 from Talyana Watt had 11 points and six rebounds.

Long-range shooting was the key with Kentucky connecting on six from deep to just three from Georgia (17-5, 9-5). Howard was a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc.

Georgia’s Jenna Staiti scored 16 points, Gabby Connally and Que Morrison each scored 13, and Jordan Isaacs scored 10.

“This game was vital,” said first-year coach Kyra Elzy, in terms of SEC tournament seeding. “We knew we had to come here and take care of business. They are a tough team, playing well, well coached, they play extremely hard, but as far as seeding, we still have another game to play (Sunday at home against Ole Miss), we take it one game at a time and let the chips fall where they may.”

Elzy, a former Tennessee star, was promoted at the beginning of the year when Matthew Mitchell had to resign for health reasons.

Close Calls for No. 20 Tennessee and No. 16 Arkansas: The Lady Vols, who dropped to No. 20 after the loss at Georgia, struggled all night before emerging with a 78-73 win at Missouri in Mizzou Arena in Columbia.

Like she did a week ago in the upset of South Carolina, Rennia Davis, the reigning SEC player of the week, did most of her work after the break, in this case all of her work, scoring 26 points, including 20 in the fourth quarter.

Rae Burrell helped Tennessee (14-6, 8-4 SEC) with 23 points and eight rebounds, while Jordan Walker grabbed 10 rebounds.

Missouri (8-10, 4-9) got 16 points, each, from Haley Troup and Aijha Blackwell, while Shannon Dufficy and Shug Dickson each scored 10 points.

“Staff knew, team knew, this was going to be a tough game,” said Tennessee coach Kellie Harper. “This was really going to be a challenge. I felt like it took us a while to figure things out. If you watched Missouri’s last couple of games, they’ve been in every single one. They are smart kids and tough kids and they are so much better than their record. Fortunately, our team knew that. There we’re couple of times when they could have gotten down, just proud of our team for being able to come out of here.”

Tennessee hosts Auburn Sunday at noon on the SEC Network in Knoxville.

Judging what happened against No. 16 Arkansas Thursday, the Tigers are not going to be easy pickings either for the Lady Vols.

Arkansas rallied late and also avoided an upset, edging host Auburn 74-69 in the SEC contest in Alabama at Auburn Arena.

The Razorbacks (18-7, 8-6 SEC) trailed by 10 in the third period and still were trying to play catch-up in the fourth when the visitors regained their shooting prowess.

Chelsea Dungee and Destiny Slocum each scored 16 points for Arkansas, while Amber Ramirez scored 15, and Makayla Daniels scored 11.

It was a tough loss for senior Unique Thompson on her night when she scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Tigers (5-17, 0-14), who have just eight scholarship players being dressed and are still winless in the conference heading to Sunday’s game in Knoxville. Honesty Scott-Grayson added 18 points, reserve Sania Wells scored 12, and Aicha Coulibaly scored 10.

“We continued to fight, we continued to push. We were short in numbers, but they just stayed out there and kept fighting,” said Auburn coach Terri Williams-Flournoy, a former Penn State star who previously coached at Georgetown.

“We need more people to score. Anytime we can get help from any and everybody, it helps a lot.” 

Mississippi State Downs LSU: In another SEC game of note, Mississippi State, which had gone on a long losing streak and fell from the rankings for the first time in seven seasons, continued a reversal with the Bulldogs’ second straight win, beating host LSU 68-59 in Baton Rouge, La.

Aliyah Matharu scored all 19 of her points in the second half for the visitors (10-7, 5-6 SEC) after they trailed by eight at the half.  Mississippi State ramped up the defense on the host Tigers (8-12, 6-8), who shot 54 percent in the second quarter but were held to eight points and 23 percent in the third quarter.

“I told my team they are all capable defenders. They proved it,” said first-year Bulldogs coach Nikki McCray-Penson, another former Tennessee star, who previously was at Old Dominion.

“We said we wanted to come out and hold this team to under eight to 10 points and we did that.”

A key on the offensive side was making foul shots to seal the win and the Bulldogs finished with an overall 13-14 from the line, including 9-of-10 in the fourth quarter.

Myah Taylor had 15 points for the Bulldogs.

Mississippi State returns home to Humphrey Coliseum Sunday to host Missouri and finish the regular season.

Iowa Upsets No. 12 Michigan: Coming out of the scoring fireworks in the recent loss at No. 8 Maryland, the Hawkeyes with the second best offense behind the Terrapins in the nation bagged a Big Ten rival, beating the Wolverines 89-67 as they blitzed their way to a season-high 48 points in the first half.

Iowa (13-7, 9-7 Big Ten) was deadly from outside with 16 three-pointers.

The game had a five-hour delay due to extra testing under coronavirus protocols.

A Hawkeyes player had tested positive Wednesday and coach Lisa Bluder said “Michigan asked that we all test before the game. So we all raced to get our PCR tests taken, and all od them were negative,”

Michigan had good reason for the caution, having recently ended a long pause due to the protocols.

Meanwhile, Iowa freshman sensation Caitlin Clark’s string of four 30-point games in a row ended but not by much, scoring 27 for the home team in Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, while Monika Czinano had 15 points, Kate Martin scored 15, and Sharon Goodman had 10.

Naz Hillmon continued to lead the way for the Wolverines (13-3, 8-3), scoring 24, while Leigha Brown scored 16.

The Hawkeyes were in the afternoon shootaround when Bluder informed of the situation.

“”Obviously, it was a weird situation,” Clark said. “We didn’t know what was going to happen. They got us in ands got us tested.

“More than anything, when we got back, we were dialed in. This was a game we needed to win, wanted to win.”

Michigan on Sunday heads to Minnesota at 2:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network while Iowa will be at Wisconsin at 3 p.m.

In the other Big Ten game of the day, No. 8 Maryland moved closer to another regular season title, winning at Purdue, 88-59, in West Lafayette, Ind.

The win by the Terrapins (18-2, 14-1 Big Ten) was the largest home conquest ever laid on the Boilermakers (6-14, 30-13) by a Big Ten opponent.

Purdue coach Sharon Versyp saw enough up close and personal to declare Maryland was undersold by the NCAA committee in its recent Reveal of the top 16 teams in advance of the real bracket containing the 64-team field that will be announced March 15 at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

The next one was set to air Monday night but earlier Thursday the NCAA announced a move up to Sunday at 5 p.m. on ESPN in a special half-hour program.

“They should be a No. 1 seed,” Versyp said.

Maryland coach Brenda Frese shrugged the praise off.

“That (seeding) will take care of itself,” she said.

Angel Reese, recently returned from a broken foot, spoke of the bigger fish after scoring 17 points and grabbing nine rebounds to lead Maryland to its seventh straight win.

“Our main goal is to win a national championship,” she said. “This team has been rolling without me. Whatever I have to do to help this team win, I’m willing to do.”

The visitors crushed the boards 50-26, including 26-8 in the second half, and dominated in the paint 52-28.

The Boilermakers’ Brooke Moore, who scored 13, was impressed.

“This team is really good,” she said.

Turning to her team’s play, Frese said, “Road wins are precious. I thought we played hard. The effort was there.”

Maryland also got 13 points each from Mimi Collins and Ashley Owusu while Faith Masonius had 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Terrapins are now 106-13 (.891) in the conference over the last seven seasons since bolting the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Maryland on Sunday heads to Northwestern Sunday at 4 p.m. in Walsh-Ryan Arena on ESPN2 in Evanston, Ill. 

N.C. State and Gonzaga Gain Easy Wins: No. 2 N.C. State rolled to an 83-53 win at home over Pittsburgh in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh while No. 21 Gonzaga did likewise on the other coast, beating Pepperdine 95-49 in a West Coast Conference game at home in Spokane, Wash., involving the other two ranked teams that played Thursday.

The Wolfpack (16-2, 11-2 ACC) in a matinee finished their home slate unbeaten in Reynolds at 11-0 against the Panthers (5-12, 3-11), who were missing two starters.

The home team came up just one short to its all-time 12-0 mark of the 1977-78 powerhouse edition.

The Wolfpack went through the air in this one, shooting 16 three-balls out of 26 attempts, tying a program-best against Mount St. Mary’s on Dec. 13, 2014.

Raina Perez and Jakia Brown-Turner each scored 14 points, while the remaining three starters also reached double figures as Kai Crutchfield scored 11, Kayla Jones scored 10, and Elissa Cunane had 13 points and eight rebounds.

“Nice team win, obviously Kai Crutchfield and Kayla Jones on Senior Day,” said Wolfpack coach Wes Moore. “Sixteen threes, that’s pretty amazing. It seems when you’re shooting the ball pretty well you’re doing ok on the other end of the floor. We were able to play a lot of people and the younger ones did a nice job. Pitt was a little short-handed with two of their best players out with injuries and we were clicking today, so good win.”

The Wolfpack finish Sunday on the road playing Syracuse in the Carrier Dome in upstate New York at noon on the ACC Network.

Out in the Northwest, fans were let into the stands for the first time this season, along with a full complement of cheerleaders and the host Zags (20-3, 15-1) in the lopsided win over last-place Pepperdine (5-16, 2-15) clinched a tie for the regular WCC crown. Gonzaga can clinch it outright Saturday afternoon when it hosts Loyola Marymount at 4 p.m. in the McCarthy Athletic Center.

Jill Townsend had 23 points, LeAnne Wirth scored 16, Jenn Wirth scored seven, one her 1,000th career point.

“That was a lot of fun,” said Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier. “You have those four seniors (Cierra Walker the other) who start the game and started it off right, and they also started the second half correctly so that we had an opportunity to sub freely and get everybody involved.”

The decision desk was able to call this one quickly as the Zags ran a straight course with a 14-0 lead and the home team fell just five points short of putting triple digits on the scoreboard for the first time in four seasons dating to a 102-38 win over UC Irvine.

Looking Ahead: A quiet day on the local and national front where Saint Joseph’s and La Salle will begin their weekend-ending home slate in the Atlantic 10 as Saint Joseph’s hosts St. Bonaventure in Hagan Arena at 6 p.m. and La Salle hosts Duquesne in Tom Gola Arena, both at 6 p.m., while on Sunday the visitors switch with the Hawks hosting the Dukes and the Explorers hosting the Bonnies at 2 p.m. for both games.

All four games will air on ESPN+.

Nationally, on Friday, No. 10 UCLA hosts Southern Cal at 8 p.m. in one of six rivalry finshes in the PAC-12, whose regular season crown was clinched Monday night by Stanford.

On Sunday, No. 9 Arizona is at Arizona State while Colorado is at Utah at 2 p.m. each on the PAC-12 network, which at 4 p.m. will air California at No. 4 Stanford and Washington at Washington State each at 4 p.m. and finish with No. 14 Oregon hosting Oregon State at 6 p.m.

Since there’s only three games of concern on Friday at this end, the Saturday AM report will look at the rest of the weekend.

And that’s the report.