The Guru Report: Rider Thumped By Siena While Penn State Upsets Northwestern; Battle of Top 5s Goes to No. 4 N.C. State in Rally Over No. 3 Louisville

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. —  Following Tuesday’s last second meltdown loss here to Niagara in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference the woeful end in sight was much quicker for Rider Thursday at Alumni Gymnasium losing to Siena 82-44 for a split in the Broncs’ MAAC series with the Saints.

Siena (4-10, 4-2 MAAC) struck first opening with a 9-2 lead but after falling behind 17-7, the Broncs (5-12, 3-5) came to life during the second quarter, rallying with a 10-0 run to go ahead of Lenaejha Evans. But that became the last hurrah in this one.

Siena came roaring again, this time with a 19-2 attack for a 38-24 halftime lead that got even greater at 64-31 going into the final quarter.

“All credit to Siena,” said veteran coach Lynn Milligan. “They played a great game tonight, we did not.”

The Saints are now coached by Jim Jabir, who coached the suburban Albany (N.Y.) contingent earlier in his career and then led Dayton in the Atlantic 10, was at Providence in the Big East, and now after stepping out of the profession for what was said was health reasons at the time he has returned to the sidelines.

Though one could point to a schedule with a makeup game inserted with Niagara on Tuesday after visiting the Purple Eagles on Saturday for a blowout win, Rider with a limited eight-player roster due to injuries was playing its fourth game in eight days, Milligan took a knee on the loss, saying, “I did not have this team ready. I take nothing positive from it.”

Makayla Firebaugh was the lone Bronc in double figures with 12 points.

Anja Knoflach had 19 points for Siena, while Deanna Winston scored 11, and Anajah Brown scored 11 and grabbed 10 rebounds for a double double.

Rider gets some rest, schedule-wise now, off until traveling in-state Thursday night next week to nearby Monmouth.

Penn State Upends Northwestern: A tightly-fought game went the Lady Lions’ way, picking up a Big Ten road win at Northwestern 63-59 at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill., in suburban Chicago.

Makenana Marisa scored 20 points, aided by a perfect 10-for-10 at the line for the visitors (9-7, 3-3 Big Ten), while collecting seven rebounds and a pair of steals.

Leilani Kapinus scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds, five steals, and a blocked shot against the host Wildcats (11-6, 3-3).

Ali Brigham scored nine and had five rebounds, while Anna Camden scored eight points and had six boards.

Coach Carolyn Kieger’s squad forced 18 Northwestern turnovers, and swiped 11 steals.

Veronical Burton had 16 points, seven assists, and five steals for the Wildcats, coached by Joe McKeown, who is a graduate of Father Judge in Northeast Philadelphia, who previously had a long, successful stint at George Washington in the Atlantic 10.

Penn State closed this one out in the fourth quarter helped by a perfect 9-for-9 at the line.

The Lady Lions will stay on the road visiting Wisconsin Sunday in Madison at 3 p.m. on the B1G+ streaming adjunct network to the main conference one.

Rutgers’ attempt to get its first Big Ten win was postponed, the only other local game on the night’s card, when host Nebraska came up with positive tests in the COVID-19 protocol.

The Scarlet Knights next host Ohio State at 1 p.m. on Sunday at home in a Big Ten meeting in the Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J. On ESPN2.

The Buckeyes, who had been ranked earlier in the season, will be arriving on a major upset Thursday night at home in Columbus at Value City Arena beating No. 12 Maryland in a scoring slugfest 95-89.

It’s the first win over a ranked team this season for Ohio State (14-3, 6-2 Big Ten) while the Terrapins (12-6, 4-3) suffered their second straight loss, both in the conference.

The Buckeyes’ Jacy Sheldon reached her 1,000th point on a foul shot with 13 seconds left in regulation.

Taylor Mikesell had a career-high 33 points, shooting 11-for-13 from the field for the winners, while Rebeka Mikulasikova scored 10 points.

Sheldon, who scored 24 points, had a career-best 10 assists.

Angel Reese scored 22 for Maryland with 11 rebounds, while Chloe Bibby scored 20, Diamond Miller and Ashley Owusu each scored 12, and Katie Benzan connected on four deep on the way to 16 points.

“We played for 40 minutes,” said Ohio coach Kevin McGuff. “We made mistakes and that’s going to happen, but our competitive character is as good as it has been. That’s what I’m most proud of.”

Karen Blair ran the Terrapins in place of Brenda Frese, whose dad Bill passed away Sunday at the family home in Iowa.

“I thought this team came out and played their hearts out,” Blair said. “I think we made Bill and Brenda proud.”

Maryland hosts Northwestern next on Sunday at the XFINITY Center in College Park at 1 p.m. on B!G+.

Two other Big Ten ranked teams came out with wins, No. 8 Michigan at home in Ann Arbor, romped over Wisconsin 83-44, while No. 25 Iowa won at Minnesota 105-49.

In the Iowa win at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, the outcome was the largest margin of victory over a conference opponent and third largest overall in program history.

Caitlin Clark had 35 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists for her second-straight, fourth season, and fifth career triple-double for the Hawkeyes.

Atlantic Coast Conference Upsets:  Though No. 20 North Carolina at home beat Virginia 61-52 at home, the big focus was nearby in the research triangle where No. 4 NC State rallied on No. 3 Louisville 68-59 in Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh.

The Wolfpack trailed by 14 points but in the final period coach Wes Moore’s squad scored 31 points to stay perfect in the conference at 8-0 while the Cardinals dropped to 5-1 taking their first ACC loss.

ESPN Stats & Research said the rally was the fourth largest this season in the final quarter of teams trailing by at least 14, the record prior to this one being 3-1,278.

Louisville had been 83-1 over the previous five seasons when it held a double digit lead at the half. 

The one setback was in last March’s Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament to eventual champion Stanford.

Overall, NC State is 17-2 while the Cardinals are 15-2.

“We started hitting shots, we started getting some stops, got a couple of turnovers off the press that I really thought got the crowd in it,” Moore said. “It’s a great, great win for our program. I just have so much respect for Louisville. They came in with that 1-3-1 zone and we had some trouble with it.”

Diamond Johnson had 14 of her 16 points for the home team in that fourth quarter. Elissa Cunane had 15 points and 12 rebounds.

“We never lost confidence,” Johnson said. “We never stopped shooting.”

The two teams are through meeting each other for the regular season, but if they meet like last year in the conference title game, anything could happen as it did when the Wolfpack edged coach Jeff Walz’s squad 58-56.

Olivia Cochran had 19 points for Louisville, Emily Engstler had a double double of 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Hailey Van Lith scored 13.

Meanwhile, up in Chestnut Hill, Mass., No. 19 Notre Dame had a 14-point lead in the third period but dropped its third-straight game in Conte Forum, losing to host Boston College 73-71, each  one-possession setback.

Cameron Swartz had 28 points for B.C. (13-5, 4-3 ACC), while Makayla Dickens scored 20, and Taylor Soule had 15 points and 10 rebounds.

The Irish (13-4, 4-2) got 15 points from Sam Brunelle, Sonia Citron and Maya Dodson each scored 13, Olivia Miles scored 12, and Dara Mobley scored 10.

Fourth Straight SEC Triumph Leads Florida to Upset No. 23 Kentucky: The Gators took down the host Wildcats 77-52 in Lexington for the fourth straight conference win for the first time since 2010-11.

The tri-player defense from Nina Rickards, Kiara Smith, and Zippy Broughton held all-American Rhyne Howard to 17 points for Kentucky (8-6, 1-3 SEC). 

Smith scored 25 for the Gators (14-5, 4-2), while Alberte Rimdal scored 15 points, all from five deep, Broughton scored 13, and Jordyn Merritt added 10 points.

Elsewhere in the conference, No. 13 Georgia on the road edged Mississippi State 66-63, Arkansas won at Alabama 99-71, and Texas A&M’s hard-luck of late continued, losing to visiting Ole Miss 66-63.

The Rebels are 16-2 overall, losing to Tennessee in the league and Belmont, 62-50, in the season opener.

Columbia Keeps Rolling: The Lions won a makeup game caused by weather problems earlier in the week, beating visiting Cornell 57-46 at home in Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium, the Lions (12-3, 3-0 IVY) best start in the Ivy League.

Columbia already had beaten Clemson on the road, it’s first win on a Power Five opponent, and best overall start in the 35-year program history.

“This team isn’t really focused on that,” sixth-year coach and Lions alum Megan Griffith of King of Prussia in suburban Philadelphia said. “I’m really proud we’re starting to knock off these records, but our team is internally focused on what we need to do every day to keep improving that it’s just a byproduct of that.”

The Penn game postponed earlier this month will be made up next Wednesday, the Princeton game next month, both at home, the meeting with the Quakers at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

Thursday night was also the last night of the recent no-fans policy that went into emergency effect fighting the coronavirus in New York City.

Kitty Henderson scored 18 points, 11 of which occurred in the third quarter when the home team went ahead again by double digits. She also had seven rebounds.

Kaitlyn Davis had a double double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and also dealt five assists.

“This team has no idea how good they can be,” Griffith said of the Lions opening with a 16-0 lead that grew to 25-1. “It’s just scary coaching this team because we can make a run like that, they know they’re going to win the game and they like to go on cruise control a little bit.”

Cornell (6-9. 1-3) fought all the way back to within two before Columbia righted the ship to win out.

“We are one of the best teams in our league,” Griffith said. “There’s no doubt about that. Everybody knows that. We know that. It’s something we’ve all come to grips with. 

“So we’ve got to start playing like that through four quarters. We’re still trying to figure a lot of things out.”

Columbia next heads to Brown on Saturday.

“We’re going to keep breaking records. That’s what this team is going to do,” Griffith said. “I’m more concerned with how we show up ready to play Brown.”

In a makeup game in the PAC-12 between crosstown rivals in Los Angeles, UCLA at home in Pauley Pavilion in Westwood beat Southern Cal 66-43.

Looking Ahead: On Friday night in the Big East, Villanova will try to keep the momentum going off Sunday’s upset win at Marquette when the Wildcats host Providence at 7 p.m. in Finneran Pavilion.

No. 9 Connecticut will be looking to bounce back from Monday’s trashing at Oregon when the Huskies go for their 166th straight conference win, hosting Seton Hall at 7 p.m. in Gampel Pavilion in Storrs.

In the Atlantic 10, Saint Joseph’s is at St. Bonaventure at 4 p.m. on ESPN+ while La Salle is at George Mason at at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

In the PAC-12, No. 10 Arizona hosts Utah at 9 p.m., No. 2 Stanford hosts Bay rival California at 10 p.m., Oregon is at Washington and Oregon State is at Washington State.

On Saturday, Penn is at Yale in New Haven at 2 p.m., Temple is at South Florida at 3 p.m., Princeton hosts Dartmouth at 2 p.m.

And that’s the report.