The Guru Report: Columbia Rallies Past Delaware While Penn State Joins Array of Victims in the Big Ten/Atlantic Coast Conference Challenge

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

NEW YORK — A clash between two very good mid-major teams featuring an exchange of leads resulted in Columbia of the Ivy League at the finish claiming a 73-67 victory over defending regular season Colonial Athletic Association champion Delaware here Thursday night at the host Lions’ Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium on the Upper West Side.

Penn State, the only other local besides the Blue Hens in action, fell 86-69 at Boston College, part of the 10 of 14 Big Ten squads who all fell to Atlantic Coast Conference schools  over the two days of matchups in the annual challenge between the two conferences.

Ranked teams took hits, in some cases, because they played other ranked teams, but in one shocker of the night, an unranked team did the damage, in another, a bit less of a shocker, another unranked team struck.

Columbia’s win stopped a five-game win streak by Delaware (6-2), whose two losses are now both to Ivy squads, the league favorite Princeton, and Columbia (7-2).

Delaware took an early 5-2 lead only to have Columbia counter with a booming 17-9 run.

In the second quarter the Lions would build an 11-point advantage that got narrowed by not overcome by the Blue Hens, who trailed 35-31 as intermission arrived.

However, the Blue Hens erupted out of the locker room as Jasmine Dickey and Ty Skinner combined for 15 points in keying a Delaware 21-9 attack to go in front 56-48 but lost two points off of that to take a 56-50 lead into the final 10 minutes of the game.

Just when it looked like Delaware was getting a handle in what was needed the Lions took over 64-58 with 3:06 left to play.

But Delaware wasn’t done, rallying once more to go up 67-66 off a 9-2 run.

However, that became the last hurrah as Abbey Hsu scored on an old fashioned three with 29 seconds left and the Lions kept going with the final 7-0 run to take the victory.

Hsu had a game-high 27 points, while Kitty Henderson scored 11 off the bench and Kaitlyn Davis had nine points and 10 rebounds.

Delaware’s Jasmine Dickey got her points, scoring 23, and Ty Skinner scored 22, while Ty Battle had nine points and nine rebounds.

The winners outdid the Blue Hens in several categories, including 19-9 in assists, 48-32 in the paint, and 23-8 off the bench.

“It says a lot about our character,” Hsu said afterward. “We didn’t back down. We just came back if we went down, we came back if we went down, we came back punching. And like I said with the crowd, they gave us so much energy”

A few years back in the early stage of the Megan Griffith coaching era, once Delaware took a lede they might have been able to hold it the rest of the way, but not any more.

“Kitty Henderson is just as tough as they come,” Griffith said. “I’ve known her since she was probably a freshman or sophomore in high school. I’ve been recruiting her for a while and I knew. She was the type of player that would take us to a different level. 

“It’s really neat tough to see it manifest itself now that she’s actually here. She’s just going to keep getting better and better. And she can litterally defend anybody on the court, which is a really nice luxury to have,” Griffith said.

The King of Prussia native of suburban Philadelphia noted, “This is a very different program right now from a few years ago. Culturally, the pieces, people, it’s taken a while to build it, but I’m really proud of our staff and the players for believing in what we’re doing and not just buying in. I think we surpassed the buy-in stage. When you believe in what you’re doing you can accomplish great things together.

“I think our ceiling is very high. We have a lot of things we need to figure out — our chemistry is still forming and molding and we’ve got a lot of new pieces — but I was happy with our fight today.”

As Columbia nears Ivy competition the Lions first go to Marist in Poughkeepsie on Saturday before the six-game home stand leading to league competition gets under way.

Delaware stays on the road, traveling next Tuesday to Dallas, Texas, to face SMU in Moody Coliseum.

Not far from here in a local showdown Thursday night Fordham at home in the Bronx in Rose Hill Gym bested Stony Brook led by Anna DeWolfe’s 228 points for the Rams (5-3) in handing the. Opposition it’s first loss to fall to 7-1.

“They were tough and well-coached and I’m proud of our kids stepping up — Anna with 28, Kaitlyn (Downy) with a double double, Maranda (Nyborg) with big minutes. It’s important to protect home court,” said Fordham coach Stephanie Gaitley, a former Villanova star and Saint Joseph’s coach.

Fordham on Sunday hosts Ivy favorite Princeton at 1 p.m. on ESPN+

Penn State Handled in New England: The Lady Lions were part of the Big Ten victims list wiped out by the tsunami that was the Atlantic Coast Conference attack completing the two-day challenge between the the two Power 5 conference annual challenge.

Coach Carolyn Kieger’s squad fell 86-69 to Boston College (6-1) in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Cameron Swartz scored 29 points, while Jaelyn Batts recorded a double double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while. Four connected from deep helped Marnelle Garraud to 16 points.

Penn State (4-4) got 16 points from Makenna Marisa, who also dealt six assists, while Niya Beverly scored 10, former Villanova star Kelly Jekot scored eight, as did Leilani Kapinus.

Ali Brigham was the top Lady Lion scorer with 18 points in the game in Conte Forum.

Penn State next begins league play visiting No. 6 Indiana in Bloomington on Monday night at 6 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

The Hoosiers lost their game in a battle of ranked teams, falling to No. 2 North Carolina State at home 66-58, while in another dual ranked team battle, No. 10 Louisville blasted No. 12 Michigan 70-48 in the Yum Center in Kentucky.

Unbeaten Duke at home in Cameron Indoor Arena in Durham, N.C., upset No. 9 Iowa 79-64, the Hawkeyes in a losing cause returning from a brief shutdown due to positive COVID-19 test within the program. The Blue Devils next visit Penn Sunday in The Palestra at 1 p.m.

No. 24 Notre Dame on the road edged Michigan State 76-71, while No. 25 Florida State bested Illinois 67-58.

Two Big Ten wins came from No. 8 Maryland at home in the XFINITY Center in College Park topping Miami, 82-74, while Northwestern on the road beat Clemson 72-61.

Two More Ranked Taken Down: In the kickoff to the Big 12/SEC Challenge, new LSU coach Kim Mulkey in her first game against a ranked team did what she did at Baylor often, produce a victory, this one a 69-60 win over No. 14 Iowa State (7-1) at home in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in. Baton Rouge.

“It’s the first win for the Tigers (6-1) at home against a non-conference ranked opponent in eight seasons.

Mulkey played Iowa State regularly as part of Baylor’s membership in the Big 12.

“This is another one of those little milestones that help us rebuild a program.”

Alexis Morris had a career high 25 points.

In another similar Challenge result, No. 20 Georgia won at Texas Tech in Fort Worth 66-56, rallying over the Red Raiders 66-56 as Que Morrison scored 20 for the Bulldogs (7-0).

“We kept chipping away, finding the right way and everyone contributed,” Georgia coach Joni Taylor said. “It took all of us today. I’m really proud of our calmness.”

Texas Tech had broke to a 9-0 lead at the outset.

In the stunner of the night, now part of any conference challenge Texas-Arlington at home took down No. 13 South Florida 61-56 just after the visiting Bulls had upset defending NCAA champion Stanford.

Terryn Milton scored 14 points for the Lady Mavs, who, according to ESPN Stats & Info were 0-28 facing nationally ranked opponents since 2000.

UTA is led by Shereka Wright in her second season with the program.

“I’m just so proud of this team,” Wright said. “We talked about being tough.”

Nationally Noted: In other results of note off the tracker, George Washington picked up another nice win, beating visiting James Madison 54-50, while UCF beat visiting Arkansas, 52-51, and Holy Cross beat visiting Rhode Island 66-54. California edged visiting Fresno State 73-72.

Looking Ahead: Two locals in play have Penn, back with its full complement of players, reportedly so, meeting Patriot League contender Bucknell on the road Friday night, while Villanova begins its Big East slate on a weekend road trip starting at Providence and then Sunday going on to Creighton in Omaha, Neb.

No. 1 South Carolina hosts Kansas State at 7 p.m. in another Big 12/SEC Challenge match, while No. 2 Connecticut in its first game since the loss to South Carolina travels to Seton Hall in a sellout game in South Orange, N.J., to start its Big East schedule.

On Saturday, locally, Drexel is at Maine at noon; La Salle is at Saint Francis (Pa.) at 4 p.m.; Rider visits Army at 1 p.m.; and Saint Joseph’s trying to snap a losing streak hosts Yale at 2 p.m. in Hawk Hill at Hagan Arena.

And that’s the report.