The Guru Report: Your Women’s Big Five City Series Schedule Planner Plus Philly Six Drexel Games

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA - Once upon a time there was a little spacing between the World Series and end of summer baseball and the start of men’s and women’s collegiate basketball.

Times have changed where now, especially this year with Red October local interest invested, one ends later and the other starts earlier. 

That said, having been working on the Guru’s local/national schedule that serves as radar as to what needs to be chronicled daily, live somewhere as is called for, and remote for the rest and with Penn’s annual Red/Blue public scrimmage kicking off Saturday morning in The Palestra beginning local preseason events leading to the Nov. 7 national opening date, below is the 10-game round robin schedule plus the games Big Five teams will play Drexel.

You will notice some changes from the past. 

For one, this will not be a season which Penn plays all it’s share either on the road or at home and every team will play two home and two road.

In part, that became possible when Penn coach Mike McLaughlin agreed to a request from Villanova’s Denise Dillon to switch the originally scheduled match for the Main Line because Wildcats senior  sensation Maddy Siegrist was on the sidelines with injuries her two previous opportunities to play in The Palestra.

Siegrist is the reigning Big East player of the year as well as preseason player of the year in the conference while Penn senior Kayla Padilla is a top contender for that honor in the Ivy League.

WNBA scouts take note.

Furthermore on the topic, Drexel’s graduate star Keishana Washington is the preseason choice in the Colonial Athletic Association and former Temple star Mia Davis held that status in the American Athletic Conference.

The other nuance is this season’s Big Five champion will be known before the midnight chime bringing the 2023 part of the season on line.

Some years that happened with Villanova because the Big East expansion pushed the Wildcats local action all completed before the Christmas break. But other years when Penn had a hole in the schedule in January because of the lack of Ivy games caused by Princeton’s former academic calendar, the Quakers used those dates to engage in the city series.

With the change several years ago involving the Tigers, the Ivies went to a new setup in the chase for best in the Ancient Eight also with the addition of the conference tourney.

Finally, if Saint Joseph’s and/or La Salle contended, they never got to meet until the counter game added to the home and home series in the Atlantic 10. 

But now conference games get pushed into play ahead of January and the Hawks and Explorers will tangle in the City Series on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve on Dec. 31, which will be the 10th and final  game of this year’s round robin.

While you may hold on to this for reference, a word of caution that if planning to go, always check the host website when the event is near because weather and other events impact time starts and dates played.

La Salle had a chance to be co-champions with Villanova last season as did Temple but Covid knocked out the Owls/Explorers event, which never got re-scheduled leaving a clear-cut crown for the ‘Cats.

So with the narrative done, here is your schedule and to not be oblivious - Go Phillies!

Women’s Big Five Slate

 

Tues. Nov. 15 - 7 p.m. Penn at Saint Joseph’s

Thurs. Nov. 17 –  7 p.m. Villanova at Penn

Sun. Nov. 20 — 5 p.m. Villanova at Temple

Wed. Nov. 23 — 5 p.m. Temple at Saint Joseph’s

Thurs. Nov.29 — 7 p.m. Penn at Salle

Mon. Dec. 5 —  7 p.m. La Salle at Temple

Sat. Dec. 10 — 2 p.m. Saint Joseph’s at Villanova

Sun Dec. 11 — 12 p.m. Temple at Penn

Wed. Dec. 22 — 11:30 a.m. La Salle at Villanova

Sat. Dec. 31 — 2 p.m. Saint Joseph’s at La Salle

 

Penn 2 home (Nova, Temple), 2 road (Saint Joseph’s, La Salle)

Temple 2 home (Nova, La Salle), 2 road (Saint Joseph’s, Penn)

Nova, 2 home (Saint Joseph’s, La Salle), 2 road (Penn, Temple)

La Salle, 2 home (Penn, Saint Joseph’s), 2 road (Temple, Nova)

Saint Joseph’s 2 home (Penn, Temple), 2 road (Nova, La Salle)

City Six Women

Tues. Nov. 15 - 12 p.m. Drexel at La Salle

Sun. Dec. 4 - 2 p.m. Drexel at Saint Joseph’s

And a bonus for you old timers when the state school came to town

Sun. Dec. 18, - 2 p.m. Penn State at Drexel