The Guru Report: Drexel Complete’s Weekend Sweep Without Washington Scoring a Bunch While Siegrist Becomes Big Five Scoring Champ in ‘Nova Near Upset of UConn

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA —  Drexel showed it can still do well with a balanced attack on days Keishana Washington isn’t pouring points in the 20s and above as the Dragons completed a weekend sweep at home in the Colonial Athletic Association, beating Elon 61-49 Sunday afternoon at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

The Dragons (15-5, 7-2 CAA), the preseason favorites, completed their task showing defensive prowess shortly before the NFL Eagles down at Lincoln Financial Field routed the 49ers to win the NFC title and advance to their second Super Bowl in five seasons.

Washington, who became the second player in the program to reach 2,000 career points in Friday’s win over Hofstra, scored 16 points, including 6-for-6 from the line in drawing eight fouls from the opposition.

“This was a great win for us,” said Drexel coach Amy Mallon, who wore an Eagles jersey under her Blazer while guiding the squad. “Especially with going on the road next weekend.”

Ironically, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, who was a teammate on the former ABL Philadelphia Rage, did likewise in beating Alabama in the Southeastern Conference as the top-ranked and reigning NCAA champion Gamecocks stayed unbeaten and set a program record with their 27th straight win.

“The thing I was most happy with was our bench play,” Mallon said, while passing out credits to other phases of the attack. “Chloe Hodges had 15 points (career highs with eight rebounds), and some other people off the bench did what we needed to do.”

Grace O’Neil had seven points, including a key shot when Elon (5-16, 1-9) was threatening in the second half after having beaten Delaware with a three-pointer before time expired Friday night. She also had six rebounds. Kylie Lavelle, looking more like the star freshman she was in November before missing several games with an injury, had nine points.

“I like the rotation of (Hetta) Sattman, (Jasmine) Valentine, Hodges, Lavelle out they’re all different in what they do, but they’re all versatile players. One thing about Grace O’Neil, she’s one of our toughest players on the team. You can see that. Her ability to rebound for her size, that just goes to show her toughness, also taking that shot, she wants to make those.”

The bench contributed 21 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

Washington, whose career total moved to 2,029, is now seventh among Canadian players and she has now contributed double figure scoring in 54 straight games.

Evona McGill had 14 points for Elon with six rebounds, Lenaejha Evans scored 10, while Ajia James and Raven Preston each scored nine, and Preston also pulled down six rebounds.

Drexel next weekend goes to Northeastern in Boston on Friday night and new member Stony Brook on Long Island, N.Y. on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Delaware went into deja vue mode off Friday’s loss to the Phoenix except this time at the finish the Blue Hens won, picking the triumph up at William & Mary 74-72 in the Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg, Va., 

The visitors (11-8, 4-4 CAA) stopped their two-game slide while also halting a four-game win streak from the Tribe (10-10, 5-4).

Late in the game the Tribe had gone up 72-71 but Klarke Sconiers grabbed an offensive rebounds, got fouled and then sank both shots. 

Jewel Smalls made it one more for the visitors with a foul shot and then Makayla Pippin stopped a driving layup to secure a better finish than the previous game.

Sconiers had 18 points for the Blue Hens, including in the fourth quarter, while Kharis Idom had 15 points and five assists, and Smalls scored 11 with nine rebounds.

Tara Cousins was also in double digits with ten points.

William & Mary’s Sydney Wagner scored 33, including a perfect 13-for-13 at the line. Riley Casey scored 12.

Delaware next on Friday night at 7 p.m. travels to Towson in suburban Baltimore playing in SECU Arena, the site of this season’s CAA tournament in March.

Repeat History Almost for Nova at UConn: Had the No. 21 Wildcats’ shooting touch been a little better they might have bagged the No. 5 Huskies again a year after winning on the road and ending the No. 5 UConn long consecutive 169-victory domination of conference opponents in the American Athletic Association and Big East.

Trailing earlier in the game in the XL Center in Hartford, Villanova (18-4, 9-2 Big East) went up 51-45 at the eight-minute mark of the fourth quarter but then UConn (20-2, 12-0) went on a 15-4 run to go up 60-55 with 51 seconds left.

Lucy Olsen gave new hope for another upset with a three-ball with 22 seconds left.

Aaliyah Edwards then hit a foul shot and blocked a three-point attempt from Maddy Siegrist, the nation’s leading scorer. UConn also forced an off-balance shot from Olsen and Edwards sank two more free throws to complete a 63-58 victory, ending ‘Nova’s 12-game win streak.

One game after setting the all-time Villanova’s men’s and women’s career scoring record held for over three decades by Shelly Pennefather, Siegrist gained another milestone at the outset of this one, sinking a three-ball to become the all-time Big Five women’s scoring leader in Philly, eclipsing the 22-year-mark by Penn’s Diana Caramanico.

Siegrist finished with 25 points, while Olsen scored 19.

The native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., is projected to capture the Big East games scoring record when UConn visits the Main Line next month.

Aubrey Griffin, who was sidelined this time a year ago for the Huskies in a similar back-to-back schedule of Tennessee and Villanova recovering from back surgery.

On Sunday, she had 19 points, while Dorka Juhasz scored 16, and Edwards had 13 in the Huskies’ 13th win.

“You put yourself in a position to win the game and then, you know, we didn’t capitalize down the stretch,” said Siegrist. “They’re a great team, a great program and so just knowing that you hung with them, you can hang with anyone.”

Siegrist has scored 20 or more points in each Wildcats game this season.

She also has a chance to top Drexel’s Gabriela Marginean for the Philly Six women’s mark, currently at 2,581. Siegrist at 2,439, is 142 points away.

“Today was the first game all year I thought we really looked tired,” said UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who picked up his 1,169th victory. That total is exceeded only by Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer who extended her Division I women’s record Sunday to 1,178.

“Villanova is really good,” he said. “And not only are they really good, but they’re really hard to play against.”

Auriemma, who grew up in Norristown, was wearing an Eagles Super Bowl T-shirt when he arrived at the postgame presser. 

“There were three Philadelphia teams today,” he joked, including his own group. “We were hoping for a 2-1 split, with Villanova coming out a little bit on the short end, but not by much.”

On Wednesday, Villanova will host Marquette, looking for a series sweep, when the teams meet at 6:30 p.m. in Finneran Pavilion on FloHoops.

Saint Joseph’s Suffers Tough Loss at Richmond: Mackenzie Smith had a career-high 38 points for the Hawks, who fell 94-90 in a nationally televised Atlantic 10 women’s game at Richmond in the Robins Center in Virginia.

Smith scored 17 of the final 21 points by Saint Joseph’s (15-6, 5-4 A-10).

The visitors were down 10 to the Spiders (13-7, 3-4) late in the third but sliced it to six with just the 10-minute fourth quarter to play.

A 7-0 run got the Hawks to within a point with three minutes left in regulation.

Smith’s two buckets late in the last minute got coach Cindy Griffin’s team to a tie and it stopped Richmond from launching any game-winners, sending the game into overtime.

Taking a 4-0 lead, the Hawks were then subdued by an 8-0 run from the home team.

Smith, who scored 12 in the overtime, got the visitors within one.

But Richmond shot 11-of-13 free throws in the period to gain the win.

Smith also tied her personal best with eight rebounds.

The game record in the program is 42 by Hawks Hall of Famer Dale Hodges.

Talya Brugler fouled out in the overtime but scored 14 points, her 15th straight game in double figures. Laura Ziegler had a double double with 13 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Her six assists, all in the first half, were also a new high.

Katie Jekot scored 11 with three assists and a pair of steals.

The 90 points were the most by the Hawks in a loss. 

They now head to play Rhode Island at the Ryan Center Wednesday night in Kingston at 6 p.m. on ESON+.

Rutgers Falls at Indiana: The Scarlet Knights stayed competitive for a long time with the No. 6 Indiana, which is likely to have a higher number when the new Associated Press poll is released Monday. 

Ultimately, the Hoosiers pulled away in their Big Ten match at Assembly Hall in Bloomington and went on to a 91-68 victory aided by Indiana (20-1, 10-1 Big Ten) shooting 11 from deep hitting on 61% of the attempts.

Grace Berger and Mackenzie Holmes each scored 21 points, while Sydney Parrish scored 17 and Yarden Garzon scored 14, including four of the shots from beyond the arc.

Rutgers (9-14, 3-8) got 25 points from Kaylene Smikle and reserve Kai Carter scored 13.

“Today, I thought was Grace Berger Day,” said Indiana coach Teri Moren of her star who recently returned from a knee injury earlier this month. “She looked for her shots and I thought she was aggressive. That was great to see.”

Rutgers is off until next Sunday when Wisconsin visits Jersey Mike’s Arena at 2 p.m. in Piscataway, N.J.

Nationally Noted: After riding to a 19-0 best-ever start in program history, No. 2 Ohio State took its third straight hit, and from an unranked Big Ten team in Purdue 73-65 in Columbus, Ohio.

The Buckeyes (19-3, 8-3 Big Ten) yielded the first ever Top 5 road victory in the visitors’ program history to the Boilermakers (15-6, 6-5).

Purdue’s Abbey Ellis scored five from deep.

“We made a promise to ourselves we were going to be tough throughout the whole game, especially in the fourth quarter, and we were,” said Ellis. “We knew defense was going to get us through. And I think that showed in the end.”

A 9-0 run in the fourth quarter got Ohio State to within a bucket 55-53 with 6:58 left in regulation, and two minutes later Taylor Thierry tied it before fouling out.

Purdue then moved ahead on five-straight points from Madison Layden and then Ellis hit her fifth from deep with 43 seconds left and finished with 26 points, while Cassidy Harden scored 15.

Thierry had 18 for the Buckeyes.

There were a number of ranked team clashes were the lower ranked program beat the higher one but one exception in the PAC-12 where No. 3 Stanford beat visiting Oregon 62-54 at home in Maples Pavilion. 

Cameron Brink executed an unique triple-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and a career-high 10th blocked shot.

“I was aware, and then I really wanted that last one,” Brink said of the block, creating the first triple double in Stanford history with blocks involved.

“”I’m riding a high right now,” said Brink. “I’m really excited about it. I love blocking shots, it’s probably what I do best.”

Phillipina Kyei scored 12 points and grabbed 17 for the Ducks (14-7, 5-5).

Brink now has 88 blocked shots.

Elsewhere in the PAC-12 Washington Stte upset No. 19 Arizona in Tucson 70-59 as Bella Murekatele scored 18 and Ula Motuga scored 16 for the Cougars (15-6, 5-5 PAC-12).

Charlisse Leger-Walker was 0-for-13 from the field but grabbed 10 rebounds, dealt sevcn assists and had five points at the line.

Esmery Martinez had 14 for the Wildcats (16-5, 6-4). 

By ranking, former Southern Cal star Alissa Pili scored with 0.8 seconds left to lead No. 9 Utah over No. 8 UCLA 71-69 in Salt Lake City.

She finished with 23 points for the Utes (18-2, 8-2 PAC-12) while Issy Palmer scored 14.

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UCLA (17-5, 6-4) got a career-high 17 points from Emily Bessoir, and Kiki Rice scored 11, and Londyn Jones, and Gabriella Jaquez each scored 10.

Southern Cal, which recently upset Stanford, won at No. 25 Colorado 71-54 in Boulder as Destiny Littleton had 21 points, Rayah Marshall had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Kadi Sissoko had 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Trojans (16-5, 6-4 PAC-12). Little was 6-of-13 on attempts from beyond the arc.

Quay Miller had 13 points and 11 rebounds and Aaronette Vonleh had 16 points for the Buffs (16-5, 7-3).

In the Atlantic Coast Conference, No. 24 Florida State took care of No. 16 Duke 70-57 in Tallahassee, Fla. The win came on a day the Seminoles (19-5, 8-3 ACC) honored former coach Sue Semrau.

Makayl Timpson scored 21 points for the home team and freshman Ta’Niya Latson scored 15.

The Blue Devils (18-3, 8-2) got 14 points from Shayeann Day-Wilson and Kennedy Brown had 11 rebounds.

No. 20 NC State beat visiting No. 7 Notre Dame 69-65 as Diamond Johnson had 20 points for the Wolfpack (16-5, 6-4 ACC).

Mimi Collins scored 13 points.

“We just had to hold our composure,” Johnson said of a fourth quarter surge.

The fighting Irish (17-3, 8-2) had a 13-2 run in the fourth quarter but fell short.

Maddy Westbeld had 19 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists for the visitors.

South Carolina won at Alabama 65-52 in Tuscaloosa as Bree Hall had a career high 18 points, including for shots from deep, while Aliyah Boston had 16 points and 12 rebounds.

The Gamecocks (21-0, 9-0 ) pulled away in the final period from the Crimson Tide (16-6, 5-4).

“I don’t usually come into the game thinking about a shot,” Hall said. “I just let the game kind of just flow and come to me.”

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Looking Ahead: On Monday, Penn State is at No. 10 Maryland in the XFINITY Center in College Park, Md., while beyond the local, Tennessee is down by No. 4 LSU (20-0, 8-0 SEC) in Baton Rouge.

And that’s the report.