The Guru Report: Temple and Princeton Victories Help Locals That Played to Split Day After Rider and Lehigh Take Setbacks

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. — A promising first half didn’t go much further for Rider here Saturday night in what became a 62-44 loss to Fairfield at home in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at Alumni Gymnasium while Lehigh suffered a 64-53 loss at Holy Cross in a Patriot League contest in Worcester, Mass.

But Temple got its delayed start in the American Athletic Conference off to a winning start, beating host Cincinnati 75-68, while Abby Myers led Princeton to a second Ivy contest triumph, beating host Cornell 65-41 in Ithaca, N.Y.

Saint Joseph’s got its original scheduled game hosting George Mason postponed but landed a quick makeup from the Atlantic10 having the Hawks’ earlier scheduled visit to VCU in Richmond moved up from Jan. 23 and inserted into Sunday on ESPN+ while Penn was knocked out of its Ivy visit to Columbia postponed following the likewise postponement Friday of the Quakers’ visit to Cornell.

The Atlantic 10 also moved La Salle to visit Fordham at noon on CBSSN-TV on Sunday.

 Meanwhile, Villanova, which had its Big East visit from No. 11 Connecticut on Friday postponed, likewise to the Wildcats’ Sunday trip to Georgetown in Washington.

Delaware will try to get its conference portion of the schedule in the Colonial Athletic Association under way Sunday at Charleston at 1 p.m. while Rutgers will be at No. 8 Michigan at Ann Arbor on the B1G+ subscription network.

To recap beginning here, Rider came into the game having just squandered what had been as big a lead as 23 points melting down in the fourth quarter at Manhattan, one of the high picks in the MAAC.

Through the first two quarters off a quality defense by the Broncs (3-10, 1-3 MAAC) it was anyone’s game to be had, the Stags (7-5, 4-0) hitting the halftime break with a slim 25-23 lead.

But what they had, the Broncs owned several years ago in Stella Johnson, the top player in the MAAC who was to be drafted by the WNBA at the end of her senior season.

In Fairfield’s case, it’s preseason player of the year Lou Lopez Senechal, who scored 27 on the night.

There were 14 lead changes but in the third period, the Stags flipped the advantage from 28-27 to the home team into the Fairfield column for good on a 12-0 run and with 10 minutes left the visitors entered the frame ahead 45-34.

It grew to 18 before Rider got back within 11 but then Fairfield doused the scoring lights totally on the Broncs, yet another of the myriad of teams across the nation just recently or now emerging extra long breaks dating to the normal holiday pause but extended by playing mandated caution to COVID-19 pandemic protocols.

“I thought Fairfield played a really good game tonight,” said veteran Rider coach Lynn Milligan, whose Broncs’ conference losses have come against three of the top preseason picks, two narrowly that were capable of landing on either side and then Saturday night, not so much.

“We did some good stuff, and some stuff we want to get better at. We just gotta get over this hump and get out of our own way.”

“Our M.O. is to do what we need to do to be peaking in February and early March (heading into the MAAC tourney, which again will return to Atlantic City’s Jim Whalen Hall). I believe we will be there, but we have some things we need to work on and get figured out.

“In March, you have to be ready to beat anyone, and we have played well against the top three teams in the preseason poll.”

The telling stat was in the turnover department, the Stags forcing 18, while committing just three.

Ralphaela Toussaint had 12 points for Rider, Lenaejha Evans scored nine, but Makayla Firebaugh was held to six and in the second half took a nasty spill that brought the small but energetic crowd of  XXX to totally silence.

“No, I wasn’t worried, having seen her from my angle, and she’s tough,” Milligan said. “But she’ll be hurting in the morning, no doubt.”

On the positive side were a career-high seven rebounds from Jessika Schiffer.

Besides the large collection of points from Lopez-Senechal, Fairfield got 11 and eight boards from Callie Cavanaugh, and 10 points from Andrea Hernangomez.

“We really focused on the fourth quarter in practice, and it was in our minds during the game,” said Rider’s Evans. “But we need to come out and execute on that. I see our team improving each day and you’re going to see that soon,” she continued. “We had good shots, but some weren’t falling and it was hard to move on from them.”

This weekend, Covid pauses notwithstanding, Rider heads to the Western frontier of the MAAC in upstate New York playing at Canisius Thursday at 7 p.m. and then on to a 2 p.m. visit to Niagara on Saturday.

Meanwhile, in Lehigh’s sudden dead stop in the Patriot League, Holy Cross took command in the second half and went on to its 64-53 victory at home in the Hart Center.

The setback snapped a five-game win streak by the Mountain Hawks (10-4, 2-1 Patriot League), and was the first league loss.

Emma Grothaus scored 15 for Lehigh, while Megan Walker scored 10 with four steals, but overall the Mountain Hawks connected on just 32.1 percent of their shots, shooting 17-for-53.

“We didn’t do a great job of executing within our offense or playing at the pace of play that we would like to, all of which led to a poor shooting day on the offensive end,” said Lehigh coach Sue Troyan. “On the defensive end, we struggled to control the defensive boards, struggled to contain Avery LaBarbera and uncharacteristically fouled too many times. 

“All of these factors contributed to a slower pace to the game than we would like to play and I think that factored into our offensive woes as well.”

LaBarbera had a game-high 30 points and 17 for the Crusaders, while Oluchi Ezemma had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Next up is a visit Wednesday at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., from Bucknell, who played Lehigh in the league semifinals last season won by the Mountain Hawks on the way to an upset to the Patriot title into the NCAA tournament. The game will air on ESPN+

Temple Off to a Winning Start in the AAC:  The Owls jumped to a 19-4 lead in the first quarter at Cincinnati after having been idle since a non-conference loss at home to Old Dominion on Dec. 22 and went on to a 75-68 win on the road.

Mia Davis scored 23 points, moving closer to Marilyn Stephens’ all-time career mark, though she is benefitting from the NCAA’s bonus fifth season off last year’s limitation imposed on total games because of the pandemic.

Alexa Williamson scored 20 points for Temple (6-6, 1-0 AAC) against the Bearcats (7-7, 0-2) at Fifth Third Arena. Jasha Clinton scored 12, while Aniya Gourdine had eight points and 10 rebounds.

Caitlyn Wilson scored 17 for Cincinnati, while Akira Levy scored 15.

Temple next is scheduled to play a Big Five game at The Palestra against host Penn, 7 p.m. Tuesday night, but the Quakers had both Ivy visits postponed, the latter by Columbia because of positive tests, while Penn limitations also closed off the scheduled stop at Cornell on Friday.

The Quakers had yet to announce the state of Tuesday’s game but one is expected Sunday.

Should that game temporarily disappear, the Owls already need a makeup with La Salle, wins over both would tied Villanova for the local crown, the next scheduled game, which also is back in the AAC on Saturday, hosting Houston at 2 p.m. in McGonigle Hall.

Meyer’s Career Day Leads to Princeton Win: Abby Meyers had a personal best 28 points as the Tigers made good on the one half of their Ivy road trip that remained alive, Columbia had called off both the Princeton and Penn games, and the league favorites cashed in over the Big Red at Newman Arena.

Meyers had five from deep.

No one scored in double digits for Cornell (6-7, 1-1), which got a team-best nine from Theresa Grace Mbanef.

Coach Carla Berube’s squad limited Cornell to just two shots in the first quarter and ran off a 16-0 scoring streak at the start of the second to move on to a 2-0 start in the league.

The Tigers (9-4) will step outside the league Wednesday night at 6 p.m. on NBC Sports Philadelphia, facing Towson, one of the hot teams in the Colonial Athletic Association, before returning to the Ivies visiting Brown on Saturday at 4 p.m. and then next Monday afternoon in one of several Ivy rival matches on Martin Luther King Day facing Penn in The Palestra at 2 p.m.

Nationally noted: With the number of teams taking schedule hits off the pandemic, there wasn’t a lot to note on Saturday but result-wise on what was left active in the Guru’s tracker list off his daily operating tracker, but in the Big 12, Kansas State picked up a road win at West Virginia, while No. 12 Iowa State, likely to land in the Top 10 in the next AP Poll, Monday, beat visiting TCU 78-47.

Horizon favorite IUPUI beat visiting Milwaukee 63-60, in a game between Summit heavyweights, South Dakota beat visiting South Dakota State 65-42, in another MAAC squad affair, Manhattan extended its previous rally win over Rider by crushing Marist at home 72-45.

Buffalo in the Mid-American was unable to follow up its previous contest due to the Pandemic, the game against visiting Kent State postponed.

In the SWAC, Jackson State topped host Alabama State 79-58.

Looking Ahead: You got the bulk of the local Sunday action at the top of the report, but remaining Drexel goes for a weekend visit CAA-launch sweep playing at UNC Wilmington at 1 p.m. on Flohoops, while Delaware finally gets back in action visiting Charleston same time and broadcast chanel as the rivals Dragons game.

Nationally, eyes will be on No. 11 Connecticut, hosting Creighton in the Big East at 1 p.m. on SNY.

 The visiting Bluejays have started hot and the Huskies are at a long low-point off roster subtractions like surgery to reigning national player of the year Paige Bueckers plus having last played on Dec. 19 in a loss to Louisville knocking UConn out of the Top 10 for the first time in over nearly two decades.

Plus one has to go back to the 1990s the last time coach Geno Auriemma’s bunch lost two straight.

Elsewhere, in the chaotic schedule-wise PAC-12, defending NCAA and conference champion No. 2 Stanford, filling in for a postponed game is taking a second encounter with Gonzaga, hosting the Zags at 6 p.m. on the Cardinal live stream.

UCLA, which hasn’t played since mid-December, is visiting Colorado, which along with Arizona, are the last two unbeaten Division I women’s teams in America.

In the Big 12, the anticipated Baylor-Texas showdown has been postponed, 

In the SEC, Dawn Staley’s No. 1 South Carolina squad hosts nationally-ranked Kentucky at 1 p.m. on ESPN, No. 7 Tennessee is at Ole Miss at 1 p.m., while in the ACC, off reshuffled games, No. 5 NC State is at Miami, moved up from Jan. 27 at 2 p.m. on the ACC network, forcing the Wake Forest at Florida State game on the network bumped to noon.

In the Big 10, No. 10 Maryland off its home thrashing of Penn State, visits Minnesota at 3 p.m. on the B1G network. The host Gophers are coming off a win at Rutgers where assistant coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis filled in for Lindsay Whelan, who had underwent an emergency appendectomy.

It’s possible the substitution act may have to happen again against the Terrapins. Northwestern, off its upset of Iowa, hosts Ohio State.

Stony Brook is at Maine at 1 p.m., a repeat of last season’s American East title game won by Stony Brook.

And that’s the report for Sunday AM.

No. 4 Arizona is now visiting Southern Cal at 6 p.m.