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.