The Guru Report - Local: Drexel and Villanova Take Key Conference Games While La Salle Also Streaking

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA —  The best start in program history keeps getting rewritten for Drexel and on Sunday afternoon the editing job was done against Delaware, the Dragons’ top rival, geographically and in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). The meeting was the 90th between the two schools who are less than an hour apart.

Completing a week that included back-to-back games here in the Daskalakis Athletic Center against two teams in the top of the regular-season title hunt, Drexel followed up a win over Towson by breaking from a tie game heading into the fourth quarter and out-dueling the Blue Hens 18-10 for a 70-62 homecoming day victory.

The win was the 11th straight for the Dragons (14-2, 6-0 CAA), second longest in Division I at the moment to to South Dakota’s 13-game run, which kind of tells you something since the best of the power fives  have had long streaks knocked down this season. 

The win in what was the first rematch from last season’s conference championship won by the Dragons also broke what had been an unbeaten tie in the loss column in CAA competition with Delaware (10-5, 4-1).

“It’s so meaningful,” said grad player Hannah Nihill, who scored 22 points and dealt a career-tying best nine assists. “After last season beating them in the championship and us both being undefeated in the league, we prepared so hard each day this week.

“Our coaches do a great job making sure that we are ready for every game we play. I felt especially ready for this game.

Keishana Washington, the most outstanding player of that CAA championship, poured in 21 points, while newcomer Tessa Brugler, courtesy of the transfer portal from Bucknell, had 16 points and seven rebounds.

“We had recruited her sister, who is now (a freshman) at Saint Joseph’s, and when we saw her name come up I immediately knew she was somebody who fit and provide a need,” said second-year coach Amy Mallon, who had served a long stint in the program under Denise Dillon, who is now at her alma mater at Villanova.

Though Delaware, which swept the season series before Drexel reversed its fortunes in the postseason last year, outrebounded the Dragons 39-32, including 16-5 on the offensive glass, the hosts got stops they needed down the stretch. Mariah Leonard also had seven rebounds.

Reigning CAA player of the year and preseason player of the year Jasmine Dickey had 19 points for the Blue Hens, while Ty Skinner scored 17 points, Ty Battle had 13 points and 13 rebounds, and Lizzie Oleary grabbed 11 rebounds.

“I’m really proud of this group as a whole,” Mallon said. “We say all 14 Dragons on the same page. We talk about the pieces of the puzzle coming together and you’re continuing to see that. We said we may not have it all together, but together we have it all. That’s how I feel about this team.”

The game had 12 lead exchanges and five ties between the two teams who tied for first in the preseason voting by the CAA coaches.

“We felt like it would be back and forth,” Mallon said. “It was the kind of game it was going to be, and you had to take care of it one possession at a time. We made sure we were locked in, took care of the ball and the people who got the shots are the ones who should be taking them.”

Washington had 11 points in the decisive fourth quarter.

“To player your rival team like Delaware, and know what kind of battle it was going to be, it was everything we thought it would would be as a team,” Mallon said. “And it was a reminder to our team that anything is possible when everyone is on the same page.”

In praising Nihill’s performance, Mallon said, “These are the moments she is built for. She really carried the team. We go how our leader goes and she was spectacular tonight.”

The O’Hara grad noted, “To us there is no top team, every team that plays us gives it their best shot. We’ll take no one lightly and keep doing what we are doing.”

Delaware, which had a four-game win streak snapped with the loss, has a makeup Wednesday at 7 p.m. at UNCW, which was originally scheduled for Jan. 7.

Then this weekend, Delaware and Drexel head south to play at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., and at Elon in North Carolina Friday and Sunday. The Blue Hens will visit William & Mary at 7 Friday night while The Dragons will be at Elon the same time.

The area duo will then switch opponents on Sunday, both games at 2 p.m.

Drexel will be hosting the CAA tournament in place of James Madison, which is banned for bolting the conference this summer. This week the conference, reflecting the ouster of the Duchesses, moved the event span one day, beginning Thursday, March 10 and ending the afternoon of Sunday, March 13, several hours before the night-time NCAA Selection Show, which is no longer on Mondays.

This weekend, with wins the Dragons can tie the fifth-longest streak on Friday and the fourth-longest on Sunday. If accomplished then they will trail the longest, two of 16, Jan. 6 to Feb. 21, 1990 and Jan. 22 to March 25, 2009. The third longest came last season, a stretch of 13 games, Jan. 5 to Feb. 23.

Villanova’s “Revenge Tour” a Sweep: After Villanova beat Providence at home in Finneran Pavilion Friday night, star junior Maddy Siegrist referred to this past weekend’s set of Big East games as the Revenge Tour.

The Wildcats had lost the season conference launch to both back in December when Siegrist was sidelined for six games with a hand injury.

Well, the tour finished a success Sunday with a close-out fourth-quarter win over Creighton 74-64, a triumph that moves Villanova (11-6, 5-3 Big East) close to a conversation that can speak of them as a bubble team for the NCAA tournament, maybe more if they keep winning.

Siegrist was again the pulse of triumph with 31 points and 12 rebounds against the Bluejays (14-5, 9-2).

The turning point toward victory came in the fourth quarter just after Creighton ran a 7-0 spurt, Molly Mogensen scoring five of them, for a 58-56 with 5:25 left in regulation.

But the ‘Cats came back to life as Bella Runyan nailed a three-ball to regain the advantage 59-58 that was not to be yielded in the final 5:07 of regulation play.

Siegrist made 1-of-2 from the line, then ‘Nova got a stop and began applying breathing room with a shot to make it 62-58 at the 3:44 mark from Lior Garzon.

It became a six-point lead with Siegrist connecting on two foul shots, and then following each side splitting a pair of free throws, she fired a three-ball with 1:24 left and a 68-59 advantage.

She then hit six straight free throws to clinch the outcome.

Besides Siegrist’s performance, Brianna Herlihy scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds while Garzon scored 15 and had seven boards.

Creighton’s Emma Ronsiek scored 16, Morgan Maly had 12, Tatum Rembao had 11 and Lauren Jensen scored 10.

Siegrist now has 11 career 30-point games and three this season and has moved into 10th on the all-time scoring list in the program with 1,397 points. 

‘Nova is on a five-game win streak at home.

The Wildcats this weekend will host Butler Friday at noon, which was originally supposed to be an Education Day attraction but the event in dealing with COVID protocols was cancelled. On Sunday, Xavier will visit at 2 p.m.

La Salle Still Streaking: The Explorers picked up another Atlantic 10 victory, this one at home in the Tom Gola Arena against Richmond 77-57.

The event had special significance beyond the stats of the outcome because it was a uniting the team with the B+ Foundation to raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer.

The game was dedicated to coach Mountain MacGillivray’s young daughter, who is currently fighting Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

As for the way the flow went, Claire Jacobs scored 17 points, her seventh of which courtesy of a triple enabled her to become the 27th member of the program’s 1,000th point club.

The Aussie is the third fastest to reach that total.

The current streak carries La Salle to 11-6 overall and 4-1 in the league while the Spiders dropped to 12-7 and 3-3.

Gabby Crawford scored 16 points and Jaye Haynes scored 15.

The 4-1 mark in the Atlantic 10 is the best start in eight seasons, having gone 4-0 in 2013-14. The win also broke a seven-game losing streak in the series with the Spiders.

Next up is a road trip in the league on Wednesday to play St. Bonaventure at 5 p.m. in Olean, N.Y.

Penn State and Rutgers Take Losses in Big Ten Action: Rutgers took an 80-71 loss to visiting Ohio State at home in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Pisctaway, N.J., while Penn State’s brief conference win streak stopped, losing on the road at Wisconsin 69-57 in the Kohl Center in Madison.

Rutgers (7-13, 0-8 Big Ten) is still looking for its first conference win and the outcome was to be expected considering the Buckeyes (15-3, 7-2) were ranked in the front part of the season and appears to recently regain their mojo.

If there was a positive it was unlike the bulk of Scarlet Knights conference play  most of the way which saw early deficits transform into late rallies falling short or leads early that got frittered away, this one saw the home team most of the night stay within single digits of the lead.

Jay Sheldon for the winners had 32 points, 12 of which came off four shots from deep, making it her fourth time and third in the last four she got to the 30s. Taylor Mikesell had 21 points, and Rikki Harris scored 10.

Rutgers had 24 points and eight rebounds from Osh Brown, while Lasha Petree scored 18, and Tyia Singleton had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Next stop for the Scarlet Knights doesn’t hold a lot of promise either since on Thursday they’ll visit No. 12 Maryland in College Park at the XFINITY Center at 7 p.m. on the B1G network from the conference.

Penn State (9-8, 3-4 Big Ten) fell to the Badgers (5-13, 2-6) despite Makenna Marisa scoring 26 points, shooting 8-of-15 from the field, while Leilani Kapinus had 10 points, six rebounds, a pair of blocked shots and a pair of steals. Reserve Tova Sabel had nine points and six rebounds.

Wisconsin had a hot hand from Katie Nelson, who scored 24 points, paced by 7-of-10 from the field, while Julie Pospisilova had 23 points, and Brooke Schramek scored 13 points.

At the half the Lady Lions were still in contention with a 31-27 lead that grew to 35-27 at the start of the third period on baskets from Ali Brigham and Shay Hagans.

But Wisconsin soon exploded on a 17-4 run to end the period.

The visitors struck back and stayed within single digits but could never grab the lead. Within six, the Badgers repulsed the threat with Sydney Hilliard  hitting a layup and Nelson canning four foul shots.

Penn State next hosts No. 25 Iowa Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, the game a makeup from an original schedule of Dec. 30. The main B1G conference network will air the game. Then Michigan State will visit 8 p.m. on Thursday, the game also airing on B1G.

And that’s the local report for Monday AM — the national coming before sunrise.