The Guru National Report: UConn Rallies Over Iowa; Big Wins From UNC; Towson and Columbia

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

The long marathon of holiday tournaments the past several days came to an entertaining end Sunday at various places across the country, the remaining burst to come in a few weeks after finals period just before Christmas.

Looking at highlights, the Guru starts at the two big tourneys that were in pure playoff format in the Northwest, each baring the name of Nike founder Phil Knight in Portland, Ore.

In the Phil Knight Legacy tourney, No. 3 UConn suffered a second-quarter surge from No. 9 Iowa, but star Azzi Fudd and the Huskies pushed back in the second half to take an 86-79 win in the championship.

Iowa (5-2), the Big Ten favorite, had been in the top five at the outset of the season until an upset loss to then-unranked Kansas State dropped the Hawkeyes to ninth and now they will fall further.

Featuring top national stars on both teams, on the UConn (5-0) side, Fudd finished with 24 points, including four shots from deep, the bulk all after the half. Aaliyah Edwards had 20 points, 13, rebounds, and six assists, while Nika Muhl dealt 13 assists.

Other Huskies in double figures were Lou Lopez-Senechal with 11 points and five rebounds, while Caroline Ducharme scored 15 off the bench, and Aubrey Griffin had 10 points and six rebounds.

Caitlin Clark had 25 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and dealt six assists for the Hawkeyes, while McKenna Warnock scored 14, and Kate Martin had a breakout 20 off a perfect 6-for-6 on shots from beyond the arc for 1 of her points.

In the late night third place game, Duke topped Oregon State 54-41, as Celeste Taylor helped the Blue Devils (6-1) recover from the opening loss to UConn, scoring 18 points.

Raegan Beach off the bench scored 11 for Oregon State (42).

In the other Phil Knight Invitational tourney, No. 8 North Carolina keeps moving up to the prominence of yesteryear under former Princeton coach Courtney Banghart as the Tar Heels upset No. 5 Iowa State 73-64.

Deja Kelly helped keep UNC (6-0) unbeaten with 29 points, while Iowa State (5-1) suffered its first loss despite 19 points and 12 rebounds from Stephanie Soares, while Ashley Joens had 18 points and nine rebounds.

In the third place game, No. 18 Oregon beat Michigan State 6-79.

The winning Ducks (8-1) got 19 points from Endyia Rogers, while Kamaria MvDaniel scored 28 for the Spartans (6-2).

Towson Upsets DePaul: New Tigers coach Laura Harper picked up a nice win on the final day of the round-robin Fort Myers Tipoff tourney in Florida, beating the Blue Demons 64-56.

Kylie Korneygay-Lucas had 17 points and eight rebounds for Towson (4-2), while Quinzia Fulmore had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

DePaul (4-3), which had upset No. 14 Maryland on Friday’s opening day, 16 points and 16 rebounds, while Anaya Peoples scored 11.

Maryland (6-2) completed its set of games in a lopsided 87-63 win over Pittsburgh (5-2) as Princeton transfer Abby Meyers scored 23 points.

Columbia Takes Miami: The Ivy runners up of last season looking for a signature win found one against an ACC school beating host Miami 78-71 in Coral Cables, Fla., at the Miami Thanksgiving Tourney title game.

Jaida Patrick had 25 points for the Lions (5-2), while three other players each scored 12, including Abbey Hsu from Parkland, Fla., who in the opening round reached her 1,000th career point.

The Hurricanes (6-2) got 28 points from Ja’Leah Williams.

North Carolina A&T beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff 64-59 for third place.

Boston Hurt in South Carolina Win: Reigning national player of the year Aliyah Boston was in a walking boot after being hurt early in top-ranked South Carolina’s easy 85-38 win over Hampton to improve to 6-0 ahead of the Gamecocks’ next game against No. 20 UCLA. Bree Hall and Ashlyn Watkins each scored 14 points for the winners.

Stanford Completes Hawaii Sweep: The No. 2 Cardinal completed a three-game sweep in the Rainbow Wahine Showdown, beating host Hawaii 68-39 to go to 8-1, the one loss at home in overtime to top-ranked South Carolina.

Stanford Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer extended her Division I women’s win record to 1,165, ahead of UConn Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma, who reached 1,154 on Sunday.

On Monday when the new AP Poll is released, VanDerveer will tie the late legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summitt for most rankings appearances at 618.

Summitt, whose career spanned the entire AP Poll history at the time of her retirement, missed only 14 rankings.

In Sunday’s win, Ashten Prechtel off the bench had 17 points and 11 rebounds against Hawaii (1-6).

In another tourney of note, Atlantic 10 champion UMass (6-1) beat host FIU 95-78 to win the Thanksgiving Classic in Miami.

Sam Breen had 26 points and 11 rebounds for the Minutewomen while Sydney Taylor scored 25 with nine rebounds against FIU (2-3).

And that’s your national report.