The Guru Report: La Salle Preserves Win After Almost Squandering Lead

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — On a day when La Salle alum Cheryl Reeve officially became the third straight area product to be put in charge of keeping the string of America’s Olympic gold medal domination in women’s hoops continuing, her alma mater found a way to avoid a sheepish defeat and gain a 77-70 win over Maryland Eastern Shore at the Explorers’ Tom Gola Arena at TruMark Center.

From a recruiting standpoint, La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray liked the idea that over the next four years the university will draw its share of mention in relation to Reeve of South Jersey who has won four WNBA titles with the Minnesota Lynx and served as an aide to UConn’s Geno Auriemma (Norristown ties) and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley (North Philadelphia).

However, when asked about it, though it was news, it was also news to him in that he spent Wednesday prepping for the game with a squad that like the Ivy schools, among others, saw no action last winter due to effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

And as it turned out, MacGillivray needed all the prepping available, even with a game that started with La Salle (6-3) blasting to a 14-0 lead and widening the differential a few more points to 19 over the Hawks (4-5) of the Mideastern Athletic Conference.

In the past, and until he began to get his players and system going, once the crescendo had been reached the smart money would have bet on the Explorers to finish the evening below the water line.

But in several games to date, harrowing as the way they’ve gone at times, so far swimming in dire straits has been manageable.

“I was pleased to play a team like that tonight,” MacGillivray said. “Made some really impressive tough shots. We were tough, gritty, came together through some really tough times. We’d like to not get down, not lose games. That’s what we’d like to do next.”

Kayla Spruill, the name that keeps repeating when one looks for who did well, had 23 points for the Explorers, shooting 8-for-11, including 3-of-6 deep and a perfect 4-of-4 from the line, while collecting a team-high seven rebounds.

Claire Jacobs scored 17, while Jordan Lewis had 13.

But the player who passed the eye test when it came to dazzling was D-II Holy Family transfer Molly Masciantonio, who grabbed seven steals and scored 11 points.

Looking to this season, MacGillivray has seen Masciantonio emerge as a surprise off his original forecast.

La Salle was going into a different port but when a foreign player couldn’t make it, MacGillivray said Masciantonio has embraced the role and continues to purdue it.

With most area D-1 schools involved in the onset of final exams, La Salle was the only local in action Wednesday night with a trip to St. John’s of the Big East in Queens set for Saturday. At 1 p.m. on Flohoops.

On Thursday, both Rutgers and Penn State will be looking to snap losing streaks when both Big Ten rivals out of Pennsylvania and New Jersey meet upstate in Penn State’s Bright Jordan Center. Villanova travels to James Madison, soon to be departing the Colonial Athletic Association for the Sun Belt Conference Center.

Friday Penn travels to Stony Brook of the Patriot League on Long Island.

Saturday, we’ll save for Thursday’s report.

Nationally Noted: There were some interesting games of interest off the tracker even if not many were played.

In suburban New York in a 52nd battle of the Bronx, Fordham edged visiting Manhattan 65-63 at home in Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx. The host Rams (7-3) won on Kendell Heremaia’s last-second layup on the Jaspers (4-4), picked high in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Fordham is likely high in the AtlanticTdn,. 

Fordham has now beaten Manhattan 10 straight in the series.

“It was a great, hard-fought win,” said Rams coach Stephanie Gaitley, a former Villanova star. “Manhattan played terrific but we had a little luck down the stretch.

Anna DeWolfe for the Rams and Dee Dee Davis for the Jaspers each scored 27.

Out West Washington State edged Gonzaga 51-49 on the road in Spokane, Wash., as the Cougars (7-1) rallied from 12 down at the half at the McCarthy Athletic Center. 

It’s Washingon State’s first road win in the series in seven years in Spokane.

Washington State’s Charlisse Leger-Walker had 14 points, while Bella Murekatete had nine points and 10 rebounds.

“This is a big win,” said Washington State coach Kamie Ethridge. “Our team understands this is a statement game for our program/“

No. 15 Iowa State upset No. 12 Iowa 77-70  for the first win by the Cyclones in six years.

And that’s the report.