The Guru Report: La Salle and Rider Swept on the Road While Arkansas Top Creighton in Ranked Teams Matchup

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru Just two locals played Saturday, both in the afternoon and La Salle got blitzed by American Athletic Conference favorite South Florida in Tampa, 75-50, while Rider on the outset of a two-game Western New York swing to begin the Broncs’ play in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference fell late to Canisius 74-67.

A surprise in another MAAC game, not local, though the Quinnipiac coach has local ties, her favored Bobcats got edged by Iona 57-54 on a Gaels 9-0 rally at the finish at home in Hamden, Conn.

In the La Salle (8-5) game, though the Explorers were competitive early, the ultimate 25-point differential handed by the Bulls (10-3) was the worst of the season.

Two of the three Jacobs sister who played were the only ones on the visiting roster scoring in double figures, Mia collecting 15 points, shooting 4-of-8 from the field and 7-of-11 from the line, while Claire scored 10.

As for South Florida, which earlier lost big in the third-place game to Villanova in the Gulf Coast Showcase in Florida, Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu shot 9-for-15 from the field and 8-for-10 from the line, to achieve a double-double with 26 points and 12 rebounds. 

Sammie Pulsis led three other Bulls scoring in double figures, shooting 5-for-9 from the field, including 5-of-8 deep for 16 points, while Priscilla Williams’ 4-of-6 completed threes were also her overall shooting total scoring 12 points and Elena Tsineke scored 10 and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds.

La Salle visits No. 25 Villanova Wednesday at 11:30 p.m., the Wildcats seeking a win to grab the Big Five title outright at 4-0. The Explorers (0-2) can attempt to be spoilers to that goal with a win, though should they beat Saint Joseph’s in an Atlantic 10 opener on New Year’s Eve, Villanova can spell be an outright winner at 3-1.

Meanwhile, in the game involving Rider (3-7, 0-1 MAAC) in Buffalo, late in the fourth quarter a four-point play from Ralphaela Toussaint and a shot deep from Jessika Schiffer got the Broncs to a 60-60 tie which briefly led to another tie at 62-62.

That was the high watermark for the visitors as Canisius (4-6, 1-0) took off on a 5-0 run, Rider moved within a basket 69-67 courtesy of a Mikayla Firebaugh triple but then was 0-for-3 from the field with two turnovers while the Golden Griffins were 5-of-6 from the line.

Rider had won four straight in the series.

“It was a tough game to begin MAAC play on the road,” Rider coach Lynn Milligan said. “Canisius played great. We had moments of really good play at both ends of the floor, but we didn’t finish today. We need to start and finish better than we did today.”

Firebaugh had a game-high 23 points, while Toussaint scored 13 and Amanda dished a career-high 12 assists.

Vannessa Garrelts scored 22 and grabbed eight rebounds for Canisius, Sisi Eleko had 14 points and nine rebounds, Dani Haskell scored 10, and off the bench Adrien LaMore scored 11.

Rider completes the trip Monday night at Niagara, the tip coming at 6 p.m. on ESPN3, and the Broncos will be the only of the Guru 13 locals playing.

As for the Quinnipiac game, the Bobcats (5-5, 0-1 MAAC) got stung by a rally from Iona (6-4, 1-0).

Cur’Tiera Haywood had 14 points for Quinnipiac while Jackie Grisdale scored 10.

Quinnipiac led 54-48 with 3 minutes, 11 seconds left in regulation, earlier in fact the lead was even larger at 11 points in the quarter.

But that was to be the last gasp for the home team, the visitors using that 9-0 run.

Quinnipiac on Monday will host Manhattan at 6 p.m., which is a rematch of one of the semifinals from last season’s MAAC tourney in Atlantic City.

Nationally Noted: The one game involving a clash of ranked teams, No. 21 Arkansas, which recently entered the Associated Press women’s poll for the first time this season, handled its toughest test to date Saturday night, winning at No. 16 Creighton 83-75 in Omaha, Neb., to move the season starting streak to 13-0.

The Bluejays of the Big East fell to 8-2 overall.

They held their own through most of the first two quarters until the Razorbacks used a 9-0 run to head to the break with a 37-33 lead.

At the outset of the third quarter controversy involving a foul got the Bluejays slammed with a technical and Arkansas cashed in with with six points, the foul leading to one, the two free throws for the technical, and a three-ball off the possession to reach a ten-point advantage.

Late in the game, Creighton used a 6-0 spurt to move within four. It could have been less but after forcing Arkansas into a miscue, the Bluejays gave one away. They moved within four again but the Razorbacks put a stop to anything further.

Samara Spencer scored 26 points and Connecticut transfer Saylor Poffenberger scored 16, while for the Bluejays, Morgan Maly scored 24 to tie a personal best, while Lauren Jensen and Emma Ronsiek each scored 13 points and substitute Jayme Horan scored 11. Carly Bachelor had 11rebounds.

On Tuesday, Creighton will visit No. 2 Stanford at 10 p.m.

Elsewhere on the last day off final exam period nationwide in which the schedule was again slim in terms of games that are notable, host Georgia beat Missouri Valley favorite Belmont 66-55; Seton Hall is still streaking, the latest winning at Fordham 78-72; in the Beach Classic, two games of predetermined opponents, UC Irvine topped Dartmouth 72-57, while Southern Miss edged Long Beach State 56-50.

Another PAC-12/SWAC legacy setup resulted in Washington State at home beat Jackson State 83-56.

A key game of West Coast Conference opponents to launch the league slate, season-favorite No. 23 Gonzaga at home stopped BYU 67-58.

In the Maui Classic, another two-day set of predetermined opponents, this one in Hawaii, Oregon State beat Nevada 96-84, and in a very late start East Coast time, No. 11 LSU beat Montana State 91-52 as Angel Reese had 30 points and 12 rebounds for the unbeaten Tigers (11-0).

Grace Beasley had 15 points for Montana State (6-5).

Looking Ahead: On Sunday as teams emerge from the finals downtime to begin a final burst of activity before the Christmas break, locally, Drexel will host Penn State at 2 p.m. on Flohoops, the same time as Rutgers hosts New Orleans. Delaware at 2 p.m. will be at Lehigh in Stabler Arena in Bethlehem.

The Penn State visit to Philly is the first since a game at Drexel in the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Nov. 11, 2016,  Back in the days as an Atlantic 10 member, the schedule brought the Lady Lions to Philadelphia several times annually.

And No. 25 Villanova will meet No. 14 Iowa State at 3:30 p.m., now listed on ESPN, the second of the two-game Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase at the Mohegan Sun Arena that begins with No. 9 UConn meeting Florida State at at 1 p.m. on ESPN.

The national highlight is No. 2 Stanford hosting Tennessee at 3 p.m. on ABC.

Other Sunday games of note, Maine, the America East favorite, is at Harvard at 3 p.m. on ESPN+; Southern Cal is at Texas in Dallas as part of the PAC-12 Coast to Coast Challenge at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN2, the other women’s game in the two-gender day of events featuring No. 20 Arizona meeting No. 18 Baylor at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2, a matchup consisting of two teams on opposite sides in the 2021 Elite Eight in Dallas.

The Maui Classic concludes with Nevada playing Montana State in Hawaii at 10 p.m. followed by No. 11 LSU playing Oregon State.

And that’s the report.