The Guru Report: Princeton Starts New Streak at Temple’s Expense While La Salle Handles Visiting Lafayette

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — On a night that was a schedule calm between two weekends of women’s basketball holiday tournament storms, a virtual comeback from a 19-point deficit for Temple in its McGonigle Hall against Ivy favorite Princeton got buried by a combination of cold shooting by the Owls and Tigers star Abby Meyers regaining her shot in the fourth quarter as the visitors claimed a 59-41 non-conference victory in just the third official meeting between the two programs.

Not many games were played elsewhere Tuesday but of the few that were, one other involving a local saw La Salle top Lafayette 73-52 at home in the Explorers’ Tom Gola Arena at Trumark Center.

As for Temple’s problems, “Princeton is a tough team to play against,” said coach Tonya Cardoza, whose Owls (2-2)  have tangled on those secret preseason type scrimmages with the Tigers (4-1).

“We’ve got to to find a way to put the ball in the hole. When you hold a team to 59, you have to find a way to score. If you can’t score you have to stop them from scoring. In that fourth quarter, we didn’t defend like we did in the second and third.”

Princeton, who opened the season out at Villanova with a win after being idle for over a year due to the Ivy-mandated shutdown caused by the coronavirus, after winning three straight the Tigers got upset at Rhode Island.

That brought an end to what had been a 25-game national best win streak.

 But in this one, which saw the Owls miss their first 12 shots and trail 17-4 after a quarter, Princeton was able to throw is rugged defense and used it to pull away in the fourth quarter.

“We were taking ill-advised shots, not good shots in our offense,” Cardoza explained. “The offense broke down because we were holding the ball too long.”

The focus from the Tigers side was on Temple’s Alexa Williamson and Mia Davis, who didn’t move into second all-time on the program scoring list but finished with a team high 11 points. 

“We took our chances with some of their guards and their outside shooting,” noted Tigers’  third-year coach Carla Berube, who played at UConn’s championship run when Temple’s Cardoza was on the staff as an assistant coach.

“Our team was dialed in and knew how we wanted to defend.”

In the second quarter, Temple put together a 9-0 run launched by Jalynn Holmes, who said, “the run opened up for me a little to get shots and better shot opportunities.”

It looked like a role reversal in the third, the Owls moving within two points of Princeton, 27-25, with 5:22 left in the period.

“We were in tune with that we were trying to accomplish in that third quarter,” Cardoza noted. We started getting stops and we were actually scoring and gave ourselves a great chance of getting back in the game.”

Then roof fell in as Meyers raised the roof  in the fourth, nailing three from long range in a Tigers shooting surge of 8-of-14 from the field, while Temple struggled at 4 of 15.

“Abby Meyers came out in that fourth quarter and gave us the lift that we needed,” Berube said.

She finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Julia Cunningham had 12 points and seven rebounds.

“They literally did not allow us to get an offensive rebound,” Cardoza said. “They were in the paint not allowing it.  They out rebounded us by 15 and we missed shots and not allowing us to get second chance points.”

Temple makes its Big Five season debut Saturday at 2 when the Owls travel to Villanova, which will be looking to go 3-0 and move in on winning the City Series.

Princeton will host Maine Sunday at 1 p.m.

La Salle Gains Win Over Visiting Lafayette: The Explorers used a 14-3 run in the second period and an overall 22-11 in the third to move on to a 73-52 non-conference win at home over Lafayette in Tom Gola Arena at Trumark Center.

Kayla Spruill had 21 points , fueled by 7-of-11 from the field against the Leopards, while Amy Jacobs scored 11, and Kenya Cote-Lysius had a team best six rebounds. Jacobs’ sister Claire dealt a career-high six assists.

The 28-point lead in the third quarter was the best for La Salle (3-2) this season as was the final margin of victory.

Jessica Booth had 12 points for the Leopards (1-4) of the Patriot League, while Makayla Andrews and Naomi Ganpo each scored 10, and the latter completed a double double with 10 points.

The Explorer defense forced 25 turnovers while committing just 10.

Next is a trip to nationally ranked Kentucky 8:30 p.m. on Saturday night.

“It’s nice to go out there and get a win that’s comfortable,” said La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray. 

Nationally Noted: The two ranked teams that played had lopsided wins with No. 10 Louisville winning 72-32 at Cal Poly on the West Coast, while No. 21 Ohio State beat visiting Bellarmine 110-58.

Rhode Island claimed another Ivy victim at home defeating Harvard 70-46.

In the South LSU beat visiting Tulane 75-58, while Missouri beat Troy 76-63.

On Wednesday, Georgia Tech hosts Hofstra at noon, Boston U., hosts Yale at noon, and in a battle of unbeatens, Columbia (5-0) will host Stony Brook (5-0) at 1 p.m.

IUPUI, still plagued by COVID-19 issues cancelled its visit to Southern Illinois.

And that’s the report.