The Guru Report — Local Edition: Near Second Day Sweep Till Rutgers Fades; Drexel, Delaware, Villanova, Penn State Come Up Winners

By Mel Greenberg @wmhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — Drexel here in the Daskalakis Athletic Center had an easy time Sunday afternoon against Hofstra, winning its Colonial Athletic Association contest 72-53 heading into a bigger week still at home while Delaware, which collides with Dragons this Sunday here, also gained a CAA sweep, beating Northeastern 79-60 at home in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.

Though, not local but factoring in the CAA high rent district, Towson took down visiting James Madison 79-70 in suburban Baltimore.

Meanwhile in the Midwest, Villanova rallied and held off Marquette 58-55 in Milwaukee, while in the Big Ten, Penn State at home in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College thumped Illinois 90-72.

As for the other local in the conference, Rutgers did it a different way, in what was a battle of teams with winless Big Ten records, hosting Wisconsin at home in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J.

The Scarlet Knights got off to a big start on the Badgers19-7 instead of quickly falling behind in previous starts. However, when it came to finishing in the fourth quarter where Rutgers had mounted impressive rallies in all the defeats, the home team, which led 37-30 after three periods, vanished in a 19-8 attack by the visitors, losing 49-45 to remain in the conference basement all alone.

Drexel Rides the Pride While Delaware Handles Northeastern:  The best start ever in Drexel history achieved Friday got updated with another victory, this one 72-53, fueled by a 19-4 performance in the second quarter to improve to 12-2 overall and 4-0 in the CAA.

The game was the second of an arduous three-in-five day affair, powerful Towson coming to town Tuesday at 7 in a makeup of the original conference kickoff on New Year’s Eve that was postponed due to observance of the COVID-19 protocols.

Keishana Washington, who helped lead the Dragons to their second CAA tourney title in the championship last season, scored 22 points, while newcomer Tessa Brugler scored 13 points.

Hannah Nihill, who would be great with an NIL driver award deal with a rideshire such as Uber or Lyft, had seven points and seven assists, two days after a fourth quarter on Friday in which she helped close out Northeastern.

Mariah Leonard and Maura Hendrixson each scored eight points. The Drexel bench scored 22 points, though Hofstra (3-8, 0-3) was competitive with 19 points.

Jaylen Hines was the sole Pride player in double figures, scoring 16 points.

It was the third time this season Drexel had 22 or more assists.

“I’m excited for the win today,” said second-year head coach Amy Mallon, though she has been with the program a long time under her predecessor Denise Dillon. “To have 22 assists on 25 makes, that shows great team basketball.

“We forced some turnovers and we always talk about or defense setting the tone and I feel like that was the case today.”

Though Mallon noted the team running into a plentiful of bigs from upcoming opponents, the Dragons in the paint Sunday outscored the Pride 30-18.

Meanwhile, Delaware, the regular season CAA champ in 2021, also is dealing on a 3-in-5 schedule situation, hosting James Madison on Tuesday night.

But number two in the Blue Hens mix came Sunday and that result was a favorable 79-60 outcome.

Delaware (9-4, 3-0 CAA) has won six straight in the series with the Huskies (8-6, 2-2).

“The right word you used was slugfest,” said Blue Hens coach Natasha Adair. “That’s what it was and that is what every game is going to be. We talked to our team about it, we told them that this is a new Northeastern team with a lot of energy and (coach) Bridgette (Mitchell) has done a phenomenal job with that. I love this team because we are resilient. We looked up at the score, and at no point were we ever wavering or were we playing not to lose.

“We had to make sure we had to finish it, playing Delaware basketball; it was getting stops that we needed, finishing plays, knocking down free throws and rebounding. There were so many moving parts on why we were able to get that win today but the biggest thing is we fought hard for it.”

Jasmine Dickey, who had been the nation’s scoring leader before an injury and Delaware stand-downs caused by COVID protocols, had a game-high 31 points, 14-of-17 on the foul line, and ten rebounds. Ty Battle had 15 points and 19 rebounds while Ty Skinner and Paris McBride each scored 12 points.

Emily Calabrese scored 18 for Northeastern.

Delaware is also in makeup mode Tuesday, hosting annual conference contender James Madison at 6 p.m.

Long-range, however, with JMU headed to the Sun Belt, the Virginians are getting the same conference treatment dealt Old Dominion when the Lady Monarchs announced Conference-USA as a new destination.

The squad has been denied playoff participation, though JMU is still able to vie for NCAA at-large status, but having already been next-in-line, the CAA denied hosting rights for the women’s tournament, which was later awarded to Drexel.

But JMU is still a factor in the season-long race, its wins and losses affecting everyone else’s race for premium seeds.

So a third key CAA game Sunday, which makes more sense to bring up here, was Towson beating JMU 79-70 at home in SECU Arena in suburban Baltimore.

Allie Kubek had a career-high 28 points Sunday for the Tigers (12-2, 3-0 CAA), while Anissa Rivera scored 20. Rayne Tucker, who previously played for the Duchesses (6-8, 2-1), scored 11 points.

Aleah Nelson dealt 10 assists for Towson.

Finishing out the week, Towson after visiting Drexel will visit Charleston Friday night at 7 p.m. and UNCW Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.

Delaware and Drexel, longtime area rivals dating back to previous conference memberships, are off until Sunday’s 2 p.m. contest, here, their first meeting since the Dragons upset the Blue Hens in the CAA championship.

Villanova Upsets Marquette: Though the Wildcats have had their share of wins in the long haul, more times than not, playing DePaul and Marquette on the road in the Big East has been a Bermuda Trial style journey in which visitor has disappeared.

On Friday down in Chicago, Villanova seemed on the way to an upset of the Blue Demons until DePaul came back to grab the outcome.

However, coach Denise Dillon’s group did not return empty-handed, rallying to beat the Golden Eagles 58-55 in Milwaukee, adding a prized win along with a non-conference triumph over Oregon State in the resume-building compilation helpful for an NCAA at-large bid.

Maddy Siegrist helped seal it at the finish and collected 19 points for Villanova (9-6, 3-3 Big East), while Marquette, which gained a big recent win in overtime against geographical rival DePaul, is now 11-5 overall and 4-3 in the league.

All the action to determine the outcome happened in the fourth quarter, not that the earlier action should be discounted.

Leading 46-44 with 8:15 left in regulation, the Wildcats’ Brooke Mullin started a run with a step back three from the right wing, then Siegrist maintained the run with a shot from deep and a turnaround jump shot for an 8-0 run and 54-44 lead.

However, the Golden Eagles then responded on. 9-0 run and suddenly the differential was in danger of being totally erased.

Just 53 seconds remained when Marquette’s Liza Karlen made just one of two from the line missing a chance to create a tie.

Then Siegrist on the receiving end of her usual go-to in key situations came through to make it 56-53 with 29 seconds left.

Lior Garzon, who missed a few longs and made a few turnovers with a chance to move further away from the hosts, nailed one of two foul shots giving ‘Nova a two-possession lead with 16.6 seconds left in regulation.

Jordan King scored on a driving lay-up to slice it to 57-55 with 10 seconds left.

Siegrist was quickly fouled on the next Villanova possession, but made just one of two from the line for a 58-55 lead and chance for Marquette to get to overtime.

Racing up court, King took an off-balance three-ball that was short and the Wildcats could celebrate.

Garzon had a double double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Kaitlyn Orihel had a career-high 11 points, shooting 4-of-7 from the field.

King scored 14 for Marquette while Lauren Van Kluenen contributed 11 points.

The Wildcats’ win at the Al McGuire Center snapped Marquette’s 9-0 home record on the season.

Winning six-of-seven Villanova can add to their drive for NCAA status with a home sweep next weekend, gaining revenge for the Big East season opening road losses to Providence and Creighton by beating the Friars at Finnernan Pavilion Friday night at 7 and the Bluejays Sunday at 1 p.m.

Most of the Wildcats’ losses were sustained when Siegrist missed six with a hand injury.

Penn State Roars on Illinois, Rutgers Not So Much on Wisconsin in Big Ten Home Games: The Lady Lions (8-7, 2-3 Big Ten) moved closer to the middle of the Big Ten standings by routing Illinois 90-72 at home in the BJC as Makenna Marisa scored 25 points and dealt 10 assists, besides grabbing five rebounds.

Marisa’s points-assists double double was the first in conference play in eight seasons since Dara Taylor but up 15 and 10 on Minnesota in 2014.

Shay Haggans shot 8-of-11 for 17 points against the Illini (6-9, 1-3). In the scoring fest, Leilani Kapinus collected 14 points, and Maddie Burke scored 12, all off of 4-of-5 from deep.

A near double double was posted by Anna Camden with eight points and eight rebounds.

The Illini’s De’Myla Brown had 19 points and five steals, while Sara Anastasieska had 11 points, and Aaliyah Nye had 10 points.

The home team was on target from the outset, going up double digits 24-14 at the end of the first quarter and pushing the advantage to 39-20 late in the half and 49-26 when it ended.

The advantaged ballooned by as much as 27 at 72-45 late in the third.

Meanwhile, Rutgers’ latest tale of woe begins on the positive side with the 19-point opening quarter and though the Scarlet Knights (7-12, 0-7 Big Ten) were outscored by Wisconsin (4-12, 1-5) the rest of the way, it was the final quarter that the most damage was inflicted.

On the bright side, Osh Brown had her 55th career double double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, while Lasha Petree scored 10, and Shug Dickson scored nine with with six assists and four steals.

The visiting Badgers are under new coach Marissa Moseley, formerly head coach at Boston U. after hired off the staff of UConn’s Geno Auriemma.

The deadly stat was 25 turnovers leading to 21 Wisconsin points, somewhat mitigated by Rutgers dominating the boards 33-19.

Late in the game, the Badgers launched an 8-0 run to go ahead with 45-41 with 2:21 left in regulation.

The Knights drew within a basket at 47-45 with 1:07 left on Petree’s shot but then they got shut down the remaining minute while Wisconsin got some breathing room on the foul line.

Sydney Hilliard and Julie Pospisilova each scored 13 points for the Badgers.

“Our kids really had a never-die attitude,” Moseley said. “We had some big plays  and some big moments from a lot of different kids.”

Penn State next goes to Northwestern in the Walsh-Ryan Arena Thursday night at 8 p.m. on the North Shore of Lake Michigan above Chicago, while Rutgers goes to Nebraska in Lincoln at 8 p.m., both games airing on the streaming B1G+ offshoot.

Looking Ahead: More of the Big Five final standings could be decided in one of two key local games on Martin Luther King Day Monday when Saint Joseph’s hosts La Salle at noon on Hawk Hill in Hagan Arena.

Besides being an Atlantic 10 game, the front end of a doubleheader involving the Hawks men, it’s also a Big Five game and a Saint Joseph’s win creates at least a two-way tie with Villanova. Temple could make it a three-way if the Owls are able to play the postponed visit from La Salle last month.

Should the Explorers win, they could get at least a two-way tie playing Temple, though the Owls could make it a two-way by beating La Salle and Penn, if the games can be rescheduled.

Meanwhile, the annual battle royal part one between Ivy favorite Princeton and second place pick Penn takes place at 2 p.m. at The Palestra but unfortunately except for a limited number of family, friends, plus the media will be allowed in the facility during the current protocol policy in Southwest Philly. The game will air on ESPN+.

On Tuesday, besides the previously mention of the two CAA games, Rider, on the heels of the rout it just delivered at Niagara in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, welcomes the Purple Eagles Tuesday night at 7 at the Broncs’ Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

On Wednesday, Temple is at East Carolina at 6 p.m. on ESPN+ looking to stay unbeaten in the American Athletic Conference with its third game on a delayed start.

Rider comes back Thursday at 7 p.m. to host another MAAC game at 7 on ESPN+ and ESPN3.

And that’s the Guru local report.