The Guru Report: A Local Sweep for Princeton, Penn, Rider, and Lehigh; Drexel Picks Up Longest Current Win Streak With South Dakota Loss

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — Penn returned to a vintage Quakers performance Saturday afternoon snapping a five-game losing streak and beating Cornell 71-61 for the first win in The Palestra this season over a Division I opponent while up the road from here in a battle of Ivy League unbeatens, Princeton flexed its muscle topping Columbia 57-39 in Jadwin Gym to take sole possession of first place.

The victory kept alive a shot to land the fourth and last slot in the Ivy tournament in March at Harvard.

A combo of 34 points came from 18 points by Kayla Padilla to go with six rebounds, six assists, two steals, and a block while Jordan Obi double doubled with 16 points and 11 rebounds for Penn (8-12, 3-5 Ivy)).

The Quakers’ Kennedy Suttle gained a personal best with five steals to go with her eight points and seven rebounds and in addition made all six attempts from the line.

Shannon Mulroy off the bench for Cornell (8-12, 2-6) scored 16 points, while Theresa Grace Mbanefo scored 12, and Ania McNicholas scored 11.

The third period with an 11-0 run became the separator as the home team’s defense held the visitors scoreless for nearly three minutes and built an 18-point lead.

The Big Red came back with a run of their own, 11-2, to cut the differential to eight with 1:14 remaining but Padillia nailed one from beyond the arc with 47 seconds remaining to send Penn into the winners circle.

“What are we going to do?” Penn coach Mike McLaughlin said afterwards. “There were a couple (games) we left there on the table, you can’t get them back, but we responded today.

“We really needed this. We needed to get a home win, we needed to get a league win, we needed to get a team win, it feels real good. This group has worked really hard, we took quite a few on the chin nd they’ve been resilient.”

Penn is off until a Saturday when the Quakers head to Harvard for a 5 p.m. tip in Cambridge, Mass., at Lavietes Pavillion hoping to get get a split and stay in the playoff hunt.

“We’ll work on improving our skill in the gym this week, give our younger kids some more reps, the more reps we can get them and prepare to go up to Harvard and try to be a better team than we are today.”

Said Padillia, “Just to get a win on our floor, it’s huge for us. We’re going to celebrate a little bit. We’re definitely aware of the position we’re in. We’re treating every game like it’s a championship game and knowing what it’s going to take to get to the tournament.”

An hour to the north, it was a midseason championship game with Columbia on a program-record eight-game win streak having replaced Penn of recent seasons to challenge the juggernaut that is Princeton.

But the Lions couldn’t get going, found themselves in foul trouble, and by the time they were able to mount anything, the Tigers were well on the way to what became a lopsided victory and sole possession of first place.

Kaitlyn Davis, the two-time reigning Ivy player of the week for Columbia (16-4, 7-1 Ivy) spent 20 minutes on the bench in foul trouble but when she played the other 20 minutes she could manage just four points while Abbey Hsu, who is the Ivy’s second leading scorer (16.9 ppg.) was held to three points, shooting 1-for-8 from the field.

Princeton (16-4, 8-0), meanwhile, got 19 points from Julie Cunningham, completing 8-of-15 shots from the field, while Abby Myers had 16 points, and Grace Stone had 10 points, seven boards, and s career-high five steals.

Between the cancelled 2020 Ivy tournament of which Columbia had made the field, the entire shutdown by the Ivy presidents last winter, Saturday was the first meeting between the Tigers and Lions in 701 days.

“I’m pretty happy with the outcome,” Princeton coach Carla Berube said. “I thought the team came out and knew the game plan and executed it really well. We were really tough on the defensive end, which, as we all know, we spend a lot of time working on and made the plays on the offensive end, I thought we needed.”

Columbia’s Davis picked up her third foul in the second quarter and was on the bench into the break.

Cunningham noted the length of Davis’ sidelined, saying, “… out of the game for a long time, which is always an advantage for us.”

She didn’t last long when the third quarter got under way and Davis was hit with another foul, enabling the Tigers to expand their double digit lead.

“We are all well-rested, Meyers said. “… we knew today was going to be a very competitive (game) that we’ve been waiting for and these are the games that we’ve been waiting for.”

Princeton, ranked sixth this week in College-Insider Mid-Major Poll while Columbia is ninth, has the second longest conference win streak at 38

“Princeton is a very good team … it’s not a secret and I think everyone knows that,” said Columbia coach Megan Griffith, who spent a long time as an aide in the Tigers program under former coach Courtney Banghart before returning to her alma mater on New York’s Upper West Side. “It shouldn’t have been a secret to our team but I think we were a little bit stunned in the beginning.

“We missed a couple of shots and we missed some layups early. (Princeton) gets going … and all of a sudden we’re a little tight.

“I think for our team, that’s some maturing we need to do. We need to understand that good teams are going to make it more difficult than it has been for us and that’s what Princeton did tonight.”

When the Tigers got the spread to 26 near the end, the Lions went on a 10-0 run.

“We just have to make sure we make the right adjustments and prepare them (next time),” Griffith said. “We take ownership of what happened tonight and we move forward with our hands held high … If you don’t take a lesson from this game about what it’s like to be prepared when the ball tips, then it’s all for naught.”

Next Saturday, Princeton is at Dartmouth while Columbia is at Yale in New Haven, Conn., playing the Bulldogs at their Lee Amphitheater at 2 p.m. in New Haven, Conn.

Rider Snaps Losing Streak Beating Marist: A four-game stretch of misery finally ended for the visiting Broncs, defeating Marist 60-50 at McCann Center in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) game in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

The Red Foxes (6-14, 4-8 MAAC) trailed 40-35 in their own home heading into the fourth when they launched a 10-0 run for a brief lead before a pair of threes gave the advantage back to the Broncs (6-14, 4-7), who, unlike past games, did not let this one get away at the end.

Makayla Firebaugh had 14 points for Rider, while Raphaela Toussaint scored 12, and Lenaejha Evans had 11.

“Our game day goals, when we hit most of them we are going to win more than we lose, and we did that today,” said Rider veteran coach Lynn Milligan. We expect Makayla to make shots and her teammates did a great job setting her up.

“Free throws this time of year are mandatory. We knew we were going to get fouled and our kids had great composure. We’ve been able to practice for a week-straight and it really got us connected both offensively and defensively.”

Rider returns home Thursday night hosting Manhattan in Alumni Gym at 7 p.m.

Lehigh Tops Boston U on The Road: Returning to the scene of last March’s upset in Boston that gave Lehigh the Patriot League title, the Mountain Hawks won again, this time beating the league-leading Terriers 68-65 at Case Gym in Boston (13-9, 9-2 Patriot). The two league losses are a sweep by Lehigh (15-6, 7-3), which is one game behind Boston U. and Holy Cross, playing one less, with eight games left until the Patriot tournament.

“I think our team played with a high level of confidence throughout the game and was able to respond to the various runs they encountered,” said Lehigh veteran coach Sue Troyan. “We had a number of different players step up and give us really meaningful minutes in a total team effort win.

“We have a lot of moving parts right now and the success of this team is everyone’s ability to step up and contribute when their number is called.”

Megan Walker, who missed the last half of her previous game because of an injury, returned and scored 19 points, while Mackenzie Kramer scored 11, and sophomore 

Jamie Behar scored 10.

Saying Walker showed she was ready to play, Troyan observed, “Megan played with the same mental toughness she has shown throughout her career, to step up and play the way she played given the limited or no practice this week, it really speaks to the senior leadership she is providing the team.”

Lehigh had an inside the paint 44-30 advantage on the Terriers who limited outside completions to five.

“BU clearly made a point to defend the arc and take away our 3-point game today,” Troyan said. “I thought our players did a great job of taking what the defense gave them, as they were able to attack the basket and finish at the  rim while not forcing the 3-point shot.”

Up nine entering the last quarter Lehigh had to withstand Boston U.’s finish, an 11-2 burst got the Terriers within two with 52 seconds left in regulations.

BU missed a layup with less than 30 seconds but went to the line and completed 1 of 2 to move within a point of a tie.

Walker than hit both foul shot attempts for the Mountain Hawks and a three-point lead. Going for the tie, BU’s three-point attempt failed.

“I thought ur kids really competed on the defensive end and got stops when we needed them,” Troyan said.

Boston U. Alex Giannaros led the squad with 22 points and Sydney Johnson scored 19.

“They are clearly one of the best teams in our league and this was an important series to sweep,” Troyan said.

Lehigh next hosts Colgate on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at home in Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, the game broadcast on ESPN+.

D2 Chestnut Hill Wins 13th Straight: Another game, another win for the Griffins in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC), this one attacking the northern division opposition being an 81-42 win at home in Sorgenti Arena over Bloomfield to clinch a berth in the league playoffs as one of the four South representatives.

Townes Caitlin was the only player in double figures for Bloomfield (3-17, 1-11 CACC), scoring 10 points, while Chestnut Hill (19-3, 12-0) got !4 points from Cassie Sebold, and 12 each from Bri Hewlett, Emily Chmiel, who also had 10 rebounds for a double double as a reserve, and Trinity Brittingham, also a reserve.

On Wednesday, the Griffins travel to Dominican College in Orangeburg, N.Y., in a game rescheduled from Jan. 2. The road trip will then continue with stops at Caldwell and Jefferson, which won its fifth straight on Saturday. The Rams have three losses in the league at 11-3 in the third slot and are 16-5 overall behind USciences (15-3, 10-2), which is competing in its final season before the entire school merges with D1 Saint Joseph’s this spring.

Holy Family is in fourth at 7-6 and 12-10 overall two games in front of Georgian Court.

Nationally Noted: In the Big 12, Oklahoma, ranked 18th, battled at home in double overtime edging West Virginia 101-99. No. 11 Iowa State beat visiting Oklahoma State 76-58; and No. 25 Kansas State at home beat Texas Tech 82-75 as Ayoka Lee passed her 1,500th career high.

In the West Coast Conference, No. 16 BYU held off Gonzaga 62-50 on the road.

South Dakota State upset visiting South Dakota 65-55 snapping the opposition’s 16-game win streak and leaving Drexel, which hosts Charleston Sunday at 1 p.m., with the nation’s longest win streak at 14.

Belmont beat host Tennessee Tech 58-49 in the Ohio Valley Conference, while Southeastern beat host Houston Baptist 52-30 in the Southland.

Kent State on the road beat Eastern Michigan 70-61 in the Mid-American Conference.

Looking Ahead: As mentioned, in the CAA Drexel hosts Charleston at 1 p.m. at the Daskalakis Center while Delaware hosts UNCW. In the Atlantic 10 Saint Joseph’s hosts Davidson at 2 p.m. completing a weekend home-and-home that began Friday with a narrow win at Davidson. La Salle will host Rhode Island at 2 p.m. in Tom Gola Arena.

Temple at noon in McGonigle Hall hosts East Carolina in the American Athletic Conference, while Villanova attempts to continue its run, hosting Georgetown at 2 p.m.

Penn State in the Big Ten hosts Northwestern at 7 p.m. while Rutgers next visits No. 23 Ohio State at 6 p.m. Monday night. On Sunday, No. 9 Baylor is at No. 13 Texas at 4 p.m. looking for a weekend sweep in the series whose Friday game went to Baylor.

No. 6 Michigan in the Big Ten hosts No. 21 Iowa at 6:30 p.m.,.

And that’s the report.

No. 7 Tennessee is at No. 10 UConn at noon Sunday, which also has