The Guru Report: Villanova, Drexel, Delaware, Princeton, and Lehigh Sweep to Wins Ahead of the Snow

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

VILLANOVA —Starting here on the Main Line Friday afternoon and continuing down south, just to the north in New Jersey, and up state in Bethlehem a few hours later, the five Guru D-1 squads competing on the local and national card collectively made it a great time to sweep the opposition before any need to sweep the fallen flakes predicted to arrive on the overnight.

Though Maddy Siegrist continued to do her thing for Villanova here in the Wildcats’ Finneran Pavilion, the overall talk focused on the contribution of depth and playing defense in a 59-44 Big East victory over Butler (1-16, 0-8 Big East).

The opponents’ points were a season low allowed by coach Denise Dillon’s squad (6-3) and the 28.8 percent from the field was a low allotted in conference play.

“Every game we set a defensive goal,” said Lucy Olsen, a 5-9 guard out of Spring-Ford High and Royersford, Pa., in the Western suburbs, who is one of the Wildcats freshmen. “They’re a good team. We had to work hard to keep them off the boards and get stops on defense. At first we were struggling a little bit, but once we started communicating ad playing as a team, we were able to get those stops.”

The leading scorer for Butler is Celena Taborn, who arrived with her teammates averaging 13.4 points per game, leading the nation in field goal percentage. With the Wildcats closing off the inside, she scored just 8 points and shot 3-for-8 from the field.

Trinity White, scoring 10, led the Bulldogs.

“We did a better job in the second quarter of being disruptive,” Dillon said. “Brianna (Herlihy) stepped up to being more active.

“Our guards did a real nice job of being disruptive on their guards. Our length eliminated those easy passes into the post. It’s a team effort on the defense end.”

The Wildcats (12-6, 6-3) forced Butler into a season-high 23 turnovers resulting in a lopsided transition comparison of 28-9.

Siegrist’s thing Friday was 23 points, her ninth 20 plus scoring points game of the season. Climbing the all-time Villanova scoring column here as Temple’s Mia Davis is on the verge of breaking the career mark with the Owls, Siegrist’s career total is 1,420 Friday becoming the 10th player in the program’s history to pass the 1,400 milestone mark.

Olsen had 10 points off 4-for-8 shooting.

Figuring how to get everyone more time has been a pleasant challenge for Dillon, in her second season back at her alma mater following a long and successful stint at Drexel.

“You want to reward players with time on the floor, but they know their time will come even if it isn’t in each contest this season,” Dillon said.

Villanova is on a four-game win streak and nine of its last ten, the loss being at DePaul in Chicago. The home string is now seven straight as the team has recovered from a long span of missing players to injuries or COVID protocols, which now are involving coaches missing games.

Earlier in the day, Southern Cal announced that new coach Lindsay Gottlieb would not be with the squad this weekend observing the pandemic rules of the road.

And Dillon agreed the squad is moving closer to being mentioned initially as a bubble team and perhaps more if the winning continues.

“It puts us in a position of conversation,” she said. “We won a number of games without our roster. It’s just a recogition of when we are together, we look pretty good.”

Dillion’s predecessor, longtime coach Harry Perretta, who is now doing analyst work on Big East women’s telecasts was in the house.

Villanova will be back in the arena Sunday for a 2 p.m. tip against Xavier.

Drexel Still Streaking With Win at Elon: Down 10 during the second quarter and 35-27 at the half, Elon may have the Phoenix as its mascot but it was the Dragons who roared back with a double up 28-14 attack in the third and on to a 72-60 victory in a Colonial Athletic Association game played in North Carolina.

The win streak for Drexel (!5-2, 7-0 CAA) is now at 12, closing in the all-time run of 16 with the next stop Sunday at William & Mary at 2 p.m. in Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg, Va.

Tessa Brugler, the talented transfer from Bucknell, racked up another double double with a personal best as a Dragon with 20 points and pulled 13 boards. Hannah Nihill stayed hot with 21 points.

Foul shooting helped the Dragons, connecting on 18-for-23 from the line while also committing just three turnovers in the second half.

Elon (10-6, 2-4) got 22 points from Brie Perpipgnan but no one else scored in double figures and the Phoenix were outrebounded by the visitors 38-26.

Delaware Keeps Pace: Though Drexel back home won the battle of the two remaining CAA unbeaten teams on Sunday, Delaware (12-5, 6-1 CAA) is showing the Blue Hens are not going to fall away.

After a makeup game win at UNC Wilmington on Wednesday, Delaware knocked off William & Mary 70-56 moving into a weekend road trip in reverse order with Drexel.

“Today was an example of being road tough, second of three,” said Delaware coach Natasha Adair. “We had big moments from people but we know (the Tribe), I know (William and Mary coach) Ed (Swanson), there is so much respect for his program and how prepared they are going to be.

“Sydney Wagner is a veteran in this league, she is a scorer and we knew that. Riley Casey same thing, we knew that those two make them go. This league is so competitive and every night you’ve got to be ready to compete,” Adair said. “Ty Skinner, 19 points, 5-of-10 from three, that is a career-high for her because she is fearless. I thought Ty Battle and Lizzie Oleary had some big moments down the stretch.

“When it was winning time, we made the winning plays and we kept stressing defense. I thought we were the tougher, most gritty team. You have to find ways to win and our team did, I am very proud of them.”

While it was close near the end, Delaware closed out with an 8-0 run to turn aside any late threat from William & Mary (6-11, 1-5).

Jasmine Dickey added to the Blue Hens scoring pile with 15 points and seven rebounds. Battle had 13 points, five boards and three steals. 

Wagner had 29 points for the host Tribe and Kate Sramac grabbed 10 rebounds.

On Sunday while Drexel heads to William & Mary, the Blue Hens dip down to Elon for a 2 p.m. tip. Both games will air on the Flohoops streaming service.

Princeton Rallys Over Yale: The Tigers may have missed several beats the last two years with the cancelled conference and ncaa tournaments in 2020 and a total season in 2021 because of the coronavirus but the program powerhouse that Courtney Banghart built before heading off to North Carolina has missed nothing on the hardwood.

A road trip to Yale at the Bulldogs’ John J. Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn., needed a rally, and Princeton delivered as Carla Berube’s group pocketed a 61-49 Ivy League win over host Yale.

Two of Banghart’s achievements were her Tigers being the only Ivy team to earn a ranking in the Associated Press women’s poll and also the only of the Ancient Eight to gain an at-large slot to the NCAA tournament.

Berube did the former two seasons ago before the cancellations and in the latest Charlie Creme mock bracket projections for ESPN he listed Princeton (14-4, 7-0 Ivy) with an at-large slot.

So it’s nice to know a potential safety valve exists because the Tigers are actually the preseason favorites, though certainly until they meet each other, Columbia is a new threat and possibly Penn makes a late run for the four-team tourney to be held at Harvard and becomes a darkhorse.

As usual there was no horsing-around in crunch time when Yale (12-5, 5-2) held a 40-36 lead with 8:44 remaining in regulation.

The visitors struck back with a 14-2 explosion and were on their way to their 32nd straight league victory, trailing just No. 10 UConn’s massive 167 dating to 2013 competition beginning in the American Athletic Conference and the current Big East. 

Abby Meyers had 22 points for Princeton, while Julie Cunningham had 19 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. Elie Mitchell had 10 rebounds, four steals, and three assists.

Friday’s game was moved up off Saturday because of a heavy snow forecast in New England.

Princeton for next weekend with Penn goes back to former traditional Ivy two-day pace with the Tigers hosting Cornell at 7 p.m. back home at Jadwin Gym while Penn will host Columbia at 7 in The Palestra. The two hosts will then switch opponents on Saturday.

Lehigh Upsets Holy Cross: Completing a day and night of perfection from the locals Lehigh recovered from its loss at Army to beat what had been Patriot League-leading Holy Cross 67-61 at home in Stabler Arena in Bethelehem.

The contest, like the Princeton game ,was a one day move-up to avoid getting caught in a snow cancellation.

In this one, the Mountain Hawks (14-6, 6-3 Patriot League), filled the air with deep shots, completing 15 of 35 attempts from beyond the arc, including 12 in the first half, which is one short of both the Lehigh and League records.

Mackenzie Kramer scored 18 points for the home team, fueled by 5-of-9 from deep, while Emma Grothaus scored 14 points, and Clair Steele got seven of her 11 points in the second half.

The win snapped a five-game win streak by the Crusaders (13-7, 7-2).

“It felt good to get this one,” said Lehigh coach Sue Troyan. “I thought a lot of people stepped up. We did a really good job of setting the tone early in the first half. We got a lot of clean looks at the basket and the kids knocked their shots down.”

Four Holy Cross players scored in double digits, led by Bronagh Power-Cassidy with 15 points.

“We were better tonight,” Troyan said. “I really challenged our players coming out to match their toughness, which we struggled with on Wednesday. We were strong on both ends of the floor tonight, showing a lot of grit and toughness.”

Troyan credited Steele’s defense on Avery LaBarbera, who scored just five after bombing Lehigh for 30 in their previous meeting.

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert was at the game, being a 1986 alum from South Jersey who played for then-coach Muffet McGraw. Speaking at halftime, the WNBA leader appearing on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, told the younger women in the crowd to stay in sports and the life lessons it can teach them.

Lehigh’s next game is at Patriot League contender Boston U. On Saturday a week away at 2 p.m. on ESPN+

Nationally Noting: The bulk of games on a light-schedule Friday came out of the Big East, CAA, and PAC-12.

The key game in the Big East was a high-scoring affair at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago in which DePaul bounced back from its tough loss to No. 10 UConn on Wednesday to beat St. John’s 94-88 and sweep the season series, the game airing on FS1.

Lexi Held scored 24 points, dealt eight assists, and grabbed five steals for the winning Blue Demons (17-5, 9-2 Big East). Sonya Morris scored 22 and dealt seven assists, and freshman sensation Aneesah Morrow had another double double with 22 points and 18 rebounds. Deejah Church scored 13.

St. John’s (6-13, 2-7) got 24 points and nine rebounds from Kaja Bailey, while Danielle Patterson scored 20, and Unique Drake scored 16. Leilani Correa scored 10.

DePaul Sunday goes to Seton Hall in South Orange, N.J., at Walsh Gym, also on FS1.

In a close one in the Big Ten, No. 23 Iowa edged host Northwestern, 72-67, in overtime in Evanston, Ill., as Caitlin Clark scored 28 and grabbed 11 boards for the Hawkeyes, and Monika Czinno scored 24 points with 16 rebounds.

Veronica Burton had 19 for the host Wildcats.

It was a wild night out West in the PAC-12 with three games going into overtime.

The easy win went to defending NCAA and No. 2 ranked Stanford, which at home in Maples Pavilion beat Arizona State 78-50 as Haley Jones double doubled with 12 points and 10 rebounds, Cameron Brink scored 11, and reserves Kiki Iriafen and Francesca Belibi each scored 12.

In the three overtime games, Colorado beat host Utah 66-62; host Washington State beat Washington 60-56; and Oregon State edged Southern Cal 63-61. No. 9 Oregon at home beat visiting UCLA 2-0 on a forfeit while the No. 8 Arizona game at Cal was postponed.

Looking Ahead: On Saturday, winter weather precluding for the locals, Harvard plays Penn in an Ivy contest at The Palestra at 2 p.m. on ESPN+, both teams trying to squeeze into what will be the fourth and final berth for the two-day event at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass. In the MAAC, Iona is at Rider at Alumni Gyn at 5 p.m. on ESPN+. In the Atlantic 10, Saint Joseph’s will be hosting one of the new power hitters in the conference in UMass at 2 p.m. on ESPN+. 

Temple at 3 p.m . in the American Athletic Conference is at Memphis on ESPN+.

Earlier Friday the Owls held a zoom interview with grad star Mia Davis, who needs 49 points to break Marilyn Stephens’ career record, the Gratz High alum set in 1984.

The native of Baltimore said she didn’t know of her approaching the record until she heard it mentioned on TV in a tape of the game.

Of the local games not mentioned here who are playing Sunday, Michigan State is at Rutgers at 2 p.m., as are all the other local games; No. 17 Maryland is at Penn State, both on B1G+. 

La Salle is at Duquesne in Pittsburgh at 2 p.m. on ESPN+

And that’s the report.