The Guru Report: Drexel’s Washington Reaches 2,000 Points in Win Over Hofstra While Delaware Loses to Elon at the Finish

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — Milestone night, which has been occurring between Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist and Drexel’s Keishana Washington, the top two scorers in the nation, swung in Washington’s direction Friday night in a Drexel 69-57 win over Hofstra at home in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) game at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

Needing 11 points to get to 2,000 career points, assisted by her 5th-year classmate Maura Hendrixson, Washington nailed a three-pointer with 26 seconds left in the first period.

At the break between periods the public address announcer made the achievement known to the crowd. 

There was also a congratulatory video from the only other Dragon to reach that number, Gabriela Marginean, whose record of 2,581 points, the all-time total among women in the Philly Six schools, is being threatened by Siegrist, who recently eclipsed a three-plus decade mark topping Wildcats men and women held by the legendary  Shelly Pennefather.

On. Sunday at 2 p.m. when No. 21 Villanova visits No. 5 UConn in a Big East game on CBSSN at the XL Center in Hartford, Siegrist with 2,414 points, just needs  two more to pass former Penn great Diana Caramanico to become the all-time scorer in the Big Five women’s history.

Besides becoming the second Drexel player to reach the mark, the native of Pickering, Ontario, is the eighth Canadian, the ninth in CAA history, and the 12th active player this season in NCAA Division I.

Helping Drexel (14-5, 6-2 CAA), the preseason favorite, to snap a two-game losing streak on the road in successive Sundays, Washington scored 24 to reach 2,013 career points, her game total against Hofstra (8-10, 2-5) breaking a tie with Marginean with her 53rd consecutive one scoring 10 ore more points.

Hetta Saatman and Kylie Lavelle each scored 10 points and Hendrixson dished 11 assists, the sixth time this season she’s dealt dimes in double digits.

“I knew how far I was, not that I was thinking about it during the game,” Washington said. “But I felt the energy in the gym after I made the shot, and I looked up at the score to see that I had 11 points, and I needed 11 points. It’s something that I’ll definitely soak in the coming hours. It was even better that my parents were here to see it happen.”

Hendrixson and Washington have been friends since both arrived as freshmen.

“I don’t think my younger self would have thought that I would be getting this far or accomplish this much,” Washington said. “I didn’t even think I was going to be a 1,000-point scorer.”

Hendrixson said at the postgame presser, “At shootaround today, I was like, ‘Can I assist your 2,000th point?’ She was like, ‘Yeah.’ And then it actually happened. I didn’t even know that was her 2,000th point.”

While expressing joy for her duo, Drexel coach Amy Mallon said, “To get the win and to get the win at home is really important to us, especially coming off the road. Defensively we had some really minutes and seconds and we’re going to build on that. What they’ve been doing on the floor, they’re really a dynamic duo together.”

The Sunday game hosting Elon has been moved up from 2 p.m. to 1 p.m. with an eye that the Eagles will be hosting San Francisco later in the afternoon down at Lincoln Financial Field for the NFC championship and right to advance to the Super Bowl.

The Phoenix will be arriving in a great frame of mind on a short trip from Delaware where on Friday the Phoenix got their first CAA win of the season off a three-pointer before time expired 63-60 at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.

Elon (5-15, 1-8 CAA) had lost 13 straight overall.

In the last five seconds trailing 60-59 the Blue Hens (10-8, 3-4) got to the line but Makayla Pippin only made one shot creating a 60-60 tie.

The Phoenix’s Raven Preston then nailed a shot from beyond the arc before time expired for the game-winner.

Jewel Smalls scored 12 for Delaware and grabbed three rebounds, while Klarke Sconiers had 11 points, six rebounds, and two blocked shots. Tara Cousins scored 10, with four rebounds and four assists.

Preston had a game-high 17 points for Elon, while also collecting six rebounds. Kamryn Doty and Evonna McGill, who also had six assists, each scored 13 points, and Ajia James had a double-double 10 points and 10 rebounds.

On Sunday, Delaware goes to William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., to play at 1 p.m., their sole matchup of the regular season.

Elsewhere in the CAA, Towson, under first-year coach Laura Harper, continues to look strong winning at Northeastern 73-67. 

Temple Depletions Remain While Hosting Central Florida: After first-year coach Diane Richardson initially stated following Wednesday’s win over Tulane in New Orleans, that the suspensions of the Owls’ Jasha Clinton, the third-leading scorer at 11.1 ppg., and Aniya Gourdine (4.8 ppg.) were just for the game, the school in a short press release Friday night near 9 p.m. announced the two were released.

The sophomore guards join graduate forward Jalynn Holmes and freshman guard Kourtney Wilson, whom prior to the game with the Green Tide, voluntarily left the squad.

Additionally, transfer guard Kendall Currence, who at Northeastern at the end of last season was awarded the United States Basketball Writers Association’s Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award, is sidelined for the season with a torn ACL.

So it’s nine players left on the roster to complete the season that continues at 2 p.m. Saturday when UCF visits the Liacouras Center for an American Athletic Conference game on ESPN.+

Nationally Noted It was all in the PAC-12 Friday where No. 25 Colorado at home in Boulder upset No. 8 UCLA 73-70 in overtime as Kindyll Wetta naileda three-pointer from deep with 2.1 seconds left in the extra period.

The Buffaloes (16-4, 7-2 PAC-12) got 20 points and 12 rebounds from Quay Miller, while Jaylyn Sherrod, who dished to Wetta for the winning trey, her only one for the game, scored 18 with six assists.

Charisma Osbourne continued to struggle from the field for the Bruins (17-4, 6-3), scoring 12 points, and freshman Londynn Jones scored 14.

Colorado has also beaten No. 9 Utah and No. 19 Arizona at home in the PAC-12.

The Utes, who host UCLA Sunday, beat Southern Cal 83-73.

Meanwhile two weeks after No. 3 Stanford got shocked at Southern Cal, the Cardinal were in another fight hosting Oregon State, going ahead in the final minute to win 63-60, the Beavers missing opportunities to pull an upset.

Cameron Brink had 21 points and 13 rebounds as Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer extended her Division I women’s basketball record win total to 1177 while UConn coach Geno Auriemma on Sunday will be seeking No. 1169 when the Huskies host No. 21 Villanova at the XL Center in Hartford.

The Stanford coach, though, has a game Sunday playing Oregon.

Haley Jones had 17 points for the Cardinal (20-2, 8-1 PAC-12)  

Oregon State (11-9, 3-6) got 15 points from Bendu Yeaney and Timea Gardiner scored 16.

Washington State edged host Arizona State 61-57 while No. 19 Arizona beat visiting Washington  61-54

And that’s the report.