The Guru Report: Temple and La Salle Take Lopsided Wins

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — Though from a fan and players perspective around the Temple women’s program, following its renovation McGonigle Hall had been satisfying enough though a much smaller venue than the Liacouras Center that the Owls’ male counterparts call home. 

However after Diane Richardson’s arriving here in the offseason from Towson as the new coach of the women, she had her own vision for the team’s surrounding in the future.

And Liacouras, where most women’s games were played in the Dawn Staley era, was part of that outlook and one granted.

Saturday afternoon was on the calendar as the formal home opener for the Richardson era and her “equal opportunity” offense against visiting Georgetown.

But before that, a Big Five game for the men was on the books for Friday night and Richardson and her players were there in the packed arena watching Temple shock 16th ranked Villanova and the ensuing storming of the court afterwards.

“We couldn’t sleep last night because we were pretty excited from that game,” she exclaimed following an impressive 78-61 win over the Hoyas of the Big East as both programs ended their first week of action 1-1.

“The pressure was on. But again, we talk about playing in Liacouras and we got that feeling, that flavor last night when the guys had that great victory. It was just kind of like, `Wow. We are playing in this kind of environment.’

“I know coming from Towson and crowds weren’t that large, I turned to my husband and said, `this is big time basketball.’ And so to come out today and get that feeling and  crowd (1,600) we’re trying to  make it exciting so people will come back to the game.”

On Monday in the season opener at No. 24 Princeton, the Owls fell victim to a Tigers program that has evolved to “big time” status well beyond an Ivy League that, in itself, has grown.

But on Saturday after a close contest in the early portion, Temple slowly pulled away and avoided any threats the rest of the way.

“It was a total team victory,” Richardson said. “We ran the scout and the players believed in the scout. It felt good and it was a team victory for all of them just meshing together.

“They all played for each other so that was really, really special for me,

“We were locked in, executed our stuff. We knew that Georgetown was going to come in and try to slow us down, because of our pace, and they did that with their zone, but we just kept going.”

The third quarter was the separator, the Owls outscoring Georgetown 24-11.

Last season Temple beat the Hoyas down in the nation’s capital but it was a much different affair than the one trotted out Saturday.

Aleah Nelson had 19 points, Tiarra East scored 14, Tarriyona Gary off the bench added 13 and Jasha Clinton scored 12.

Jada Claude for the Hoyas had a double double 15 points and 15 rebounds for the visitors while Kennedy Fauntleroy scored 13, and Graceann Bennett and Kristina Moore each scored 10.

Temple next stays playing opponents of the Big East visiting St. John’s on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and airing on Flohoops.

La Salle Storms Niagara

It’s two straight to conclude the Explorers’ season-opening three-game road trip  at 2-1 after swamping host Niagara 83-64 Saturday afternoon in upstate New York.

Claire Jacobs scored 16 for La Salle, which is the second pick in the Atlantic 10 coaches’ forecast, while Gabby Crawford scored 12, Julie Jekot scored 11, and Kayla Spruill scored 10.

Molly Masciantonio dealt six assists.

Niagara of the MAAC fell to 1-1 in a game Angel Parker scored 23 and Aaliyah Parker had 16 for the Purple Eagles.

“Starting the season with three road games in challenging environments, it’s really exciting to come away with two wins,” fifth-year coach Mountain MacGillivray texted to the Guru.

“It was a great growth opportunity for our young players.

“We’re looking forward to getting back to (Tom) Gola Arena facing our crosstown rival for our first home game of the year.”

That’s Tuesday at noon when Drexel off Thursday’s big opening win visits.

The National Scene: Ranked Teams Dominate

Just like the locals, the national slate was not heavy on Saturday and was devoid of upsets.

The first NCAA women’s game televised on NBC saw No. 9 Notre Dame rout California in the City Shamrock Classic in Saint Louis, while No. 12 North Carolina took a lopsided 75-48 win over TCU at home as five starters scored in double figures. 

Dara Mabry scored 16 points, Kylee Watson scored 15, Sonia Citron scored 14 in the balanced attack by the Irish (2-0) over Cal, while Olivia Miles had 13 points and 10 assists, and Maddy Westbeld had 12. Jayda Curry scored 24 for the Golden Bears (1-1).

North Carolina’s Alyssa Ustby and Kennedy Todd-Williams each scored 14, while Deja Kelly scored 12 and dealt seven assists, and Anya Poole scored 10.

The other game involving a ranked team saw No. 20 host Oregon romp over Seattle, 90-47.  Grace Vanslooten scored 16 and grabbed nine rebounds for the Ducks (2-0), who also got 15 from Endyia Rogers, 14 from Philippina Kyei, and off the bench 15 from Jenna Isai.

Elsewhere on the Guru daily radar list, Green Bay at home smothered winless Marist 74-45, three straight setbacks for the Red Foxes, Montana State won at BYU 69-60, while New Mexico at home topped Houston 68-61, and UT Arlington at home beat Texas A&M-Commerce 75-72.

A game involving neither ranked teams saw Northern Illinois knock off DePaul, though the Blue Demons have been hit with the injury bug this week.

Looking Ahead: Penn Visits Northwestern: Following their opening win at Marist, the Quakers head to the Midwest Sunday visiting Big Ten member Northwestern at 1 p.m. on the B1G+ subscription network. Four other locals are in action, Rider at noon looking for its first win in three starts visits Saint Francis Brooklyn at noon on the NEC Front Row network, Rutgers at 2 p.m. hosts NJIT on the B1G+ network, Lehigh also on the host B1G+ at 4 p.m. visits Minnesota, and Lafayette hosts ETSU at noon on the ESPN+ channel.

The ESPN+ channel has several games worth viewing, Columbia is hosting Vanderbilt at 2 p.m. in New York, Louisville is visiting Belmont, the favorite in the Missouri Valley Conference at 5 p.m., and Drake is hosting Iowa at 3 p.m. Ohio State which upset Tennessee during the opening week is at Boston College at 4 p.m. on the ACC network, while Maryland after falling Friday to No. 1 South Carolina, hosts Fordham at 1 p.m. on B1G+.

No. 2 Stanford, the PAC-12 favorite off a busy week visits West Coast Contender Portland at 5 p.m.

And that’s the report for Saturday.