The Guru Report Local/National Edition: Drexel Clinches Regular Season CAA; Saint Joseph’s Advances in A-10; Temple Earns Bye in AAC

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

WILMINGTON, Del. — It was a split result here for the two Big Five teams Thursday afternoon in the Atlantic 10 tournament round two with Saint Joseph’s producing one of the Hawks’ better all-around efforts of the year in a 65-49 victory over Duquesne, beating the Dukes twice within a week to advance to Friday’s quarter final games while La Salle’s season ended with a hot George Washington squad              64-54 reversing last weekend’s result by the Explorers in the nation’s capital.

Elsewhere, Drexel claimed the top spot in next weekend’s Colonial Athletic Association tournament hosted by the Dragons with a blowout 80-60 victory at James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va., refusing to yield to the season-long pressure from Delaware, an 85-71 winner at Towson in the 1-2 chase as predicted by the conference coaches back in the fall when the defending tournament champs and 2021  regular-season champions tied in the preseason vote.

Meanwhile, Villanova cleaned up in the awards department of the Big East in advance of the second-seeded Wildcats opener in Saturday’s quarterfinals of the conference tournament at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., with second-year coach Denise Dillon named coach of the year by her colleagues, junior Maddy Siegrist earning player of the year, sophomore Lior Garzon touted co-most improved player, and freshman Lucy Olsen voted to the all-rookie team.

Previous Big East players of the year from the Wildcats in the Big East were Lisa Angelotti in 1987-88, and three straight from the legendary Shelly Pennefather from 1984-87.

DePaul sensation Aneesah Morrow was named freshman of they year.

Dillon also won CAA coach of the year four times previous, while Harry Perretta was a Big East honoree.

On Wednesday, Temple finished the regular season, reversing Monday’s overtime loss at SMU by beating the Mavericks in Dallas 56-48 to snap an overall four-game skid and finish fourth in the American Athletic Conference, clinching a first-round bye in next week’s AAC tourney in Fort Worth, Texas, at Dickie’s Arena, though it means playing SMU a third time when the Owls face the Mavericks in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Also on Wednesday and Thursday after a split regular season with Penn State, winning the recent second encounter at home in Mikey’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., thirteenth seeded Rutgers routed the Lady Lions in one of Wednesday’s Big Ten openers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse but then fell Thursday 66-54 to fifth-seeded and 14th-ranked Indiana in the Big Ten tourney.

Rider in the Broncs’ next-to-last regular final in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference conference in Connecticut on Thursday dropped a narrow 65-61 loss to league-leader Fairfield to be swept on the season by the Stags and sit in ninth -place a game behind Iona heading  into Saturday’s season final at Quinnipiac and the start of next week’s tournament at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.

On Friday night, besides local teams still alive in conference tournaments, Penn in its final regular season in the Ivy league travels the short distance to first place Princeton in Jadwin Gym seeking a major upset to snare the last conference berth over Harvard which will host next week’s four-team affair in Boston. The Crimson on Friday will play Dartmouth and then host the first-place Tigers Sunday in a makeup game from last week when COVID protocol issues within Princeton’s program caused a postponement.

On Wednesday, Lehigh won its last game of the regular season in the Patriot League, a 64-42 win at Navy in Annapolis, Md., to finish in fifth with one more date for the rest of the league in advance of the bracket designating the tournament matchups next week, all rounds on home courts and if the Mountain Hawks are to repeat last season’s championship the job again will have to be done on the road after suffering several late season losses.

Drexel on Top: The Dragons went through their second-best overall win streak, including a triumph at home over Delaware when the two were the last unbeaten squads in the CAA, then had one slip to fall back into a tie with the Blue Hens, but snapped that deadlock completing a narrow win and sweep at Delaware, and then clinched a tie and top seed Thursday with a visit to third-place Towson Saturday in suburban Baltimore remaining on the schedule to win the regular season outright.

Delaware will be at James Madison Saturday hoping with help from Towson, whom the Blue Hens beat 85-71 on Thursday, it can be called a co-champion with Drexel.

That game in the Atlantic Union Bank Center will be JMU’s last in the conference, having announced the overall Dukes program is headed for the Sun Belt Conference at the end of the semester. The CAA reacted banning the Dukes from the postseason tournament they were supposed to host and then awarding it to Drexel with the first-round opener being next Thursday.

In the win by the Dragons (24-3, 16-1 CAA), over JMU in Amy Mallon’s second year succeeding Denise Dillon, moving up when she returned to her alma mater at Villanova, Drexel tied its record set by the 2017-18 contingent for most wins prior to the CAA tourney with a chance to break the mark when Dragons visit Towson in SECU Arena Saturday at 2 p.m.

The point total over the Dukes (13-15, 9-8) was the highest of the season for Drexel, which has a first-round bye at home next week into Friday’s quarterfinals. Hannah Nihill had 23 points, scoring all but two in the second half. Keishana Washington, the mvp of last season’s title game win over Delaware after being swept during the 2020-21 season, had 17 points, tying a team best seven assists.

Kate Connolly scored 15 points, with a career-high five from deep, part of an overall 12 by the team from beyond the arc. Tessa Brugler grabbed nine rebounds, scored eight points, and tied Washington with a personal best seven assists.

Delaware (21-6, 15-2) snapped a five-game win streak by Towson (22-6, 13-4) and the Blue Hens have now won three-straight after the one-point setback at home in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark to Drexel.

“WOW! I think that might have been one of our best team performances from start to finish that we have played all year,” said Delaware coach Natasha Adair. “We know that Towson is going to score in a volume.”

Ty Skinner scored a career-best 25 for the Blue Hens, highlighted by five from deep. Jasmine Dickey scored 23 with six rebounds and four steals. Ty Battle scored 18 and grabbed a career-high 24 rebounds, second-best in program history.

Towson’s Tarriyonna Gary scored 22.

Hawks Handle Duquesne in A-10: Riding its youthful core, four of whom were named all-freshmen, paced by conference top freshman winner Talya Brugler, the younger sister of Drexel’s Tessa, Saint Joseph’s did not suffer the revenge fate La Salle did against George Washington a game earlier here at CHASE Fieldhouse, the 76ers’ G League facility, in advancing to Friday’s 5 p.m. game against second-seeded Rhode Island, which had a double bye.

“We were ready for it,” the younger Brugler said. “We were prepping for a week and a half. Our defense was good today. We were ready to come and prove ourselves.”

The performance by Saint Joseph’s (12-16, 7-8) recalled a Hawks squad from yesteryear who had to start early in an A-10 tourney in Cincinnati hosted by a powerful Xavier (now in the Big East) bunch and made a run all the way to the title game before running out of gas at the half.

“Gosh, it’s hard to remember that far back but I think this group is a little more talented,” said veteran coach Cindy Griffin, who out of her alma mater has become the dean of local Division I coaches in the wake of Villanova’s Harry Perretta retirement at the end of the 2020 season.

The Hawks held Duquesne (11-18, 6-10) to 14 points in the first half, seven in each quarter for the second lowest points total yielded by the squad this season.

“It ranks as one of the top two or three this season,” Griffin said of the defense. “We’ve been inconsistent holding teams under their average. Having a familiar opponent, playing them back to back, really helped. We prepared, made adjustments that needed to be made. Our coverage was good on the ball, but really good off the ball.”

Duquesne top scorers Libby Bazelak and Amaya Hamilton were held to 5 and 4 points by a total team defensive effort.

Brugler and rookie Laila Fair scored 20 points each, a career-high for the former, while Fair tied her career best and set a personal best with 8 from the line coming on nine attempts.

“This season, nothing was easy,” Fair said. “You have to work for everything you want. You have to come to work a little bit harder because you are as freshman.”

The Hawks dominated in the paint, 34-16.

“This group is playing really well,” said Rhode Island coach Tammie Reiss, scouting the squad and the focus of speculation to be tabbed by her alma mater Virginia, which released Hall of Famer Tina Thompson during Thursday after the Cavaliers were bounced from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) tourney in the first round.

“The screens the guards were setting and just finding us inside,” Brugler said. “Sometimes we were working hard inside and they were looking for us.”

Said Duquesne coach Dan Burt, “Whatever we did (the Hawks) had an answer.”

Tess Myers scored 15, four shots from deep, for Duquesne.

“I think we have a lot more to give,” Griffin said. “I’m pleased with the way our team responded. I like the balance with our youth and our older guys who have done a good job of leading. I’m excited for tomorrow.”

La Salle, seeded fifth showing the progress the Explorers are making, fell to 12th seeded George Washington 64-54, which will meet fourth-seeded VCU, the defending tourney champions, in another Friday quarterfinal.

The Colonials (13-17, 4-11 A-10) were on fire (“not their normal MO,” said Mountain MacGillivray) while the Explorers (16-12, 9-6) struggled.

“Everybody in the locker room thought we were going to make a run in this tournament and challenge for a title,” MacGillivray said. “To go home in the first round, it’s disappointing, tough way to end the season.”

George Washington players felt the satisfaction of revenge for the loss dealt last Saturday on their Senior Night.

The Explorers were satisfied with the shot selection, but it was one of those nights the shots did not drop.

“A fan yelled `stop shooting threes.’ Not going to happen, that’s what we do,” MacGillivray said. “We shot 20 percent from three and 32 percent overall. That three-point percentage is better when you add that extra point in there. We didn’t have a good shooting day.”

La Salle did rally in the second half, outscoring the Colonials 19-13 with a threeball from Molly Masciantonio bringing the Explorers within seven 59-52 with 1:41 left in the period.

“We had a couple of steals and we were all over the place,” she said. “That helped us get a little more momentum. 

“It’s upsetting that we had to get to that point, if we had a couple more minutes we could have gotten there, but time ran out.”

She had four of La Salle’s 10 steals.

Kyara Frames had a team-high 14 points for the Colonials, while Mayowa Taiwo scored 10 and 10 rebounds. Sheslanie Laureano scored 12.

Masciantonio scored 16 for La Salle, while Kayla Spruill scored 11 and grabbed nine rebounds, while Gabby Crawford scored 10.

MacGillivray had been hopeful of making a run and then getting picked for the WNIT. “Postseason hasn’t happened in a long time here,” he said.

But with almost everyone back he’s willing to know there’s a bright outlook for the program even if it is taking a little longer to get to old times.

In the two other second-round games Thursday in the A-10 tourney, Davidson edged Richmond 66-62 in the first of the four games Thursday, while Fordham in the nightcap topped George Mason 66-50.

In Friday’s four quarterfinal games, which gets the top four teams with double byes in their first tourney action, top-seeded Dayton plays Davidson at 11 a.m., followed by GWU playing fourth-seeded VCU, an area team with the Colonials down in the nation’s capital, at 1:30 p.m.

The Hawks game with Rhode Island is at 5 p.m., followed by Fordham and third-seeded Massachusetts at 7:30 p.m.

Those games will all air on ESPN+.

The semifinals on Saturday are at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on CBSSN while Sunday’s championship at 2 p.m. will air on ESPN2.

Temple Lands a Fourth Seed:  In the Owls’ 56-48 win to land a four seed in next week’s American Athletic Conference tourney, all-time program scorer Mia Davis had 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Aniya Gourdine scored 13.

SMU (13-13) did not have a person score in double figures and now will have to face Temple a third-straight time on Tuesday following the Monday and Wednesday contests this week.

Should Temple (13-14) advance the Owls would likely face top-seeded UCF whom they played competitively in their first meeting in Orlando but then got run out of the building in the game at McGonigle Hall in Philadelphia.

Rider Edged by Fairfield: A near-upset Thursday night of regular season MAAC champion Fairfield (21-6, 18-1 MAAC), losing 65-61, could be a sign of hope for the Broncs (9-19, 7-12) at next week’s tournament, considering they will likely see the tougher teams sooner rather than later.

Lou Lopez-Senechal, likely the player of the year in the MAAC, got 30 points for Fairfield, 16 in the fourth period.

“We were in a position to win,” said Rider veteran coach Lynn Milligan, “but we just didn’t gt the job done. We did some good stuff, but didn’t do enough to get the W.

“We were ready to play tonight. We came up short against a really good team. Do you have to play perfect? No, but you have to play mistake free in March. We just have to get better and get ready to play Quinnipiac on Saturday.”

Lenaejha Evans had 18 points for the Broncs, while Ralphaela Toussaint scored 16, and Jessika Scvhiffer had 14.

The Quinnipiac game on Saturday tips at 2 p.m. and airs on ESPN3.

Rutgers Season Ended by Indiana: With a Big Ten season that started 0-12 until the skid was stopped at home getting a season split with long time rival Penn State, there were was hope for some more late success, especially after a conference tourney opener Wednesday getting a 75-50 win over the Lady Lions (11-18), the largest winning margin for the program in the conference tourney since becoming a member.

In that game, Osh Brown scored 18 for the Scarlet Knights (11-19), while getting 13 rebounds for her 60th double double. Shug Dickson had 14 points, while Tyia Singleton had 10, of which eight were scored in the opening quarter.

The rebound advantage was overwhelming 54-32, also a conference tourney high, in meeting the Lady Lions for the first time postseason since 1990 when both were in the Atlantic 10.

“We felt we played with a lot of purpose on our offensive end and I’m proud of our kids for all the work they put in their season,” said acting coach Tim Eatman, with Hall of Famer C. Vivian Stringer taking this season off due to COVID concerns.

“I know how much work they put into the season.”

Said coach Carolyn Kieger with the end of Penn State’s season, “Obviously, we’re very disappointed in how we played today, the fight, the level of intensity, the toughness, lack thereof that we had. Penn State deserves better. The jersey deserves better. The game deserves better. Credit Rutgers.”

Leilani Kapinus scored 16 points and grabbed 3 rebounds, while Makenna Marisa scored 15.

But 24 hours later, Rutgers was also done for the season, losing to Indiana after the Hoosiers took off on a 16-11 third quarter in which Dickson left the game with an injury.

Osh Brown had 12 points and 10 rebounds to end her active collegiate career with 61 double doubles.

Satawni Lassiter had 12 points, also.

In the 66-54 win by Indiana (20-7), Ali Patburg had 19 points, Grace Berger scored 17 points, and Makayla Holmes scored 11. 

Elsewhere in the second round, Michigan State beat Purdue 73-69, Northwestern beat Minnesota 65-60, and Nebraska beat Illinois 92-74.

In Friday’s quarterfinals, a week after meeting in College Park, Indiana and No. 11 and fourth-seeded Maryland will play at 1:30 p.m., followed by top-seeded and No. 13 Ohio State meeting Michigan State at 11:30 a.m., No. 10 Michigan, seeded third, meeting Nebraska at 9 p.m., and No. 12 and second seeded Iowa meeting Northwestern at 6:30 p.m.

Nationally Noted: Two power five vacancies occurred with the firing of Virginia coach and Hall of Famer as a player Tina Thompson and retirement of long-time Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne.

The upset of the day occurred in the PAC-12 with Arizona, third seed in the Pac-12, and ranked 14th, losing 45-43 to Colorado. Also in the conference, fifth-seeded Utah beat fourth-seeded Washington State.

Other games of note, in the Southeastern Conference following Vanderbilt upsetting Texas A&M in the first round, ending the career of Gary Blair, the longtime women’s hall of famer, the Commodores just missed another surprise, but instead, fell to No. 23 Florida 53-52, while Alabama beat No. 24 Georgia 74-62.

Miami ended Duke’s season, eating the Blue Devils in the ACC tourney 61-55, while Oregon edged UCLA 63-60.

And that’s the report.