The Guru Report: Saint Joseph’s Second Half Rally Keeps Hawks Unbeaten After Big Five Win on Temple; Penn Loses Close at Southern Cal

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopdsguru

PHILADELPHIA — On Sunday Temple thought it had reached a good place giving nationally-ranked Villanova a fight to the finish falling just short in their Big Five encounter at the Owls’ Liacouras Center.

“We thought we had found ourselves,” new coach Diane Richardson said Wednesday night, following a second straight Big Five setback, this one at Saint Joseph’s on the eve of Thanksgiving.

The premise held at the half off a 22-11 second quarter that had Temple in front 38-32.

But out of the break the Hawks exploded 27-13 over the next period and rode on to a 75-66 victory that has then 5-0 on the young season and 2-0 in the City Series competition.

“It was a great game for women’s basketball, the Big Five games are battles, against a very good Temple team,” said veteran Saint Joseph’s coach Cindy Griffin. “We came out in that second half, we took care of business and we played for each other.”

At this stage of the early season a year ago, wins were nearly impossible to come by overall, including here at Hagan Arena. But the young roster kept at it and by the end of the season, Saint Joeseph’s made a deep run in the Atlantic 10 tournament, four newcomers made the league all-rookie team, and Talya Brugler, whose sister  Tessa starred at Drexel and is now on the coaching staff, was named rookie of the year.

In that third period the Hawks kept finding their way inside for baskets to take control.

“It’s something we were working on all summer making reads,” Griffin said.

Richardson credited the play of Saint Joseph’s but also said her team began to let up, where it needs to play 40 minutes.

Brugler finished with 17 points, while Mackenzie Smith scored 14, and Laura Ziegler had 10 points and eight rebounds. Katie Jekot dealt six assists.

The squad set a second straight season high to date on offense following the 67 Sunday in the win at Vanderbilt in Nashville.

Brugler was out of the lineup in the first half when Temple went ahead but was back in the action as Saint Joseph’s regained control.

“No question about it, she just makes the difference,” Griffin said.

“We don’t run a lot of stuff for her. She just makes plays.”

Adding to the depth of the home team, Olivia Mullins scored nine points as did Julie Nystrom, while Katie Jekot scored eight.

“Even though we kind of have a young team, our experience of the past few years has helped us develop relationships on the court that we know where each other are in the right times, the right places.”

Aleah Nelson, who followed Richardson from Towson to Temple, had 16 points, highlighted by 4-for-9 from the field. Jasha Clinton scored 12 for the Owls (1-4, 0-2 Big Five), while Tarriyona Gary had another big game with 10 points.

Despite the start, Nelson is not dismayed.

“I followed her here because she wins championships,” Nelson said, predicting once the hybrid roster of multiple new players and veterans are more comfortable with each other she believes things will start to click.

On the other side, Brugler also noted, “We’re very happy where we are but we’re not satisfied yet,” she said. “We have a lot to accomplish this season. We ended on a very strong note, and we wanted to keep that same momentum coming into this year, and we’re doing a really good job of doing that, and we keep battling every day.”

Saint Joseph’s is at North Florida on Sunday in Jacksonville at 2 p.m. while Temple will be at Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pa. at 4 p.m. Both games will air on ESPN+.

On Wednsday, Temple is at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Va., at on ESPN+ while Saint Joseph’s hosts Patriot favorite Boston U. At 7 p.m. on Thursday on ESPN+.

Penn Overcome by Southern Cal:  Quakers coach Mike McClaughlin knows what he schedules and while many times in non-conference his Ivy Leaguers are big underdogs he still seeks competitiveness.

Following Monday’s loss at San Francisco, Penn battled host Southern Cal all the way Wednesday before the Trojans prevailed 66-60 at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.

Helping the home team extend its season-starting record to 5-0 Rayah Marshall had 19 points and 18 rebounds, while Kadi Sissoko had 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Simone Sawyer had another big game for Penn (1-5), scoring 18 points, while Kayla Padilla scored 13, with six rebounds, five assists, and a steal, while Floor Toonders had 10 points, as did Mandy McGurk.

It was the first meeting between the two programs and fourth overall matchup with a squad from the Pac-12, though in a few years USC will be moving with local rival UCLA to the Big Ten.

Penn is set to play its third Big Five game next, visiting La Salle Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in Tom Gola Arena on ESPN+

Nationally Noted: Three ranked teams played Wednesday, easy times for No. 4 Ohio State beating visiting Wright State 105-52 in a single game No. 11 Virginia Tech beating Missouri 73-57 in the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship, though in the same event No. 17 Utah edged Ole Miss 69-67.

In another close one in that tourney, Alabama beat Wake Forest 61-58. In the Puerto Rico Clasico in San Juan, Stony Brook beat High Point 86-72, while in another game in the Pink Flamingo, Kentucky routed Dayton 70-44.

And that’s the report.