The Guru Daily Report: Villanova Gains No. 2 Big East Seed While Drexel and Delaware Keep Rolling on CAA 1-2 Path

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — It was quite the day for Villanova in the Big East while here at Drexel the Dragons moved within a win or Delaware loss of claiming the No. 1 seed in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tourney they will host just two weekends away.

Because one makeup game needs to be played Tuesday with Xavier and Seton Hall to decide a seed the Guru didn’t yet go into a separate Big East separate mode in these multi-blogs though there is plenty of Big East things to discuss.

But first, let’s get the other two locals taken care involving their CAA affairs.

There were plenty of reason to feel that Drexel could have its hands full hosting Elon Sunday afternoon considering the Phoenix nearly upended Delaware Friday night on the way up here to the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

As it turns out the only time the Dragons had their hands full was pre-game in ceremonies bidding farewell to an ample supply of experience in Tessa Brugler, Kate Connolly, Maura Hendrixson, Mariah Leonard, Hannah Nihill, and Keishana Washington along with honors to Kayla Bacon from a year ago and five-year manager Sam Banks.

Then it was off to work and another solid and steady balanced performance sent Drexel once again into the winner’s column 72-57 in the final regular season home game, but not the final game at home.

Brugler scored 23 points, grabbed nine rebounds, dealt four assists, besides adding a pair of locks and steals for the Dragons (23-3, 15-1 CAA).

Washington had a game-high 27 points, while Nihill scored 16, dished seven assists and was free of committing turnovers.

In transition, the home team forced Elon (15-11, 7-9) into 18 turnovers worth mining 27 points on the day’s yield.

“To have a win on Senior Day, that’s the what you want, but to do it the way we did it, we took control from the very beginning,” said Drexel coach Amy Mallon. “And that’s what we talked about to do a job for 40 minutes.”

Drexel next heads to James Madison Thursday at 7 at the Atlantic Bank Union Center in Harrisonburg, Va. The Dragons then finish out the regular season at third-place Towson on Saturday afternoon at third-place Towson in the SECU Arena in suburban Baltimore.

Meanwhile just to the South, Delaware had its Senior Day in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark and then went out and pulverized William & Mary 67-45.

The win by the Blue Hens (20-6, 14-2 CAA) gave coach Natasha Adair her first 20-win regular season for the first time since 2012-13.

Delaware also had a big group of departing seniors in Ty Battle, Jasmine Dickey, Tee Johnson, Paris McBride, Lizzie Oleary, Maddie Sims, and managers George Class-Peters and Mollie Patmore.

“Anytime that you can compete on your home court on Senior Night and play the way they did is great,” Adair said. “That was probably one of our best starts that we have had all season and it started with our leaders.

“They will leave their legacy and how awesome was it to be able for it to be done today in front of the home crowd.”

Senior Days a year ago were held in empty arenas in front of cardboard cutouts of fans because of covid protocols.

Dickey dominated again, scoring a game-high 22 points and grabbing 15 rebounds, while Battle scored 17 and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Riley Casey scored 10 points for the visiting Tribe (10-17, 5-11).

Delaware finishes up on the same road trip as Drexel in reverse order, visiting Towson Thursday night and then James Madison Saturday afternoon.

The game with JMU will be the Dukes’ last appearance in the CAA, having announced a move for the entire program to the Sun Belt Conference, they were kicked out of the CAA tournament, which they were also set to host before that was taken away and awarded to Drexel.

A Gritty Day Ends Happy For Villanova: Once DePaul managed to get past Creighton 90-84 in Omaha, Neb., in the first of the closeout regular season days on the Big East schedule the rest should have been easy in Cincinnati to whack a Xavier team team the Wildcats decimated in their first meeting in January back on the Main Line in Finneran Pavilion.

But the Musketeers forgot to follow the script and hung around all afternoon in their Cintas Center.

At the half it was a slim one-basket 24-22 lead for the visitors who then seemed to get their affairs in order pulling away in the third quarter. However, Xavier came right back until finally in the closing minutes, Villanova said, enough, and moved in front for a 58-49 victory.

The perk for the 15-4 record coming as part of the now-overall 21-7 mark is the Wildcats will be a No. 2 seed, highest in some time, in this week’s Big East tournament at the Mohegan Sun Casino-Resort in Uncasville, Conn.

That means, if Villanova takes care of business and all other things happen according to expectation, never a sure thing other than one team in the Big East women, the Wildcats would be free of No. 7 UConn, whom they snapped a Huskies 169-straight win conference domination last month in Hartford.

And ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme aside, that should be enough to earn an at-large bid into the NCAA field, though there are many who believe a lock status should be applied right now to all that’s been accomplished.

As for pieces of the tournament available, Villanova gets a first-day bye into the quarterfinals to the 7 p.m. game Saturday playing the winner of the 7-10 game from Friday’s three-team opening rounds.

St. John’s already has a seven seed while the 10 slot coming out of Tuesday’s result will go to Xavier or Georgetown.

As for the stats from Sunday’s game, all-American candidate Maddy Siegrist scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, though with the gap left from where she is now at 1,714 career points until getting near second and first on the Villanova all-time scoring chart, will have to wait till her senior season.

Brianna Herlihy had 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Lior Garzon had 10 points.

Ayanna Townsend scored 13 points for Xavier (9-19, 4-15), while Mackayla Scarlet had 11 points and Courtney Prenger grabbed 11 rebounds.

The Wildcats have won 12 straight over the Musketeers and lead the all-time series 17-1, while they also have won 13 of their last 14 games.

Siegrist was also part of two individuals cited for historic seasons. 

The native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., set the Big East games scoring average at 27.9 points per game over 17 contests, coming within four points of the total record. She is the eighth player to win multiple conference scoring titles.

In DePaul’s win freshman sensation Aneesah Morrow had her 23rd straight double double and set the freshman single game record, scoring 41 points. The Chicago native finished with the highest scoring and rebounding totals in freshman history in the Big East.

Her rebounding total (305) and average (15.3) were both Big East frosh and overall conference records. She also grabbed the rookie marks for average (23.5) and total points (469). 

Meanwhile, UConn is thriving with the return of Paige Bueckers, who started in the 88-31 rout of Providence, and overall health of the squad.

Since the loss to Villanova, the Huskies (22-5, 16-1 Big East) have won seven straight games by an average of more than 39 points.

Dorka Juhasz had 14 points and 10 rebounds, Azzi Fudd scored 14, and Olivia Nelson-Ododa scored 13.

Janai Crooms scored 12 for Providence (11-18, 6-14).

“They’ve got some fluidity now,” said Providence coach Jim Crowley. “They play with a much greater urgency. They know what time of year it is and what they have to do it. Their urgency level today was much higher than it was a month ago and much higher than ours.”

Looking long range, UConn’s Christyn Williams said, “I think we can go far. We have a lot of potential within this team, just getting everybody healthy. We obviously still have  a lot of work to do and things to work on and sharpen up before the NCAA tournament but I feel like we have a good shot.”

The Big East Tournament Schedule As of Now

Friday (Flohoops TV)

1st Round

11 a.m. No. 8 Providence vs. 9. TBA; 1:30 p.m. No. 7 St. John’s vs. No. 10 TBA; 4 p.m. No. 6 Seton Hall vs. No. 11 Butler.

Saturday (FS1-TV or FS2-TV)

Quarterfinals

12 p.m. (8-9) Providence-TBA winner vs. No. 1 Connecticut (FS1)

2:30 p.m. (4-5) DePaul vs. Marquette (FS2)

7 p.m. No. 2 Villanova vs. (7-10) St. John’s-TBA winner (FS2)

9:30 p.m. No. 3 Creighton vs. (6-11) Seton Hall-Butler winner (FS2)

Sunday

Semifinals

3 p.m. (1-8-9) Connecticut-Providence-TBA winner vs. (4-5) DePaul-Marquette winner (FS1)

5:30 p.m. (2-7-10) Villanova-St. John’s-TBA winner vs. ((3-6-11) Creighton-Seton Hall-Butler winner (FS1)

Monday

Championship

8 p.m. (1-8-9-4-5) Connecticut-Providence-TBA-DePaul-Marquette winner vs. (2-7-10-3-6-11) Villanova-St. John’s-TBA-Creighton-Seton Hall-Butler winner

Locally Noted: Temple plays the first of two in Texas (one a makeup) at SMU Monday night in a American Athletic Conference game at 8 p.m., while Lehigh finishes its Patriot League schedule at Navy Wednesday at 7 p.m., the same night the second Temple game at SMU plays at 8 p.m. All games are on ESPN+.

Drexel’s Tess Brugler is the CAA player of the week while her sister Talya is the Atlantic 10 Freshman of the week.

More Tourneys: Precision will come in the next 24-48 hours but here are other conference tournaments getting under way in the frontal week:

Big South — First Round - Tues; Quarterfinals - Thurs.; Semfinals - Sat.; Final-Sun.

Horizon - First Round - Tues; Quarterfinals  - Thurs.

Sun Belt - First Round - Wed; Quarterfinals - Fri.

Atlantic Sun - First Round - Wed; Quarterfinals - Sun.

Ohio Valley - First Round - Wed; Quarterfinals - Thurs; Semifinals - Fri.; Final - Sat.

West Coast - First Round - Thu: Second Round - Fri; Quarterfinals - Sat.

America East - Quarterfinals - Sat (Maine won regular season)

Patriot - First Round - Sat.

Summit - First Round -1 Sat; First Round - 2 Sun.

Mountain West — First Round - Sun.

And that is your Guru daily report for the moment.

The Guru’s Big Ten Tournament Report: Ohio State Emerges Top Seed While Iowa, Michigan, and Maryland Follow

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

What a day and finish to the regular season of the Big Ten title race.

Things went topsy turvy in the last two weeks with Michigan on the verge of locking up the No. 1 seed or perhaps Indiana and then having Ohio State and Iowa dart up to a 1-2 finish.

The two locals who played — Rutgers and Penn State — split their Sunday success in reverse to what most of the season was with the Lady Lions losing at home to Minnesota 94-83 and the Scarlet Knights winning for only the third time in league play winning at Illinois 66-56.

As a result, in what will be a throwback Wednesday to their rivalry dating all the way back to AIAW days and on to the Atlantic 10 and then non-conference when Rutgers went old Big East, the two will face each other in a Big Ten opener and also making it a season decider after the two each won once in their two meetings.

In the Rutgers game, played at the Illini’s State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill., the Scarlet Knights went the explosive 23-point final quarter route they used in several contests to finish with the 13th seed with their  second road triumph of the season and third win their last five games after what had been an 0-12 struggle within conference before finally winning at home in the second meeting with Penn State.

Shug Dickson scored 19 points, making it two straight with that total for Rutgers (10-19, 3-14 Big Ten) while Sayawani Lassiter had a career-high 18 points, shooting 7-for-10 from the field. Osh Brown also scored in double figures connecting for 12 points against Illinois (6-19, 1-13). 

“We settled down in the second half, got some good shots,” said Rutgers’ acting coach Tim Eatman, who has filled in for Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer, who stepped away for the season out of concerns for covid. 

“I’m so excited for them,” he said of his squad. “Because we’re finally learning to play Rutgers basketball. I wish I could coach them for another month. They’re starting to play like they’re supposed to. They’re sharing the basketball. They’re playing terrific defense.”

Penn State, meanwhile, fell short to Minnesota at home in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College on a Senior Day honoring Niya Beverley and Kelly Jekot.

Makenna Marisa scored 28 points for the Lady Lions (11-17, 5-13 Big Ten), of which 20 came in the second half. Tova Sabel scored a career-high 19 points, shooting 7-of-8 from the field.

The Penn State bench had a lopsided 28-2 advantage on Minnesota (14-16, 7-11), which managed to outscore the Lady Lions in a combined high powered offensive effort from both sides.

The Gophers’ Kadiatou Sissoko scored 32 points with 14 rebounds, while Sara Scalia also scored 32, and Laura Bagwell Katalinich had 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Elsewhere in the conference, No. 6 Michigan had its dreams of a top-seed dismantled by No. 21 Iowa 104-80 at home in Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City as the Hawkeyes (20-7, 14-4 Big Ten) ended up sharing the conference crown with No. 17 Ohio State.

Sophomore sensation Caitlin Clark fired 8-of-11 from deep propelling her to an overall 38 points while dealing 11 assists. Monika Czinano scored 19 points and Gabbie Marshall scored 10.

Naz Hillmon scored 18 and grabbed 15 rebounds for Michigan (22-5, 13-4), while Laila Phelia scored 16, Emily Kiser scored 12, and Maddie Nolan scored 11.

It’s the first time in 14 seasons dating to 2008 coach Lisa Bluder’s team had a claim to a share or outright ownership of the regular season crown.

Ohio State, meanwhile, on the road beat Michigan State 61-55 in East Lansing to claim the other share of the Big Ten title for the first time since 2018 as Jacy Sheldon had 13 points and 10 assists, while Taylor Thierry grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds for the Buckeyes (22-5, 14-4 Big Ten). The Spartans fell to 14-14 overall and 8-9 in the conference.

In the rest of conference games, Wisconsin on the road edged Purdue 63-62, and Nebraska at home beat Northwestern 73-59, 

Big Ten Tournament Seeds Set

Ohio State’s win Over Iowa on Jan. 31 became the deal breaker to get the No. 1 seed in this week’s tournament in Indianapolis, with Iowa sharing the crown but dropping to No. 2 ahead of No. 3 Michigan.

No. 13-ranked Maryland (21-7, 13-4 Big Ten) earned the No. 4 seed with Friday’s win for the tourney at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

The Terrapins are finishing on a 9-of-10 surge beating the top two seeds and fifth-seeded Indiana closing out the regular season. They are 19-2 all-time in the Big Ten event, advancing to seven straight title games and wining five.

Wednesday (B1G-TV)

1st Round

2 p.m. No. 12 Penn State vs. No. 13 Rutgers; 4:30 p.m. No. 11 Wisconsin vs. No. 14 Illinois.

Thursday (B1G-TV)

Second Round

11:30 a.m. No. 8 Michigan State vs. No. 9 Purdue; 2 p.m. No. 5 Indiana vs. (12-13) Penn State-Rutgers winner; 6:30 p.m. No. 7 Northwestern vs. No. 10 Minnesota; 9 p.m. No. 6 Nebraska vs. (11-14) Wisconsin-Illinois winner.

Friday (B1G-TV)

Quarterfinals

11:30 a.m. No. 1 Ohio State vs. (8-9) Michigan State-Purdue winner; 2 p.m. No. 4 Maryland vs. (5-12-13) Indiana-Penn State-Rutgers winner; 6:30 p.m. No. 2 Iowa vs. (7-10) Northwestern-Minnesota winner; 9 p.m. No. 3 Michigan vs. (2-7-10) Iowa-Northwestern-Minnesota winner.

Saturday (B1G-TV)

Semifinals

3:30 p.m. (1-8-9) Ohio State-Michigan State-Purdue winner vs. (4-5-12-13) Maryland-Indiana-Penn State-Rutgers winner.

6 p.m. (2-7-10) Iowa-Northwestern-Minnesota winner vs. (3-6-11-14) Michigan-Nebraska-Wisconsin-Illinois winner. 

Sunday (ESPN2)

Championship

4 p.m. (1-8-9-4-5-12-13) Ohio State-Michigan State-Purdue-Maryland-Indiana-Penn State-Rutgers winner vs. (2-7-10-3-6-11-14) Iowa-Northwestern-Minnesota-Michigan-Nebraska-Wisconsin-Illinois.

And that’s the Big Ten report.

The Guru’s ACC Tournament Report: NC State, Louisville, Notre Dame, and North Carolina Earn Top Four Seeds

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

The SEC did not have a monopoly on exiting and interesting regular season finishes Sunday heading into the conference tournament bracket announcements for this week.

Next up is the Atlantic Coast Conference, whose tournament this week out of Greensboro, N.C., also runs Wednesday through Sunday and had its share of interest at the finish line.

No. 3 North Carolina State on the way to claiming the regular season ACC title on the road battled No. 23 Virginia Tech in Roanoke, Va., and had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter slide away to a 66-66 tie after Georgia Amoore score with 1:25 left in regulation.

Then Elissa Cunane assisted by Raina Perez hit a jumper for the Wolfpack to snap the deadlock with 58 seconds left. 

That turned out to be both the winning points and final points in the game.

In the next 58 seconds, Aisha Sheppard missed a three-point attempt, then Cunane missed a layup with 16 seconds.

Sheppard missed another from deep with six seconds left, Kai Crutchfield snapped the rebound and time ran out on the Hokies.

Cunane finished with 22 points, Kayla Jones scored 12, and Jada Boyd scored 11 for the Wolfpack (26-3, 17-1 ACC).

For the Hokies  (21-8, 13-5), who finished in a three-way third-place tie but fifth seed position behind North Carolina and Notre Dame, Elizabeth Kitley scored 18, and Aisha Sheppard scored 16

.

No. 4 Louisville took the second seed pounding No. 14 Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., 86-64, as Hailey Van Lith and Kianna Smith each scored 20 points for the Cardinals (25-3, 16-2) with Van Lith connecting on 4-of-5 from deep.

 Emily Engstler had a double double with 17 points and 10 rebounds and Chelsie Hall also connected in double figures with 13 points.

Notre Dame (21-7, 13-5), which will be the third seed in breaking the three-way tie for the slot, got pounded on the boards 40-22 by Louisville.

Olivia Miles scored 13 for the Irish, while Maya Dodson and Dara Mabrey each scored 12 points, and Sonia Citron scored 10.

No. 18 North Carolina worked its way to a fourth seed and double bye beating visiting Duke 74-46 in Chapel Hill.

Anya Poole and Alyssa Ustby each scored 15 points for the Tar Heels (23-5, 13-5), while Kennedy Todd-Williams scored 14, and Carlie Littlefield scored 10 with 10 rebounds for a double double for the former Princeton star who played there under UNC coach Courtney Banghart.

The Blue Devils (16-12, 7-11), under a first full season with Kara Lawson, got 14 points from Celeste Taylor and 11 from freshman Shayeann Day-Wilson.

No. 22 Georgia Tech won at Wake Forest 64-56 in Winston-Salem, N.C., as Lorela Cubaj got 18 points and 16 rebounds for the Yellowjackets (20-9, 11-7 ACC), who finished sixth, and Norea Hermosa scored 16, and off the bench Lotta-Maj Lahtinen scored 11 off the bench, and reserve Avyonce Carter scored 11.

Wake Forest (14-15, 4-14) got 14 points from Christina Morra while Niyah Becker scored 13, reserve Jewel Spear scored 11, and reserve Eise Williams scored 10 for the Deacons.

ACC Field Set

The tourney like several other Power 5 conferences, opens Wednesday at Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina and runs through its long-running home thru Greensboro, N.C., through Sunday.

NC State edged Louisville for the top seed and then in a three-way jam for third, Notre Dame took the third slot and UNC the fourth, edging Virginia Tech.

Wednesday

First Round (RSN-TV)

1 p.m. No. 12 Syracuse vs. No. 13 Clemson; 3:30 p.m. No. 10 Duke vs. No. 15 Pittsburgh; 6:30 p.m. No. 11 Wake Forest vs. No. 14 Virginia.

Thursday

Second Round (RSN-TV)

11 a.m. No. 5 Virginia Tech vs. (12-13) Syracuse-Clemson winner; 2 p.m. No. 8 Boston College vs. No. 9 Florida State; 6 p.m. No. 7 Miami vs. (10-15) Duke-Boston College; 8 p.m. No. 6 Georgia Tech vs. (11-14) Wake Forest-Virginia.

Friday 

Quarterfinals (RSN-TV)

11 a.m. No. 4 North Carolina vs. (5-12-13) Virginia Tech-Syracuse-Clemson winner;  2 p.m. No. 1 NC State vs. (8-9) Boston College-Florida State winner; 6 p.m. No. 2 Louisville vs. (7-10-15) Miami-Duke-Boston College winner; 8 p.m. No. 3 Notre Dame vs. (6-11-14) Georgia Tech-Wake Forest-Virginia.

Saturday

Semifinals (ACCN-TV)

12 p.m. (4-5-12-13) North Carolina-Virginia Tech-Syracuse-Clemson winner vs. (1-8-9) NC State-Boston College-Florida State winner.

2:30 p.m. (2-7-10-15) Louisville-Miami-Duke-Pittsburgh winner vs. (3-6-11-14) Notre Dame-Georgia Tech-Wake Forest-Virginia winner.

Sunday

Championship (ESPN)

12 p.m. (4-5-12-13-1-8-9) North Carolina-Virginia Tech-Syracuse-Clemson-NC State-Boston College-Florida State winner vs. (2-7-10-15-3-6-11-14) Louisville-Miami-Duke-Pittsburgh-Notre Dame-Georgia Tech-Wake Forest-Virginia winner.

And that’s the ACC report.

   

The Guru’s SEC Tournament Report: South Carolina, LSU, Tennessee, Ole Miss Claim Top Four Seeds

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Since this is the first of another multi-blog report day, the Guru interrupts himself to update the Ivy situation reported 24 hours ago involving the postponement of the Harvard-Princeton game this past weekend due to Covid protocol issues within the Princeton program.

The makeup date will be Sunday at noon at Harvard hosting Princeton and the Harvard game involving Dartmouth will now be played at Harvard on Friday night instead of Saturday at 7.

So going into the last weekend with the fourth and final berth for the Ivy Tourney to be played a week from Friday and Saturday at Harvard, at this hour, Penn is 7-6 league-wise and Harvard is 6-6.

The Quakers have the tough task of needing to beat the seemingly unbeatable Tigers on the road in Jadwin Gym to go to 8-6. Harvard would then need to sweep the Crimson’s final weekend and keep the tie-breaker that would be in their place of a split with Yale, while Penn got swept by the Bulldogs.

With Penn facing the Princeton hurdle, the other thing would be, and stranger things have happened, like Cornell beating the Crimson recently, for Harvard to lose to Princeton and Dartmouth to land 6-8, and knocked out of the Crimson’s own tournament.

We now return to the compilation of blogs covering Sunday’s daily competition and the setups of the front end of the 32 conference tournaments that will begin this week and last through a week from Sunday to crown 32 automatic qualifiers of NCAA bids, to whom the tournament committee will add 36 at-large invitations, an increase of four, and present the newly overall expanded field of 68, matching the men’s total.

But the reality is when it comes to jockeying for best position to get best position, the tournament to the tournament was well under way this weekend, across three days of thrilling competition as the regular season began coming to an end and conference members got their last chances to land premium seeds, especially in the Power 5 groups and a few others.

In the Southeastern Conference, several thrilling games saw Dawn Staley’s Associated Press top-ranked South Carolina squad, which had gotten blunted just once overall across the entire season, finish up with a 71-57 triumph on the road at Ole Miss in Oxford.

Destanni Henderson tied a career mark with 23 points and national player of the year candidate Aliyah Boston had 15 points and 14 rebounds for her 21st straight double double, one behind DePaul freshman sensation Aneesah Morrow, who Sunday got her 23rd straight in a narrow win over Creighton to earn the fourth seed in this week’s Big East tournament.

The Gamecocks (27-1, 15-1 SEC) already clinched the top seed for this week’s tournament in Nashville, Tenn.

SC pulled away with a 12-0 run near the end of the game.

Shakira Austin, whose career began at Maryland,  had 20 points and seven rebounds for the Rebels (22-7, 10-6), 

Then down in Knoxville, No. 8 LSU, continuing the magical work under first-year coach Kim Mulkey after hired away from her long-running Baylor powerhouse, built a 14-point halftime lead and held on through a stirring surge from No. 16 Tennessee and finally closed off the rally and attempt to tie the game in Thompson-Bolling Arena with a steal from Khayla Pointer in the final five seconds for a 57-54 win and will go into the SEC tournament as the No. 2 seed while the Lady Vols (25-4, 13-3 SEC) will be No. 3 ahead of Ole Miss.

The Tigers (22-7, 11-5) were picked No. 8 in the preseason and are in the top two for the first time in 14 seasons since 2008.

“This group, I’ll tell you — I don’t know when it’s going to end, but they just grind and they just find ways to win,” Mulkey said.

“Jailin Cherry (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Pointer (12 points, 14 rebounds) each had double doubles, while Autumn Newby had 10 of her 12 points in the first quarter launching LSU to its rocket start.

The Lady Vols got 12 points and nine rebounds from Tamari Key, who scored 11 in the second half, while Rae Burrell scored 11, and Alexus Dye scored 10.

“The most important thing is how we started the game,” Mulkey said. “Confident. Shot the ball good, but defended good as well. I thought the only way we could come in here and win under some circumstances out of our control was if we rebounded the ball.”

Said Tennessee coach Kellie Harper, “it’s not how you draw up the last game of the regular season. It’s not how you want your Senior Day to end. I thought to start the game we were a little bit on our heels.

“We gave up 22 points in that first quarter, and looking back, that’s where the difference of the game was. I’m proud of our team for continuing to fight. We played hard, gave ourselves a chance at the end, for sure.

“This is one of those games that you’ve got to be better for 40 minutes, and we just weren’t able to do that to start the game. Obviously, as a coach, you always want more, but I am proud of this team.”

Elsewhere on the SEC last day of the regular season, Missouri, the only team to beat South Carolina to date, ran another short-handed day to upset No. 15 Florida 78-73 on the road, while co-No. 25 Georgia held off Texas A&M for a 67-58 victory at home in Athens.

SEC Tournament Seeds Set

The schedule is all set for the mini-NCAA tournament that is always the SEC, this week running from Wednesday through Sunday’s championship for the automatic bid.

Here is the schedule for the week at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

Wednesday (Rounds 1-2-and-Quarterfinals on the SEC Network)

First Round

11 a.m. No. 13 Vanderbilt vs. No. 12 Texas A&M; 1:25 p.m.: No. 14 Auburn vs. No. 11 Alabama.

Thursday

Second Round

12 p.m. No. 9 Missouri vs No. 8 Arkansas; 2:25 p.m. No. 5 Florida vs. (13-12) Vanderbilt-Texas A&M winner; 6 p.m. No. 10 Mississippi State vs. No. 7 Kentucky; 8:25 p.m. No. 6 Georgia vs. (14-11) Auburn-Alabama winner.

Friday

Quarterfinals

12 p.m. No. 1 South Carolina vs. (9-8) Missouri-Arkansas winner; 2:25 p.m. No. 4 Ole Miss vs. (5-13-12) Florida-Vanderbilt-Texas A&M winner; 6 p.m. No. 2 LSU vs. (10-7) Mississippi State-Kentucky winner; 8:25 p.m. No. 3 Tennessee vs. (6-14-11) Georgia-Auburn-Alabama winner.

Saturday (ESPNU)

Semifinals

4 p.m. (1-9-8) South Carolina-Missouri-Arkansas winner vs. (4-5-13-12) Ole Miss-Florida-Vanderbilt-Texas A&M winner

6:25 p.m. (2–10-7) LSU-Mississippi State-Kentucky winner vs. (3-6-14-11) Tennessee-Georgia-Auburn-Alabama winner

Sunday (ESPN2)

Championship

(1-9-8-4-5-13-12) South Carolina-Missouri-Arkansas-Ole Miss-Florida-Vanderbilt-Texas A&M winner vs. (2-10-7-3-6-14-11)  LSU-Mississippi State-Kentucky-Tennessee-Georgia-Auburn-Alabama winner

And that’s the SEC report.

  

The Guru Daily Report: D2-Chestnut Hill Finishes 1st in CACC South; Rider Wins; Temple Loses; Toledo Clinches Outright MAC Crown

By Mel Greenberg @womhoops

This covers everything not part of conference breakout blogs

We start with the locals and in Division 2 in a first place showdown after slipping back to a tie heading into the last day of the season, on Saturday, on the road, Lauren Crim nailed a three-point shot with five seconds remaining to  give Chestnut Hill College a 63-60 win over perennial Central Collegiate Athletic Conference (CACC) South Division USciences at the Bobby Morgan Arena in Southwest Philadelphia.

It’s the first-ever South Division Title for the Griffiths (24-4, 16-2 CACC) in a year they dominated heading into the first round of the conference tournament Tuesday night.

The Devils finished second at 20-4 overall and 15-3.

It’s most CACC wins in any season by any women’s program at Chestnut Hill and only the second time, the other in 2017-18 that the Griffiths have swept USciences for the season coming as the end coming for the Devils athletic department with the school soon to merge with Division I Saint Joseph’s University.

In having the No. 1 seed, the Griffiths will open play Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Sorgenti Arena hosting Caldwell.

The winning shot was Crim’s sixth from deep in the contest on the way to scoring 20 points, shooting 7-for-10 overall, 6-for-7 from deep. Emily Chmiel had her 11th double double with 21 points and 10 rebounds, tying a program season record, while Cassie Sebold dealt six assists to go with her eight points. Bri Hewlett grabbed nine rebounds, while Lindsey Lane grabbed seven alongside her six points.

USciences had three chances to break from a tie in the last minute and then Kaitlyn Carter blocked Jess Huber’s shot after she had already scored 14 points.

The Griffiths called time, then brought the ball up court and ran the clock to 10 seconds before taking a second timeout. A third timeout was called to enable the ball to be inbounded along the baseline.

The ball them got to Crim for the game winner, though the Devils got a shot off to attempt a tie but it was off the mark.

There were 13 lead changes and five ties.

The semifinals and finals will be held March 5 and 6 with the winner getting an automatic bid to the NCAA Dvision II tournament.

Other games Tuesday night will have Jefferson meet Felician, USciences meet Domincan among the locals in the four contests.

Rider Beats St. Peter’s: Finishing at home on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, Rider rallied for a 57-50 win over St. Peter’s at a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) game in the Boncs’ Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J.

“Great win on our home floor,” said Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “The kids fed off the energy, no doubt about that.

“The tips and steals and deflections we were getting today, we were looking down the floor. We finished, Nay did a really great job finishing, and her teammates did a great job finding her. We did a really good defense on (Kendrea Williams), which helped a lot.

Rider had a season-high 11 blocks in the contest, while the Broncs held Williams to four points.

Lenaejha Evans had 16 points, Jessika Schiffer scored 15, and Makayla Firebaugh scored 11.

Finishing on the road, Rider goes to league-leader Fairfield on Thursday and on to Quinnipiac in Hamden, Conn.

Temple Falls to Tulane: The Owls fell to the Green Wave, which continued its recent surge through the American Athletic Conference, on Saturday winning 71-56 on Senior Day in Philadelphia at McGonigle Hall.

The game was the farewell local appearance for all-time scorer Mia Davis with Temple (12-13, 7-7 AAC), which, despite the loss to Tulane (20-7, 11-4), still has a chance for a bye in the conference tourney in two weeks in Fort Worth, Texas, at Dickey’s Arena.

“We’ve been in control of our destiny and we’ve been in every game but we’re still trying to get over the loss last Saturday here to UCF,” said Temple coach Tonya Cardoza. “We haven’t played that basketball so bad in a long while.”

Davis had a game-high 25 points and 11 rebounds, while Emani Mayo, another departing senior, had 10 points and five rebounds.

Temple finishes up Monday and Wednesday playing SMU in Texas, one a makeup game that was postponed from orginally scheduled up here.

Looking Ahead: Drexel continues to hone in on the top seed in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tourney, which will be held here at the Dragons’ Daskalakis Athletic Center in two weeks.

Both coach Amy Mallon’s squad and Delaware are holding senior days Sunday before finishing on the road next weekend.

Drexel hosts Elon, a team that nearly upset Delaware, Friday, at 2 p.m. Sunday, while the Blue Hens host William & Mary.

The Dragons need to win two of their final three to clinch the top seed.

This year the tables will be reversed going into the tournament from a year ago when Delaware won the regular season, sweeping the Dragons, before Drexel came back at Elon to win the automatic bid and second conference crown. So far Drexel has executed a sweep of the Blue Hens.

Nationally Noted: Toledo Wins Regular Season MAC: The Rockets rocked Eastern Michigan on the road 75-51 in Ypsilanti to claim the regular season crown of the Mid-American Conference. 

Quinesha Lockett had 16 points for Toledo (23-4, 17-1 MAC).

And that’s the daily blog for Sunday AMs. The Guru will again offer multi-blogs for Monday covering more conference setups coming later Sunday plus rounding up the CAA games of Drexel and Delaware, with Villanova part of what will be the Big East tournament setup blog.

The Guru PAC-12 Conference Tournament Report: No. 2 Stanford Escapes a Dent at Finish as Field Set For This Week

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

As solid and formidable as the PAC-12 was a year ago all the way up to two members playing for the national championship down in San Antonio at the Alamodome with Stanford winning over Arizona only No. 2 Stanford was solid more or less all year long with a perfect record into the conference tournament after escaping getting upended on the final day of the regular season on Saturday.

The league ended with three ranked teams going into the conference tournament this week at Las Vegas — the Associated Press women’s polling season has three more weeks counting this Monday — but Arizona took upsets, Oregon faded off injuries and Covid testing most of the way but came back to a tie for 25th at the last vote, and polling wise Oregon State, Colorado became also rans.

Yet with so many teams considered so close together, this week’s desert action looks to be quite exciting as teams try to enhance their at-large NCAA status.

But first, a look at Saturday’s action that wrapped it all up including the seeds.

On the verge of an upset all afternoon at home in Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, of all places, Stanford reversed its fortunate back to the plus side as Anna Wilson stole an inbound pass with 1:05 left and scored for the go-ahead points and Stanford ended up with a perfect season in conference play off a 63-56 victory over visiting Washington.

“Fantastic steal,” said Hall of Fame Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer who extended her Division I women’s win record to 1,150, ten ahead of UConn’s Geno Auriemma, whose No. 7 Huskies will wrap up their regular season in the Big East on Sunday afternoon hosting Providence.

“To me, she’s the Defensive Player of the Year,” VanDerveer said of Wilson. “It’s usually her defending and forcing bad shots. That was a big steal and she made the layup.”

Cameron Bink scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Cardinal (25-3, 16-0 PAC-12), while Lexie Hull scored 15 points.

Washington (7-15, 2-12) got 16 points from Lauren Schwartz. 

“I’m proud of the way we kept battling,” said Washington coach Tina Langley, a former Maryland assistant who had success at Rice as a head coach and now is trying to turn around the Huskys’ fortunates. “This is about getting better every day and we’re committed to that.”

No. 12 Arizona, which shot up as high as fourth earlier in the season and then bounced in and out of the top 10 like a rubber band.

On Saturday, the Wildcats rode Taylor Chavez and her five three-pointers to a 68-59 win over Southern Cal at home in Tucson while Shaina Pellington scored 14, Lauren Ware had 12, witgh 11 rebounds and Sam Thomas scored 10 for Arizona (20-6, 10-6 PAC-12) while missing leading scorer Cate Reese with an injury.

She got her in last weekend in the loss to Washington State and her return has not been made known.

The Wildcats will get a first-round bye in the tournament.

Adia Barnes is the first coach in the program’s history to gain four straight 20-win seasons.

Alyson Miura scored 19 points for Southern Cal (12-15, 5-12).

Oregon, back in the poll with a tie for 25th last week surged in the fourth quarter for a 73-65 win on the road at Utah in Salt Lake City.

The Ducks (11-6) picked up the second seed and a first-round bye.

“We talked yesterday about how this game is hugely important to us,” said head coach Kelly Graves. “We knew that if we won we were a 2-seed. And you could tell by the way the team was on the bus and in film session that these kids were locked in.”

Sydney Parrish had 18 points for Oregon, leading four other starters who also scored in double figures.

Elsewhere finishing up ahead of the tournament Colorado at home cruised over Oregon State 60-45, UCLA upset host Arizona State 59-52, and Washington State won at California 73-67.

PAC-12 Field Set

The pairings are set for the PAC-12 tourney to begin Wednesday at Michelob ULTRA Arena (Mandalay Bay Events Center) in Las Vegas.

Stanford’s unbeaten 16-0conference record gave the No. 2 Cardinal the top seed and a bye while Oregon (11-6) and Washington State (11-6)  tied for second but the Ducks got the two seed off a sweep in the season series. The No. 3 Cougars earned a program record with 12 conference wins. Their 19-9 mark set an overall win mark for the squad in the NCAA era.

Arizona (10-6) got the other first-round bye.

All the rounds through the semifinals will air on the PAC-12 network with the title game Sunday on ESPN2.

Wednesday, March 2

First Round

No. 5 Colorado vs. No. 12 Washington at 3 p.m.; No. 8 Oregon State vs. No. 9 Arizona State at 5:30 p.m.; No. 7 UCLA vs. No. 10 Southern Cal at 9 p.m.; and No. 6 Utah vs. No. 11 California at 11:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 3

Quarterfinals

No. 4 Arizona vs. (5-12) Colorado-Washington winner at 3 p.m.; No. 1 Stanford vs. (8-9) Oregon State-Arizona State winner at 5:30 p.m.; No. 2 Oregon vs. (7-10) UCLA-Southern Cal winner at 9 p.m.; No. 3 Washington State vs. (6-11) Utah-California winner at 11:30 p.m.

Friday, March 4

Semifinals

(4-5-12) Arizona-Colorado-Washington winner vs. (1-8-9) Stanford-Oregon State-Arizona State winner at 9 p.m.; (2-7-10) Oregon-UCLA-Southern Cal winner vs; (3-6-11) Washington State-Utah-California winner at 11:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 5

Championship on ESPN2 at 6 p.m.

(4-5-12-1-8-9) Arizona-Colorado-Washington-Stanford-Oregon State-Arizona State winner vs. (2-7-10-3-6-11) Oregon-UCLA-Southern Cal-Washington State-Utah-California winner.

Other Tournament Fields to Be Decided for This Week

The Big Ten will be decided Sunday after locals Penn State hosts Minnesota at 2 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center and Rutgers travels to Illinois while No. 6 Michigan goes to No. 21 Iowa; and several other games are played.

Villanova is at Xavier at 2 p.m. in the Big East while DePaul is at Creighton at noon. If Villanova wins or loses and Creighton wins, then Villanova is a three-seed but if DePaul and ‘Nova wins, the Wildcats are a two-seed. Elsewhere No. 7 Connecticut in the Big East hosts Providence in another test for Paige Bueckers.

With No. 17 North Carolina playing Duke; No. 4 Louisville playing Nationally-ranked Notre Dame; N.C. State playing Virginia Tech, the ACC will also be set.

The SEC also gets set following such games as No. 1 South Carolina at Ole Miss; Tennessee vs. LSU; Florida hosting Virginia.

On Tuesday the Big South and Horizon begin; as do on Wednesday the the Sun Belt, Atlantic Sun and Ohio Valley. The West Coast begins Thursday. The Patriot and Summit League begin Saturday.

And that’s the PAC-12 Report with some additions to keep things together.

The Guru Atlantic 10 Report: La Salle and Saint Joseph’s Finish Winners As Dayton Claims Top Seed

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

La Salle picked for eighth in the preseason claimed a win at George Washington in the nation’s capital in the Explorers’ final game of the regular season to earn a fifth seed in this week’s Atlantic 10 tournament while Saint Joseph’s claimed a win at Duquesne in Pittsburgh and will be seventh.

The tournament opens Wednesday and Thursday, mirroring the A-10 men’s format with split days over the first two days at the 76ers’ CHASE Fieldhouse in Wilmington, Del.

First the wrap up of the locals.

After the Explorers jumping to a 16-7 lead in George Washington’s Smith Center, the host Colonials got back it and were tied 54-54 with 3:51 left in regulation and still alive with a 58-55 deficit with 23 seconds left when Claire Jacobs and Kayla Spruill each made a pair of foul shots to seal a 62-55 victory.

Spruill led La Salle (16-11, 9-6 fifth) with 18 points, shooting 5-of-13 and had six rebounds, while Gabby Crawford scored 10. The outcome enabled the Explorers to go into the conference tournament with their longest win streak of the season at four.

Coach Mountain MacGillivray was hopeful of earning a perk with the fifth seed.

“I’m hoping it might be good enough to merit Spruill player of the year consideration,” he said. “She just finds a way to score night after night.”

La Salle has a three-game win streak in the series with the Colonials (11-17, 4-11).

Maxine Engel had 15 points for GWU, while Sheshlanie Laureano had 13.

Depending how many rounds La Salle lasts, they may merit a WNIT bid but however the outcome results moving forward, the outlook is right for next year with nearly everyone back.

Meanwhile in Pittsburgh, Saint Joseph’s grabbed a 73-68 win at Duquesne (11-17, 6-10) as freshman Mackenzie Smith had a career-high 26 points on 7-of-13 from the field, rookie Taylor Brugler scored 15, freshman Laila Fair scored 12, and Katie Jekot scored 10, dealt eight assists, and grabbed five rebounds for the Hawks (11-16, 7-8, seventh).

A-10 Tourney Set

Dayton defeated Rhode Island Saturday to claim the No. 1 seed forecast for the Flyers by the league coaches at the beginning of the season.

The tournament gets under way at the Chase Fieldhouse in Wilmington, Del., near the Amtrak Station, on Wednesday and lasts through Sunday’s title game on 2 p.m. on ESPN2 to determine the champion and automatic NCAA tournament bid to the expanded (by four) 68-team field announced Sunday night, March 13, at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

Double byes go to the top four seeds directly into Friday’s quarterfinals: 1. Dayton (23-4, 14-1), 2. Rhode Island (12-2 both losses to Dayton), 3. Massachusetts (11-4), and 4. VCU (9-5), which won the event last year.

ESPN+ will air games on Wednesday through Friday, followed by the CBS Sports Network on Saturday for the semifinals at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and then the title game.

The 5-10 seeds have a single bye into Thursday.

Wednesday’s pair of game airs at 1:30 p.m. No. 12 George Washington vs. No. 13 St. Bonaventure; and 4 p.m. No. 11 Saint Louis vs. No. 14 George Mason on ESPN+.

Thursday games list as 11 a.m.: No. 8 Richmond vs. No. 9 Davidson; 1:30 p.m.: No. 5 La Salle vs. (12-13) George Washington-St. Bonaventure winner; 5 p.m.: No. 7 Saint Joseph’s vs. No. 10 Duquesne; 7:30 p.m.: No. 6 Fordham vs. (11-14) Saint Louis vs. George Mason winner. All on ESPN+.

Friday Quarterfinals games: 11 A.M.: No. 1 Dayton vs. vs. (8-9) Richmond-Davidson winner; 1:30 p.m.: No. 4 VCU vs. (5-12-13) La Salle-George Washington-St. Bonaventure winner; 5 p.m.: No. 2 Rhode Island vs. (7-10) Saint Joseph’s-Duquesne winner; 7:30 No. 3 Massachusetts vs. (6-11-14) Fordham-Saint Louis-George Mason winner All on ESPN+.

Saturday semifinals games: 11 a.m. (1-8-9) Dayton-Richmond-Davidson winner vs. (4-5-12-13) VCU-La Salle-George Washington-St. Bonaventure winner; 1:30 p.m. (2-7-10) Rhode Island-Saint Joseph’s-Duquesne winner vs. (3-6-11-14) Massachusetts-Fordham-Saint Louis-George Mason winner All on CBS Sports.

Sunday’s Championship 2 p.m.: (1-8-9-4-5-12-13) Dayton-Richmond-Davidson--VCU-La Salle-George Washington-St. Bonaventure winner vs. (2-7-10-3-6-11-14) Rhode Island-Saint-Joseph’s-Duquesne-Massachusetts-Fordham-Saint Louis-George Mason. ESPN2.

That is the A-10 Tourney Report.      

The Guru Ivy Conference Report: Positive Covid Tests on Princeton Disrupt Ivy Finish With Fourth and Last Seed Still Still Unclaimed For Conference Tourney

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Picking up where Courtney Banghart left off before she departed for North Carolina and the Powerful 5 Conference world of the ACC, Carla Berube has had Princeton continuing to roar through the Ivy League through recent challenger Penn, shake off in quick order a conference tourney and then a cancelled season and then back on track fending off a new approach from Columbia.

But what humans belonging to the other seven of the Ancient Eight have been unable to do, nature has jumped in with a monkey wrench to bring the Tigers to a dead stop and in process toss a bunch of questions needing answers soon relating to the upcoming four-team Ivy tournament at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass.

All this because coronavirus tests within the Princeton program began producing positive results with nothing to say no more are on the way.

So while Yale joined the Tigers and Columbia as the third team officially in the women’s field Saturday after whipping Cornell 56-40 at home in the Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn., the key Harvard game at Princeton was postponed twice on the weekend, left with a mere notice at the Ivy website that the game was off with a makeup time to be determined.

The Princeton website noted the postponement and said both schools are coordinating with the Ivy League to schedule a replacement date, what is basically the standard speak part of the protocol drill anytime postponements due to positive results have been announced.

It lists the Penn game as the next scheduled game on Friday night at Jadwin Gym, but with at the moment it is unknown among the laymen whether the all-clear has kicked in, there is no guarantee that game is going to happen until it actually happens.

As an anonymous source familiar with the Princeton situation said, “but if the chance exists that more results will keep coming up the way they’ve been, how do you know when to start counting the required five days of clear testing?” 

Penn, meanwhile, in the Quakers’ final game of the season at home in The Palestra Saturday celebrated the local Ivy Senior Day in fine fashion, blasting Dartmouth 79-54. 

Among the missing parts still needed are the put-off Harvard-Princeton meeting, the Penn visit to Princeton this Friday at 7 p.m. in Jadwin Gym on ESPN News and Saturday’s Harvard at Dartmouth Gym at 2 p.m. in Hanover, N.H.

The assumption recently that was made on several predictions is that Penn and Harvard will tie 7-7 and Harvard will get the tiebreaker off a split with Yale while Harvard swept the Quakers.

But what made things not worth betting the entire household recently when it occurred was Harvard getting upset at Cornell.

And might Penn actually win the Princeton game, harking back to Mike McLaughlin’s first Ivy title when regular season results determined the champion and automatic NCAA bid. Princeton had whacked the Quakers in the first meeting of the season at The Palestra but with a first-ever tie going into the final day of the schedule, Penn pulled an upset at Jadwin Gym.

So considering this is the middle of the night when these posts are being written, stay tuned for new developments.

Meanwhile, off the games played, in Penn’s 79-54 victory, first off senior day, salutes pre-game went out to Kennedy Suttle, Meg Hair, Nikola Kovacikova, Mia Lakstigala, and manager Emily Eiler.

Hair had missed much of the season due to injury but got into the game and scored points.

With Penn’s record not good enough nor place in the Ivy standings for a WNIT bid baring the unforeseen, this was a true adios for the upper class.

Meanwhile Jordan Obi had a game-high 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Penn (12-13, 7-6 Ivy), which is for now listed in fourth place. Kayla Padillia scored 14, Lakstigala scored 12, while Silke Milliman scored eight, and Stina Almqvist scored seven.

On Dartmouth’s (3-22, 2-11) side, Emma Koch was the only player in double figures, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds for a double double.

Meanwhile, in the Columbia game, the Lions at home in the Schiller Court at Levin Gymnasium off Broadway on New York City’s Upper West Side trounced Brown 85-56, bouncing back from the similar style loss to Princeton at home on Wednesday.

The triumph gave the home team (20-5, 11-2 Ivy), both losses to Princeton, it’s first 20th win season as a Division I member, and the overall first since the 1985-86 team went 21-6, advancing to the Division III regionals.

“It’s great when you can wrap up, at home, a 20-win season,” said Columbia coach Megan Griffith, a native of King of Prussia and alum, who previously spent a long stint on the staff of Banghart at Princeton. “It was great to see contributions from everyone today, as well. I think our team, one through 15, really bought into the game plan … We talked about winning all four quarters and we really did that today.

“It’s the second time this year that we’ve won all four quarters. … I was proud of them tonight — 33 field goals and 28 assisted is pretty good too.”

A statement of the future of the program is Mikayla Markham was the only departing senior.

The win total enabled Markham, as a senior captain, depart with more Ivy League wins than any other Columbia team in the program’s 36-year history.

“It’s awesome to see our work pay off and to get more people one our train here,” she said. “It feels really good just seeing all our hard work pay off over the years.

Abby Hsu had 18 points and shot 5-of-6 from deep for the Lions, while Kaitlyn Davis scored 14 and grabbed 12 rebounds, Jaida Patrick get 13 points with eight rebounds.

In getting the No. 2 seed, Columbia at worst is guaranteed a bid to the WNIT, whose return to a 64-team field will be announced following the NCAA field, which is at 8 p.m. on March 13.

Brown (6-19, 1-12) got 22 points from Isabella Mauricio, while Kyla Jones scored 12.

Columbia on Friday finishes at Cornell at 6 p.m. in Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y.

In the Yale game, the Bulldogs beat visiting Cornell 56-40 on their Senior Day in which Alex Cade, Robin Gallagher, and Roxanne Nesbitt were saluted.

Christen McCann scored 14 and Jenna Clark 10, for Yale (15-10, 8-5 IVY), while Kaya Ingram scored 12 for Cornell (9-15, 4-9) and Shannon Muroy scored 11 as a reserve.

Yale finishes Saturday at Brown in Providence, R.I.

And that’s the Ivy Conference report.

The Guru Report: Drexel, Villanova, and Delaware Sweep While UConn Wins Big Celebrating the Return of Paige Bueckers and No. 15 Maryland Edges No. 10 Indiana

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — When Drexel met William & Mary in the first of two down in Williamsburg, Va., at the end of last month, the Dragons escaped with a double overtime victory to keep alive their long win streak at that time in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).

The second time around up here in the Daskalakis Athletic Center Friday night things went much better against the Tribe and the outcome was decided much quicker on the way to a 63-43 victory to hold Drexel’s re-gained one-game lead at the start of the final two weekends of regular season competition.

“I was really happy with our start tonight, to come out and set the tone defensively from the tap as a goal of ours,” said Drexel coach Amy Mallon. “Drexel basketball, what we do on the defensive end is we limit and contest the looks they are getting, but on the offensive end we get a good shot.

“We do that by moving the ball and making sure we hit that open person.”

Drexel (22-3,l 14-1 CAA) gained a season sweep on Delaware and back to sole possession of first place down in Newark last Sunday and needs to win two of its remaining three games earn the No. 1 seed in the CAA tournament the Dragons will host in two weekends to pursue a second straight championship and automatic bid to the NCAA tourney.

The home team defensively smothered the Tribe (10-16, 5-10) in the second and third period, holding them to five points and eight points consecutively.

“When you play defense like that and have that be the result, that’s what you’re looking to do,” Mallon explained. “That sets the momentum for you. When we start out not on the right tone defensively, you can see it affect our offense, and vice versa. When we are not making shots, our defense tends to lack in areas.

“In the second and third quarter, to give up five points and eight points, that was something we talked about even at halftime.”

William & Mary’s top scorer Riley Casey was held to four points and failed to hit one from deep, a far cry from the earlier meeting between the two teams when Casey scored 24 points.

Hannah Nihill was one short of her career steals with four steals, while Tessa Brugler blocked three shots.

“I like to protect the rim and like my teammates to know they can trust me if they get beat on defense, help them when they need it,” Brugler said. “It makes them more comfortable defending the perimeter.”

Brugler was 8-for-12 for 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Keishana Washington, who reached 40 in their last meeting, scored 20. Nihill scored 12, and dealt eight assists, one short of her career-high. 

“We got off to a really good start,” Brugler said. “That helps with our confidence by being able to keep moving on offense, and that makes it harder for the other team to guard all five of us when we are moving.”

The disparity enable Mallon once again to give the full roster playing time and increase the experience of the bench.

Sunday is Senior Day at 2 p.m., hosting Elon and while it is bittersweet, with the CAA tourney coming here it’s not farewell.

“I think we are right where we need to be,” Mallon said. “And I said to the seniors I am going to squeeze every ounce of whatever you have in you, out for the tournament before your careers are over, every say.”

Elon will be coming here Sunday having given Delaware a handful before the Blue Hens prevailed 65-61 Friday morning at home on Education Day.

The Blue Hens’ (19-6, 13-2) only two losses in CAA play were the ones here and down in Newark to the Dragons.

The Phoenix (15-10, 7-8) had a five-game win streak snapped Friday morning.

“We put 40 minutes on our board today, from start to finish!” said Delaware coach Natasha Adair. “For Elon, they had some people back — Evonna McGill and Ariana Nance are back — those are two key starters for them that provide instant offensive for them. We knew this was going to be a dog fight.”

The game was tight down the stretch with Delaware outscoring Elon 10-5 over the final 1:19 to claim the four-point triumph.

Jasmine Dickey, a semifinalist for the Becky Hammon mid-major player of the year award, scored 25 points for the Blue Hens and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Lizzie O’Leary had 15 points and a pair of steals, and while Ty Battle scored 11 and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Elon’s McGill scored 21 points, while Brie Perpignan scored 12 points.

Tyler Treadore scored 11 points.

Delaware finishes up Sunday with its Senior Day hosting William & Mary at 1 p.m.

Towson continued to hold the third spot, on Friday defeating Hofstra 73-50 at home in suburban Baltimore as Alie Kubek scored 18 points and Aleah Nelson scored 16, while Kylie Kornegay-Lucas had eight points and 11 rebounds.

The triumph set a season-win record for the Tigers (21-5, 12-3 CAA), while Hofstra fell to 6-17 overall and 3-12 in the conference.

Siegrist Passes 30 Again as Villanova Romps: The Wildcats did it with offense and defense finishes up its last regular season on the road this weekend beginning with a 72-36 win over Butler in the Big East Friday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Maddy Siegrist exploded again for Villanova (20-7, 14-4 Big East) this time scoring 31 points, shooting 13-of-18 from the field, and five for eight from beyond the arc. Lior Garzon scored 19.

Celena Taborn scored 12 for Butler (1-25, 0-17), which had yet to win a Big East game with one game remaining Sunday.

Villanova has won 12 of 13 and 17 of 19 with 21 seasons of 20 wins before the Big East tournament and Denise Dillon has combined win seven 20-win seasons in 19 years as a head coach at Drexel and her alma mater at Villanova, the last two with the Wildcats.

Siegrist has scored 30 or more points in six of her last nine games. On Friday she moved into third place on the Wildcats career scoring charts past Trish Juhline with 1,688 points, below just the late Nancy Bernhardt and Shelly Pennefather, which baring injury or other mishap will likely come next season.

On Sunday Villanova finishes at Xavier at 2 p.m. in Cincinnati ahead of next weekend’s Big East tournament at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn.

Meanwhile, DePaul was upset at home by Seton Hall 94-90 in Wintrtust Arena in Chicago dropping the Blue Demons to 21-9 overall and 13-6 in the Big East. This means the worst Villanova can finish is third and if DePaul wins at Creighton on Sunday the Wildcats will finish second by a half game.

Sonya Morris had 28 points celebrating her Senior Night for DePaul will freshman Aneesah Morrow had 16 points and 15 rebounds, her 22nd straight double double and 25th overall, best in the nation.

Only three other players have scored 20 or more double doubles in a row in NCAA history though a fourth came through this week with Aliyah Boston of top-ranked South Carolina.

Lexi Held had 11 points and seven assists and Deja Church had 11 points.

Lauren Park Lane had 31 points, 17 in the third quarter, for Seton Hall (16-11, 11-8).

DePaul is Creighton at noon on Sunday at noon.

Meanwhile, the other Big East and national news Friday night was the return of No. 7 UConn’s Paige Bueckers, the consensus national player of the year as a freshman who missed all but six games this season after a knee injury.

The native of Minneapolis scored eight points in 12 minutes in a 93-38 wipeout at home in Hartford over St. John’s in the XL Center.

“It’s been a mental challenge for sure, a physical challenge as well,” Bueckers said. “But I’m just so excited and I don’t think words can explain how excited I am to be out there.”

Freshman Azzi Fudd had 19 points for UConn (21-5, 15-1), while Aaliyah Edwards scored 16, and Christyn Williams, Olivia Nelson-Ododa and freshman Caroline Ducharme each scored 13 points.

The Red Storm (11-17, 7-11) got nine points each from Camree Clegg and Kadaja Bailey.

“I thought it was what it was,” Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma said of Bueckers’ performance after he improved his runnerup all-time victory total to 1,140 just nine behind the record 1,149 held by Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, whose Cardinal finishes its Pac-12 season Saturday. UConn hosts Providence Sunday.

“I expected what I expected. I didn’t expect her to go out there and be bad. I think it was great. I didn’t expect her to play for 30 minutes. I knew there were going to be some plays that she was going to make that other kids on our team have a hard time making. She got just enough feet back under her. We see how she does (Saturday) and Sunday.

“At one point in the game, I asked her, `How is it? She obviously was excited, ecstatic, and beaming that she is back playing basketball. It was in a game that was a fun game to play in, for the most part.

“I don’t think there is any way that St. John’s is reflective of the type of team that they are. Tonight, was one of those games, that is what we were (reflective of the team.).

Added Bueckers, “It’s been tough. Mentally. Physically. I’ve never had to miss out on a season for an injury before so that was definitely new. I think with me, it doesn’t take a village, it takes villages with how hard and hard-headed stubborn I am.

“Both my doctors, our athletic trainer, our strength coach, all of my teammates and coaches, I am just super grateful for them and all they’ve done for me. Just keeping me positigve and just being there for me whenever I need them.”

Bueckers’ first basket came on a buzzer beater.

“It won’t be me if it wasn’t something extra,” she said. “It was a lot of fun. The way we’ve handled adversity has been really inspiring.”

Said Fudd of Bueckers’ return, “I really think that we have had a different kind of energy about us since Paige has been back.”

This is the first time UConn has been at full strength since early December.

Nationally Noted: In the one game of note beyond the return of Bueckers with UConn, in the logjam at the top that is the Big Ten, on Friday night, No. 13 Maryland upset No. 10 Indiana 67-64 at home in the IXFINITY Center in College Park, Md., and clinched a top four seed in next week’s Big Ten tournament, precise seeding within two through four to be determined Sunday after the final games.

Angel Reese had 20 points for the Terrapins (21-7, 13-4 Big Ten), while Diamond Miller scored 16 and Katie Benzan scored 10 and hit a baby jumper with 11.8 seconds left in regulation to seal the win over the Hoosiers (19-7, 11-15).

The win gained a split with Indiana and was Maryland coach Brenda Frese’s 25th win over a Top 10 team in 20 years coaching the Terrapins. The Hoosiers beat the Terrapins for the first time ever early this season.

Grace Berger scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Indiana, while Ali Patberg scored 13 in what was the third straight loss for the Hoosiers following a sweep in both arenas last weekend by Iowa.

“This game is going to be one we’ll always remember,” Frese said. “A really special one when that really sums up our season. When you talk about the adversity we had to play through this game, I thought we set the tone early with our defense, with our rebounding and really taking take care of the basketball and we had to do all that. This team is battled-tested. They didn’t even flinch when the game was close.”

Looking Ahead: Locally, on Saturday, Temple will try to snap out of a losing streak in its last home game Saturday on Senior Day when the Owls host Tulane at 2 p.m. in McGonigle Hall in an American Athletic Conference game. Penn likewise wraps up the Ivy home schedule hosting Dartmouth at 2 p.m. in The Palestra  and then finishes next Friday at Princeton, which on Saturday (today) hosts Harvard at 2 p.m. 

Rider hosts St. Peter’s at 2 p.m. in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, while on the road in the Atlantic 10 finishing up, St. Joseph’s is at Duquesne in Pittsburgh and La Salle is at George Washington. Lehigh hosts Lafayette in the Patriot League.

Nationally, in the Pac-12 Saturday, No. 2 Stanford hosts Washington at 3 p.m., while at the same time Oregon is at Utah, Southern Cal at 2 p.m. is at Utah, UCLA is at Arizona State.

In the Atlantic 10, Rhode Island is at Dayton for a chance to split the series and tie for first in the Atlantic 10 at 1 p.m.

Buffalo is at Kent State at 1 p.m. and Toledo is at Eastern Michigan at 2 p.m. in the Mid-American Conference.

In the Big 12, Texas Tech is at Iowa State at 2 p.m., Kansas is at Baylor at 3 p.m., and TCU is at Texas at 8 p.m.

Locally on Sunday some of which repeats, Villanova is at Xavier, Drexel hosts Elon while Delaware hosts William & Mary, in the Big Ten, Penn State hosts Minnesota, while Rutgers is at Illinois.

And that’s the report.

 

 

The Guru Report: Princeton Clinches Ivy Title Tie While Penn Stays in the Race and La Salle Wins an A-10 Thriller

By Mel Greenberg @womhopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — Though Courtney Banghart has moved on to build a new force at North Carolina in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the force she built at Princeton in the Ivy League continues to thrive under Carla Berube who previously gained her familiarity with powerhouses playing for UConn at the start of the Huskies’ domination of the Big East Conference and then as a Division III coach at Tufts for 17 years before Banghart’s departure three seasons ago.

The Tigers claimed a sweep with its second lopsided triumph over the new kid on the block Wednesday night, a 73-53 lopsided win over host Columbia at the second-place Lions’ Levien Gym off Broadway in New York’s Upper West Side to claim a share of the regular season Ivy title and the No. 1 seed in the four-team each league men’s and women’s tourneys in two weeks at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass.

Columbia this season had replaced Penn as the prime challenger via standings record and having previously spent a long stint on Banghart’s staff prior to returning to her alma mater, Lions coach Megan Griffith, a native of King of Prussia, Pa., knew what was necessary for the New Yorkers to claim arrival of the equal to Princeton (20-4, 12-0 Ivy).

The rebuild has been impressive but unless the third time is the charm in the tourney, the best at the moment for Columbia (19-5, 10-2) to claim is best of the rest of the Ancient Eight.

Princeton bolted away from the outset and led by as many as 30 points in the first half.

In this one, Kaitlyn Chen scored 27 for the Tigers, while Grace Stone scored 19 points while Ellie Mitchell grabbed 13 rebounds. 

It’s the 16th time Princeton will finish ahead of the Ivy pack, a status that was good enough for an NCAA automatic bid until six seasons ago when the Ivy presidents became the last to ok a conference tourney. It’s also the 14th time the Tigers reached 20 wins on the season.

That span saw the Tigers several times become the only Ivy team to ever earn a ranking in the Associated Press women’s poll as well as become the sole league team to receive an at-large NCAA bid.

Columbia’s Kaitlyn Davis scored 17 points, while Abbey Hsu scored 13 and the Lions to come within 15 points in the third period but no more.

A huge crowd of 1,1913 filled Columbia’s venue at the game nationally televised on ESPNU.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t show up today,” said Griffith. “It’s a shame in this environment. Everyone came out supporting us. That’s a very good team. I’ve always supported that team. They have a lot of talented players but it’s not about talent, it’s about discipline, intelligence, and teamwork.

“We got the shots we wanted. For me it’s a lack of discipline. When you win, you walk around at a different level. Princeton’s players know that. All they’ve known is winning.”

The Lions on Saturday will host Brown at 2 p.m.

Penn, meanwhile, after a roller coaster season, is not going to go quietly.

The Quakers, playing a makeup game as did Princeton, used a 19-7 fourth quarter to win at Cornell 70-57 and stay in the playoff hunt.

Three of the spots are now claimed by Princeton, Columbia, and Yale.

Princeton can likely temporarily help Penn’s cause by winning at Harvard (Saturday 2 p.m.) with the Quakers’ needing to win at home the same day and time in The Palestra against Dartmouth.

That would give Mike McLaughlin’s team a one-game lead with one remaining.

Unfortunately, Penn’s last game the following week will be at Princeton, though a win in Jadwin Gym would gain the fourth and final seed if the Tigers swept the Crimson, even if Harvard beats Dartmouth in its final game.

Looking back when it’s all over, leads that got away in a recent home game with Yale as well as one with Harvard will have been where the damage occurred.

As for the details Wednesday in the Penn (11-13, 6-6 Ivy) win, Kayla Padillia scored 25, nailing four shots from deep against Cornell (9-14, 4-8), while Kennedy Suttle matched a career high with 17 rebounds, 11 on the offensive end, and Mia Lakstigala scored 16 points.

The game had 10 lead changes and six ties, while Penn led by as many as 13 in the contest.

La Salle Beats the Clock: A put back with less than a second on the clock by La Salle’s Claire Jacobs gave the Explorers a 67-66 victory over Duquesne at home in Tom Gola Arena, boosting them into fifth place ahead of Fordham, which was upset on the road by Richmond.

Precious Johnson had given Duquesne (11-16, 6-9 A-10) a one-point lead with seven seconds left in regulation. 

The Explorers (15-11, 8-6) advanced the ball and Gabby Crawford shot an attempted three-pointer but it missed. Jacobs got the rebound in the center of the lane, an d put the ball on the rim. The ball rolled on the rim then dropped through the net with the game winner with 0.1 second left.

“I saw the ball coming to me, and there was not much time to get a shot up either way,” Jacobs said. “It was exciting.”

Following the score the clock was reset to 0.2 but as the ball was thrown toward the rim, Jacobs caught the pass for her third steal as the final horn sounded.

With 20 seconds remaining, Duquesne led 64-63 but Molly Masciantonio stole the ball from Tess Myers, who fouled Masciantonio.

She hit both attempts from the line to put the Explorers up by win with 19.9 seconds left.

  

“We were going to foul, but I knew when the girl was coming using her left hand, I used my right to kick it out,” Masciantonio said. “And it was a good play if I made my foul shots and I did.”

La Salle, which finishes Saturday at George Washington in the nation’s capital, have won three straight.

“I think we are playing our best basketball right now,” said Explorers coach Mountain MacGillivray. “I think we are in a good spot. The team is supporting each other. They’re together, and that means a lot this time of year.”

Kayla Spruill scored 17 points, Jacobs scored 16, and Masciantonio 13, while reserve Crawford scored 12.

Duquesne’s Libby Bazelak scored 25 and Amaya Hamilton scored 16.

Meanwhile, the game we were at here in Hagan Arena in the A-10, Saint Joseph’s battled league-leader Dayton but eventually slipped away allowing the Flyers a 59-43 victory in the Hawks’ final home game of the regular season.

Dayton (22-4, 13-1 A-10) closed strong scoring 13 of the final 17 points in the game with the Hawks (10-16, 6-8).

Talya Brugler scored 14 points, shooting 5-of-9 for the Hawks, while Laila Fair grabbed nine rebounds. Lovin Marsicano and Mackenzie Smith each scored seven points.

The Hawks will finish Saturday afternoon against Duquesne in Pittsburgh.

Temple Falls in Houston: The host Cougars in Texas used 50 percent shooting from deep to down the Owls 80-60 in an American Athletic Conference that followed Temple’s blowout loss back in Philadelphia Saturday though in this one Mia Davis was back in scoring form collecting 24 points, while Caranda Perea scored 13.

Temple (12-12, 7-6) was within eight with four minutes to play when Houston (13-13, 6-8) took off on a 13-4 run to gain permanent control.

The Owls return home Saturday in McGonigle Hall at 2 p.m. for Senior Day and to host Tulane on ESPN+ before finishing up next week with two games back to back at SMU in Dallas, one a makeup from a postponed game earlier in Philadelphia.

Lehigh Swept by American: Following a second-half scoring drought in the first of two against the Eagles in the nation’s capital, the Mountain Hawks in this one jumped to an 18-8 lead and then got outscored in each of the next three quarters in Bender Arena and fell to American the second day in a row in the Patriot League, this time 61-52.

Frannie Hottinger scored a game-high 18 points for Lehigh (18-9, 10-6 Patriot), which has lost three of its last four. Emma Grothaus had 13 points and 10 rebounds against American (18-8, 11-5).

The Mountain Hawks struggled beyond the arc shooting 2-for-22 from deep. 

Riley DeRubbo scored 11 for American, while Ivy Bales, Jade Edwards, and Emily Johns each scored 10 and Edwards also grabbed 15 rebounds.

The second in the long-running rivalry in the season series with Lafayette will be home Saturday at 7 p.m. in Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa.

Chestnut Hill Upset By Georgian Court: The magic of the season for the D2 Griffins, who had moved up to second in the NCAA East Region Rankings earlier, vanished in a 62-55 home loss in their final home game of the season, the first home setback after nine wins.

Coupled with USciences’ win over Jefferson, the Devils and Chestnut Hill are tied for first in the Southern Division of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. (CACC).

They play each other Saturday at USciences  1 p.m. with the winner gaining the top seed in the conference tournament.

Bri Hewlett was the only player in double figures for Chestnut Hill (22-5, 15-2 CACC). Georgian Court is 12-12 overall and 9-8 in the league.

USciences is facing its final days as a program with the school set to merge at the end of the semester with Division I Saint Joseph’s.

Nationally Notable: No. 7 UConn, climbing further back to its long residency in the top five in the weekly Associated Press women’s poll, unintentionally teased its fan base prior to hosting Marquette in a Big East women’s contest in Hartford’s XL Center when Paige Bueckers, out with a knee injury since December, was out with the team and dressed going through pre-game warmups. The school discounted an appearance saying the action was part of her rehab program.

Then the Huskies went out and smashed Marquette 69-38 claiming the top seed in next weekend’s Big East Tournament at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., which comes with claiming their 28th regular-season conference crown — 19 in the old Big East, seven in the American Athletic Conference, and now two in the reconfigured Big East.

“Winning is a difficult thing,” said Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma, who temporarily moved within one closer but still nine away from Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer’s Division I women’s record of 1,148. The second-ranked Cardinal play Thursday night with one more before the PAC-12 tournament.

UConn (20-5, 13-1 Big East) hosts St. John’s Friday and Providence Sunday to finish the regular season.

“Sometimes here in Connecticut, we’ve made it look like it’s easy, and people get the impression that winning is easy, and it’s not. … I’m proud of this team, and everybody involved with the program should be proud.”

Freshman Azzi Fudd had 13 points, 11 of which came in the second half, against the Golden Eagles, while Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 10 points, and Aaliyah Edwards scored 10.

Auriemma said Bueckers has a meeting with the team doctor Thursday. “Then we’ll see what happens.”

Hope is high she could be ready for the tournament.

Elsewhere, most of the action Wednesday involving ranked teams occurred in the Big 12 where No. 5 Baylor on the road won at Oklahoma State 65-58, No. 11 Texas won at Kansas State 62-51, No. 20 Oklahoma won at TCU, 92-57, and No. 9 Iowa State won at Kansas 85-59.

However, in a mkeup game, Colorado upset visiting No. 25 Oregon in double overtime after the Ducks had just moved into a tie for the last poll spot on Monday.

Looking Ahead: Locally on Thursday No. 21 Iowa is at Rutgers at 8 p.m. in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., in the Big Ten on the conference network, while Penn State is at No. 17 Ohio State.

In the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Rider is at Iona in New Rochelle, N.Y. at 7 p.m.

Elsewhere in the Big Ten, No. 6 Michigan trying to finish first is at Michigan State at 6 p.m.

In the SEC, top-ranked South Carolina is at Texas A&M at 8:30 p.m. on the SECN; as is No. 15 Florida at Vanderbilt at 6:30 p.m., while No. 16 Tennessee hosts Mississippi State at 6:30 p.m.; No. 8 LSU hosts Alabama at 8 p.m.; No. 25 Georgia is at Arkansas.

In the ACC, No. 4 Louisville is at Pittsburgh at 6 p.m.; No.; 22 Georgia Tech is at Florida State at 6 p.m.; No. 23 Virginia Tech hosts Miami; No. 18 North Carolina is at Virginia; No. 14 Notre Dame hosts Clemson.

In a 1-2 showdown in the ASun No. 24 Florida Gulf Coast is at Liberty while in the PAC-12 No. 12 Arizona hosts UCLA; Stanford hosts Washington State, and in the West Coast No. 19 BYU is at Santa Clara.

And that’s the report. 

`

 

The Guru Report: Strong Third Quarter From Siegrist Carries Villanova Over Georgetown

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

As the regular season soon begins closing out with the arrival of conference tournaments next week Villanova continued to push for a second or third place finish in the Big East with a 73-61 victory Tuesday night at Georgetown in McDonough Arena in the nation’s capital.

The Wildcats (19-7, 13-4 Big East), who trailed the Hoyas 31-27 at the half, exploded on a 23-6 run in the third quarter, 15 of the points coming from all-America candidate Maddy Siegrist, who had 18 overall in period, nine coming from three deep. 

She shot 6-of-7, four deep, and 2-for-2 from the line in the ten-minute period and the native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds for her 10th double double while freshman Lucy Olsen followed up Sunday’s performance in the win back home over DePaul by scoring 13 points, grabbing six rebounds, dealing five assists, and grabbing two steals. Lior Garzon added 12 points and five rebounds.

Jillian Archer scored 18 points for the Hoyas (7-18, 2-15).

Siegrist reached fourth on the Villanova all-time scoring list with 1,657 points passing Lisa Ortlip and nearing Trish Juhline in third.

The Wildcats move on Friday to Butler in Indianapolis and then to Xavier in Cincinnati on Sunday.

Lehigh Falls to American in First of Two: The Mountain Hawks were also in Washington, D.C., Tuesday afternoon where they suffered a drought in the second half, outscored 27-16 and losing in Bender Arena to American University 64-45, a setback in the first of two back-to-backs with a makeup game that crippled Lehigh’s chances finishing on top of the Patriot League’s regular standings.

The Eagles (17-8. 10-5 Patriot League) dominated the boards 43-31 as Emily Fisher scored 12 points, Jade Edwards scored 11, and reserve Maddie Doring scored 10. 

Mackenzi Kramer scored 12, the only player in double figures for Lehigh (18-8, 10-5), which returns for the second game Wednesday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

Catching Up: Since the Guru didn't report Monday night, three games to report, two local.

Penn State took a Big Ten victory on the road, beating Michigan State 79-71 as Makenna Marisa scored 14 of her 32 points in the fourth quarter for the Lady Lions (11-15, 5-11 Big Ten). It was her fifth 30-point game of the season. She shot 14-15 from the line. 

Niya Beverly scored 12 points, Leilani Kapinus had 11 with six rebounds, while Anna Camden had 10 points, seven rebounds, and a career high seven blocks. 

Penn State was 21-23 from the line.

Nia Clouden led three players in double figures with 17 points for the Spartans (14-12, 8-7). Tamara Farquhar grabbed 12 rebounds.

The Lady Lions move on to No. 17 Ohio State Thursday at 6 p.m. in Value City Arena in Columbus on B1G+ and finish Sunday home at 2 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College for Senior Day hosting Minnesota also on the B1G+.

Elsewhere in the Big Ten completing a two-game sweep No. 21 Iowa at home in Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City again beat No. 10 Indiana, 88-82 following Friday’s win in Bloomington as Monika Czinano had 31 points and 10 rebounds, Caitlin Clark scored 29, and McKenna Warnock scored 14 for the Hawkeyes (18-7, 12-4 Big Ten).

The Hoosiers (19-6, 11-4) got 22 points from Grace Berger leading five players in double figures.

Iowa will be at Rutgers Thursday at 8 p.m. in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J. on the B1G network.

In the Metro Atlantic Conference, Rider started strong but fell at home to Marist 70-62 ending a two-game winning streak in Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J.

The Red Foxes (8-17, 6-11 MAA C) led by as many as 17 in the second half before the Broncs (8-17, 6-10) narrowed the differential in the closing minutes.

“It’s a disappointing loss, Marist played really good and we played really bad,” said Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “

Lenaejha Evans scored 21 for Rider, Raphaela Toussaint scored 18, and Jessika Schiffer scored 12.

Kendall Krick scored 20 for Marist, while Anabel Ellison scored 19.

Rider next plays Thursday at Iona at 7 p.m. in New Rochelle, N.Y.

Looking Ahead: The week begins to ramp up. Locally, Atlantic 10 leader Dayton is at Saint Joseph’s in Hagan Arena at 7 p.m. Wednesday night on ESPN+ while also on ESPN+ La Salle hosts Duquesne at 6 p.m. in an A-10 game at the Tom Gola Arena.

Temple has an American Athletic Conference game at Houston 8 p.m. The second 1-2 Ivy showdown game between unbeaten Princeton in the league and No. 2 Columbia, which hosts in New York City, is at 5 p.m. on ESPN+ and Penn visits Cornell at 5 p.m. in a makeup game in Ithaca, N.Y. trying to stay in the Ivy Race.

Nationally, Marquette is at UConn. At 7 p.m. in the Big East.

And that’s the report.

The Guru Report: Major Wins for Villanova and Drexel While Saint Joseph’s Triumphs on Senior Day; South Carolina Clinches SEC Regular Season Tie

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

VILLANOVA, Pa. - When it comes to dealing DePaul at home in Finneran Pavilion, senior days are nice for Villanova to combine both on the Wildcats’ schedule.

Two seasons ago, in what became Harry Perretta’s last game at the helm at home Villanova pulled a major upset of the Blue Demons and on Sunday afternoon when DePaul was back in the neighborhood as part of the senior farewell to Briana Herlihy and Kenxzie Gardler, the Wildcats struck again, solidifying the outcome down the stretch and emerging with a 73-64 victory.

The win put Villanova (18-7, 12-4 Big East) into third place in the Big East standings with three games left in the regular season and the Wildcats are the first team when No. 10 UConn has been a member to beat every team at least once on the conference schedule since Notre Dame in 2012-13.

Maddy Siegrist scored 25 points with seven rebounds as the junior from Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) moved up the career scoring column past Lisa Angelotti (Mary Gedaka’s mom) to fifth with 3,631 points, just three below fourth place Lisa Ortlip and 28 behind third place Trish Juhline, who has 1,659. 

The two best couldn’t be surpassed until next year, the late Nancy Bernhardt at 2,018 and the legendary Shelly Pennefather at the top at 2,408, which is 777 away.

Freshman Lucy Olsen was a major help scoring 17 points with three assists and no turnovers while Lior Garzon shot 5-for-8 from the field and scored 12. Herlihy scored eight points and dealt seven assists, all in the first period and equaling her personal best.

“DePaul’s an incredible team and just knowing how hard they play and how fast they play, you just have to try to prepare the best you can,” Siegrist said. “And try to play your style.

“(Olsen) was great, I’m so very, very happy for her, she worked so hard. I think she showed that tonight. As a freshman it’s not always going to be perfect but she played perfect tonight.”

Said Olsen, “They’re really aggressive on defense so I had to take care of the ball, help our team break their press, and as a point guard you have to be a leader on the floor, so I had to keep our composure and, yeah, take care of the ball.”

The Blue Demons (21-8, 13-5) dropped back into fourth place, finishing the regular season next weekend hosting Seton Hall Friday at 8 p.m. in Wintrust Arena in Chicago and and then at Creighton Sunday at noon in Omaha, Neb.

Creighton, with a double overtime win at Seton Hall Sunday moved into second place. Villanova likely won’t be making up the postponed UConn visit here that was originally scheduled for Jan. 7.

“Obviously, senior day is always special,” Villanova coach Denise Dillon said. “Brianna Herlihy and what she’s done in her time here is remarkable for six years showing up. Every practice she shows up like it’s her freshman year and I appreciate that as a coach but it’s a great example for her teammates to have that example.

“And Kenzie Gardler, who never lets up and has great energy and a go-to kid when you need a spark. She’s a worker and relentless. And willing to sacrifice herself for anything. People look at numbers and they don’t know they’re (the players) are intangibles and how much they do for this team and this program, so really proud of them.”

Following the five-in-ten schedule cramp, Villanova was off all week after last Sunday’s loss at Seton Hall.

“Obviously, we needed it,” Dillon said. “Huge week before, ran out of steam a little bit, I said to the players, `You can’t run out of steam this time of year so you got to find a way. We recharged, took advantage of having a home game and the energies of a senior day and did what was necessary to get a huge win.”

DePaul freshman sensation Aneesah Morrow had 23 points and 15 rebounds, her 21st straight double double, while Darrione Rogers had 18 points, made four from deep, while Deja Church scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Morrow also set a program seaason rebounding record with 401, topping Diana Vines (1986-87), who had 397.

Villanova closed out the game with an 8-4 run and earlier managed to build a 10-point lead. Siegrist has played six games against DePaul and averaged 278.5 ppg. in those contests.

Having won 15 of the last 17 games, the Wildcats will travel to Georgetown Tuesday playing at McDonough Arena in the nation’s capital at 7 p.m. and then on the weekend head to Butler at 7 p.m. in Indianapolis on Friday and at Xavier at 2 p.m. on Sunday in Cincinnati.

Creighton won 97-91 in the double overtime at Seton Hall in Walsh Gym in South Orange, N.J.

The Bluejays’ remaining game is the DePaul game but at the moment subject to change the Guru does not see any makeups so it appears 20 is the full slate of Big East games. Thus, if DePaul wins that game and the Wildcats run the table, they would get the second seed.

While the mostly reassembled UConn unit was doing its own wipeout, winning a Big East game 90-49 over visiting Georgetown in the XL Center in Hartford, the media learned afterwards don’t expect the reigning MVP of the nation, Paige Bueckers, back in action just yet, though the time is drawing nigh.

Christyn Williams had 19 points for the Huskies (19-5, 13-1 Big East), while freshman Azzi Fudd scored 12, and sophomore Nika Muhl had 11 points.

‘It’s so refreshing,” Williams said of the unit mostly back together. “Like a breath of fresh air.”

Well, the key is mostly, since UConn coach Geno Auriemma afterwards noting the recover status of his superstar from ankle surgery, said, “There’s some really good days where she feels like, `I could play tomorrow,’ and then there’s days where she’s reminded, ‘n, you can’t.’ “There’s more good days than not, but she’s not going to be playing this coming week. You’re not going to see her Wednesday, Friday or Sunday. What’s the Big East tournament look like? I don’t know. We’ll see.

“When you’re coming off an injury, the only person that knows when it’s time is the athlete themselves,” Auriemma said. “You have to get to a point when you trust it and you feel confident in it, and that’s probably the last thing to come.”

Drexel Edges Delaware; Returns to Sole Possession of First in the CAA: The Dragons jumped to a 21-9 lead at Delaware in the Blue Hens’ Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, had the wide margin dissipate in the stretch drive and then in a sense became the last one standing in an exchange of miscues in final minute to gain a sweep on the season with the 65-64 victory.

A month ago the two, which met in last season’s title game won by Drexel, off a preseason tie for first, lived up to the vote and were the remaining unbeaten CAA teams when they played at Drexel’s Daskalakis Athletic Center where the Dragons prevailed.

But since then the home team’s long win streak continued until tripped up by Charleston while Delaware kept going, setting up Sunday’s deadlock breaker.

The implication of a loss on both sides, Drexel would suffer and drop to a No. 2 seed in the CAA tourney it is hosting next month, assuming everything else holds.

Delaware would lose out head-to-head on the sweep, allowing the Dragons some comfort if they fall back into a tie.

And so the Philly contingent came out firing and while they fell back, they steadied to get to the half with a 37-26 lead.

In the third period, it got to 15 at 47-32 before Delaware (18-6, 12-2 CAA), the 2021 regular season champs with a sweep of the Dragons, began to rally once more with a fierce 15-2 run to move within a bucket at 49-47 with 1:03 left in the third.

In the fourth, Keishana Washington made it 59-54 for the visitors (21-3, 13-1) with 5:49 left in regulation before the Blue Hens exploded on an 8-0 run and a 62-59 lead, their first of the afternoon.

Then Washington, the MVP of last season’s tourney, nailed two deep and a regained 65-62 lead.

Holding a one-point lead with time winding down Hannah Nihill missed both foul shots but at the other end, Delaware went for the game winner and missed as time expired.

Washington had a game-high 32 points, her third at 30 or more this season, while Nihill scored 16 and went for a series of fives with five rebounds, five assists, and and five steals.

Tessa Brugler had nine points, nine rebounds, three blocks, and three assists,while Mariah Leonard  scored eight, grabbed seven boards, four on the offensive glass.

“My team fought and that is what you want,” said Delaware coach Natasha Adair. “You want to be in a position to have the ball in your hands for the win and I am going to live with that shot.

“We can go back through this game and break it down, but what I love is the fight and the grit of this team. We knew it was going to be a battle and we knew it was going to come down to the wire — our team never hung our heads when we got down and we marched back.

“That is the fight of this team. The good thing is this isn’t March but we are building to it. There are things that we can take from this game and continue to get better and improve on. The fight and the resiliency of this group, I will take all day.”

Jasmine Dickey had 22 points and 10 rebounds and three steals for her 12th double double of the season. Ty Battle scored 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for her 16th double double this season, while Ty Skinner had 11 points.

This weekend on Friday, Delaware hosts Elon in its Education game at 11 a.m. while Drexel hosts Williams & Mary at 7 p.m. Then on Sunday, the Dragons host Elon at 2 p.m. and the Blue Hens host William & Mary at 1 p.m.

Elsewhere in the CAA, Towson holding third became the fastest team in the program’s history to reach 20 wins, beating Charleston 84-57 at home in SECU Arena in suburban Baltimore. Aleah Nelson had 26 points, eight rebounds, and five assists for the Tigers (20-5, 11-3 CAA), while Allie Kubek had 19 points and 12 rebounds, Anissa Rivera had 12 rebounds and reserve Sky Williams scored 15 against Charleston (14-11, 6-8).

JMU in a distant fourth beat UNCW 73-51 at home at Atlantic Union Bank Center in Harrisonburg, Va. Kiki Jefferson scored 21 for the Dukes (12-13, 8-6 CAA), while Madison Green scored 15, courtesy of five from deep against the Seahawks (3-21, 0-14), and Steph Ouderkirk scored 10.

Saint Joseph’s Shows Youth in Senior Day Win: The Hawks paid home farewell to their senior members in a 57-34 win in Hagan Arena over longtime Atlantic 10 rival George Washington but coach Cindy Griffin trotted out the freshmen group throughout that has been winning weekly conference newcomer awards.

“The seniors have done an unbelievable job for us,” Griffin said. “They have started for us and I knew it would be seamless because they played so many minutes as starters and reserves. They were locked in and I knew it would be a balanced group and a very productive group. I was impressed by the way they came out.”

A 16-4 second quarter sent Saint Josephs (10-15, 6-7 A-10) on to victory in seventh place just behind La Salle, the difference the Explorers sweep during the season.

The 34 points by the Colonials (11-15, 4-9) is a season-best on defense effort from the Hawks.

Rookie Mackenzie Smith had a game-high 21 points, shooting 7-for-10 from the field. Sophomore Olivia Mullins scored nine with eight boards, and dealt four assists. Senior Katie Mayock scored eight, as did sophomore Emma Boslet. Freshman Talya Brugler and grad student Alyna Gribble each grabbed seven rebounds.

“The freshmen have been incredible,” Mayock said. “They came in on day one and they’ve worked harder than anyone else. It’s been great to be able to help them.”

And from the lower class looking up,  Smith said, “They pushed us to really compete and be ourselves.”

Griffin was pleased the way the day played out as envisioned.

“I’m very grateful,” she said. “I shared in the locker room that I am really proud of them and happy we could do this for the seniors. Because they’ve been so loyal, they’ve been so committed. They truly embody what it means to be a Hawk.”

Added Mayock, “I’m really glad we got the win, and I’m lucky to be here with the group of people that I am.”

The pre-game honorees were Lovin Marsicano, Alayna Gribble, Katie Mayock, and Katie Jekot, who was sidelined. Additionally, due was paid to “The Hawk,” Asia Whittenberger and manager Michele Bilotta.

On Wwednesday, front running Dayton visits at 7 and then the regular season will end Saturday at Duquesne in Pittsburgh. The A-10 tournament the following week will be played in Wilmington, Del.

Rutgers Win Streak Snapped:  The Scarlet Knights’ two-game win streak over the past week in the Big Ten ended with Purdue gaining a 70-59 victory in Jersey Mike’s Arena as the Boilermakers (15-12, 6-10 BigTen) jumped to a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter to take a win in Piscataway, N.J.

“I was proud of a great three quarters,” said acting head coach Timothy Eatman. “We just didn’t finish together in the fourth quarter. We had opportunities where we didn’t make shots, and on defense, we had opportunities for stops but gave up easy baskets. To Purdue’s credit, they made their open shots. The fourth quarter didn’t maintain what we needed to accomplish to win. We get a chance to come back on Thursday, honor our seniors, and get a chance to play a good Iowa team.”

Awa Sidibe had 12 points for Rutgers (9-18, 2-13), while Tyia Singleton had nine points and seven boards, and Osh Brown had nine points, as did Lasha Petree.

Abbey Ellis had 20 points for Purdue, which got six steals through Madison Layden plus six more in the game.

Nationally noted: South Carolina Handles Tennessee: Having already slipped several times ahead of the anticipated Southeastern Conference showdown with top-ranked South Carolina, coach Dawn Staley and her Gamecocks showed the No. 12 Lady Vols there’s no change in leadership coming this week, beating Tennessee 67-53 in Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.

Aliyah Boston racked up her 19th straight double double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, tying the SEC record set by WNBA great Sylvia Fowles at LSU, who now will retire at the end of the 2022 season with the Minnesota Lynx. Overall, the individual double double was the 50th for Boston.

South Carolina (25-1, 13-1 SEC) clinched a tie for the regular season SEC crown, while Tennessee (21-6, 10-4) dropped back a little more in the standings heading to the final week.

Just a few short weeks ago, Tennessee reached No. 4 and the crowd in Knoxville was ready to rumble but since then the squad has gone 3-5.

Destanni Henderson was the Gamecock senior honored pre-game. 

Matters worse for the visitors was the absence by Jordan Horston, who suffered a a fractured dislocation of her left elbow in the loss last week at Alabma.

Zia Cooke scored 12 for Staley’s group and Henderson had 11.

A crowd of 18,000 tied a record with the Gamecock’s sixth sellout in program history.

South Carolina goes to Texas A&M Wednesday and then to Ole Miss Sunday.

Elsewhere in the SEC, lowly Auburn stunned No. 21 Georgia 65-60 while No. 11 LSU will likely move into the Top 10 after beating No. 17 Florida 66-61.

In the ACC, No. 3 Louisville at home beat No. No. 23 Virginia Tech, 73-56, while Miami upset No. 16 Georgia Tech 51-39 on the road.

In the Big Ten, No. 9 Michigan topped No. 13 Maryland at home 71-59.

In the Big 12, No. 14 Texas won at West Virginia 67-58.

Meanwhile in the PAC-12, No. 8 Arizona fell again, losing at Washington State 72-67.

However, No. 2 Stanford avoided an upset rallying as the defending NCAA champions stayed perfect in the PAC-12 beating Oregon 66-62 on the road in Eugene at the Mathew Knight Arena.

Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer extended her Division I women’s record win total to 1,148, still ahead of UConn Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma, who reached 1,138 earlier Sunday.

Haley Jones scored 18 for the Cardinal (23-3, 14-0 Pac-12).

“We knew we weren’t playing our best basketball, but we were able to snap out of it, focus one another, stay tight,” said Jones, who scored 10 in the fourth quarter.

Te-Hina Paopao scored 23, including four deep, for Oregon (18-9, 10-5).

Stanford has won 29 straight over Pac-12 opponents., including four straight over the Ducks.

Looking Ahead: Locally, Rider will be looking for three straight hosting a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game when Marist visits the Broncs’ Alumni Gym Monday night at 7 while Penn State in the Big Ten visits Michigan State at 6 p.m. on the B1G network.

No. 5 Indiana looks for revenge in the Big Ten in the second of two back-to-back this weekend playing at No. 22 Iowa 8 p.m. in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Earlier in the day, senior Monika Czinano announced she will be returning for a fifth season to Iowa next season.

“These have been the best four years of my life, so why switch things up now? I’ll be back again next year.”

And that’s your Monday report.