The Guru Report: La Salle and Rider Shine While Penn State, Lehigh and Delaware Help Locals Sweep

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

To reverse an old saying on Friday for some of the local teams on the card there was no place like on the road.

The exception heading into the weekend was Princeton whose trip to play Buffalo in upstate New York on Saturday was canceled due to the snow impacting the area.

The Tigers are now idle until traveling to play No. 3 Texas in Austin next Sunday.

Meanwhile in a place known for the white stuff and dogsleds La Salle ran its win streak to four following a season opening loss as the Explorers exploded with 26 points in the fourth quarter to force overtime and beat Pepperdine 83-81 in the opening round of the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage.

Charity Shears grabbed a loose ball and scored as time ran out to gain the triumph.

La Salle will play the tourney host Alaska-Anchorage for the championship at 11:30 p.m. Philly time  Saturday night after Pepperdine and UC Riverside play for third place.

The game will stream live on Youtube.

 The Explorers trailed through the first three quarters but forged ahead on a 14-6 run paced by Claire Jacobs and Kayla Spruill combining fot 12 points and a 67-64 lead. 

They expanded it to 71-66 connecting on four foul shots from Jacobs and Fiona Connolly but the Waves struck back to tie.

Three seconds remained in the extra period when Shears grabbed the offensive rebound off a scramble on the floor and sank the game winner as time expired.

Jacobs scored 27 for La Salle aided by three shots from beyond the arc and a perfect 8-for-8 on the line. 

Spruill, who scored the game winner before regulation expired in the home win over Drexel Tuesday had 16 points against Pepperdine.

Connolly dealt a personal best seven assists.

Though the Waves (0-3) dominated the boards, 48-28, La Salle forced 24 turnovers to just 13.

Ally Stedman scored 22 for Pepperdine while Jane Nwaba had 15 points and 10 rebounds, Theresa Mbanefo scored 13, and Marly Walls scored 12. Meaali’l Amosa also grabbed 10 rebounds.

In the nightcap Alaska-Anchorage, a Division II program, beat UC Riverside 64-51. Vishe’ Rabb scored 14 points and Kate Robertson scored 12 and dealt five assists for the Seawolves (3-0) while Matehya Bryant scored 13 points for the Highlanders (0-4).

The tournament hadn’t been held since 2017.

Rider beat North Florida 76-67 in the first round of the two-day MAAC/ASUN challenge in Dublin, Ireland, while the Broncs’ MAAC partner Marist (1-3) 

got its first season win, 70-57, over Eastern Kentucky.

On Saturday the opponents will trade off with Rider meeting Eastern Kentucky at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN+

In the win over North Florida (1-2) Makayla Firebaugh scored 25 points for the Broncs (2-2) in a game that was close and sealed when Rider went 6-for-8 from the line down the stretch.

“North Florida threw everything at us like I knew they would,” said Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “I thought that defensively we were either really, really good or not so good. There wasn’t a middle ground tonight. But when we needed it, we ended the game on a three-stop.

“When we needed to get stops, we did. When we needed to break the press, we did. We made it interesting with a couple too many turnovers, and a couple too many fouls we need to get cleaned up pretty quickly.”

Penn State stayed unbeaten at 3-0 out of the season start beating Bryant 96-33 at home in the Bryce Jordan Center as Temple transfer Alexa Williamson shot 9-for-13 from the field on the way to 20 points. 

Makenna Marissa had 15 points, five steals, and a pair of rebounds. Ali Brigham scored 11 against Bryant (2-2), while Leilani Kapinus had 10 points, and Johnasia Cash had eight points and 11 rebounds.

Next up Syracuse visits Monday.

Lehigh jumped to a 23-8 lead on Division II Bloomsburg and cruised to a 97-54 win at home in Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa. Mackenzie Cramer and Frannie Hottinger each scored 18 points for the Mountain Hawks (2-2) while Ella Stemmer scored 14 points and Fabienne Eggenschwiler scored 10.

Anna Harvey dealt a career high 11 assists.

Next Lehigh is at Drexel Tuesday with the tip time 6 p.m. on Floohoops.

Delaware edged host Vermont 58-53 in Burlington as Kharis Idom and Klarke Sconiers each scored 13 for the Blue Hens (3-1). Jewel Smalls got her 1000th point in dropping the Catamounts to 1-3 and grabbing 11 rebounds.

“I’m glad my kids found a way to win,” said first-year Delaware coach Sarah Jenkins.

Next weekend the Blue Hens play in the Daytona Beach Invitational in Florida playing Fresno State on Friday and Illinois on Saturday.

Elsewhere nationally UMass won at Harvard 77-67, in the Bank of Hawaii Classic, Florida Gulf Coast beat the host Wahines 65-45.

Looking Ahead: On Saturday Drexel hosts Md.-Eastern Shore at 2 p.m., on Flohoops, which will carry the Battle4Atlantis from the Bahamas all weekend through Monday. On Saturday Rutgers meets No. 11 Tennessee at noon; No. 3 Texas meets Marquette at 5 p.m.; Louisville meets Gonzaga at 7.30 p.m., and South Dakota State plays UCLA.

Lafayette is at Siena at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.