The Guru Report — Roundup Edition: Delaware and Lehigh Avoid Being Swept

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA —  Here in McGonigle Hall at Temple Wednesday, the Owls kept preventing South Florida from turning the outcome into a romp but in the final minutes they ended up on Down the Shore Night they ended getting beached as opposed to gourd by the Bulls 49-40 in an American Athletic Contest.

“Even though we lost this game, we were really fighting,” said Temple coach Tonya Cardoza. “In the second half to be down 11 and continuing to fight, fight, fight to the point where there were minutes to play and it’s anyone’s game, and, yes, very physical, and we’re in the game fighting.”

As both teams foundered in the final 10 minutes, USF, which beat the Owls earlier in Tampa in overtime, came up with enough in an 8-4 margin, consisting of two field goals on each side, with the balls downing 4-of-6 from the line, which Temple didn’t get any attempts.

There was hope for the home team (11-10, 6-4 American) when Aiya Gourdine, who made a triple double in the previous game here in a win over East Carolina, downed a shot to pull within 43-40 but that was the last hurrah on the scoreboard in an 0-for-7 finish from the field.

“With our style of play, we usually get to the found line more than three times,” Cardoza said. “We worked our tails off to get back into the game. We’re being super aggressive looking to attack. I felt like we got the short end of the stick.”

Mia Davis, who recently set the new career record at Temple got 14 points and seven rebounds, and moved into third place on the conference career scoring charts with 2,244. That leaves her short of 98 points to former UConn great Katie Lou Samuelson. Another UConn star, also in the WNBA along with Samuelson, is Napheesa Collier at 2,401 for the best in the seven-year history of the American.

Gourdine had eight points while Kyras Wood pulled down 11 rebounds and scored six points.

Cardoza did notice other areas of Temple’s game that is in the Owls’ control.

“We can control how many second chance opportunities we give up,” she said. “We can control how many times we turn the basketball over. We can control getting in the gym and be able to make open shots. Things you can control, we have to take advantage of those things and today we didn’t.”

Bethy Mununga and Elena Tsineke each scored 13 points while Fankam Mendjiadeu scored a double double with 11 points and 15 rebounds for USF (17-6, 7-2), which sits in second place.

Temple heads to the Midwest Saturday visiting Tulsa at 3 p.m. on ESPN+ and returns here a week from Saturday hosting league-leading UCF.

Saint Joseph’s Falls Short of Rhode Island While Temple was battling USF, the Hawks across town at home in Hagan Arena were giving new Atlantic 10 power Rhode Island all they could deal before losing 58-48.

Olivia Mullins tied a career-high for the Hawks (8-14, 4-6 A-10) who came into the game off a weekend sweep of Davidson.

Saint Joseph’s entered the fourth quarter down just five at 43-38 before the Rams (19-3, 9-0), unbeaten like Dayton in conference play, began to separate themselves.

Talya Brugler scored 12 for the Hawks, while Julia Nystrom also scored 11, helped by connecting on 3-of-4 from deep.

Rhode Island, coached by former Dawn Staley backcourt teammate Tammi Reiss at Virginia, got 18 points and 10 rebounds from Emmanuelle Tahane, while Dolly Cairns scored 15.

Saint Joseph’s heads to George Mason in Fairfax, Va., Sunday at 3 p.m. on ESPN+.

Penn State Stopped by Purdue: A rally by the Lady Lions fell just short in an 81-77 loss in the Big Ten at Purdue in Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind..

Makenna Marisa scored 19 points down the stretch for Penn State (9-14, 3-10 Big Ten) and finished with 31 points against the Boilermakers (14-10, 5-8).

Coach Carolyn Kieger’s squad will go for a sweep of Rutgers, which has yet to win a Big Ten game, on the road Sunday at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J. The game is 2 p.m. on B1G+.

With four games of 30-points or more this season, Marisa has matched the five-year-old mark of Teniya Page doing likewise in 2016-17.

The Lady Lions forced 24 turnovers and their 16 steals were the most in a conference game since grabbing 17 from Michigan State in 2013.

Delaware Edges Towson: One of two locals winners Wednesday night other than the big Villanova upset at UConn, which is on a separate report under this, the Blue Hens edged host Towson 81-78 to keep pace with idle Drexel atop the Colonial Athletic Association and knock the Tigers two games back at SECU Arena in suburban Baltimore.

The differential, pointed out by Delaware coach Natasha Adair, was the Blue Hens’ 24 trips to the foul line, more than twice than Towson (17-5, 8-3 CAA).

“The players made big shots early,” she observed.

Jasmine Dickey, the reigning USBWA national player of the week, continued her attack on the basket, scoring 29 points and grabbing 12 rebounds for Delaware (16-5, 10-1).

Helping the Blue Hens continue to a six-game win streak, Tyi Skinner connected on a key three-pointer while Paris McBride nailed two foul shots in the final seconds.

Ty Battle joined the 1,000 point Club and had 14 along with 13 rebounds to lead the CAA with 15 double doubles. Skinner scored 16.

“It was about staying poised,” Dickey said of the win.

On the home team’s side, the game with 14 lead changes with seven in the final quarter and nine ties featured the program’s first triple double in the Division I era , achieved by Kylie Kornegay-Lucas with 11 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. It’s the first at Towson dating to 1980 and first in the conference since 2018.

Aleah Nelson had 24 points, all in the second half, to match her personal best, while Allie Kubek scored 20, and Ryann Evans scored 10.

On another 3-of-5 road swing, Delaware heads north with Drexel this weekend, ther Blue Hens Friday night at Northeastern at 6 p.m. in Boston while the Dragons are at Hofstra on Long Island. On Sunday the traveling teams will swap road stops.

Lehigh Cruises Over Colgate: A lopsided 22-0 run in the first half and across into the second  at home in Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., carried Lehigh to a 72-56 win over Colgate in the Patriot League.

The Mountain Hawks (16-6, 8-3 Patriot) have now won four straight and the season series over the Raiders (4-19, 2-2-10).

Mackenzie Kramer scored 17 points, Emma Grothaus scored 14, and Megan Walker scored 11 for Lehigh while grabbing 10 rebounds. Clair Steele tied a career high with nine assists.

“Our focus tonight was on the defensive end as we talked about the importance of our development and growth in that area, especially in February into March,” said veteran Lehigh coach Sue Troyan.

Next up is a rivalry game Saturday at 2 p.m. against Lafayette at Kirby Arena in Easton.

D2-Chestnut Hill Falls in Overtime: UConn wasn’t the only victim on streak-stopper night.

Trying to extend their record win streak that reached 13, the Griffins down four forced overtime against Dominican College but fell 79-72 for their first loss in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC). 

Lauren Crim had had 18 points for Chestnut Hill (19-4, 12-1 CACC), while Bri Hewlett had 14 points and 16 rebounds, the latter a career-high, and two more in double figures saw Lindsey Lane score 13, and Cassie Siebold 12.

Dominican (12-11, 7-6) scored the first eight in the extra period and hit four free throws in the final ten seconds.

The Chargers were led by Samantha McClutchy, who had 19 points.

Chestnut Hill Saturday stays on the road, visiting Caldwell University at 1 p.m.

Nationally Noted:  No. 2 Stanford, the defending NCAA national champions, won their 11th straight, beating Oregon State, 82-59, in a PAC-12 game at home in Maples Pavilion by Palo Alto, Calif.

The win extended Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer’s NCAA Division I women’s record victory total to 1,141, ten more than the 1,134 held by UConn Hall of Famer Geno Auriemma, whose team had a 169-game win streak in multiple conference affiliations swamped at home in Hartford by Villanova.

Hannah Jump, who had been sidelined by COVID-19 protocols, returned and scored 19 points, five shots from deep, while Cameron Brink scored 12 for the league-leading Cardinal (19-3, 10-0 PAC-12).

“For me it was just getting back in the gym, getting shots up, getting back my regular routine to make sure I was ready,” Jump said.

VanDerveer, in noting the return said, “she’s my security blanket out there.”

Ellie Mack had 11 of her 13 points for Oregon State (11-8, 4-5) in her first four minutes, while Greta Kampschroeder scored 12 in the game rescheduled from last month that was postponed because of COVID protocols within the Beavers’ program.

Lexi Hull had 11 points for Stanford.

“It’s been a bit of our nemesis all year, just being inconsistent,” said Oregon State coach Scott Rueck.

Stanford next hosts Utah Friday night, while Oregon State at home in Portland plays rival No. 24 Oregon, which also played a makeup game and beat host Washington State 83-30.

In the Big Ten, Caitlin Clark had another big productive game, scoring 32 points as No. 25 Iowa beat visiting Minnesota 88-78 at home in Iowa City.

Looking Ahead: Just one local game on the books, as Rider at home looks for its second straight win, hosting Manhattan College at 7 p.m. in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Contest (MAAC) in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Thursday night, the NCAA tournament committee prevents its next 16-game reveal, which will be moot on arrival because the cut-off for putting the mock field together was several days before UConn’s upset loss Wednesday night to Villanova.

Some key games Thursday night has No. 1 South Carolina at Kentucky in the Southeastern Athletic Conference, Tennessee in the SEC will be hosting its first game since Sunday’s non-conference loss at UConn. As Missouri visits, in C-USA Old Dominion hosts Middle Tennessee , while in the Big Sky Idaho State hosts Idaho.

And that is the second and last of the AM Guru reports for Thursday.