The Guru Report: No. 23 Villanova Survives Fourth Quarter Meltdown to Belmont While Penn State Edges Toledo in Tourneys Openers

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Unlike the way of the wishbone on a Thanksgiving turkey, No. 23 Villanova bent in a big way in the second half Friday afternoon squandering a 21-point lead but the Wildcats did not break following a 68-68 tie with seven minutes in regulation and went on to edge Missouri Valley Conference favorite Belmont 83-80 in a Gulf Coast Showcase opener at Hertz Arena in Estero, Fla.

Coach Denise Dillon’s group (5-0)  in a Saturday semifinal will meet No. 21 Baylor at 5 p.m. 

The Bears (4-1) started the day’s action beating Saint Louis of the Atlantic 10 92-58. Belmont in a consolation semifinal at 11 a.m. will meet the Billikens (1-6).

On the other side of the bracket, No. 22 Michigan, which beat Villanova last season at home in an NCAA tournament second round game in Ann Arbor, beat Air Force 68-48.

The Wolverines (5-0) in the other winners semifinal will meet former Wildcats rival South Florida from the old Big East at 7:30 p.m. 

The Bulls (7-0), the reigning American Athletic Conference champs, beat Georgia Tech 63-50, sending the Yellow Jackets (3-2) to the other consolation semifinal against Air Force at 1:30 p.m.

In the Villanova game, reigning Big East player of the year Maddy Siegrist had 21 points in the first half and finished with 29 while Lucy Olsen scored 20, and Maddie Burke scored 11 for the winners. 

Siegrist also had five steals tying a tourney game record with three former participants.

Sydni Harvey had 24 points for Belmont, while Tuti Jones and Destinee Wells each scored 16, and Madison Bartley also scored 10. Kilyn McGuff, whose dad is Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff on the squad coached by former DePaul assistant Bart Brooks.

A 25-4 run across the third and fourth quarter got the Bruins back into it, but Christine Dalce making 1-of-2 foul shots in the closing seconds sealed the outcome.

In the Baylor win, Brooke Flowers had 13 points, while reserves Mia Nicastro and Peyton Kennedy had 12 and 11 points respectively.

Emily Kiser paced Michigan with 20 points in the win over Air Force (3-2), while Elena Tsineke had 24 points for South Florida and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu had 19 points and 21 rebounds.

Penn State stayed unbeaten by edging Toledo, the preseason favorite in the Mid-American Conference, when Leilani Kapinus made two foul shots with 0.9 seconds left in regulation in an opening game in the Daytona Beach Invitational.

The Rockets (3-2) led in just 30 seconds of the game but in the final minute overcame a five-point deficit to take a 59-58 lead on a pair of foul shots.

The Lady Lions (6-0), off to their best start since going 7-0 in 1996-97, advanced the ball, Kapinus took the inbounds pass, went down low and went to the line to connect with the game-winner on a shooting foul.

Shay Ciezki led PSU with 16 points, while Makenna Marissa had 14 points, four rebounds, and three assists, and Chanaya Pinto in her first start had a career-high 13 points, six rebounds, and three steals.

Like most tourneys this weekend, opponents are predetermined in each round, and Penn State in the second of two games will play Fresno State Saturday at 11 a.m.

Fresno State got started Friday, edging Delaware 53-49, in the tourney at Ocean Center in Florida.

“It was a tough one today,” new coach Sarah Jenkins said after the Blue Hens fell to 3-2. “We turned it around in the second half. We were able to chip away at Fresno State’s lead and even trail by one point.

“We have some things we need to work on as we prepare for Illinois (Saturday, 3:30 p.m.).

Makayla Pippin had 13 points, nine rebounds, and three steals against Fresno State (4-1), while Kharis Idom had 12 points and five rebounds, and Klarke Sconiers had 11 points, shooting 4-for-6 from the field.

Fresno’s Amaya West had 14 points and Yanina Todorova had 12 points and 11 rebounds.

In other games in the tourney on Friday,  Cincinnati beat UT Arlington 72-58, while Illinois (6-0) beat Charlotte 70-43.

The two other games on Saturday have Cincinnati (4-2) playing Charlotte (3-2) at 5:45 p.m., while Toledo meets UT Arlington (2-3) at 1:15 p.m.

Nationally Noted: It was a feast of women’s holiday tourneys across the country Friday from mid-morning until late at night, and likewise will be another big serving Saturday and for those just getting under way, one more but a little lesser will be offered on Sunday.

In what is a three-day round robin where all four teams will meet each other, the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Florida got off with an upset bang as DePaul beat No. 14 Maryland 76-67. 

Aneesah Morrow had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Demons (3-2), who had suffered being upset themselves twice struggling with injuries. Kendell Holmes had 17 points, Darrione Rogers had 12 and dealt nine assists, Jorie Allen had 10 points and 17 rebounds, and Keke Rimer had 13 off the bench.

Maryland (4-2) got 12 points and 10 rebounds from Faith Masonius, while Diamond Miller scored 11, Abby Meyers had 10, and off the. Bench, Shyanne Sellers had 13 points, while Gia Cooke scored 10.

In the other game, Pittsburgh beat Towson 72-62.

 On Saturday, DePaul plays Pittsburgh at 2 p.m. and Maryland plays Towson at 11:30 a.m.

In a marque event in the northwest, one of two bearing Nike founder Phil Knight’s name, No. 3 UConn routed Duke 78-50, while No. 9 Iowa beat Oregon State 73-59.

On Sunday, UConn and Iowa will meet for the championship at 1 p.m. on ABC-TV. Oregon State and Duke will meet at 10 p.m. on ESPN2.

During the ABC telecast at halftime the next class of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame will be announced, with the induction ceremony next year moving up from early June to April 29.

In the UConn win Friday night as the Huskies improved to 4-0 and handed the Blue Devils (5-1) their first loss, Fairfield transfer and French native Lou Lopez-Senechal had 23 points and six rebounds for the winners. Alliyah Edwards had 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Azzi Fudd scored 14.

Shayeann Day-Wilson had 17 points and seven rebounds for Duke.

In the Iowa win Caitlin Clark had a near triple double, scoring 28 points, grabbing nine rebounds and dealing eight assists for the Hawkeyes (5-1). 

Talia Von Oelhoffen had 22 points and six rebounds for the Beavers (4-1) and Shalexxus scored 17.

Out in Hawaii at the Rainbow Wahine Showdown, No. 2 Stanford bounced off its overtime loss to South Carolina at home last Sunday to beat Florida Gulf Coast 93-69. Haley Jones had 24 points and 14 rebounds, while Kiki Iriafen had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Cameron Brink scored 13 as the Cardinal improved to 6-1.

Tishara Morehouse scored 24 for the Eagles (4-1).

Stanford plays Grambling at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

No. 23 Tennessee (3-4) in a single game trying to avoid being out of the next poll at home in Thompson-Boiling Arena in Knoxville beat Colorado 69-51 as Jordan Horston had 23 points and eight rebounds against the Buffs (4-2) and Rickea Jackson had 20 points and six rebounds.

In a wild finish in the FIU Thanksgiving Classic in Miami reigning Atlantic 10 champion UMass closed 5-0 in regulation forcing overtime and then went 17-0 in overtime to beat Drake 100-83.

Sydney Taylor had 29 points and six rebounds for the Minutewomen (5-1), while Destiny Philoxy had 20 points, and Sam Breen and Ber’Nyah Mayo scored 19 each. 

Maggie Bair had 21 points and 12 rebounds for Drake (2-2).

In the other game, host FIU (2-2) beat Howard, the MEAC favorite, 76-65.

UMass and FIU will meet  Sunday at 1 p.m.

And that’s the report.