The Guru Report: Villanova Edged by Baylor in Tourney Semifinals While Penn State Hits a Decades Old Milestone

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

No. 23 Villanova took No. 21 Baylor nearly to the finish in a Gulf Coast Showcase semifinal Saturday night at Hertz Arena in Estero, Fla., but the powerhouse Bears in the final minutes broke away from a 70-70 tie win 75-50 and hand the Wildcats (5-1) their first loss of the season.

Though coach Nicki Collen’s squad (5-1) used a 32-22 second quarter performance to move in front 46-42 at the break Villanova fought back in the second half and moved into four ties in the closing minutes, but couldn’t get shots to drop that might have reversed the outcome.

Baylor hit 5-of-6 foul shots to determine the differential.

Five Bears scored in double figures, led by Caitlin Bickle’s 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Jaden Owens had 17 points.

‘Nova’s Maddy Siegrist, who got in early foul trouble, nevertheless was able to suffer more damage from whistles and had a game-high 22 points, while Lucy Olsen scored 18 points.

Had the Wildcats won, on Sunday they would be facing No. 22 Michigan in the 7:30 p.m. game, meeting the squad that knocked them out of the second round of the NCAA tourney last spring in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Instead, they will play at 5 p.m. in the third place game, meeting a rival from the old Big East of yesteryear in South Florida, the reigning American Athletic Conference champion, who fell to the Wolverines 63-58 in the other tightly fought semifinals contest.

Like the ‘Nova outcome, Michigan (6-0) stayed unbeaten, while the Bulls (7-1) suffered their first setback of the season.

The Wolverines used an 8-2 run to secure the win.

Michigan’s Lehigh Brown scored a game-high 23 points, while Laila Phelia scored 11 points and Emily Kiser scored 10.

South Florida’s Sammie Puisis scored 22 points, Elena Tsineke scored 14, and Carla Brito scored 12.

Earlier in the consolation semifinals, Belmont had another rally, more successful than the one that went to waste against Villanova, in this one erasing a 15-0 start by Saint Louis of the Atlantic 10 and going on to beat the Billikens 78-68.

Belmont (2-4) got a game-high 26 points from Destinee Wells, while Kilyn McGuff, the daughter of Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff, scored 20 points for the Bruins, and Tessa Miller grabbed 16 rebounds.

That total is the second highest in tournament history, falling in back of South Florida’s Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu, who collected 21 in Friday night’s last opening round contest.

Kyla McMakin had 24 points for Saint Louis (1-7), while Brooke Flowers had 12 points and nine points.

On Sunday, Belmont will play for fifth place against Georgia Tech at 1:30 p.m. while Saint Louis will open the day’s final action at 11 a.m. playing Air Force.

In the other consolation semifinal, the Yellow Jackets (4-2) repulsed an Air Force (3-3) rally to prevail 65-59.

Georgia Tech’s Tonie Morgan had 14 points and nine rebounds, while Bianca Jackson scored 12.

Madison Smith’s 22 points for Air Force was a game high, while Kamri Heath and Taylor Britt each scored 11.

Penn State Still Rolling While Delaware Back in the Win Column at Daytona:  After pulling two straight games out of the fire on the season schedule, the Lady Lions had an easier time in their second and final day at the Daytona Beach Invitational in Florida beating Fresno State 68-49 at the Ocean Center.

The triumph put the PSU mark on its pre-Big Ten portion of the schedule at 7-0 in forcing 34 turnovers and grabbing a season best 22 steals from the Bulldogs (4-3).

This is the best start in Happy Valley since the 1996-97 squad also started 7-0, matching a 26-season milestone.

Coach Carolyn Kieger got 43 points from her bench.

Former Temple star Alexa Williamson had 15 points, while Ali Campbell had a career six steals, a number also reached by Leilani Kapinus.

Fresno State’s  top scorer Yanina Todorova (14.4 ppg.) was held way under her average to eight points.

Penn State next welcomes Virginia Wednesday at 7 p.m. to the Bryce Jordan Center in State College for their part of the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Meanwhile, though in the same tourney, Delaware and Penn State did not meet in that all rounds both days were made up of pre-determined opponents.

Following Friday’s loss in an opener, the Blue Hens bounced back with a narrow 83-80 win over Illinois, handing the Big Ten squad (6-1) it’s first loss of the season.

Delaware (4-2) fell quickly behind 10-2 before the Blue Hens rallied back.

The fourth quarter was a high scoring affair in which Makayla Pippin and Nakiyah Mays-Prince combined for 10 points and an eight-point lead at 81-73.

However, the Illini used a 7-0 run to cut its deficit to a mere point with with six seconds left. Mays-Prince, a freshman, nailed two foul shots to seal it for Delaware.

Pippin had a career-high 18 points and grabbed 18 rebounds for Delaware, the board work best by a Colonial Athletic Association school this season and most since Jasmine Dickey grabbed 18 last spring in the CAA championship against Drexel.

Klarke Sconiers also had 18 points whiler Kharis Idiom scored 12, and Tara Cousins and Mays-Prince each scored 11.

Adalia McKenzie had 22 points and 10 rebounds for Illinois, while reserve Genesis Bryant scored 18, and Makira Cook had 16 points and 10 assists. Jada Pebbles scored 11 points off the bench.

Delaware returns home Wednesday to renew its Route 1 Rivalry game, tipping off at 7 p.m. in the Bob Carpenter Center. The game will air on Flohoops, which is also airing the entire Gulf Coast tourney.

In two other games in the Daytona Tourney, Mid-American Conference favorite Toledo, which got nipped by Penn State in a Friday opener, came back to top UT Arlington 80-70 as Sammi Mikonowicz had 24 points for the Rockets (4-2). Starr Jacobs scored 29 for UT Arlington (2-4).

Charlotte edged Cincinnati 59-58 as Mya McGraw made the winning shot for a 59-55 lead for the 49ers (42) with 13 seconds left in regulation.

With a second left, Braylyn Milton made a shot from deep for three points for Cincinnati (4-3).

Dazia Lawrence scored 21 for Charlotte, while Jillian Hayes, with 12 points, was high for the Bearcats, who also got 11 points from Mya Jackson, and 10 each from Braylyn Milton andf Clarissa Craig.

Lehigh Downed in its Tourney Opener: The Mountain Hawks suffered an 87-81 loss to Southern Illinois on the first of its two-day Christmas City Classic at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa.

The win was the first of the season for the Salukis (1-4) while Lehigh is now 2-4.

“I thought both teams competed really hard,” said Lehigh first year coach Addie Micir, a former Princeton star from Bucks County. “We knew both teams were going to want to get up and down the floor, and we did. It was a fun game to watch.”

Frannie Hottinger had 28 points for Lehigh, while Mackenzie Kramer had 21 points, and Ella Stemmer scored 11.

The Mountain Hawks were forced into 22 turnovers, yielding 27 points for the visitors, who committed just nine.

“We showed we can score, and it was physical,” Micir said. “We just have to find a way to do us well. We found ways to draw fouls when we needed to, and again, we did it. We just didn’t do it enough.”

Ashley Jones paced Southern Illinois, scoring a team-high 16 points leading four other players also scoring in double figures.

The Salukis will play Kent State (3-2) for the championship at 2:30 p.m. while Lehigh will meet Quinnipiac (2-3) at noon.

The matchups, using true tournament settings, were created when Kent State in the other Saturday round beat the Bobcats 58-55, the same differential in taking an early third quarter 27-24 on Claire Kelly’s shot from deep.

Lindsey Thall had 18 points for the Golden Flashes, while Csasey Santoro scored 15.

Cur’Tiera Haywood scored 13 for Quinnipiac.

Nationally Noted: In other primarily tournaments of note on Saturday in the Fort Myers Tipoff in Florida, DePaul followed up its Friday upset of No. 14 Maryland, beating Pittsburgh 74-59 as Aneesah Morrow had 23 points and 16 rebounds for the Blue Demons while Kendall Holmes had 19 of her 21 points in the second half, in which five of her shots came from deep.

Darrione Rogers scored 19 for DePaul (4-2) against the Panthers in Florida.

The Demons finish the three-day round-robin Sunday playing Towson at 2 p.m., the first ever meeting between the two programs.

Though their campuses are nearby up North, in the other game, No. 14 Maryland (5-2) gained an 81-70 win over Towson and play Pittsburgh at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.

Against the Tigers (3-2), Diamond Miller had a game-high 20 points for Maryland, while Faith Masonius scored 14, as did Shyanne Sellers. Princeton transfer Abby Meyers scored 11.

No. 2 Stanford took its second straight in the round-robin Rainbow Wahine Showdown in Honolulu, beating Grambling 87-50 as Lauren Betts had her first career double double with 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Cardinal (7-1). Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer upped her Division I women’s basketball win record run to 1,164, ahead of UConn’s Geno Auriemma, who is at 1,153. 

Both teams play Sunday, Stanford meeting Hawaii, while at 1 p.m. UConn meets Iowa on ABC, where at halftime the new 2023 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame class will be named with induction set for April 29 in Knoxville, Tenn.

On Monday, VanDerveer will till the late Tennessee legend Pat Summitt for most appearances in the AP women’s poll at 618.

When Summitt retired, battling alzheimers’ disease, she had missed just 14 times, her career running concurrent to the AP historical existence in the women’s vote.

Looking Ahead: Besides the Villanova and Lehigh games in tourneys, on Sunday, six other locals will be playing single affairs.

Temple is at Bucknell, looking to get back on the winning track in the game at 4 p.m. at Lewisburg, Pa., on ESPN+.

A marquee matchup on the Longhorn Network has Princeton at No. 19 Texas in the new arena in Austin at 1 p.m.

Saint Joseph’s, still unbeaten, is back down south, visiting North Florida at 2 p.m. on ESPN+

Also on ESPN+, Drexel visits Buffalo at noon, while Rutgers hosts Cornell at 2 p.m. on the B1G+ subscription network.

Lafayette will be at Marist at 2 p.m. on ESPN+

UMass plays FIU at 1 p.m. in the title game of that tourney in Florida, while Columbia is in the title game of Miami’s tourney at 2 p.m. with the Hurricanes. On Friday, Abbey Hsu of the visiting Lions scored her 1,000th point.

And that’s the report.