The Guru Report: Siegrist’s Smashing Palestra Debut Helps Carry Villanova Over Penn in Big Five Battle

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — After two previous opportunities to play host Penn in Big Five games at The Palestra had been denied by sidelining injuries, No. 24 Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist’s remaining chance as a senior did not go to waste Thursday night as the reigning Big East player of the year, and preseason choice, got a double double with 22 points and 11 rebounds as the Wildcats took a 67-41 victory.

Another Maddie was also part of the victory tale in junior transfer Maddie Burke, a Central Bucks grad Maddie Burke, previously at Penn State, who scored 12 off 4-for-5 long range shooting from beyond the arc to account for all her points for the Wildcats (3-0, 1-0 Big Five).

“It’s not always the friendliest court for people,” said Villanova coach Denise Dillon, who has previously coached nearby Drexel against Penn in The Palestra as well as playing as a Wildcats undergrad in the mid-‘90s. “So for it being her first time out it was nice to see.”

Siegrist currently third on the all-time Villanova scoring list behind Shelly Pennefather (2,408) and Nancy Bernhardt (2,018) finished the night at 1,890 just 129 from reaching the runnerup spot. 

Lucy Olsen may not have been in double figures but she was a key in the offense with nine points, five assists, and five rebounds.

An oddity in the schedule has Villanova away from home in Finneran Pavillion until Dec. 2 when No. 20 Creighton comes to the Main Line for the first Big East game of the season.

However, with previous stops at Marist, Princeton, and now Penn, and Sunday’s second Big Five game playing at Temple (5 p.m.) in the Liacouras Center, the ‘Nova fan base are able to attend those games without travel hardships.

Speaking of oddities, in the first half across the two quarters and when the Wildcats used a 26-14 run to break the game open in the second period, they went to the break 42-27 without grabbing an offensive rebound.

Burke had been taking a while getting adjusted in the previous encounters, but Thursday night, her perimeter shooting was almost perfect.

“It was huge ,” she of the night’s performance contributing to her confidence. “”Just gives me that confidence once that first one went in, and my teammates and coaches just told me to keep shooting.”

As for playing in the fabled arena she attended in her formative years, Burke said, “It’s incredible, I’ve been here many times for PCL championships and that kind of thing, so really cool to be able to play on the court and play at The Palestra, which is a historical place for basketball in Philadelphia, so it was awesome, it was very cool.”

Dillon has no objection to the schedule.

“I think it’s a good thing, especially when we have some new players and some young ones trying to get comfortable,” Dillon said.

On the Penn side, no one scored in double figures for the Quakers (1-3, 0-2 Big Five), but eight points each were collected by Stina Almqvist, Mandy McGurk, and Kayla Padilla, who also grabbed nine rebounds as did Floor Toonders.

But Quakers coach Mike McLaughlin spoke of how tough it was battling the Wildcats.

“We’ve been playing them a very long time since I’ve been here,” he said of the game that was the only one on the night’s schedule involving local teams.. “And this is one of the better teams defensively that I saw.

“I just wished we played better basketball. Regardless og what the end result was.”

He alluded to a crammed schedule this week that continued following returning from Sunday’s game in the Midwest at Northwestern, flying home to play at Saint Joseph’s Tuesday night, the ‘Nova game Thursday and then on a flight Friday to the West Coast where on Monday the Quakers play at San Francisco and Wednesday play at a Southern Cal squad that earlier this week signed JuJu Watkins, the top prospect in the nation.

The National Scene: As light as the local interest card was, taking nothing away from the one event on it, there wasn’t much on the rest of the action across the country.

But there were some that were posted on the radar composite including what became a major upset with Kansas State at home edging No. 4 Iowa 84-83 after the visiting Hawkeyes (3-1) on the weekend had to go in overtime to win at Drake.

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark had 27 points and 10 rebounds and broke the arena record with 13 free throws. The Hawkeyes host Belmont Sunday.

Kansas State trailed by seven in the middle of the fourth quarter with Gabby Gregory’s foul shots at the finish completing a rally. 

“Every moment of the game it felt like we were right there, in it,” Gregory said. “I didn’t even realize  we were down 12.”

Gregory and Serena Sundell each scored 24 for Kansas State.

Duke used a balanced attack to level Texas A&M 71-52 at home in Camroon Indoor Arena.

Elizabeth Balogun had 15 points as a sub for the Blue Devils (4-0), while Celeste Taylor had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Classmate Celeste Taylor had 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Kennedy Brown had 11 points and Reigan Richardson had 10 points and four rebounds.

Sydney Bowles had 15 points for the visiting Aggies (2-1).

Columbia got revenge from last season’s ouster in the WNIT quarterfinals at home by likewise defeating Seton Hall of the Big East 83-76 at Walsh Gym.

Kaitlyn Davis had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the winning Lions, who let one get away at home Sunday, losing to Vanderbilt. Abbey Hsu used four treys to propel her way to 19 points, while completing the entire Columbia array in double figures from the starters, Kitty Henderson scored 15, and Jaida Patrick and Hannah Pratt, 12 each.

Conceding the game was targeted for a while, Columbia (3-1) coach Megan Griffith said, “I have a ton of respect for what (Seton Hall coach) Tony (Bozzella) does with his program and with his team. We executed the game plan.”

Azana Banes had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the host Pirates (2-2), while Sydney Cooks scored 15, Sha’Lynn Hagans had 13, and and Alexia Allesch had 11.

Washington beat visiting UC Irvine 62-60 in double overtime out in the Northwest, the first such occurrence for the host Huskies since 2013.

The Huskies moved to 3-0 with the win.

Washington’s Dalayah Daniels had 23 points and 14 rebounds. Jayda Noble grabbed a career high 12 rebounds and another personal best with four steals.

Top-ranked South Carolina beat host Clemson 85-31, the 12th straight win in the series, setting the stage for Sunday’s 1-2 dazzler at No. 2 Stanford. 

Zia Cooke had 15 points while Aliyah Boston had 12 points and six rebounds for the unbeaten Gamecocks (2-0). 

No one on Clemson scored in double figures.

Ashlyn Watkins had 14 points.

Looking Ahead: Friday Rider begins its part of the two-day MAAC/ASUN Challenge in Dublin, Irene as the Broncs play North Florida at 9:15 p.m. The other Friday game has Marist and Eastern Kentucky meeting at 7:30 a.m. in the East. Both games are on ESPN+

La Salle begins play in the Great Alaskan Shootout in Achorage meeting Pepperdine at 9:15 p.m. while at 11:30 p.m. UC Riverside meets Alaska Anchorage.

Penn State in a single game hosts Bryant at at 7 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center at State College. 

And that’s the report.