The Guru Report: No. 1 South Carolina Lives Up to Ranking Over No. 2 Connecticut While a Battle of Youth Highlights Villanova’s Narrow Big Five Win At Penn

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA - When the preseason Associated Press women’s basketball poll came out in mid-October, some wondered about South Carolina edging UConn for the top spot, not to diminish the Gamecocks’ prospects as one of the top contenders to leave Minneapolis’ Target Center with the NCAA trophy next April.

The addition of top freshman prospect Azzi Fudd to join last year’s freshman and consensus national consensus player of the year Paige Bueckers on the Huskies’ roster just seemed too tantalizing.

But for all the problems in the real world caused by the coronavirus, perhaps it should be noticed that this has been the year of Philly’s all-time great sports individual Dawn Staley.

Though inches of things going the other way for her Gamecocks last spring in the NCAA tournament bubble atmosphere in the semifinals deprived a second tourney crown, but later guiding the US Olympic women’s squad to a seventh-straight gold medal, and coming back to a near old-times energized arena with an engaged fan base, South Carolina can match all associated around the UConn program.

Building that national powerhouse from nothing allowed he to be rewarded shortly before the season with matching the top women’s contract in the collegiate sport with UConn’s Geno Auriemma.

On Monday afternoon, Staley’s squad paced by junior Aliyah Boston, went a step further, suppressing the Huskies in the fourth quarter at the Imperial Arena on Paradise Island in the Bahamas to grab  a 73-57 victory and the championship of the inaugural Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis in the tropics.

The two squads will meet again in late January in South Carolina as part of their ongoing home-and-home once a year trade off in their non-conference rivalry and perhaps a third time for all the glory next spring.

Perhaps someone else like No. 3 Maryland or defending champion Stanford, ranked seventh, could bolt past but for now all glory goes to the Gamecocks.

“I’m so proud of our kids, we asked them to focus after the Buffalo game,” Staley said of the aftermath discussion following the Gamecock’s opening round win over Buffalo.

“Because we didn’t play our best and it was going to take our best to win this tournament. And they played defensively … offensively we just took the shots that they gave us. But I’m super proud. They believe in each other.”

As for the play of Boston (22 points, 15 rebounds), who has become the next great thing in Columbia following WNBA star A’ja Wilson leading the Gamecocks to the 2017 title, their first, Staley said, “It’s time for Aliyah Boston to be the dominant player that she is. I think she sells herself short a lot of times, so we have to get in into her because she is a dominating player.

“But this game takes a lot out of you, so we have to go home and regroup in Colonial Life Arena.”

The two teams last met in February in a 1-2 showdown in similar positions at UConn and Bueckers starred to lead the Huskies into an overtime victory that flipped them into the top spot in the poll, which had come out hours earlier in the day.

This time, with the normal voting release schedule colliding with the game in the Bahamas, for the second time in the 46-year history of the women’s poll, a one-day delay was put on the weekly voting deadline. The other time was on January 16, 1995, a Martin Luther King Day thriller in which then No. 2 Connecticut upset No. 1 Tennessee for the Huskies’ ensuing first-ever No. 1 ranking, which they held while finishing unbeaten for their first of a record 11 NCAA crowns.

As for what’s left to improve, Staley said to ESPN’s Carolyn Peck, “We got to get better mentally. That’s the separation from the good and great teams.”

The win by South Carolina (6-0) was the second over UConn (3-1),  in what is now a nine-game series and overall the Gamecocks have tied Stanford for most combined preseason ranked opponents from the AP and coach’s polls at 12.

“We could schedule some cupcakes and possibly get our younger players a little bit more playing time and experience, but you have to feed them,” Staley said. “They want to play the very best teams in the country, and they want to measure themselves.”

Said Auriemma afterwards, “We’ve got a long time before we go down there and play them again. But right now they’re better than us. We’re going to have to work, really, really hard.”

Zia Cooke added 17 points for the winners, who also got 15 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 6 steals from Destanni Henderson.

Bueckers scored 19 but was also zero in the final period.

Evina Westbrook had 14 points for the Huskies.

Of the way it went, Auriemma said, “The combination of their defensive pressure in the fourth quarter and our inability to handle that pressure is basically the game. We just ran out of gas. We just fell apart.”

In the third place game, Elisa Pinzan scorfed a career-high 26 points and dealt 10 assists, while Sydni Harvey scored 22 for the No. 23 Bulls (4-2).. who beat No. 9 Oregon 71-62.

The Ducks (3-2), who are missing several players, got 15 from Sydney Parrish.

Playing for fifth, Oklahoma topped Minnesota 88-69 as the Sooners (5-1) are looking to be a factor in the Big-12 reace.

The winners got 19 points, all but four off three-point shots, from Taylor Robertson.

Ana Llianusa had 17 points in the attack, while Madi Williams had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Skylar Vann scored 15.

Minnesota (4-3) got 18 each from Deja Winters and Jasmine Powell.

In the final game of the day and three-day tournament, Buffalo coach Felisha Legette-Jack guided her Bulls over her alma mater Syracuse squad 88-79 for seventh place. 

The Bulls (2-2) led by as many as 15 against Syracuse, which retired her Jersey a week ago.

Summer Hemphill had 28 points, 10 rebounds, while Dyaisha Fair had a game-high 34, shooting 7-for-11 from beyond the arc.

Chrislyn Carr had 23 points for the Orange, shooting 5-for-6 long range, while Chrissy Carr was 4-for-6 from deep and finished with 19 points and six rebounds. Teisha Hyman had 14 points, while Eboni Walker scored 12 for Syracuse (2-4).

Elsewhere, in the only other game with a ranked team, No. 13 Michigan at home beat Oakland 69-58 in Ann Arbor.

George Washington at home in the nation’s capital got a nice one, beat Quinnipiac 54-50. Ina game involving conference contenders Middle Tennessee of C-USA won on the road 65-47 over Tennessee Tech 65-47 of the Ohio Valley Conference.

Villanova Still Perfect on Penn in The Palestra

Usually Big Five men’s and women’s rivalries have been known because of players’ familiarities with each other causing the game to at times be nicknamed neighborhood rumbles.

But times have gotten a little away from that the way area schools recruit.

With Penn not playing four starters in the continuing rotation of the upper class to serve penalties of four games each for breaking a university rule, Mike McLaughlin dispensed of his normal tour of their Palestra to give meaning to his roster which has players from elsewhere around the states and the world.

On second-thought, he later figured perhaps he should have.

Villanova, having just won at Saint Joseph’s, Saturday, in the overall Big Five opener, came back and in a gritty battle with key stars missing on both sides outlasted the Quakers and held on for a 66-63 in Penn’s first City Series game since 2020, having been shutdown by the Ivy League elders.

The Wildcats (2-2, 2-0 Big Five) are now 45-3 in the all-time series with The Quakers (3-1, 0-1), and unbeaten in The Palestra playing Penn but overall 25-2 playing in the historic arena.

Neighborhood background still had an effect in the outcome in a game at the tip harboring unknowns because of the suspensions but on the Wildcats side, star player Maddy Siegrist still sidelined with a hand injury.

“It’s a battle no matter who is out on the floor,” said Villanova coach Denise Dillon, who played here for the Wildcats and coached here against Penn from up 33rd street when she was at the helm for Drexel before returning to her alma mater last season in the wake of Harry Perretta’s retirement.

“We’re trying to find our way a little without Maddy. Penn is missing starters, and you don’t know who their starters are yet until they get everybody back. Players come out here and they’re going to battle no matter what.

“It’s like a pickup game, they’re going to fight until the end, and that’s what I love about it,” Dillon continued.

“You think it’s going to be a battle throughout, this was just a little bit different with some of their players not playing and injuries. Play with what you have.”

What Villanova had was sophomore and Israeli Lior Garzon, who being the big star against the Hawks, stood out again with a team-high 21 points and a key three-ball in the closing minutes when Penn was rallying to prove to be a lifesaver.

Still, the Quakers had a chance gto force overtime on the final play in a big comeback but Lizzy Groetsch’s attempted three just missed as time expired.

One person, who had no trouble understanding the Big Five meaning, was Villanova’s Lucy Olsen, a freshman guard and Spring-Ford graduate, who had 20 points and was the three-point villain in this one, shooting 4-for-5, though only if you were a Penn fan. The Quakers have been bedeviled by the Wildcats’ perimeter attack over the years.

“I grew up watching these games, playing in it was very intense, it’s fun,” Olsen said. “I like these close games. My teammates tell me not to think about the big stage, it’s just basketball.”

Brooke Mullin had three threes and scored 11.

For Penn, freshman Jordan Obi from Cupertino, Calif., had a game-high 24 points, Mandy McGurk, from West Chester, scored 12, and Groestsch scored 10.

Dillon said of Olsen, “Each day you see her getting more comfortable in the starting point guard role. She is a worker and she is a winner. She shows up every day at practice, and its nice to see her learning in games what needs to happen.”

McLaughlin was pleased with the performance of his under under class if not getting the win was a slight dismay.

 We always talk about it in coach, you never know when it’s going to be your turn,” he said. “We didn’t know it would be all their turn at once, but it is something that will open everyone’s eyes. 

“To compete in this environment, you never know when it is going to be your opportunity. We say it and say it and say it, and the best part is they rose to the task.

“You ask them as a coach to compete at a high level, never give in, regardless of the opponent, and they did it. We’re proud of what they did out here tonight, and hope they can carry it over. It is something they can learn and rise to the occasion the next time as well. After they go a cycle, they say, `I get this now,’ and they got it pretty quick this time, the whole team got it.”

Of Garzon, Dillon noted, “She’s played a lot of minutes last year and we’re counting on her. She has to realize the ball is going to be in her hands down the stretch, not just the last possession. It’s going to be the last five minutes, situational basketball.”

Villanova will still stay in the Big Five loop, hosting Temple Saturday at 2 p.m. in Finneran Pavilion, while Penn is making a trip to Los Angeles to play a round robin tourney, playing UC San Diego, Friday, at 6 p.m., and then meeting Memphis at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Loyola Marymount’s Thanksgiving Classic.

On Tuesday night, La Salle hosts Lafayette at 6 p.m., while Ivy favorite Princeton is back in the area to visiting Temple.