The Guru Report - Local Edition: More History in Temple Win; Villanova Lights Up Georgetown; Drexel Streak Snapped; Weekend Sweep for Saint Joseph’s

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — Four days after Mia Davis broke Marilyn Stephens’ 38-year-old career scoring record at Temple another program best was set in a wild American Athletic Conference game here Sunday afternoon against East Carolina in which a comfortable 17-point lead dissolved all the way down to the end in which the Owls hung on for a 60-59 victory.

As the old saying goes, sometimes being lucky is better than being good and in this one in gaining a season sweep of the Pirates were both.

Davis, who has a shot at an attainable AAC all-time career scoring record continued to do her thing scoring 22 points to breaking her own mark every time she put the ball in the basket.

That brought her total to 2,230 points, just 11 away to move into third place past the 2,240 collected by Tulane’s Kolby Morgan.

If she gets there two former UConn players will be in front —  101 points gains second over Katie Lou Samuelson and 155 tops Napheesa Collier.

But the story of the day individual wise that caused Owls coach Tonya Cardoza to proclaim that should be everyone’s headline was freshman Aniya Gourdine producing a stat line of 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists for the first triple double in program history at Temple (11-9, 6-3 American).

Moon Ursin, a Baylor transfer at Tulane, is the only othere player in the conference with a triple double this season.

Kyra Wood, another freshman, had 16 points and eight rebounds.

On the other side, Taniyah Thompson started heating up in the second half and finished with 29 points, the only player in double figures for ECU (8-14, 1-8).

Temple got to a 17-point advantage early in the third quarter before the differential began to shrink all the way to a mere point three times, the last with 3 minutes, 57 seconds left in regulation.

A jumper and two foul shots from Gourdine expanded the lead to 5 and one more free throw out of two attempts from Wood expanded the differential to six with 2:29 left at 60-54.

Thompson scored for the Pirates and then Tylar Bennett hit one of two free throws with a minute left to make it 60-57.

Jasha Clinton missed a three-ball attempt with 32 seconds left trying to wrap it up for Temple.

Thompson then missed a jumper with 5 seconds left but Bennett came up with the ball. Then while trying to get a game-tying three with one second left Thompson was fouled by Wood.

However she missed the first attempt from the line before making the next two.

Clinton was immediately fouled and missed both shots and though Bennett got the board for ECU time expired and Temple was home free and into third place in the conference.

“We knew coming into this game that it was going to be different than it was at their place and they were going to be hungry and based on how we handled the pressure at their place they were going to put it on us,” Cardoza said. “I thought we did a good job in the first half.

“But Thompson started hitting shots and it was going to be difficult to guard her. But (ECU Coach) Kim (McNeil) has done a good job instilling in them never to quit and they fought to the end and we were just lucky to be able to pull it out.”

She said when her squad starts to rush when they are pressured is when things start to go off the rails but when the team takes its time and follows the plan things are usually successful.

The last of the three-game home stand is Wednesday night, whose theme is Down the Shore, and defending champion South Florida, who got upset Sunday by Tulane, comes to town for the 7 p.m. tip.

Given that result and that Temple earlier at their place in Tampa took the Bulls into overtime and were right there until the fourth quarter in the first of two meetings with UCF as the stretch drive is under way, might Cardoza be able to sell her team that this year in a conference no longer containing UConn it is not outlandish to think the Owls capable of winning the AAC tournament next month in Fort Worth, Texas.

“I really don’t think I have to sell it,” Cardoza said. “Based on what we’ve done up to this point, the games that we’ve played, the games we’ve been in, they know. They know that if we execute the game plan and we’re all in it, we definitely could beat anybody.

“But that’s anyone. I think this league from top to bottom is very, very good, that on any given night, anyone can win. But we just want to make sure we take it one game at a time and just focus on the next time and not try to jump ahead and make sure while we’re focusing on that time, we’re sticking to the game plan. When we stick to the game plan, that’s when we have good success.

“And by the way, Aniya is a freshman with a triple double and that is very, very good.”

Another Siegrist Scoring Explosion Leads Villanova over Georgetown: Coming out of Friday’s wipeout of St. John’s up at Queens, Villanova was back home Sunday, this time blasting away Georgetown 76-57 in Finneran Pavillion as Maddy Siegrist continued to dominate, scoring 32 points and grabbing 14 rebounds in the Big East contest that was the Wildcats’ seventh-straight victory.

Siegrist’s output in the nets this time moved her up the all time career list for Villanova (15-6, 9-3 Big East) into eighth place past all-time three-point shooting ace Adrianna Hahn with 1,516 points.

Lior Garzon had 22 points, while Brianna Herlihy had four points, 14 rebounds, eight assists and three steals.

Georgetown (7-12, 2-9) was paced by Milan Bolden-Morris, who had 14 points, while Jillian Archer scored 11 points.

The Wildcats have now won 12 of their last 13 games and have scored 240 points in their last three for an 80 points average.

Siegrist had 14 games in her career scoring 30 or more points, including six this season. On Sunday, she became the ninth Wildcat to surpass the 1,500-point milestone.

On Wednesday, the push is likely to take a respite playing their next opponent which is No. 10 UConn at the XL Arena in Hartford. 

In a Big East game beyond the locals, DePaul beat visiting Providence 88-67 at home in Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

Deja Church had a game-high 20 points, shooting 7-for-12 from the field against the Friars (9-13, 4-9 Big East), Darrione Rogers had 18 points and eight rebounds, freshman sensation Aneesah Morrow had 15 points and 14 rebounds, while Kendall Holmes had 14 points and point guard Lexi Held scored 10 points for the Blue Demons (19-6, 11-3).

DePaul, which last month narrowly missed ending No. 10 UConn’s long-running 168 combo-win streak in conference, perfect in the American Athletic Conference and recent return to the Big East, visits the Huskies Friday night.

In another key contest involving Big East teams at the top, Marquette edged Creighton 50-47 at home in the Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee with a push in the closing seconds against the Bluejays (16-7, 11-4 Big East).

The Golden Eagles (17-5, 10-3) regained what had been an early lead with 1:10 remaining on a jumper from Jordan King. Karissa McLaughlin connected with two foul shots for a three-point lead while Liza Karlen blocked an attempted game-tying three-point shot as time expired.

Karlen scored 20 for a career-high with Marquette, while Chloe Marotta had 14 rebounds.

Morgan Maly had 14 points for Creighton.

 Saint Joseph’s Completes Davidson Sweep While La Salle Edged by URI: The circumstance of making up an earlier postponed game affected by COVID protocols had the Hawks complete a home-and -home weekend sweep following Friday’s afternoon win in North Carolina with a 58-51 Sunday win on Hawk Hill home in Hagan Arena.

It was another fine day for freshman Talya Brugler, who had team highs in points with 15 and rebounds with six for the Hawks (8-13, 4-5 Atlantic 10) in the conference contest.

Mackenzie Smith, another Saint Joseph’s rookie, had a second straight game of 11 points while Olivia Mullins, a sophomore, was 7-for-8 from the line, including nailing all six attempts in the fourth quarter on the way to nine points against Davidson (12-10, 3-7).

Freshman Laila Fair and grad student Katie Jekot each scored eight points for the Hawks, who will stay home and host Rhode Island Wednesday evening.

The Rams will be coming from the start of an extended visit to the City of Brotherly Love having edged La Salle 66-60 Sunday afternoon in a tight conference game at the Explorers’ Tom Gola Arena that had 10 ties and nine lead changes.

An upset still appeared possible as the final minutes approached but Rhody (18-3, 8-0 A-10) kept pace with preseason favorite Davidson at the top of the Atlantic 10 by throwing a 6-0 shutout down the final 1:22 of the contest.

Kayla Spruill scored 17 points, helped by four from deep, for La Salle (12-10, 5-5) and Amy Jacobs scored 13.

Wasted in the affair with the loss were a record-high 14 completed shots from beyond the arc for the Explorers.

Because the originally scheduled Wednesday trip to Fordham was moved up earlier in a COVID-cause late switch last month that saw La Salle pull a major upset, the team is off all week until Sunday which will see a visit to Richmond at Robins Arena in Virginia at 2 p.m.

Drexel Win Streak Ends While Delaware Moves Back to a Tie With The Dragons: An in-state Saturday afternoon loss by South Dakota to South Dakota State moved Drexel up to a tie with nationally-ranked Florida Gulf Coast for the nation’s longest current win streak at 14 but the Dragons’ couldn’t sustain their run since November when Charleston took advantage of a cold-shooting start Sunday afternoon in the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

Drexel almost rescued the streak with a thrilling erasure of a 24-point deficit that existed in late in the third period to a tie late in the contest but as the final seconds ticked the visitors were back up by four points, enough to withstand a three-pointer by the home team as time expired for a 74-73 victory and a split in the season series in the two contests in the Colonial Athletic Association.

The loss dragged Drexel (17-3, 9-1 CAA) back to a tie for first with Delaware and a reduced one-game lead over Towson, both of whom kept winning Sunday afternoon.

The Dragons outscored Charleston 32-15 in the final frame after being outscored in each of the first three frames 19-3, a devastating 18-7 second period that lead to a 37-20 deficit at the half, and 22-21 in the third that would have been worst had not the home team began to mount the closing challenge.

Arynn Eady had 27 points and 12 rebounds for Charleston (12-9, 4-6), while Anika McGarity scored 17, and Jenna Annecchiarico scored 13.

The teams could possibly see each other next month in the CAA tourney which will be hosted by Drexel.

Tessa Brugler had a career and game-high 28 points for Drexel besides grabbing 12 rebounds. She got 25 of them in the second half, including 18 in the final period.

Keishana Washington had 20 points and Hannah Nihill scored 14 with five assists and five steals.

The Dragons were down 55-31 in the third period with 2:18 remaining when the comeback began with a shot from deep from Maura Hendrixson, a jumper by Nihill and two layups from Brugler to end the period behind 59-41.

Drexel kept the momentum alive and seemed ready to pull another one out of the fire moving to a 66-66 tie with 1:23 left.

The Cougars, however, then went up by four before Brugler cut the advantage to a bucket but Charleston was the one doing the rescue work successfully by making four foul shots on all attempts at the end to preserve the victory.

“Every team is going to come at you with their best shot and we started the game on the slower end of things,” said Drexel coach Amy Mallon. “We didn’t dictate what we needed to do on the defensive end, take it back to the offensive end, we were a little hesitant at times. Credit Charleston, they came in and we gave up more points than we wanted to, they took advantage, especially inside, we adjusted, but to follow up to fall one-point short after being down 20 that last 10-12 minutes, it just shows this team’s capable of coming back when they’re down, but unfortunate, it was just a little too late for us from a time standpoint.”

Drexel hits the road, northbound this weekend, starting at Hofstra at their Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex Friday night at 7 p.m. in Hempstead, Long Island, before finishing Sunday at revitalized Northeastern in Boston.

Delaware, meanwhile, continued to win since its loss to Drexel in what had been the battle between the last two teams unbeaten in the conference.

The Blue Hens picked up their fifth straight, downing UNCW 77-62 at home in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.

The triumph competed a sweep of the Seahawks (3-16, 0-9 CAA) by Delaware (15-5, 9-1) to move back to a first-place tie.

Jasmine Dickey passed her former teammate Nicole Enabosi on the Delaware scoring list at 1,676 points in a career for second place behind the legendary Elena Delle Donne, who now plays for the WNBA Washington Mystics.

Dickey had 24 points, fueled by 14-of-16 attempts from the line, and a game-high 16 rebounds. Ty Battle had 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Ty Skinner and Paris McBride each scored 13.

Sierra DeCosta had a game-high 26 points for UNCW.

Delaware makes the same northbound trip in reverse of Drexel this weekend, but ahead of that, in a makeup from a COVID protocol postponement first heads for a short trip south to Towson Wednesday in suburban Baltimore at 7 p.m. in SECU Arena at 7 p.m. Then it’s on to Northeastern in Boston on Friday before heading back with a stop at Hofstra on Sunday.

Towson (17-4, 8-2) used a fourth quarter attack outscoring the Phoenix 25-7 on the road to win at Elon in North Carolina 67-52 in the fight at the top of the CAA and has a chance to pull Delaware down to a second-place tie when the two meet Wednesday night.

Kylie Kornegay-Lucas had 13 points in the fourth to finish with 20, while grabbing seven rebounds, five steals and two blocks. Anissa Rivera had 10 points and 11 rebounds against Elon (10-9, 2-7), while Aleah Nelson scored 12, and Rayne Tucker and Tarriyonna Gary each scored 10 for the visiting Tigers.

Penn State Fades in the Fourth: On the way to an upset of Northwestern in the Big Ten at home in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, the Lady Lions suddenly went cold from the field in their annual Play4Kay game to fundraise the fight against breast cancer and fell to the Wildcats 78-72.

Northwestern (13-8, 5-5 Big Ten) used a 17-2 run in the final period against Penn State (9-13, 3-9).

Makenna Marisa had 25 points for the Lady Lions, while Leilani Kapinus scored 15 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and had three steals. 

Veronica Burton topped five Wildcats in double figures with 22 points, eight assists, and four steals.

Penn State travels to Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind., Wednesday night, the game streaming on B1G+.

Rutgers is on the road Monday, still looking for its first Big Ten win of the season when the Scarlet Knights meet nationally-ranked Ohio State at 6 p.m. on the main B1G network.

And that’s the local report on a split presentation off Sunday’s games with the national to follow.