By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru
PHILADELPHIA — First-year Towson coach Laura Harper, the former Cheltenham High and Maryland star, came home on the visitor side Sunday afternoon but the story was mostly with the home team, Drexel, which had more to talk about on New Year’s Day besides Keishana Washington, in a tightly-fought Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) game resulting in a 75-67 win by the Dragons here in the Daskalakis Athletic Center.
For most of the season the focus in the Drexel success has been the fifth-year Canadian, in what has been a local 1-2 punch with Villanova’s Maggie Siegrist as the top two scorers in the NCAA Division I statistics.
Siegrist was at it again in the Midwest, pouring 35 points that will likely flip her over Washington into the No. 1 spot from second following the Wildcats’ easy 77-49 win at Xavier in a Big East game at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati.
But though the Drexel leader’s 19 points is still a fine day at the office, this time it was dishing to discuss in Maura Hendrixson setting a program game record with 14 assists, just under one for the best backcourt helper performance this season nationwide.
There had been a three-way tie at 13 for the previous mark shared by Barbara Yost against Lehigh on Jan. 16, 1987; Heather Wellborn against Vermont on Feb. 8, 2001; and Meghan Creighton against Sacred Heart on Dec. 7, 2014. She also had nine points, five rebounds, and four steals.
Helping Hendrixson by finishing the job was Grace O’Neill, who also scored 19, shooting 7-of-10 from the field, including three from deep for the Dragons (10-3, 2-0 CAA), the preseason league favorites. Washington’s points were fueled by sinking 9-of-12 foul shots.
And the hits kept coming against the Tigers (6-7, 0-2), who will be the conference tourney hosts in March in suburban Baltimore, with Hetta Saatman, one of the stars in the win over Penn State, reaching a personal best 15 points.
“I believed our non-conference games helped a lot because we’ve seen that before,” Hendrixson said of the Tigers’ strategy. “We were prepared for (Washington) get doubled the whole game and people stepping up and being confidence.
“So it was jut finding my open teammates and knowing they’ll make shots.”
Besides getting more production on offense, on a day after Saint Joseph’s got a boost with the return of fifth-year starting point guard Katy Jekot, Drexel was able to return freshman Kylie Lavelle, who first missed the Saint Joseph’s game after suffering a lower body injury in a win at Longwood, and then was out of the lineup five more games.
Like Jekot, she could have missed more but the time out of uniform came across the final exams and Christmas break periods.
“She could have played Friday at our (CAA) opener at UNCW but we wanted to be cautious,” Drexel coach Amy Mallon said. “To me, the story of this game, the one stat standing out, is 25 assists on 27 (shots made), that is who we are.”
Lavelle had eight points playing a little over 10 minutes working her way back to full strength.
Of her own performance, O’Neill said, “I think obviously making shots gives you a lot of confidence, but a lot of confidence, but a lot of confidence comes from your teammates. Especially when they see you open and they’re taking the shot.
“And (Washington) telling me to continue to shoot it. It really helps when I do take the shots.”
Drexel, on a five-game win streak, used a 9-4 run at the end of the first period to go in front 19-16 and 10 minutes later at the break the Dragons were still in front 38-32.
As usual, defense was a key, Drexel forcing 21 turnovers, picking seven off steals, while committing just 10 for a lopsided 26-8 advantage on position points.
Towson wouldn’t go away and it was a two-point affair heading into the final period, when Drexel got a cushion opening on a 9-2 run.
The Tigers got back within five with 1:10 left in regulation but Drexel was not threatened any further.
Harper spent two previous season coaching Coppin State and was strongly considered for the Temple opening when Tonya Cardoza was let go.
Ultimately, veteran Diane Richardson was named by the Owls, and Towson hired Harper, who did some nice shopping in the portal.
One of her vets, however, Kylie Kornegay-Lucas, a previous transfer from Virginia and a 5-10 redshirt junior guard out of Camden, Del., had 23 points, six rebounds, and six assists.
The home stand continues into this weekend, longtime rival Delaware makes its visit here at Friday at 6 p.m. on Flohoops.
The Blue Hens, the other local playing Sunday, got handled 80-60 at home by Monmouth, one of the new members of the conference, the Hawks of central New Jersey coming from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
The setback at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark snapped a three-game win streak for the Blue Hens (8-4, 1-1 CAA).
Klarke Sconiers and Mikayla Pippin each scored 14 points, with Pippin grabbing 10 rebounds for a double-double. Mia Yanogacio had 10 points, while Jewel Smalls just missed a double with nine points.
Monmouth (7-6, 2-0) off to an unbeaten start in its new league, got 19 points from Lucy Thomas, while Brianna Tinsley scored 15, Elizabeth Marsciano had 11, and Belle Kranbuhl scored 10.
Villanova Romps Over Xavier: Having giving you the score and main details above of the 77-49 win by the Wildcats (12-3, 3-1 Big East), the third straight, additionally Bella Runyon matched her season best with 10 points with coach Denise Dillon’s squad staying perfect on the road at 7-0 in true stops not neutral site tourney games.
Brooke Mullin had eight points, six assists and three rebounds. Christina Dalce had six points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.
Xavier (7-7, 0-5) got 12 points from Courtney Prenger, while Mackayla scored 10.
Villanova has beaten the Musketeers 13 straight and leads the series 18-1.
Siegrist on Sunday became the third Villanovan history to grab over 900 rebounds, five Sunday giving her 903.
She has six games 30 or more points this season and 23 in her career, including several over 40.
The Wildcats return home Wednesday night in Finneran Pavilion hosting Georgetown in a Big East game at 7 p.m. on the Flohoops subscription service.
Nation scoring leaders are not rare in this area, with WNBA great Elena Delle Donne having starred at Delaware and Stella Johnson, the nation’s leader her senior season at Rider, which retired her number in November at the Broncs opener at Alumni Gym in Lawerenceville, N.J.
With our colleague Glenn Papazion of phillycollegesports.com doing advance calculations here’s how the NCAA daily statistical scoring shakeout will appear on Monday at the top.
Scoring Average:
Maddy Siegrist, Villanova 28.0
Keishana Washington, Drexel 27.4
Caitlin Clark, Iowa, 27.1
Aneesah Morrow, DePaul, 26.3
Points Scored:
Siegrist, 420
Clark, 407
Morrow, 394
Washington, 356
Here’s where Siegrist stands in the listing of players scoring 2000 or more points at area Division I schools as she nears the Villanova record held by Shelly Pennefather, the Big Five record, held by Penn’s Diana Caramanico, and the Philly Six mark, likely out of reach, held by Drexel’s Gabriela Marginean.
Gabriela Marginean – Drexel -2581
Diana Caramanico – Penn 2415
Shelly Pennefather – Villanova 2408
Mia Davis — Temple 2376
Sue Moran – Saint Joseph’s 2340
Maddy Siegrist – Villanova 2235 – as of 1/1/23
Marilyn Stephens – Temple 2194
Nancy Bernhardt – Villanova 2018
Nationally Noted: Upsets Continue - Following a night of champagne popping on New Year’s Eve, the Midwest college town of Champaign had reason to pop without alcohol following a huge Big Ten shocker, Illinois topping No. 12 Iowa, 90-86 at State Farm Arena.
The Illini are in the first year under former Dayton coach Shauna Green and after N.C. State transfer Genesis Bryant poured a career-high 24 points, 10 in the fourth quarter, as the home team held off the Hawkeyes (11-4, 3-1 Big Ten), Illinois (13-2, 3-1) adds to the wildness that is the conference this season.
It’s Green’s first coaching win over a ranked squad.
Makira Cook had 20 points, her sixth straight getting to that total, while Kendall Bostic had 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Adalia McKenzie scored 16.
Caitlin Clark, among the nation’s scoring leaders, collected 32 points for Iowa, while Monika Czinano scored 20, and Kendall Bostic had 12.
“With the one day (preparation time), the guys were locked in and we were focused on just on us and what we wanted to do,” Green said. “Defend like we wanted to defend and be very intense and urgent. Iowa’s a really, really tough team. We just have to use this and build on it and get back to work and improve every day.”
Illinois had not beaten a ranked team at home for nearly eight years.
The Illini got the crowd going in the second quarter, outscoring Iowa 31-15.
The last win over a Top 25 squad came at then-No. 12 Minnesota on Jan. 5, 2019, and the last home was over then-No. 17 Iowa on Jan. 8, 2015.
Duke completed a golden-oldie era week following last week’s upset in the Atlantic Coast Conference at No. 6 NC State, the Blue Devils topped visiting Louisville 63-56 at home in Cameron Stadium in Durham, N.C. as Elizabeth Balogun had a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Shayeann Day-Wilson had 12 points, including 6-for-6 at the line, while Celeste Taylor scored 11 as Duke improved to 13-1 overall, the lone loss to UConn, and 3-0 in the early conference wars.
Hailey Van Lith had 23 points for the Cardinals (11-5, 2-1).
Duke has not started 3-0 in the ACC since an 8-0 out of the gate nine seasons ago in 2013-14.
“This is a great wake for us,” said second-year coach Kara Lawson. “To go to NC State and win and now to beat the team that I think was predicted to win the league is Louisville.”
Two other games involved with ranked teams in the ACC were also close, No. 6 NC State following the loss to Duke, edged host Syracuse 56-54, while No. 7 Virginia Tech at home edged No. 13 North Carolina 68-65.
No. 4 Indiana, almost suffered a second-straight upset loss, but rallied in overtime to beat Nebraska 74-62 at home in Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
Mackenzie Holmes scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Hoosiers (13-1, 3-2 Big Ten), while Sydney Parish scored 16, Chloe Moore-McNeil scored 13, and Yarden Garzon, the younger sister of former Villanova player Lior, scored 11.
Nebraska (10-5, 2-2), got 15 points from Isabelle Bourne, while Alexis Markowski, Sam Haiby, and reserve Callin Hake, each scored 10 points.
Oregon State upset No. 10 UCLA 77-72 at home in a PAC-12 game in Corvallis as freshman substitute Raegan Beers scored 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for the Beavers (9-5, 1-2 PAC-12), while Talia Von Oelhoffen and Bendu Yeaney each scored 15, and Shalexxus Aaron had 14.
Kiki Rice scored 20, Gina Conti had 19, and substitute Londynn Jones had 17 for the Bruins (13-2, 2-1).
Looking Ahead: With Monday being the legal holiday for New Year’s, the actual date falling on a weekend, five local teams will be in daytime action, Penn launches Ivy play hosting Brown at The Palestra at 2 p.m. on ESPN+, at the same time, Rutgers hosting No. 16 Maryland in the Big Ten at Jersey Mike’s Arena on the B1G Network, also at 2 p.m., La Salle in its last non-conference hosts Hartford, soon to leave Division I, at the Tom Gola Arena on ESPN+, while two Patriot League games have Lehigh visiting Colgate in Hamilton, N.Y., at 4 p.m., and Lafayette visiting Army at West Point, N.Y., both on ESPN+.
Nationally, in the SEC, No. 1 South Carolina visits Georgia at 7 p.m. on the SEC Network, and in the PAC-12, No. 2 Stanford hosts No. 18 Arizona at 2:30 p.m. on the PAC-12 network, while California hosts Arizona State at 3 p.m., also on the PAC-12.
On Tuesday, locally Temple visits AAC Conference favorite South Florida at 5 p.m. in Tampa on ESPNU, while Penn State visits nationally-ranked Michigan on the B1G+ subscription network.
On Wednesday, Saint Joseph’s visits George Washington in the A-10 at 6 p.m. on ESPN+ while as way earlier mentioned Villanova at 7 p.m. hosts Georgetown on Flohoops.
Nationally, games of note, Rhode Island is at preseason favorite and reigning Atlantic 10 champs Massachusetts at 5 p.m. on both NESN/ESPN+, while in the Big East St. John’s is at Seton Hall at 7 p.m., while Marquette is at DePaul at 8 p.m., both on Flohoops.
And that is the report for New Year’s Day.
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