The Guru National Report: South Florida Takes Down Defending NCAA Champion Stanford in Day of Black Friday Surprises

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

When women’s basketball fans during the summer looked ahead to the collegiate season and especially the early collision of ranked teams in Thanksgiving Day tournaments few could imagine that both No. 2 Maryland and No. 7 Stanford, the defending national champions, would both be coming off losses when they met down in the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Tournament in Nassau, the Bahamas.

But that’s what will happen Saturday when the powers of the PAC-12 and Big Ten hoop up at 3 p.m.

Maryland, shorthanded, got routed by No. 5 N.C. State earlier, and on Friday after No. 18 South Florida had obliged so that Stanford could get an extra game into their Multi Team Event portion of the Cardinal Schedule, the Bulls pulled a shocker at the finish when Sydni Harvey of the defending American Athletic Conference champs nailed a three-pointer from the wing with 2.8 seconds left for a 57-54 victory.

“Coach called the play and I hit the shot and we had a couple of defensive stops and that was that,” she said  and reported by The Associated Press of USF coach Jose Fernandez drawing up the wining action. “It was a very exciting gamed to play in.”

Fernandez joked of the move to go for all the marbles rather than settle for overtime.

“We had to catch our flight out of here,” he laughed.

Harvey had 15 points in USF’s second Top 10 victory following beating Oregon last weekend in a consolation round of the Battle 4 Atlantis following playing then-No. 2 Connecticut tough in the semifinals.

“It gives us confidence we can hang with anybody in the country,” Harvey said of the win.

Bethy Mununga tied a personal best with 23 rebounds for the winners.

The Bulls (5-2) were down by two when Harvey nailed the game-winner.

“This was good for us,” Fernandez said of a five-game stretch playing four ranked teams in the last five games, including the win Monday over then No. 9 Oregon.

“We had two days to get ready for them. We defended. We got the stops when we needed to especially at the end of the game.”

Cameron Brink scored 23 and grabbed 11 rebounds for Stanford (4-1), which had rallied from a 12-point deficit and went ahead 53-52 on Lacey Hull’s shoot from deep with 14.1 seconds left in regulation.

Brooke Demetre of the Cardinal hit one of two free throws for a two-point lead ahead of Harvey’s heroics.

Elisa Pinzan scored two free throws for the game’s final points.

The loss temporarily halted Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer’s chance to add one more to her NCAA Division I women’s record of victories at 1,129, ahead of UConn Hall of Famer Geno Auriemma’s total of 1,121.

The Huskies won’t play again until next Friday, opening their Big East slate at Seton Hall in South Orange, N.J.

“Always tough to lose a game like that,” VanDerveer said. “We made some real big plays. Really proud of our team and how we battled in the second half.

“Credit South Florida, they made a real big shot when they needed to. We’ve made shots like that before.”

Stanford was hurt by a mediocre 4-of-12 on free throw attempts.

“You’re never going to win close games like this shooting 4-for-12 from the free throw line,” VanDerveer said.

It was the first meeting between the two teams.

The other Saturday matchups in the Pink Flamingo event have No. 5 N.C. State meeting Washington State at 6 p.m., and No. 4 Indiana meeting Miami at 8:30 p.m.

More Paradise Jam Upsets: The Rutgers upset loss to Vanderbilt reported on the Guru Local edition behind this was not the only Friday surprise at the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands at St. Thomas.

Pittsburgh got one of the biggest wins in recent program history as the Panthers beat Big Ten power Northwestern 72-60 as Liatu King scored 23 points and matched a personal best with 19 rebounds.

Her 23 were also a personal best for the Panthers (5-1), while reserve Sandrine Clesca had nine points, four rebounds, and three assists against the Wildcats, who got 14 points from Jillian Brown, and 12 points and 10 rebounds from Courtney Shaw.

In the other two games besides the Rutgers-Vanderbilt game, No. 23 Texas A&M rallied to beat South Dakota 58-44, while No. 9 Arizona topped DePaul 75-68.

On Saturday, besides the Rutgers-Arizona game, DePaul and Vanderbilt meet at 1 p.m., Pittsburgh plays South Dakota, and Texas A&M and Northwestern play at 8 p.m., matching longtime friends in Northwestern coach Joe McKeown, a Father Judge grad from Northeast Philadelphia, and Texas A&M’s Hall of Famer Gary Blair, who will be retiring after this season.

Michigan Tops Oregon State: In the Daytona Beach Invitational, No. 12 Michigan was paced by Naz Hillmon, with 20 points and 13 rebounds in a 61-52 win over No. 16 Oregon State, which has a stop at Villanova next month.

The Wolverines (6-0) snapped a 40-40 tie at the start of the fourth quarter, spurting off on a 7-0 run. Following the Beavers bringing a temporary stop, Hillmon and Leigha Brown scored on bsack-to-back shots for a 51-42 lead with 4:38 left in regulation. 

Brown scored 14 for Michigan, while Danielle Rauch scored 11.

Oregon State (3-1) got 12 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocked shots from Kennedy Brown. Taya Corosdale collected 11 rebounds, but Michigan held Taylor Jones to six points in 20 minutes of action.

Other results in the Dayton Invitational in Florida had Georgia beat Notre Dame, 71-67 in overtime, Dayton beat Illinois, 67-53, and Marquette edged Middle Tennessee 59-55.

On Saturday, in another round of predetermined opponents, Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico will be going for her 200th win since coming from St. John’s when the Wolverines meet Mississippi State at at 4:30 p.m., while other games have Notre Dame playing Oregon State at 7 p.m., and Georgia plays Marquette at 2:15 p.m.

Virginia Tech Upset: Over in the San Juan Shootout in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Missouri Valley favorite Missouri State topped No. 24 Virginia Tech 74-68, while No. 25 Florida Gulf Coast beat Tennessee Tech, 81-69; George Washington beat UT-Martin 46-37; Florida beat Saint Louis 69-54; and LSU beat New Mexico State 72-52.

On Saturday, in predetermined action, Florida Gulf Coast plays Saint Louis at 5:45 p.m., following Virginia Tech playing UT-Martin at 10 a.m.; LSU and Missouri State playing at 12:15 p.m.; Tennessee Tech and New Mexico State meeting at 3:30 p.m.; while George Washington and Florida play at 8 p.m.

Baylor Takes Cancun Opener: In the Cancun Challenge in Mexico, No. 6 Baylor beat Arizona State 62-52 as as the Bears forced 16 turnovers.

NaLyssa Smith had 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Jordan Lewis had 15 points and Queen Egbo had 11 for Baylor (5-1). Former Rutgers star Mael Gilles had 10 points and 14 rebounds for ASU (2-4), while Maggie Besselink scored eight and Jaddan Simmons scored nine.

Fordham topped Houston 67-53 as Anna DeWolfe scored seven of the winning Rams’ 11-0 run to start the fourth quarter and she finished with 18 points, while Asiah Dingle scored 15 and grabbed 10 rebounds; and Kendall Heremaia had 11 points and 10 rebounds, drawing Fordham even at 3-3.

Tatyana Hill had 19 for the Cougars (3-3).

Fordham plays Arizona State at 11 a.m. Saturday, while Houston plays Baylor at 1:30 p.m.

Seton Hall bested Toledo 68-63 in overtime as Lauren Park-Lane had 19 for the Pirates (3-2), while Andra Espinoza-Hunter scored 18. Quinesha Lockett scored 15 for Toledo (3-2).

In the other game, Central Florida topped Idaho State 58-41 as Brittney Smith had 11 points for the winning Knights (4-1).

Dora Goles scored 16 for the Bengals (1-5).

On Saturday, the other game has Seton Hall playing Southern Cal at 4 p.m.

The event had to do a late shuffle on the schedule after No. 8 Iowa pulled out due to positive COVID-19 tests results within the Hawkeyes program.

In the the three-team Goombay Splash in Bimini, Bahamas, North Carolina beat VCU, 72-59, and plays Washington at noon on Saturday.

And that’s the national report.