The Guru Report: Princeton Edges Fordham; Rutgers Cruises While Temple and Lafayette Felled

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Grace Stone’s career high 19 points, shooting 7-of-10 from the field, helped Princeton Wednesday night to a second straight narrow victory, this one 70-67 at home over Fordham in Jadwin Gym following last Friday’s upset loss from Villanova that Knocked the Tigers (3-1) out of the AP women’s rankings.

Kaitlyn Chen shot even better, 8-of-9 on the way to 19 points while Ellie Mitchell had 10 points and 14 rebounds besides grabbing five steals, and Julia Cunningham scored 13 in the winning attack.

The Rams rallied out of a 39-33 halftime deficit to take the lead several times in the second half but the Tigers regained control at the finish.

Kaitlyn Downey had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Fordham (2-2) while Megan Jonassen scored 15 points and Asiah Dingle scored 13.

Princeton next visits Buffalo Saturday at noon on ESPN+

A little further north in central New Jersey, Rutgers (3-1) routed NC Central 66-45 at home in Jersey Mike’s Arena as a career effort 18 points and six assists from Awa Sidibe led the way to drop the opposition to 1-3.

“She’s always been a really good defender, since we fist saw her in the gym,” said first-year coach Coquese Washington. “The thing that’s really improved is her high post jumper.”

Freshman Kaylene Smikle scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Scarlet Knights while Erica Lafayette also scored 12.

Rutgers dominated the boards 45-31 over the Eagles.

A major test looms ahead this weekend when Rutgers meets No. 11 Tennessee in a Battle4Atlantis Opener at noon Saturday on Flohoops in the Bahamas.

Still further north Wednesday Temple in the second of three games playing Big East opponents couldn’t rally over St. John’s in Carneseca Arena on Long Island in Queens as the Red Storm prevailed 66-54 for their first 3-0 start since 2019.

The Owls (1-2) trailed just by a bucket 46-44 after three quarters until the home team pulled away on a 7-0 run at the finish from a slim 53-52 lead.

Temple’s Tiarra East had 15 points dealt six assists and grabbed seven rebounds.

Aleah Nelson scored 11, also dealt six assists, while grabbing six rebounds.

The Red Storm’s Raven Peeples had adouble double 18 points and 17 rebounds while Kadaja Bailey scored 14 and Jayla Everett scored 12.

Temple makes its first Big Five appearance Sunday at 5 p.m. in the Liacouras Center hosting No. 24 Villanova on ESPN+

In the other locally involved game Lafayette over in Ithaca, N.Y., fell just short in a rally losing at Cornell 62-60 in the Ivy Leaguers’ Newman Arena.

Abby Antognoli and Makayla Andrews each scored 14 for the visiting Leopards (1-3) while Halee Smith scored 13 and Kylie Favours scored 10.

Lafayette had a chance to tie in the final seconds but the shot didn’t drop.

Ania McNicholas scored 12 and Shannon  Mulroy and Ruby Grace Williams each scored 10 for the Big Red (1-2).

Lafayette next moves nearby to suburban Albany to visit Siena Saturday.

The National Scene: The one major upset in the Top 25 occurred in a game between two ranked teams as newly entered No. 25 Utah at home walloped No. 16 Oklahoma 124-78 while No. 7 Iowa State narrowly escaped on the road at Northern Iowa 88-85.

No. 2 Stanford heading for this Sunday’s showdown hosting No. 1 South Carolina blasted visiting Cal Poly 80-43 as the Cardinal improved to 5-0 while Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer’s all-time record Division I victory mark is now 1163 ahead of UConn’s Geno Auriemma who has 1151 after Monday’s win over No. 3 Texas.

Hannah Jump nailed eight treys for Stanford to account for all eight of her 24 points.

Elsewhere of note, Florida State beat visiting Florida,  92-77; Fairleigh Dickinson won at Bucknell, 62-49; San Francisco beat visiting Troy, 84-73; Middle Tennessee which is favored in C-USA beat visiting Missouri Valley favorite Belmont, 80-62; South Florida topped visiting Alabama, 67-59; and in a condensed field preseason WNIT game, host Jackson State, the SWAC favorite, beat visiting Louisiana 70-41.

Looking Ahead: Maddy Siegrist, who missed two previous opportunities with injuries, finally gets to play in The Palestra at 7 p.m. Thursday night when No. 24 Villanova visits Penn in the host Quakers’ second Big Five game and first for the visiting Wildcats. This game matches two of the area’s top performers including Penn’s Kayla Padilla.

“We’re in it to win like everyone else,” Penn coach Mike McLaughlin said after Tuesday’s loss at Saint Joseph’s. “We’re not playing for anything down the road. These kids only get a short time to play now as we do to prepare for the Ivy League.”

Elsewhere, South Carolina tunes up for visiting Stanford by traveling to nearby Clemson, Duke hosts Texas A&M, Columbia visits Seton Hall, and Washington hosts UC Irvine.