The Guru Local Report: Nifty Wins From Penn, Penn State, and Delaware Gain A Black Friday Split

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Six of the Guru’s 11 D-1 locals played on Friday, causing enough news to warrant breaking their efforts out of the overall roundup and leave that for the national action.

On the day three won and three lost competitively by the score.

Delaware was in the minority of travelers South this weekend, heading to Miami on a business trip with two pre-determined opponents in the FIU Thanksgiving Classic.

Jasmine Dickey continues to do a neat job impersonating former Blue Hens great Elena Delle Donne, the latest in the opening round leading Delaware to an 77-72 victory against Eastern Michigan (2-2).

In her latest act in bringing the Blue Hens to a 5-1 record, Dickey scored 14 straight points in the first quarter in the Ocean Bank Convocation Center and ultimately finished with a career-high 48 points besides grabbing eight rebounds.

Ty Skinner scored 14 points, while Tee Johnson had nine points and six boards.

Areanna Combs was her own pace-setter for Eastern Michigan, scoring 26 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, while Danielle Rainey collected 15 points and and Ce’Nara Skanes had 11 points and 10 

rebounds.

“Gritty, gritty, gritty win on the road against a very tough Eastern Michigan team, said Delaware coach Natasha Adair. “It was basically 0-0 going into fourth and taked to the team about responding — it’s winning time — and we were going to have to do it on the defensive end.

“It wasn’t going to be a trade basic deal — it was dig deep, be disciplined, and be focused,” Adair continued in remarks posted to Delaware’s web page.

“They responded in such a big way. I am just proud of how they grow and how they mature from game to game.”

The 48 points are now second individually in a single game, passing the 42 Delle Donne scored at Hofstra on Feb. 16, 2012.

Delaware finishes the trip playing Chicago State at noon on Saturday.

Penn Stops UC San Diego Comeback in Narrow Win: With Eleah Parker moved to Virginia in terms of how the Ivies treated eligibility during the earlier phases of the coronavirus pandemic, it appears that coach Mike McLaughlin continues to find talent to keep the line coming since he arrived at Penn.

The latest, sophomore Jordan Obi, following an Ivy rookie of the week citation, had a game-high 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, the latter tying a career high, as the Quakers beat back a rally from UC San Diego to emerge with a 58-51 victory in the Loyola Marymount Thanksgiving Classic in Los Angeles.

Mia Lakstigala just short of a double double had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Quakers (4-1).

Kennedy Suttle added 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Junior Kayla Padilla scored nine, grabbed four steals, dealt three assists, and had two rebounds, and blocked a shot in game free of committing any fouls of turnovers.

The opening quarter saw Penn launch a 17-0 run, though the opposition pulled within six going into the final frame.

Though UC San Diego continued and went in front by a point, But Penn answered with a score from Obi and a pair of threes from Suttle and Padilla to regain the lead and ride out the victory.

The Quakers finish the tourney Saturday playing Memphis, 6:30 p.m. in the next predetermined round.

Penn State Takes Gulf Coast Showcase Opener: The Lady Lions are involved in one of the few holiday tournaments requiring wins of all rounds to claim the championship.

Step one was a success Friday night, beating St. John’s with a 14-8 finish over the final 4:38 to claim a narrow 80-75 win over St. John’s and move to the semifinals Saturday night against playing No. 13 Iowa State at 7:30 p.m. in Estoro, Fla.

The games are being broadcast on FloHoops.

Ali Brigham shot 8-of-12 from the field on the way to 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Penn State (4-1), while Makenna Marisa, the reigning Big Ten player of the week, had 25 points, and six rebounds.

Maddie Burke scored 11 and got three steals while Leilani Kapinus scored 10 points.

St. John’s got 27 points helped by five threes and also eight rebounds from Leiliani Correa while Danielle Patterson scored 15 and Unique Drake scored 13.

Penn State in the win had to within stand a 16-3 run by the Red Storm.

The Lady Lions used their own spurt, a 13-0 run in the third to regain the lead as Marisa collected 13 points in the period and Brigham scored 10.

Put Penn State fell behind, trailing by a point with 4:34 left in regulation before erupting on the finish.

The Lady Lions will finish the trip Sunday playing for first or third against UMass or Kent State, who play in the other semifinal.

Kent State had one of the big wins of the day, upsetting No. 19 UCLA 75-69 while UMass remained unbeaten with an 81-63 win over South Dakota State.

In the other semifinal, UMass will meet Kent State at 5 p.m.

The two consolation semifinals have UCLA playing South Dakota State at 11 a.m., Saturday, while St. John’s andCharlotte meet at 1:30 p.m.

The losers on Sunday will meet and play for seventh place, while the winners will play for fifth.

Rutgers Upset by Vanderbilt: The Scarlet Knights got felled by the Lady Commodores in the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, and Saturday’s final predetermined opponent round is more daunting playing NCAA runners up and No. 9 Arizona at 3:15 p.m. on either ESPN+ or ESPN3.

Trailing by eight at the half, Rutgers (4-3) produced another big finish with an 18-point fourth quarter though ultimately fell short.

Jailyn Mason had nine points for the Scarlet Knights, who failed to have any individual reach 10 points or better.

Rutgers hadanot her fourth quarter with 18 points though it went for naught.

Vanderbilt (4-3) is in the first year under new coach Shea Ralph, the former UConn star and assistant coach.

The Scarlet Knights this season are under acting head coach Timothy Eatman, while Hall of Famer C. Vivian Stringer has chosen to stay away for fear of catching the coronavirus.

“We have to find a way to start better,” he said. “Every one of these games we’ve started slow. When we’re in a hole, we spend too much time fighting back. They played the zone, and we have to do a better job coaching our players to be in the right spot.”

Saint Joseph’s Falls to ODU: The Hawks’ tailspin continued in the first round of the Van Chancellor Tournament in the Houston suburb of Katy in Texas to C-USA favorite Old Dominion 67-50.

The Lady Monarchs (3-2) jumped to a 13-4 lead after one period on Saint Joseph’s (1-4).

Things looked promising in the third with the Hawks pulling to a tie and trailing at the end of the period by just a point.

Then tied at 46, the Monarchs erupted for a 21-4 finish, including a 10-0 spurt in the closing minutes of play.

Rookie Laila Fair scored 12 for Saint Joseph’s and graduate student Alayna Gribble scored 11.

Next up is a game in the tourney against Stetson at noon Saturday before finishing Sunday against Ball State.

Drexel Whipped by Nebraska: The Dragons held the Big Ten representative Cornhuskers to a season low 65 but that was plenty for Nebraska to top Drexel 65-53 in the opener of the Dana on Mission Bay Holiday Tournament in San Diego.

Hannah Nihill had a season-high 19 points for Drexel (4-2) along with five rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Keishana Washington scored 13, while Kate Connolly had 11.

Transfer Tessa Brugler grabbed 10 rebounds.

Drexel set an NCAA season-low with just two turnovers, though the ball handling went for naught.

Next up the Dragons play Fresno State, a 68-64 loser to the host San Diego squad for third Saturday at 5 p.m., 

Looking Ahead: As for the other five locals, on Saturday two meet when Temple makes its Big Five debut traveling to Villanova, which is off to a 2-0 start, at 2 p.m. on the Main Line. A year ago the two met in the NCAA-delayed season start, further delayed between the two, at the Owls’ McGonigle Hall and the Wildcats won a lopsided affair under then new-coach Denise Dillon, who had left Drexel to return to her alma mater in the wake of veteran Harry Perretta’s retirement.

Rider is playing host Lehigh at 1 p.m. in the opener of the Mountain Hawks’ Christmas City Tournament in Bethlehem, Pa., returning for the first time in two years at 1 p.m., followed at 3:30 p.m. by Columbia playing Missouri. The winners and losers meet each other Sunday at times to be determined.

La Salle in a single game is at No. 20 Kentucky Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. while Princeton in a single game hosts Maine at 1 p.m. in Jadwin Gym.

And that’s the local report.