The Guru Report: Jersey Sweep For Rutgers, Rider and Princeton; Florida State Downs NC State While Indiana Edges Maryland

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Rutgers has a two-game winning streak in the Big Ten, while also getting the 1000th win in program history and first-year coach Coquese Washington, who also coached at Penn State, now has 100 wins in the conference.

Following Saturday’s upset at home of Nebraska on Theresa Grentz Day, the Scarlet Knights emerged from a hard-fought road game Thursday night, beating Minnesota 65-59 in Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

Freshman Kaylene Smikle had 20 points and six rebounds for Rutgers (8-10, 2-4 Big Ten) while Abington’s Kassondra Brown had a double-double 10 points and 10 rebounds, Awa Sidibe scored 13, and reserve Kai Carter scored12.

Minnesota freshman Mallory Heyer score 18 points and Alanna Micheaux scored 17 and picked up a double-double with 10 rebounds.

The Golden Gophers (8-9, 1-5) led all the way in a low-scoring first period 13-9 that stayed that way the first two minutes of the next until they extended it to 18-10 off a drought by the visitors.

Rutgers was then able to inch closer, trailing 26-21 at the half with neither side showing much offense.

Trailing 40-31 late in the third, the Scarlet Knights came to life with a slow 8-0 run to move within a point then tie it 41-41 in the last minute and take a 43-41 lead on Smikle’s jumper with 43 seconds left and hold it going into the fourth.

It stayed close with more droughts from each side until Rutgers took a 58-56 lead on two Carter shots from the line with 1:37 left in regulation.

A Smikle shot with 50 seconds left made it 60-57 and she enabled the win making four free throws in the closing stretch.

Next up is a Sunday visit at 1 p.m. to No. 9  Maryland, which in the only other Big Ten game Thursday fell at No. 6 Indiana 68-61.

The winning Hoosiers (15-1, 5-1 Big Ten) got 18 points from Sydney Parrish, Mackenzie Holmes got a double-double 15 points and 10 rebounds while Yarden Garzon and the recently returned Grace Berger each scored 11 and Berger also dished eight assists.

Maryland (13-4, 4-2) got 9 points from Diamond Miller while reserve Brinae Alexander scored 15.

Rider Tops Canisius: The Broncs finally had a successful close-out moving from a 53-53 tie on an 8-3 run to beat the visiting Golden Griffins 61-56  in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) game at Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Rider (5-11, 2-5 MAAC) got a fast start in this one 11-0 before Canisius (6-10, 3-4) later made it close using a 15-0 run.

Makayla Firebaugh scored 16 points and Ralphaela Toussaint scored 13. Amanda Mobley scored all 10 of her points in the second half and dished nine assists.

“Obviously nice to win at home,” said Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “I thought that was as close to a 40-minute game as we’ve played in a while. I was really happy with the way we locked in on defense.”

Next up Niagara visits Saturday at 2 p.m. on ESPN+

Princeton Routs Hartford: Two nights after Penn used the Hawks in their last non-conference game to tune up for the Ivy wars the rest of the way the Tigers did likewise in Jadwin Gym winning 84-37.

Madison St. Rose shot 9-0f-14 from the field scoring 19 points for Princeton (10-5) against winless Hartford (0-18), which is leaving Division I Competition. Maggie Connolly had 11 points and four assists.

The home folks moved the ball well with 28 assists, two off the program best, and mined 20 Hartford turnovers into 30 points.

Resuming the Ivy race after an unusual 1-2 start, Princeton hosts Brown 2 p.m. Saturday and then in another early showdown on the Ivy’s rivalry day on Monday league-leading Penn visits, also 2 p.m. Both  games will air on SNY and NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Nationally noted: In the Atlantic Coast Conference, No. 11 NC State continues to struggle, this time losing on the road to Florida State 91-72 at the Donald L. Tucker  enter in Tallahassee.

Freshman Ta’Niyan Latson had 31 points for the host Seminoles (16-3, 5-1 ACC), while Sara Bejedi shot three from beyond the arc and scored 21 points. Jazmine Massengill had six assists. 

The Wolfpack (13-4, 3-3) got 12 points from Saniya Rivers, Diamond Johnson and Mimi Collins each scored 11, and Madison Hayes scored 10. 

In a close one, No. 13 Virginia Tech edged visiting Louisville 81-79 stopping the Cardinals (13-6, 4-2 ACC) at the finish. 

Taylor Soule had 24 points while Elizabeth Kitley had 20 points and 14 rebounds for the host Hokies (14-3, 4-3) in Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg.

No. 16 Duke stayed unbeaten in ACC play 5-0 winning at home 66-56 over Clemson at Cameron Indoor Arena in Durham, N.C., while No. 22 North Carolina won 70-59 at Virgina.

In the SEC, unbeaten and No.1 South Carolina (17-0) win 95-66 at Kentucky as Aliyah Boston had 21 points and 11 rebounds and Zia Cooke scored 20. 

No.5 LSU (17-0), one of two others unbeaten along with No. 3 Ohio State, won 77-57 at Missouri as Angel Reese had 20 points and 12 rebounds while Tennessee trying to make its way back into the rankings stayed perfect in league play with a 62-50 win at Texas A&M as Rickea Johnson scored 22 points. LSU connected on 10 threes in the Tigers’ win.

The Pros: The WNBA announced for the third time the All-Star game will be played in Las Vegas, Saturday, July 15 at Michelob Ultra  Arena, home of the champion Las Vegas Aces. Skills events and three-point shooting contest will be held Friday the day before.

Looking Ahead: A slow Friday with just two locals being league-leading Drexel and Delaware on the road  in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).

Drexel is at new member Hampton, while Delaware is at Elon in North Carolina. Both games Tip at 7 p.m. on Flohoops.

Out  west, in the PAC-12, No. 2 Stanford is at No. 8 UCLA at 11 p.m. on the PAC-12 Network. 

And that’s the report.