The Guru Report: Washington Sets Record and Drexel Recovers Beating Penn State in Overtime

Guru Note — Noreen Dougherty contributed to this report filing the bulk of information on the UConn-Florida State, Villanova-Iowa State doubleheader at the Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase at the Mohegan Sun.

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — Maybe something has gotten into the air in this part of the city.

It was just a week ago three blocks down 33rd street at The Palestra that Kayla Padilla scored her 1,000th point and single-handedly carried Penn into a last second comeback win over Temple.

 On Sunday afternoon Keishana Washington here at home in the Daskalakis Athletic Center bettered her personal best, scoring 42 points, a total better than every Drexel player in program history whose game points occurred in regulation. Career-scoring leader Gabriela Marginean had 40 on Feb. 12, 2009 against Old Dominion.

While her performance made it all possible, Drexel had a nice lead slip away but regrouped in overtime on the play of Hetta Saatman to claim a 86-82 victory,

Besides becoming the first player at Drexel to collect three straight 30 plus performances, Washington reached 1800 as the ongoing third place occupant on the Dragons career scoring chart.

Considering one more non-conference game is left Wednesday at noon here against Delaware State and then the entire league race beginning at UNCW, Dec. 29, in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), where Washington was named the conference preseason player of the year, she easily is in range to join Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist as the second area player to reach the 2,000 milestone this season.

As for the game, after mastering Penn State for most of the way, building a 17-point lead, the highlight from the Dragons’ perspective of the competition came in an extended overtime when the momentum had swung the other way to a four-point lead by the Lady Lions. 

That’s when Washington’s classmate Saatman fired a three-ball and then twice was found inside for easy baskets on a seven-point run.

Saatman had a career-high 14 points, shooting a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, including the one from deep.

“I was just ready and after that shot went in, I knew we were winning the game,” Saatman said. “I think all of my teammates were thinking, this is it, we’re taking this win home today.”

Australian junior Chloe Hodges scored making it an 85-80 lead with 41 seconds left.

Said Mallon of Saatman, “She’s done a lot of things for us you don’t even see. Today she stepped up and scored for us.”

Still, the game was not yet sealed as the visitors, who actually missed opportunities on 2-of-4 from the lane, moved close at 85-82 with 19 seconds left.

But Maura Hendrixson got a swipe and the Dragons got the game’s final point on a foul shot to make the score 86-82.

The large turnout on Penn State’s first visit to the city since Nov. 11, 2016, also an appearance here that was also won by the Dragons (7-3), recalled the days the Lady Lions (8-4) regularly appeared locally as a member of the Atlantic 10 making visits to Saint Joseph’s and Temple before La Salle was in the conference.

“To get this win at home today, I couldn’t be prouder of this group,” said head coach Amy Mallon, who agreed the outcome could be considered among the best wins in program history. “We just came off the road where we had a couple of tough games that we were able to get through, but to be able to come home and show what we are able to do and keep building, I’m proud of this team.

“I’d agree this is a great win for us, especially the way we got it.”

The first on that trip was local, losing a lop-sided game at Saint Joseph’s, the first missing freshman Kylie Lavelle with a lower body injury, but expected back soon.

Then it was a 60-58 overtime loss at Yale before winning 64-49 at Dartmouth.

The misfortune of the temporary roster depletion has turned into a positive as Mallon sees more options available from the Dragons’ play since Lavelle got hurt.

“In the back of my head we have a very talented freshman that is Kylie Lavelle,” Mallon explained. “When she’s back that’s just going to be another plus for us. She was averaging 20 points a game.”

Penn State certainly showed while the team is ready to become more of a threat in the Big Ten after being near the bottom of the conference in recent seasons.

Makenna Marisa scored 28 points and dealt five assists, helping to fuel the rally from the deep deficit. Shay Ciezki had 16 points, two off her career high she scored on Syracuse earlier this season.

Alexa Williamson, a transfer from Temple, who almost won it late in regulation with two foul shots, scored 13, grabbed seven rebounds and had two steals.

The Lady Lions complete non-conference play on Wednesday, playing Cornell at noon in the Bryce Jordan Center.

 After the holiday break, the team returns to Big Ten play the rest of the way, beginning on Friday, Dec. 30, at 5 p.m., hosting Rutgers, which will feature a home coming of sorts for Scarlet Knights first year coach Coquese Washington, who previously ran the squad until let go four seasons ago and Carolyn Kieger was hired away from a successful run at Marquette.

Rutgers Edges New Orleans Speaking of the Scarlet Knights, also completing non-conference play, a three-game run against out-of-league competition concluded with a 64-56 win at home against New Orleans (1-7) in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J.

Though Rutgers (6-8) got off to a big lead at 16-3 early in the first quarter, the visitors fought back moving within a point in the second half before being held off the rest of the way.

“We talk with our team about how basketball is a game of runs,” Washington said. “You have to be able to weather these runs. 

“I thought against Princeton, we didn’t weather the run,” she referenced Thursday’s loss to the nearby in-state rival in which a 10-point halftime lead was dissolved by the Tigers’ comeback the rest of the way. “Tonight, we did a better job.”

Kaylene Smikle scored 19 points, making her first start, while she also dealt five assists. Chyna Cornwell had 15 points and 13 assists in her fifth double-double of the season.

Awa Sidibe had 15 points and dealt six assists. She also grabbed a career-high four steals.

The 56 points from the Privateers were their third lowest total on the season.

Rutgers also mined 21 points off 19 New Orleans turnovers.

Following the trip to Penn State, the turn of the calendar to the New Year will see Maryland visit on January 2.

Battle of Ranked Teams Sees No. 25 Villanova Fall to No. 14 Iowa State:  The Cyclones from the Big 12 Conference took claim of the second game of the day at the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., topping the Wildcats 74-62.

 

All five of Iowa State’s started scored in double figures with three ending the day with double-doubles.

 Ashley Joens led the Cyclones (8-2) in scoring with 17 points and pulled down 10 boards. 

Stephanie Soares was quite effective in just 24 minutes of action with her team-high 11 rebounds while chipping in 14 points while Emily Ryan flirted with a triple-double with her stat line of 16 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. 

 

Denae Fritz added 13 points on a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and Lexi Donarski was the fifth Cyclone to score in double digits with 10.

 

Maddy Siegrist led all scorers with 32 points on 9-of-22 shooting, one of just four games out of Villanova’s 12 thus far where the forward has shot under 50% from the floor. The forward added 12 rebounds, four blocks, two assists and a steal. 

 

The Cyclones led 42-23 at the half, leaving Villanova with an uphill battle ahead the rest of the way. 

The Wildcats opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run on their way to win the third quarter, 14-10. Iowa State was scoreless until Fritz hit a triple at 3:29. 

 

Villanova went on to outscore the Cyclones yet again in the fourth quarter, 25-22, but their early deficit was just too much to come overcome. 

 

"As expected it was a tough game," said Villanova head coach Denise Dillon. "Iowa State showed why they are one of the top teams in the country; they showed us that in the first half. I was pleased with our effort and the way we battled to the end, in the second half especially."

 

The Wildcats (9-3) had their second-worst shooting game of the season with a field goal percentage of 33.9% (21-62).

Villanova can head to the holiday break in a better mood Wednesday, hosting La Salle at 11:30 a.m. at Finneran Pavilion, where a win would complete a 4-0 sweep and maintain the Big Five title won last season. Should the Explorers prevail then the outcome of the La Salle game with Saint Joseph’s on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve will determine if the ‘Cats and Hawks share the glory with a tie or ‘Nova still wins outright at 3-1.

Delaware Wins at Lehigh: The Blue Hens got back to winning ways, winning on the road at Lehigh 79-67 at the host Mountain Hawks’ Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa.

Klarke Sconiers had a career day for the visitors, the second battle of two Guru local teams along with the Drexel-Penn State matchup, scoring 29 points shooting 10-for-12 from the field. She also grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double.

Her points, 10 field goals and nine completed foul shots were all tops on the Blue Hens squad this season.

Delaware (6-4) extended its series domination of Lehigh (3-7) with nine straight dating back to 1990 and it was the first time this season the Blue Hens won after trailing at halftime.

Tara Cousins scored 15 points with seven rebounds, while Mikayla Pippin had 14 points and 13 rebounds. Jewel Smalls had 13 points off three from deep to propel her total and also had two steals.

Frannie Hottinger scored 20 with 11 rebounds for the Mountain Hawks, who also got 14 points from Ella Stemmer, while Mackenzie Kramer scored 11, and Jamie Behar scored 10.

“We’ve got to make shots,” said Lehigh first-year coach Addie Micir, a former Princeton star from Bucks County. “I think you have to credit Delaware. They came tough and ready to go in the second half.”

Delaware finishes non-conference play Wednesday, hosting American University at 2 p.m. in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.

Lehigh will the same later Wednesday visiting Yale at 6 p.m. in New Haven.

Nationally noted: With finals completed nationwide a bunch of marquee games game booming into the daily schedule Sunday.

Tennessee, a top-five squad in the AP preseason poll that was bounced out several weeks ago, showed improvement but remained winless against other opponents with a ranking, losing at No. 2 Stanford 77-70 in the Cardinal’s Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, Calif.

The win extended Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer’s all-time Division I women’s win total to 1,168 ahead of runnerup UConn Hall of Famer Geno Auriemma, who did not coach in Sunday’s win over Florida State but still gets credited with a total of 1,157.

Associate Head Coach Chris Dailey, who filled in for her boss, extended her perfect mark to 14-0 in the program’s history when she’s substituted and in this one following Sunday’s loss a week ago at Maryland helped preserve a long-running stat of the Huskies not losing two straight games since 1993.

Back in the Stanford game, Cameron Brink became the second player in the history of the Cardinal (11-1) to score 21 points, get 17 rebounds, and block six shots. Previously, Jayne Appel had 30 points, 20 rebounds, and six blocks on Utah in 2007.

Tennessee (7-6) looked like the Lady Vols might get over the hump in premium games, leading 58-50 with less than a minute in the third period. But Stanford then erupted outscoring the visitors 27-12 the rest of the way, 18 of the points coming from Brink or Haley Jones, who finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds.

Though Tennessee leads the series, 25-14, Stanford has won four straight for the first time in the match between two all-time women’s national powerhouses.

The Cardinal’s sole loss was in overtime at home to No. 1 South Carolina after holding a lead most of the game.

The AP in its coverage noted that Lady Vols coach Kellie Harper told her team that any flaws at this stage of the season would be exposed by their opponent.

“This is historically almost like a little bit of a bellwether game, how you do against Tennessee kind of tells you how you can do the rest of the year,” VanDerveer said. “That I think should give our team a lot of confidence.”

In addition to Brink and Jones, Hannah Jump had 19 points and her shot from deep with 1:19 left sealed the deal for a Stanford team that had been idle two-weeks during finals.

Tennessee’s Jordan Horston had 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Rickea Jackson had 14 and Sarah Puckett scored 11, dominated by three shots from deep.

“Any time you play Stanford you know exactly who you are,” Harper said, saying Stanford is “really good taking away strengths.”

Tennessee will be off until Dec. 27 hosting Wofford to prepare for the Southeastern Conference wars. In an interesting game Tuesday night Stanford will host No. 16 Creighton, which just lost at home to No. 21 Arkansas.

In the game No. 9 UConn played, preceding the Villanova game, afterwards Dailey on Auriemma’s condition reported, “He’s okay. Flu-like symptoms and dehydration. It’s been a heck of a week both from a playing standpoint in the number of games we had to go through plus losing his mom. It’s a combination of a lot of things. He’s feeling better.” 

 

Auriemma lost his mother on Dec. 8 and her funeral was earlier in the week. Marsiella Auriemma, a longtime Norristown resident, was 91 years old. 

 

UConn was led by Aaliyah Edwards with a career-high 26 points along with seven rebounds, two assists and a block. Lou Lopez Sénéchal also finished in double figures with 23 while knocking down four triples for the fifth time this season. 

 

The Huskies (8-2) saw Dorka Juhàsz and Nika Mühl return to the starting lineup after the pair were sidelined due to injury.

 Juhàsz finished just shy of a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds while adding five blocks, four assists and two steals. Mühl also had an impressive first game back with six points, six rebounds and 12 assists. 

 

Florida State’s Ta’Niya Latson, who has been named the ACC Rookie of the Week for five consecutive weeks, scored a team-high 24 points and added three rebounds, three steals, two assists and a block. 

However, Latson was one of two Seminoles (11-2) to foul out in the game. She reached her fifth foul with 6:44 to go in the fourth quarter while Makayla Timpson headed to the bench with 1:41 remaining in the game.

Down in Dallas as part of the Pac-12 Coast-to-Coast Challenge played at the American Airlines Arena that will be the site of next spring’s Women’s Final Four, Texas, another preseason Top 5 team recently dropped out of the rankings, beat Southern Cal 62-48 as Shaylee Gonzalez scored 22 points and the Longhorns held the opposition to 32 percent shooting.

The Trojans (9-2) suffered their first loss of the season narrowly at home Thursday falling to No. 10 UCLA in a PAC-12 opener.

DeYona Gaston had 16 points and four rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a blocked shot. All-American Rori Harmon, sidelined during most of the decline by Texas (7-4), had nine points, seven assists, and six rebounds, with five steals.

In winning a fourth straight, Texas forced 29 turnovers, the most in a game since the 2009 season. Rayah Marshall and Kadi Sissoko each scored 12 points for USC.

In a later game on the women’s side of the day-long event, No. 20 Arizona beat No. 18 Baylor 75-54 in the second meeting ever between the two national powerhouses.

Arizona (9-1) had been moving recently to Top 10 territory in the rankings until an upset at home to then-unranked Kansas sent the Wildcats tumbling backwards.

Baylor (8-3) off the mark through roster changes, had been floating around the Bears’ current rankings.

Sarah Andrews had 14 points for Baylor, while Jaden Owens scored 15 while fifth-year Caitlin Bickle grabbed 11 rebounds, one off her personal best.

Owens became the first this season on Baylor to play a full 40 minutes.

Shaina Pellington had 18 points for Arizona, while Jade Loville scored 16, and Cate Reese double-doubled for 13 points and 13 rebounds, and Esmery Martinez grabbed 15 rebounds.

In a key Atlantic Coast Conference game between two ranked teams, No. 5 Notre Dame won its league opener at No. 6 Virginia Tech 63-52 in Blacksburg, Va.

In recent weeks, the host Hokies (10-1, 1-1 ACC) had risen to program all-time highs in the AP women’s poll.

Having earlier beaten UConn, in claiming a second win over a Top 10 team, the Irish (10-1, 1-0) used a big 23-9 finish to top Virginia Tech.

“What I loved most about this game today was our toughness, our competitiveness, and the way that we battled and fought a great Virginia Tech team on their home court,” Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said.

Olivia Miles had 16 points, 13 rebounds, and seven assists for the winning Irish. Lauren Ebo scored 15 points in 22 minutes. Sonia Citron scored 11 and Maddy Westbeld had 10.

Georgia Amoore had 20 points for the Hokies and reigning ACC player of the week Elizabeth Kitley had 16 points and 20 rebounds.

DePaul used Big East play to get back on the winning side, beating Georgetown 80-71 as five players scored in double figures in the game at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

Reigning USBWA national player of the week Aneesah Morrow had 28 points and 11 rebounds for DePaul (9-3, 2-0 Big East). Darrione Rogers had 17 points, while Anaya People scored 14, and Kendall Holmes had 11, and Jorie Allen scored 10 against the Hoyas (7-4, 1-2).

DePaul goes out of conference before the break Wednesday hosting Louisville at 7:30 p.m. on FS1.

In a continued turnaround Illinois beat Missouri on the road in a non-conference Braggin’ Rights game as Adalia McKenzie had 21 points and Genesis Bryant a career best 20 for the Illini (10-2) against the Tigers (11-2). It’s only the sixth time Illinois has reached nine non-conference wins.

The ongoing Pac-12/SWAC legacy series saw California beat FAMU at home in Berkeley 88-58.

In a note for ‘Nova fans, former player Lior Garzon had 20 points on 8-for-11 from the field, 4-of-6 threes, in Oklahoma State’s 87-62 win over UNLV. Both teams are 9-2.

The Maui Classic wrapped up in Hawaii continuing with predetermined opponent rounds as Montana State topped Nevada 64-42 and No. 11 LSU beat Oregon State 87-55.

In the first game, Leia Beattie had 19 points for Montana State (7-5) and Audrey Roden had 12 for Nevada (3-8).

In the second, LSU extended its unbeaten streak to 12-0 on the season as Angel Reese had 25 points and 20 rebounds while Alexis Morris scored 18. 

Talia Von Oelhoffen had 14 points for Oregon State (7-4).

Looking Ahead:  Rider is the only local playing Monday looking for a split in its Western New York two-game swing playing Niagara in Buffalo at 6 p.m. on ESPN3.

On Tuesday it’s just the Hawk Classic at Saint Joseph’s, the host team playing Wright State at 1 p.m., on ESPN+ followed by James Madison meeting Eastern Michigan at 3 p.m.

On Wednesday as mentioned earlier Villanova hosts La Salle at 11:30 a.m. in a Big Five game; Ole Miss is visiting Temple at noon on ESPN+, Delaware State is at Drexel at noon on Flohoops; Cornell is at Penn State at noon; Lehigh is at Yale at 6 p.m. on ESPN+ and Saint Francis Brooklyn visits Lafayette at at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.

The Saint Joseph’s tournament wraps up with games at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on ESPN+.

And that’s the report.