The Guru Report: Villanova Rallies And Upsets No. 24 Princeton While Top-Ranked South Carolina Routs No. 17 Maryland On the Road

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PRINCETON, N.J. — In what could be known as a bell whether district of women’s basketball here in Jadwin Gym, Villanova flipped a seat Friday night using a 12-0 finish stopping a game about to get away and turning it into a national attention performance as the Wildcats upset No. 24 Princeton, the reigning Ivy League champions, 69-59 in the Tigers’ own district,

Based on what has happened so far in the opening week of the season and what has not happened, at this hour it is not a stretch to imagine coach Denise Dillon’s group doing a somersault into the first weekly Associated Press women’s poll of the season when the preseason listings yield to the next vote judging the initial outcomes that will be revealed Monday.

In front of a lively Veterans Day evening crowd filled with supporters of both squads Villanova all-America candidate Maddy Siegrist could be described as the the Wildcats’ version of the baseball Phillies Bryce Harper of her sport.

Despite foul trouble that contributed to a double digit lead disappearing early in the fourth quarter as Siegrist spent moments on the bench, she was back on the court when breaks were put on the slide, especially making a turn-around lean to the basketball and adding a foul shot to push Villanova (2-0) enough in front of Princeton (1-1) to preserve the upset.

After Monday’s homecoming celebratory win at Marist in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., the reigning Big East player of the year and league coaches’ choice for preseason honors made critical baskets to earn another 30-plus night, this one 32 points, 13 rebounds, a perfect 5-for-5 from the line and connecting on 3-of-4 from deep.

Big East commissioner Val Ackerman was in the house to see what surely will be an “elected” declaration of Siegrist’s performance adding another conference player of the week honor to a mountain of previous citations.

If a loss by the No. 16 men’s team at Temple in the Big Five the same evening was likely to cause a damper on the Main Line campus, certainly a lot can be tempered by what the women did here.

Especially Siegrist, who now has 39 double doubles in her career.

Referring to the slow start at Marist Monday to taking control rather early in this one, Siegrist said, “I think we were just kind of getting settled (at Marist). We were prepared today. We were really focused.”

There was also enough players left on this squad to reflect in memory lane of last season’s opener at home in Finneran Pavillion when Princeton beat the Wildcats.

Lucy Olson was also in double digits with 18 points and after the Wildcats had squandered their early advantage she got it right back with a turnaround jumper and Nova was re-energized with a 10-0 run.

In that run with 43 seconds left Siegrist made the big And-One play that sent Nova on its way to finish the job.

“I knew she’d get a shot on the rim, but for her to make a little turnaround jumper and get hit on the elbow was huge for us,”Villanova coach Denise Dillon said. “Just control the tempo, get the ball in her hand, and her not allowing them to double team with the fadeaway.”

Though noted at this end the ‘Nova win here might be even bigger than last season’s home win over then nationally ranked Oregon State given the state of the Beavers but Dillon countered that at the time that win shored up the squad from heading south otherwise in terms of the team’s mental health.

While the graduation of Brianna Herlihy from last year’s NCAA squad is a negative key more and more off of just two games it appears the play of sophomore Christina Dalce is starting to lessen the loss through expired expired eligibility.

Dillon noted that a year ago bouts with Covid-19 and nagging injuries deprived Dalce of getting into a rhythm where now she is quickly coming into her own.

Her rebounding presence with Siegrist allowed Villanova to gobble up Princeton misses and send the Wildcats the other way.

Dalce had seven points and 10 rebounds.

Julie Cunningham paced by four from deep scored 18 for the Tigers, who beat Temple here in Monday’s opener, while Grace Stone off four career high 3-balls scored 17, and Paige Morton scored 10. Ellie Mitchell grabbed 13 rebounds.

Dillon noted the non-conference setup was designed to challenge her squad which next visits Penn Thursday at The Palestra to launch defense of the Big Five title in a game featuring the top two players involved in the City Series slate including Penn’s Kayla Padilla.

Saint Joseph’s Edges Yale Giving Griffin 400th Win

For the Hawks at home in Hagan Arena the 59-54 win to extend the new season record to 2-0 wasn’t artful but gained a milestone nonetheless as Cindy Griffin now owns 400 victories on the sidelines.

The first 48 came on the sidelines at Loyola (Md.) and the remaining 352 total gained over the win against Yale (0-2) managing the Hawks program in the Big Five she also played at as an undergrad.

Saint Joseph’s, the second straight member of the A-10 to hang a defeat on the Ivy representative, jumped to an 18-6 lead but the opposition fought back and by the end of the third period the teams were tied.

Julia Nystrom connected on a pair of three-pointers to build a 53-45 advantage with just over three minutes remaining in regulation and then held on to stay ahead securing the win.

Talya Brugler, the reigning A-10 rookie of the year, scored 16 points along with five rebounds and three steals.

Griffins’ bunch are looking on growing off a season that saw newcomers make the A-10 all-rookie team.

Mackenzie Smith scored 12, Katie Jekot contributed 11, and Olivia Mullins added 10, while Laura Ziegler added eight rebounds to a dominating 47-29 advantage on the backboards.

The Hawks dip into the Big Five pool next, hosting Penn Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

Penn State Handles Fairfield

Makenna Marissa put another double double on the record leading the Lady Lions to a 77-49 win over Fairfield (1-1), which suffered its first loss and evening its record under new coach Carly Thibault DuDonis.

Marissa scored 14 points and dealt 10 assists while Leilani Kanpinus had 11 points, eight rebounds, and led the defense with nine steals, a career-high and just short of the program record.

Shooting 8-for-14 from the field as a team for 57.1 percent to zip to a 21-8 lead Penn State went on to be ahead 14 points with one quarter left and used it for a dominating finish at 24-10.

Former Temple star Alexa Williamson had 16 points, shooting 7-for-10 for the home team, which also got 13 from Alli Campbell.

The defense under coach Carolyn Kieger gained 33 points from 27 turnovers and the home squad has yet to trail across the first two games.

Penn State continues the opening home stand Tuesday at 7 p.m. Tuesday hosting Youngstown State.

Rutgers Falls to Seton Hall

The first of a series of games involving the New Jersey contingent of the Scarlet Knights, Seton Hall and Princeton saw Seton Hall lower Rutgers quickly to a 1-1 start at home with a 75-57 win despite allowing first double doubles from Awa Sidibe with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Chynsa Cornell made it 10 points and 10 off the backboards.

Rutgers’ Kassondra Brown had a team-high 13 points for the Scarlet Knights shooting 5-for-6 from the field.

Erica Lafayette scored 11 against the visiting Pirates (2-0).

New coach Coquese Washington sees Brown and Cornwell as a strong 1-2 combo in the post.

Seton Hall’s Sydney Cooks had a double double pouring 29 points to go with 11 rebounds while Lauren Park-Lane had 18 points and dealt eight assists, and Sha’Lynn Hagans scored 12, and Shaiklyn Pinkney had 10 points.

Seton Hall stays in the series hosting Princeton in the Tigers’ next game, which is at Walsh Gym in South Orange.

In two other games involving reververse direction that evened the records at 1-1 to the Patriot Squads, Lafayette on the road won at NJIT in Newark 62-58 as Makayla Andrews scored 20 points and Halee Smith scored 12.

The Leopards Sunday make their season home debut hosting East Tennessee in Easton.

Lehigh went on the road on a Midwest swing and fell to No. 23 South Dakota State 91-73 in Brookings.

“We said very few times do you get this opportunity to come out and play a ranked team in an awesome environment like South Dakota State has,” noted new Lehigh coach Addie Micir.

“We wanted us to take it to show that we are a good team, but we need to level up and show the level of toughness and grittiness that was needed, and I thought we did that.

It was the Jackrabbits’ first win to go 1-1 following the opening night home loss to No. 21 Creighton.

Frannie Hottinger continued her strong season start for the visiting Mountain Hawks scoring 25 points two below her career high. Mackenzie Kramer was also productive scoring 21 points, of which 15 came in the second half.

“They’re a team that makes you pay for every mistakes, and besides the second quarter, we were hanging in there,” Micir said in quotes posted on the Lehigh website.

While Lehigh forced 17 turnovers, the home team dominated the inside scoring 54 points to the Mountain Hawks’ 24.

The road trip continues Sunday at Minnesota at 4 p.m.

The National Scene: South Carolina Passes Season’s First Test On a Night the Lottery Order for the Next WNBA Draft were Revealed

The defending NCAA champion Gamecocks may not have as daunting non-conference total opponents as a year ago but Friday’s was impressive enough on this year’s challenge list, winning at No. 17 Maryland 81-56 as reigning player of the year Aliyah Boston scored 16 points and grabbed 13 for Dawn Staley’s squad (2-0).

Abbey Meyers, the talented Princeton transfer to Maryland had 21 for the Terrapins (1-1) in College Park.

Using South Carolina’s size advantaged, they were 11-0 to Maryland in blocking shots.

Boston, considered likely the No. 1 pick in next spring’s WNBA draft, she learned before the game where she’s likely headed from the ESPN live telecast of the lottery order with Indiana for the first time gaining that right.

Minnesota will pick second followed by Los Angeles and, through a prior trade, Washington.

“This is a very strong draft,” said Fever interim general manager Lin Dunn. “We will get a great player picking No. 1.”

Back on the action, all the other ranked teams who played won easily, including Oklahoma at home as the No. 15 Sooners routed visiting SMU 97-74 in Norman.

No. 2 Stanford with a 98-44 road win at Pacific extend’s Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer’s all time win total to 1,160 off the Cardinal 3-0 start. That’s 10 more than No. 6 UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who reached 1,150 in Thursday’s home win over Northeastern.

Milwaukee didn’t make it to the World Series but the Brewers’ American Family Field was used for a Aurora Health Care Brew City Battle men’s women’s doubleheader with the Kansas State women beating Wisconsin 77-63.

During halftime of the South Carolina-Maryland game the 12 finalists for induction into the next Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame class were revealed.

Choices to be gaining automatic access in being the only ones in their respective categories, Cathy Boswell as a veteran player; former Texas women’s athletic director Donna Lopiano as a contributor, and Lisa Mattingly as a referee.

Class size has been six or seven in recent seasons. Out of the remaining picks, the frontrunners appear to be Brian Agler, who coached Seattle and Los Angeles to WNBA titles and in the former ABL did likewise with the Columbus Quest. Former Minnesota Lynx star Lindsay Whalen, recently an inductee to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, is in the player category. Paula McGhee, who played for Southern Cal on two NCAA champions also seems strong as does Carolyn Peck, who coached Purdue to a title and was presented with congratulatory flowers during her ESPN studio hosting duties during the South Carolina game.

The other player picks are Taj McWilliams-Franklin, who played for the former Philadelphia Rage in the ABL and on several WNBA champions, former WNBA star Crystal Robinson, and former Georgia star Saudia Roundtree. The other coaches are Sue Phillips and Mary “Roonie” Scovel.

The class will be revealed at halftime of the ABC telecast of the Phil Knight Invitational tournament in Portland, Ore., the game beginning 1 p.m. Eastern Standard time.

Induction in Knoxville, Tenn., will move up on the calendar, Saturday, April 27th.

Looking Ahead

Saturday’s action involving the local group has Temple looking for its first season win following the opening loss at Princeton when the Owls host Georgetown in the Liacouras Center at 4 p.m. 

La Salle at 1-1 continues its opening road trip visits Niagara 5 p.m.., both games airing on the ESPN+ apps.

Nationally, Notre Dame plays California at 4 p.m. in the first women’s game in the NCAA to air on NBC. The Shamrock Classic is in St. Louis.

On Sunday, Penn is at Northwestern at 1 p.m., Rider is at St. Francis of Brooklyn at noon with the other locals mentioned above.

Iowa is at Drake at 3 p.m. on ESPN+, and Ohio State fresh off its recent upset of No. 5 Tennessee, is at Boston College at 4 p.m.on the ACC Network.

And that’s the way it is.

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