The Guru Report: UConn Stops One Game Slide Topping UCLA While Saint Joseph’s Gains Big Five Win Over Temple and Drexel Still Streaking

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA —  The Big Five women’s final outcome will be decided later, not sooner; Drexel is still winning; and No. 3 UConn’s additional dastardly date(s) with the dubious for now has been avoided.

That was the upside of wins by Saint Joseph’s here over Temple in a Big Five game Saturday afternoon at the Owls’ McGonigle Hall; No. 3 UConn’s narrow win over UCLA at the Prudential Center up north in Newark, N.J; and Drexel’s non-conference win across town at the Dragon’s Daskalakis Athletic Center over Longwood.

As for the rest of the locals, Princeton was upended at home in the Tigers’ Jadwin Gym by Seton Hall; La Salle couldn’t overtake St. John’s up in Queens at the Red Storm’s Carneseca Arema; and Delaware, missing the injured nation’s top shooter was handled in the Midwest by host Northwestern.

To avoid accidentally omitting it from the conversation, looking ahead at the rest of the weekend, nationally and locally on Sunday, No. 23 Oregon State for the first time will be clashing with Villanova, happening 1 p.m. at the Wildcats’ Finneran Pavilion with Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist looking to go for a second straight game after returning from a hand injury last week and posting 36 points and 17 rebounds at James Madison in a win.

A huge national doubleheader battle has No. 1 South Carolina hosting No. 8 Maryland at 3 p.m. after No. 7 Louisville hosts No. 14 Kentucky at 1 p.m., both on ESPN as part of the Jimmy V fundraising event on the women’s side;  and No. 10 Indiana is at No. 20 Ohio State in a 7 p.m. Big Ten Network attraction.

Two other locals on Sunday have Penn State hosting Youngstown State at the Bryce Jordan Center while Delaware State visits Rutgers at the Jersey Mike’s Arena; both at 2 p.m. on the Big Ten supplemental streaming network; and Navy is at Rider at Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J., at 2 p.m.

For the first time, long time, win or lose, Saint Joseph’s found the mark and kept turning back Temple comebacks and brief go-ahead leads in a 73-63 win by the Hawks (4-6, 2-1 Big Five) over the Owls (5-4, 1-1), who had a three-game win streak snapped while Saint Joseph’s has now won three straight.

“We’ve been coming and getting better, we just weren’t finishing,” said Saint Joseph’s coach Cindy Griffin, “even down in Houston.”

The current streak followed six straight losses following a lopsided season-opening win.

The Hawks shot 48.1 percent from the field and 52.9 percent from behind the arc, and also 12-for-16 from the line, while Temple with a slightly different set of numbers went 48.1 percent but four less from long range.

Katie Jekot set a career-high with 25 points, including 5-for-9 from the perimeter, and 8-for-9 beyond the arc. She also had six rebounds, six steals and five assists.

That’s two straight games, including the preceding one against host Penn, Jekot had personal best shooting from beyond the arc.

Mackenzie Smith from Nova Scotia had 12 points, while Lovin Marsicano and Emma Boslet, her best, each scored nine points.

Boslet also matched a personal best with four assists, while freshman Laila Fair grabbed seven rebounds.

“We’re still finding ourselves,” Griffin said. “Now it’s about momentum, finding ourselves going into finals.”

When they emerge, the Hawks will host Vanderbilt at noon on Dec. 21, break for the holidays, and then host the annual Hawk Classic following Christmas.

Vanderbilt is under new coach Shea Ralph, a former longtime assistant as well as player at UConn.

“Really happy with the way we shared the ball today,” Griffin said. “We moved the ball, really, really well, and that’s who we are.”

As for Temple, which is off a week until traveling to Northwestern next Friday in Evanston, Ill., “I just thought we were tired,” coach Tonya Cardoza said. “Guarding them just physically wore us out. We just looked sluggish today. We were gasping for air. We couldn’t get stops. I thought we reverted today to going back to the last play and getting down on ourselves.”

Jasha Clinton had 24 points for Temple, while Mia Davis had 18 points and nine rebounds.

The game at Northwestern will tip at 8 p.m. on the Big 12 supplemental streaming network.

Drexel Win Streak Hits Four: The Dragons led all the way in a 79-57 win over Longwood (3-6), getting closer to the start of defending their Colonial Athletic Association title, tipping off against Towson, which has lost just one game, on New Year’s Eve.

Still ahead is a non-conference game against Ivy representative Yale, Tuesday at 5 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the Drexel men.

Hannah Nihill had 23 points and dealt seven assists, while the helpers has her now one of five active players across NCAA divisions with 1,000 points, 400 assists, and 250 steals in her career.

Keishana Washington had 21 points, while Kate Connolly had 14 points, and Tessa Brugler scored 11 for the Dragons (7-2), whose two losses are a two-pointer in the season-opener here to Marist and to Nebraska in a tournament on the West Coast..

Career highs in rebounding were set by Mariah Leonard with 16, while Jasmine Valentine grabbed 11.

“Really excited about this win,” said second-year coach Amy Mallon. “We had 23 assists to 27 shots — that’s just a coach’s dream. It also shows the balance in scoring with four players in double figures.”

Added Nihill, “We knew this team was going to pressure us a lot so everyone out on the court was an option to be a good passer today.”

UConn Outlasts UCLA: Following the earlier upset loss at Georgia Tech, the first setback to an unranked team in 240 games, the No. 3 UConn Huskies were in danger of suffering back-to-back losses for the first time since 1993 when they faced UCLA but stayed enough ahead to close out the Bruins with a 71-61 win in the second game without reigning national player of the year Paige Bueckers.

The Huskies (6-2) nearly totally collapsed at the end again, having a 61-51 lead on the Bruins (5-3) evaporate in the last 1:20 remaining with 37 seconds left.

This time however, when the advantage dropped to four, UConn was able to get a final kick to the victory.

Dorka Juhasz, the transfer from Ohio State was perfect 5-for-5 from the field, scoring 16 points with 16 rebounds, while Evina Westbrook had 17 points, seven assists, and seven rebounds.

Bueckers suffered a fractured knee in the last minute of Sunday’s win over then-No. 24 Notre Dame in Storrs and UConn was held to 44 points in the ensuing game at Georgia Tech.

The last back-to-back losses were in March, 1993, two years before the Huskies beat then-No. 1 Tennessee to earn their first-year No. 1 ranking.

While UConn will likely drop out of the top five for at least a second time in a long run, the Huskies were also in danger of dropping out of the top 10 in an even longer run.

“The one thing I’ve completely given up on is consistency,” Auriemma said. “Whatever I see today I’m convinced I won’t see tomorrow. I’m convinced I won’t see the next day. So, I guess that’s the way life is going to be.” 

Auriemma moved closer to Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer’s all-time Division I women’s win total 1,130-1,125 with the Cardinal coach’s team facing Pacific at home Sunday’afternoon.

Charisma Osborne had 26 points for the Bruins, while Jaelynn Penn scored 10 with seven rebounds, while UCLA is now winless in seven meetings with Geno Auriemma’s program.

He revealed after the game, Bueckers, originally forecast to be sidelined for at least six weeks, is considering surgery, which would have her out of action until near the end of February.

Caroline Ducharme had 14 points for UConn, Christyn Williams had 11, and Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 10 points and eight rebounds in the game that was part of the Never Forget Tribute Classic , a fundraiser for a 9-11 related charity.

The game, broadcast on ABC, was the first women’s collegiate game aired by the network, which has aired WNBA regular season and playoff games.

Not totally out of the woods yet, UConn next hosts Louisville Sunday in Uncasville, Conn., home of the WNBA Connecticut Sun and Big East women’s tournament.

Princeton Upset by Seton Hall: Until Saturday afternoon, falling to Seton Hall at home 70-60, Ivy favorite Princeton had not lost to a visiting team in Jadwin, since becoming head coach two years ago following Courtney Banghart’s move to the University of North Carolina.

They win a combined 22 road and home games in 2020, then were shut down by the league last years, and had won their early home games this year, though the streak was already in jeopardy without regard to the Pirates with No. 11 Texas due to arrive in a few weeks.

But Seton Hall beat the Longhorns to getting the job done, winning 70-60.

Abbey Meyers had 16 points for Princeton (6-3), whose first loss was several weeks ago to at Rhode Island on the road, followed b one at Fordham, both contenders in the Atlantic 10.

Julia Cunningham scored 14, and Ellie Mitchell had 10 points and 19 rebounds, the most by a Tigers star since future first-round WNBA pick Bella Alarie played for Banghart and one year under Berube.

Andra Espinoza-Hunter had 21 for Seton Hall (4-4), while Lauren Park-Lane scored 20, and Sidney Cooks scored 10.

Princeton outrebounded the Pirates 48-27 in the loss. 

Mid-American contender Buffalo visits Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Delaware Falls at Northwestern: Even if Jasmine Dickey, the nation’s leading scorer, had not been hurt her last game at SMU, the Blue Hens were still going to be an underdog to the host Wildcats, who won 76-53 to improve to 7-3, while Delaware is now 6-4 after the game at Northwestern’s Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill.

Jewel Smalls had 15 points and seven rebounds for the visitors, while Ty Battle scored 10, and Ty Skinner dealt seven assists, matching her personal best.

Caileigh Walsh had 18 for the Wildcats, who host Temple Friday night.

Delaware is off for finals until VCU visits the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark on Dec. 22 at 1 p.m.

St. John’s Sacks La Salle: The Red Storm victimized another Big Five team following recently wining at Temple defeating the visiting Explorers 83-70 at Carnesca Arena in Queens, N.Y.

With the best Red Storm rebounding performance since 2018, Danielle Patterson had a career-high 17 and completed a double double with 14 points.

Leilani Correa had 25 points, while Kadaja Bailey scored 14, and Unique Drake 10 for St. John’s (5-4).

 

La Salle (6-4) stayed on contention in the first half on St. John’s, which is playing a back-to-back spurt, traveling to Wagner on Staten Island, N.Y.

Claire Jacobs scored 23 for the Explorers, while Kayla Spruill scored 19.

La Salle is off until next Saturday, hosting Sacred Hearted 2 p.m. at the Tom Gola Arena, TrueMark Center.

Nationally Noted: In other scores of note, Providence topped visiting Quinnipiac 68-50; Massachusetts beat host. Columbia 87-75; Ole Miss beat host Hofstra 59-37; No. 11 Texas bested visiting Idaho 83-43; Towson, with just one loss, topped host American U. 79-61; Kansas State beat host South Dakota State 79-73; and Oregon beat visiting Long Beach State, 68-59; while in a key cross-mid-major battle Troy edged Middle Tennessee 77-76.

In the ACC, Syracuse routed visiting Clemson 86-46.

And that’s the report.