The Guru Report: Brugler Has Career Day Taking Saint Joseph’s to Title Round of Its Hawk Classic Against James Madison

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — For the past ten days Saint Joseph’s through its final exam period in the class room had to deal with its first seasonal loss — a dominating one at nearby up the road at Big Five rival Villanova.

Many would say, a long time for rust to set in, especially the way the Hawks had been operating, the Villanova game not withstanding.

“It’s always a concern,” said veteran Hawks coach Cindy Griffin. “Because you don’t want it to be sloppy and you miss being in game shape, sometimes. You’re practicing, but it’s different. But we’re a well conditioned team. We had some turnovers in the first half and some in the second but it’s still manageable when you have 21 assists on 24 field goals. That’s pretty awesome.”

If such was the case, it wasn’t apparent with Talya Brugler, last season’s Atlantic 10 freshman of the year, who had a career-afternoon on Tuesday, collecting 27 points, with seven rebounds, while dealing three assists, and gaining a steal as the home team topped Wright State 70-62 in Hagan Arena to fuel Saint Joseph’s opening round win its annual Hawk Classic.

The nightcap saw James Madison cruise over Eastern Michigan 78-43 to set up Wednesday’s title round at 3 p.m. or a reasonable amount of time after Wright State (1-10) and Eastern Michigan (6-3) play at 1 p.m. in the game for the tourney’s third place finish. The games will air on ESPN+.

Mackenzie Smith also had a big game for Saint Joseph’s (10-1), scoring 21 points with six boards, while Olivia Mullins had a near triple-double with 11 points, tying a career-high with a career-high nine rebounds while she dealt six assists.

Laura Ziegler, who got off to a big start in the second half, finished with eight points and eight boards, and Julia Nystrom dealt seven assists, a career high.

A funky stat on the day came from Brugler and Smith who until near the end of the game, the former at 7-for-8 at the line, and the latter at 9-for-10, accounted for the Hawks’ entire free-throw activity until Mullins chimed in with a 3-for-6.

Wright State had an accurate day at the line, also, shooting 7-for-10, so the Hawks’ performance on the differential loomed large at 19-for-22.

In fact the visitors’ effort belied their record, helped by going 9-for-25 from beyond the arc, and coming back within five points with 2:09 left in regulation to have a shot to win after Saint Joseph’s broke open a 17-point lead in the third period.

Wright State’s Bryce Nixon scored 14 points and Channing Chappell scored scored 10.

But defense was key for the winners, dominating the boards 36-25, and getting stops across the closing minutes.

“I thought we came out with a great punch to start the game and Wright State was definitely prepared,” Griffin said. “They came in and did what they do, shoot a lot of threes, and make a lot of one-and-one baskets.

“We had to adjust our defense at the half. We were able to do that and get consecutive stops in a row while we were scoring. A great team win.”

Said, Brugler, “It was a really fun game, we knew they were undersized from a post standpoint and my teammates were doing a really good job finding me in open areas — especially at the beginning of the game right off the bat.”

Smith of her day and the team performance noted, “We were just moving well off the boards and setting up our screens well and our teammates.

“That’s a growth moment for us,” Griffin said on not collapsing when Wright State threatened, something that was far different than might have happened a year ago. “Certainly, we’ve been in this situation before. We’ve down had at halftime. We’ve had some leads. At the end of the day we executed down the stretch and we got stops when we needed to get stops. That’s the toughness of this team.”

On Brugler, the Hawks coach said, “She never loses her composure and our passes inside I thought was a two-way street, it was Talya’s setup and our guards giving her the basketball where she can be successful. At the end of the day, you’ve just got to want it more and today we showed that.”

In the second game, James Madison (9-2), now in its first year in the Sun Belt Conference following a long run as an annual contender in the Colonial Athletic Association, had little problem Eastern Michigan.

The Dukes have won six straight while the Eagles had opened with five straight wins before losing now three of their last four.

“We scaled back the schedule a little bit,” said JMU coach Sean O’Reagan, now in his seventh season after moving up when Kenny Brooks left for nearby Virginia Tech. “Usually, I’m like let’s go play everybody we can play. And last year that just wore us out. So this year we got some good teams. We want to bus trip where we can because in the Sun Belt we’re in planes a lot.

“The team is playing great. They’re playing together. We got our identity back. We’re defending everything. But I’ll tell you, we’re going to be in a test tomorrow. They’re similar. The had some bumps and so did we.”

Kseniia Koslow, a 6-foot-4 junior from Moscow, Russia, had 18 points for JMU, while Jamia Hazell had 12 points and four boards, and reserve Kobe King-Hawea, a 6-0 junior from Australia had 11 points.

Eastern Michigan, whose coach Fred Castro was a former University of Washington assistant working with now WNBA star Kelsey Plum, got 16 points from Olivia Smith.

Catching Up: In a single local interest game Monday night, Rider was unable to split its Western New York road swing, launching play in the Metro AtlanticAthletic Conference (MAAC), and losing at Niagara 74-67, having a 63-62 lead with 3:28 left dissolved by a 9-0 run from the Purple Eagles (2-8, 1-1 MAAC).

The Broncs (3-8, 0-2) got to their lead with a 14-2 run before Niagara regained the momentum.

“Credit them,” said Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “They stepped up and made big shots.

“That being said, we took the lead 63-62. We had some untimely turnovers and fouls. We didn’t get the big stop, and we didn’t get the big score.”

Amanda Mobley dealt nine assists for Rider, moving past all-time Bronc Stella Johnson into third place with 436 on the program career charts.

Jessika Schiffer had 14 points for the Broncs, while Makayla Firebaugh scored 12.

The major problem came in ball-handling with Rider coughing up 25 miscues resulting in Niagara with a lopsided 27-7 differential in points off turnovers.

Rider is now off until next Thursday, hosting Siena in a MAAC game at 7 p.m. in Alumni Gym on ESPN3 in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Nationally Noteworthy: No. 3 Ohio State escaped a major upset in the San Diego Invitational, beating South Florida 88-86 in overtime, Cotie McMahon fed Taylor Thierry for a layup with six seconds remaining in the extra period.

The shot completed an 8-0 run for the Buckeyes (12-0) at the finish to stay unbeaten.

In a long cold stretch for the Buckeyes, the Bulls (10-4) built a six-point lead 84-78 with 1:52 left on Elena Tsineke’s two foul shots.

Ohio State’s McMahon then made a layup and blocked Tsineke’s shot but Daniel Gonzalez got the offensive board, got fouled, and made two shots at the line for an 86-80 lead with 1:12 left.

Eboni Walker, assisted by Taylor Mikesell, brought the Buckeyes within four with 21 seconds left. Mikesell then made a steal for OSU on Tsineke. 

McMahon went to the line with 21 seconds left, made the first, missed the second but Thierry grabbed an offensive rebound and Mikesell from Thierry fired a trey to tie it with 15 seconds left.

South Florida’s Tsineke on a layup got blocked by Eboni Walker, leading to Thierry’s winning tie-break.

Sammie Puisis turned it over and Thierry grabbed the rebound to end it.

McMahon had 30 for Ohio State, Thierry on 9-for-11 from the field scored 23, and Madison Green scored 14.

Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu had 32 points and 17 rebounds for South Florida, while Pulsis scored 20, including five shots from beyond the arc, and Tsineke scored 15.

 In the earlier game in the tourney, No. 16 Oregon beat No. 17 Arkansas 85-78 as the Ducks (10-1) got 26 points from Grace Vonslooton, 20 from Endyia Rogers, and Phillipina Kyei grabbed 14 rebounds. 

Erynn Barnum scored 22 points and got nine rebounds for the Razorbacks (13-1), Samara Spencer had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Makayla Daniels had 15 points, and Connecticut transfer freshman had 11 rebounds from Saylor Poffenbarger.

On Wednesday, Arkansas will play South Florida at 4 p.m. for third place and then Oregon and Ohio State will meet at 6:30 p.m.

In a tournament of pre-determined opponents each round, the West Palm Beach Invitational, San Diego State beat Miami (Ohio) 66-57, the winning Aztecs (10-2) getting 25 points from Asia Avinger over the opposition (4-7). In the other game, West Virginia edged Georgia 49-45, the winning Mountaineers (8-2) getting 13 points from Danni Nichols and 11 from Jayla Hemmingway  while the Bulldogs (10-3) got 17 points from Diamond Battles helped by five shots from deep.

In the first of a two-day predetermined matches, each single games, in the Jumpman invitational, No. 19 Michigan topped No. 6 North Carolina 76-68 in Charlotte.

Leigha Brown had 25 points and Laila Phelia scored 20 for the winning Wolverines (11-1), while UNC (9-2) featured a balanced attack at the Spectrum Center with Deja Kelly scoring 15, Alyssa Ustby got a double-double 11 points and11 rebounds, Kennedy Todd-Williams also scored 11, Eva Hodgson got 13, and reserve Destiny Adams scored 12.

Two games involving Pac-12  teams were completed late Tuesday night out West.

In a contest between ranked teams  No. 2 Stanford topped No. 21 Creighton 72-59 at home in Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, Calif., the Cardinal’s last non-conference game before hosting Bay Area rival California Friday afternoon in a PAC-12 game at 3 p.m.

That’s one of four NCAA games on Friday, the others not involving ranked teams.

The triumph increased Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer’s NCAA Division I women’s record to 1,169, which is 12 ahead of UConn’s Geno Auriemma.

In this one, both teams got off to a slow start but Stanford (12-1) began accelerating the differential with a 10-0 run over three minutes to a 27-10 lead at the end of the first period, the spurt under way after Emma Ronsiek’s three-pointer for Creighton (8-3).

The Cardinal hit a scoring drought in the fourth and the Bluejays got to within 11 but that was as close as it got the rest of the way.

Freshman Talana Leopold scored 17 for the Cardinal, while Haley Jones scored 16 with eight assists, Cameron Brink had a double-double 14 points from 6-for-9 shooting and 16 rebounds, and Kiki Iriafen had a near double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds.

Creighton’s Lauren Jensen scored 18 and Ronsiek scored 11.

No. 11 UCLA handled Fresno State 82-48 at home in Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, Charisma Osborne shooting 7-for-11 for 16 points for the Bruins (12-1), while freshman Kiki Rice scored 16 with six rebounds and four assists, and freshman reserve Gabriela Jaquez scored 15 with five rebounds.

The visiting Bulldogs (7-6) had two players score in double figures, Yanina Todorova from Bulgaria scored 13, and reserve Imani Lacy scored 12.

UCLA is now off until a week from Friday when the Bruins return to PAC-12 play visiting Oregon at 9 p.m. on the PAC-12 Network. 

Looking Ahead: Besides the calendar, Wednesday, bringing the official first day of winter, it’s the last big day locally and nationally before the Christmas break with a few games Thursday and Friday and then total idleness until Tuesday when Tennessee hosts Wofford followed by fade-out, fade-in scheduling on next Wednesday as non-conference matchups yield to the league regular season title chases.

Besides, the tourney here, locally, the events are all around the same hours, beginning with Villanova hosting La Salle, at 11:30 a.m., on Flohoops, the ‘Cats seeking an outright Big Five championship.

At noon, Temple wraps up ins non-conference slate, hosting Ole Miss in the Liacouras Center on ESPN+, Drexel is hosting Delaware State at noon in the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Flohoops; Delaware at 2 p.m. is hosting American U. in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark on Flohoops; Penn State at noon is hosting Cornell in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College; Lehigh is visiting Yale at 6 p.m. in New Haven, Conn., on ESPN+, and Lafayette is hosting St. Francis Brooklyn at 1 p.m.

Nationally, No. 9 UConn in a Big East clash is hosting Seton Hall in a key Big East game at the XL Center at noon in Hartford , on SNY and Flohoops.  Hall of Fame Huskies coach Geno Auriemma will be sidelined for his home game, still feeling the effects of the flu, thus  associate head coach Chris Dailey can extend her substitute mark to 15-0. 

In this dynamic Auriemma still gets official credit for the outcome as he trails just Stanford Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer for the total Division I women’s win record.

Baylor hosts Long Beach; DePaul hosts Louisville; Gonzaga hosts Montana.

Florida and No. 23 Oklahoma will meet to complete the two-day predetermined single game rounds of the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, N.C., at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN2. 

Thursday has a bunch of games, though only one involves a ranked team, No. 12 Utah hosting state rival Southern Utah at 7 p.m.

 There was to be a key in-state matchup  but along with a Wednesday men’s contest, Iowa State hosting Omaha; the No. 14 Cyclone women’s game hosting Drake has been cancelled due to weather conditions in the Midwest.

That’s the report.