The Guru Report: Drexel Rallies on JMU to Set Up Second Showdown With Delaware While Saint Joseph’s and La Salle Split A-10 Night

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — Hannah Nihill made the most of her fifth-year helping hands to statistical achievement Wednesday night tying Meghan Creighton for most appearances in program history with 142 and in that contest here in Drexel’s Daskalakis Athletic Center she sat a career-high five three-pointers aiding in a Dragons rally to win 64-61 over James Madison.

There was a wonderful built in promo for next month’s Colonial Athletic Association tournament here with the likes of a Drexel (20-3, 12-1 CAA) sporting a Washington in Kieshana and JMU (11-12, 7-5)  having a Jefferson except that this was the visiting Dukes’ farewell appearance here in what was also a makeup due to COVID-19 protocols of the game originally scheduled at the turn of the New Year.

But recently JMU made the formal announcement of plans this summer to head for the Sun Belt Conference immediately drawing the same rebuking treatment the CAA gave Old Dominion when the Lady Monarchs headed off to Conference USA. That stay, as it turned out was not all that long since ODU is now moving again joining JMU in Sun Belt membership.

It won’t be the last you see of the Dukes in these general parts with coach Sean O’Regan planning for his team to visit Saint Joseph’s near here next season, “and as many north (non-conference) trips to offset lost appearances due to the Sun Belt thing.”

JMU was supposed to be the original host of the CAA tourney but that was stripped and the event awarded to the Dragons, who weren’t due to host for another two seasons.

Meanwhile, for most of the night, JMU was as formidable as ever for Drexel when it has come to clashes with teams in the upper portions of the CAA standings.

The lead changed nine times and there was one tie, but in the front end and into the middle JMU led by as much as 11 points until the Dragons hung their hats in crunch time on their defensive stand to turn the game in the closing minutes.

“Every year it’s always a rivalry game, always a tough one with them,” Nihill said. “It’s great preparation for the preparation for the next.”

Second-year coach but long-time coaching staff member Amy Mallon echoed that remark saying “JMU was the prefect team to get ready” for Sunday’s game at Delaware in the Bob Carpenter Center at 1 p.m. in Newark at 1 p.m. on the Flohoops streaming network.

When the two longtime rivals met here last month they were the two remaining squads unbeaten in CAA competition with Drexel winning for a one-game lead but falling back to a tie with an upset loss to Charleston while the Blue Hens have continued proceed on a course resulting last year in the regular season title though the Dragons pulled the title game upset for their second championship.

Nihill paced by the five from deep finished with 18 points, adding three assists and three rebounds. The Cardinal O’Hara graduate swiped for steals, her fifth straight game with three or more grabs.

Washington scored 17 points while Tessa Brugler had 13 points and seven rebounds. Maura Hendrixson dealt seven assists off the bench.

Drexel’s team ball contribution for the third time dealt 23 assists, the highest total for a conference member against a Division I opponent this season.

Madison Green scored 17 for JMU, while Kiki Jefferson scored 16, and Annalicia Goodman scored 12, and Jaykin Goodman scored 12.

“This win tonight, it was our (fifth straight) 20th of the season, which seems like its flown  in some ways, but its just indicative of the types of games we’ve had all season,” Mallon said. “The way we’ve played and adjusted — we didn’t start on the fastest note, but in the second half, turned it up and showed what this team is capable on both ends of the floor.”

Elsewhere in the CAA in the first game played this week since UNCW (3-18, 0-11 CAA) coach Karen Barefoot was removed on Valentines Day Tuesday and replaced by interim head coach Tina Martin, a longtime member in charge of Delaware, UNCW fell 69-59 at Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg in Virginia. 

La Salle Downs Davidson But Saint Joseph’s Falls at St. Louis: The Explorers blasted open at home in the Tom Gola Arena with a 14-2 lead eventually frittered most of it away to one and two-point advantages but never let the other side ahead in an 80-68 victory in the Atlantic 10.

Kayla Spruilla had another productive night for La Salle (13-11, 6-6 A-10) scoring 24 points off 10-of-13 from the field, while Clair Jacobs scored 18 on the Wildcats (13-12, 4-9), and Jaye Haynes scored 15 off a near-perfect 5-of-7 from beyond the arc.

The backcourt of Molly Masciantonio and Kenya Cote-Lysius combined at point guard for nine assists and just one turnover.

La Salle stays at home for its next game Sunday hosting Saint Louis at 2 p.m.

The Billikens at home Wednesday night rallied late to nip Saint Joseph’s 51-46 in the Atlantic 10 in the Midwest with the game starting earlier than the original announcement to make room for a makeup men’s game between St. Louis and La Salle.

Freshman Julia Nystrom scored 13 points for the visiting Hawks (9-15, 5-7) while freshman Mackenzie Smith scored 11, and sophomore Olivia Mullins dealt five assists and  committed just two turnovers.

Saint Louis (8-15, 4-7)  got 19 points from Peyton Kennedy, while Natalie McNeal scored 14 and grabbed nine rebounds, while Brooke Flowers grabbed 12 rebounds.

Saint Joseph’s on Senior Day hosts George Washington at 2 p.m. at Hagen Arena.

D2-Chestnut Hill Tops Jefferson: After completing a sweep of host Jefferson Tuesday night in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference game nearby on the road the Griffins (21-4, 14-1 CACC) earned a first-round home game in the upcoming league playoffs and a placement of three in the first of three NCAA East Rankings prior to the announcement of the 64-team field.

Last month Chestnut Hill topped the Rams at home 70-61 and then Tuesday night on Valentines’ Day in the Gallagher Center the Griffins edged Jefferson 65-60.

It’s the first-ever sweep of the season series by Chestnut Hill of the Rams (19-6, 11-4).

Bri Hewlett connected on 9-of-15 shots from field, including 5-of-7 from deep for a career-high 24 points with 11 rebounds. Cassie Sebold added 17 points with three assists and four steals, while Lindsay Lane scored 10 points and six of seven of Emily Sekerat’s rebounds came in the final quarter along with a blocked shot in the last minute to preserve the win.

The Griffins Saturday host Wilmington University at 1 p.m. at Sorgenti Arena.

Nationally Noted: What significant outcomes among ranked teams Wednesday night occurred in the Big 12 where Texas Tech on the road upset No. 15 Oklahoma 97-87 and No. 14 Texas at home in Austin stunned No. 6 Iowa State 73-48. Favored No. 7 Baylor rolled at home in Waco, Texas, over TCU 80-55 with Queen Egbo scoring 22 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, and NaLyssa Smith scoring 20 and grabbing 10 rebounds.

In the Patriot League, Lehigh was edged on the road by Bucknell 56-54 and in a battle among the Atlantic 10 leaders preseason favorite Dayton on the road shutdown Rhode Island 47-37 to tie the Rams for first with one loss each. UMass at home in Amherst downed Fordham 60-57.

Back in the Patriot League Boston U. at home wiped out Holy Cross 74-56 in a match between the two front-runners.

In the Mid-American, Buffalo on the road won 67-62 at Ball State while Toledo won at Ohio U. 76-73.

In the Big East at home DePaul beat Marquette 77-66 in Wintrust Arena in Chicago. The lead near the end of the third ballooned by 25 points with a stop Sunday coming at Villanova looking for a sweep.

Deja Church scored 23 points while reigning freshman of the week in the USBWA Aneesah Morrow had 23 points and 21 rebounds, her 20th straight double double, only the fourth in NCAA history to so achieve. Her night busted the Big East single season mark of 248 in conference games only by Georgetown’s Natalie Butler to reach 257. Overall, she has 386 just 12 needed to pass the DePaul single season mark of 397 set by All-American Diana Vines set in 1086-87.

In the PAC-12, Oregon, which was just bounced out of the AP Poll, won at home over UCLA 67-53 while Arizona State did not travel to California, treated as a no-game on overall record by the NCAA but a forfeit by Arizona State, the win going to Cal for the purpose of seeding for the upcoming Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.

Looking Ahead: You know you’re coming down the stretch of the regular season when senior nights start and conference seeding slots begin to lock in.

On Thursday night on the local slate, Rutgers on the heels of its first Big Ten win of the season on Sunday heads to Minnesota at trying to avoid a season sweep, Penn State hosting Rutgers, and Rider hosting Monmouth at 7 p.m. in Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J., in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Among ranked teams. Thursday, in the ACC, No. 3 Louisville is at No. 24 North Carolina, No. 19 Notre Dame is at No. 16 Georgia. In the SEC, No. 1 South Carolina hosts Auburn at 7 p.m., No. 17 Florida hosts Arkansas, No. 11 LSU at Mississippi State, No. 12 Tennessee at Alabama, No. 21 Georgia hosting Missouri.

In the Big Ten, Ohio State is at Maryland, Northwestern is at Indiana.

On Friday, locally, Penn hosting Yale at 6 p.m. in The Palestra is huge in terms of trying to gain the fourth and final Ivy playoff spot for the Quakers. Princeton, with its long-running Ivy streak hosts Brown at 7 p.m. in Jadwin Gym. Continuing to Saturday locally, Temple has a huge game hosting UCF in the American Athletic Conference at 2 p.m. in McGonigle Hall, La Salle hosts Saint Louise at 2 p.m., Rider hosts Canisius at 2 p.m., Princeton hosts Yale at 6 p.m. and Penn hosts Brown at 6 p.m. in the Ivy League.

And that the Thursday AM report.