The Guru Report: Penn, Rutgers, Saint Joseph’s and Temple Highlight Monster Day for the Locals

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Rutgers celebrated its day for former coach Theresa Grentz here Saturday afternoon in both personal tribute for her induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame last September and in performance by winning the way many came in her era, handling a tough opponent in Nebraska 57-45 at home in Jersey Mike’s Arena to pick up the team’s first Big Ten win of the season and the first conference win for Coquese Washington as head coach.

Washington has a previous collection of Big Ten successes coaching Penn State.

But hold those thoughts because the story on top of stories is Penn is back, baby.

Less than 24 hours after Columbia ended a 27-game losing streak to Princeton, the Lions got tripped by the Quakers 71-67 at The Palestra and thanks to the stunning Yale 71-70 overtime win at Harvard, at 3-0 Penn stands alone on top of the Ivy standings and only unbeaten in the league among the ancient eight.

Kayla Padilla followed up on Friday’s 27-point performance by scoring 21, which was actually behind Jordan Obi’s 24 points and 13 rebounds double-double day against the Lions (13-3, 2-1 IVY), who came to town with speculation on them that a weekend sweep could lead Columbia to becoming the second-ever team in the league to get ranked.

Instead, Penn (10-5, 3-0) now has a chance to finish the current ten-game home stand perfect by winning games this week from Hartford (non-conference) and Dartmouth.

Floor Toonders had 11 points and five rebounds for the Quakers.

“Super, super happy with this team right now,” said Penn coach Mike McLaughlin. “They are progressing. You watch the passion, the love they have for each other just as contagious.

“They’re playing the game the right way. They’re competing at a high level. And that was about as exciting as you’re going to get. “

Of the opposition, he said, “Tonight, it was our night. We got them tonight. They’re there. They’re super but for our team right now, I’d say we just continue to grow. Continue to just adapt, continue to just fight and that I couldn’t be any more proud.”

Columbia’s Kaitlyn Davis, who came through in overtime on Friday night, had 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Paige Lauder also scored 14, but Abbey Hsu was held below her average getting 12 points.

“We’re going to get everybody’s best,” said Columbia coach Megan Griffith of her alma mater. “I’m happy about that — it’s what I want for this program — but we didn’t bring it the same way we needed tonight.

“(Against Princeton) I thought we were too locked in. Today, it was almost like we weren’t locked in enough. It’d just finding the that balance. We’ve got to be better at that.”

On Monday prior to the Brown game it was noted to McLaughlin following Princeton’s league-opening loss at Harvard that perhaps the race will be wide-open.

He wasn’t so sure indicating that Columbia may be the new Princeton and besides, his squad had yet to mix it up with a big-timer during its rapid growth in the last month.

“They’re just older and more veteran now,” Princeton coach Carla Berube said Friday night after the Lions at that point dropped her Tigers to 0-2 in the league.

While at this hour it could be a five-team race for the four playoff spots for the Ivy tourney in March at Princeton, a free-for-all the rest of the way unless one team rises above the others in the competition for seeding may go down to the wire.

The nine-game win streak is now a four-way tie for second longest in Penn history and the latest of the run, which began in a Big Five triumph at La Salle, snapped Columbia’s program record ten-game win streak.

The Penn defense was outstanding in holding the Lions 13 points under their 80.6 average.

Down the stretch Columbia went up by four points with 3:43 left in regulation. The Quakers then slammed the door the rest of the way finishing with an 8-0 run.

Columbia hosts Harvard Saturday at noon airing on SNY.

The Hartford game tips Tuesday at 7 p.m. at The Palestra on ESPN+. 

Following the Dartmouth game, next Monday comes another showdown visiting Princeton in the afternoon.

The Tigers did not hang their heads following Friday’s setback, beating Cornell 70-48, shooting over 53 percent from the floor at home in Jadwin Gym.

Madison St. Rose scored 15 points with four rebounds and a pair of steals for Princeton (9-5, 1-2), which was in the AP preseason poll and then ousted the first week off an upset by Villanova at home.

Julia Cunningham scored 13 and dealt six assists, while Kaitlyn Chen scored 13.

Unlike Friday when the tide turned on Columbia’s 10-0 run from the break, the Tigers sealed this one bolting in the same period with a 17-4 spurt to drive their lead to 22 points on the Big Red (8-8, 1-2).

Hartford, following its Penn visit, will drop in on Princeton for the Tigers’ final non-conference game Thursday at 6 p.m on ESPN+

In the Yale game, Harvard led by eight in the middle of the fourth quarter before letting it get away.

Klara Astrom’s shot from deep for the visiting Bulldogs with 16 seconds left in regulation sent the game in overtime and the game then swung in Yale’s control.

Nyla McGill had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the visitors. (8-8, 2-1 IVY), while Jenna Clark scored 13, and Astrom and Haley Sabol each scored 11.

Harvard (9-6, 2-1) got 26 points from Harmoni Turner, while Lola Mullaney scored 13, Elena Rodriguez scored 14, and Gabby Anderson grabbed 10 rebounds.

How About Them Hawks: What a difference a year makes for Saint Joseph’s. 

In fact when comparisons start, one needs to go all the way back to veteran coach Cindy Griffin’s return to her alma mater 22 seasons ago when her Hawks spurted to a 14-2 start from opening day.

A win Tuesday night when new Atlantic 10 member Loyola Chicago at 7 p.m. visits Hagan Arena will match that streaking performance.

It got to 13-2 and 3-0 in the conference Saturday at home courtesy of a 71-47 lopsided triumph over Saint Louis (5-13, 1-2).

The game was competitive early and then Saint Joseph’s finished the first half with a 15-2 run and had the outcome in safe hands the rest of the way.

The Hawks had lost five streak overall and six straight at home to the Billikens.

So good was the defense in this one,  Saint Louis’ 22.4 percent field goal average was the Billikens’ worst since a 20.8 percentage effort against Wisconsin on No. 12, 2010.

Laura Ziegler had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Hawks , while Talya Brugler, last season’s rookie of the year in the A-10, had 13 points and seven rebounds, with three steals.

Olivia Mullins scored 12 and Emma Boslet had 10, better than the entire Billikens bench, which scored just seven.

Temple Downs Cincinnati: Perhaps the Owls could be a serious contender for the runner up spot in the American Athletic Conference, which leads to an automatic bid in the WNIT.

Judgement must still be reserved on all the marbles since Temple was topped by South Florida, the league favorite, in their first meeting of the season.

On Saturday, however, first-year coach Diane Richardson’s squad won at Cincinnati 77-73 as Jasha Clinton scored a personal best 28 points, Aleah Nelson scored 20, helped by 4-of-6 from deep, and Tiarra East had a double double 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Owls (7-8, 2-1 AAC).

Ariel Jackson had 19 points and Jillian Hayes scored 13 for the Bearcats (7-8, 0-2).

Temple next hosts East Carolina Wednesday at noon in the Liacouras Center on ESPN+.

Rutgers Tops Cornhuskers: Returning to the top of this post, Kaylene Smikle had 20 points, while Chyna Cornwell had 12 rebounds in an overwhelming 46-35 advantage off the glass by the Scarlet Knights (7-10, 1-4 Big Ten).

“We’re a team that doesn’t have any continuity from last year,” Washington said, noting the starting point when she accepted to follow the retired Hall of Famer C. Vivian Stringer. “No one (players) followed me. It’s taken a while for us to get into our rhythm and figure out who we can be.

“This is a big step today to be able to get over the hump and actually play well for four quarters. We wanted to come out and have a great first quarter and we did that and I think that set the tone and gave us confidence to finish it off.”

Of the team’s play on the day honoring Grentz, who’s Rutgers time from the mid-1970s to mid-1990s before Washington enrolled as a future Notre Dame star player, the Rutgers coach said, “I’m glad the team came out and gave her a performance she could be proud of.”

Rutgers defensed Nebraska (10-6, 2-3) into its coldest shooting day of the season, failing to hit any of its first 21 shots from deep.

Maddie Krull scored 11 for the Cornhuskers.

Rutgers goes to Minnesota at Williams Arena in Minneapolis on Thursday at 8:30 p.m.

Penn State’s Pride Day Win Over Purdue: The Lady Lions came up with a pot of gold on their rainbow infused promotion picking up their second Big Ten win, a 70-60 triumph over the Boilermakers in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College.

Penn State (11-5, 2-3 Big Ten) got separation from the Boilermakers (11-4, 2-3) in the closing minutes.

The visitors had a double digit lead shrink off turnovers shrinking the advantage to four points before Makenna Marisa hyped it up to a two-possession affair.

Leilani Kapinus then made a steal for the home team and scored for an eight point advantage with 90 seconds left.

The Chanaya Pinto got a steal, dished it to Shay Cieski who scored for a 10-point lead to secure the win.

Marisa finished with 24 points and eight rebounds, while Kapinus had 17 points.

“(Purdue) has a 43 net ranking so for us that was a must win game and I really challenged our team. We had a tough week of practice so it shows hard work pays off,” said Penn State coach Carolyn Kieger.

The Lady Lions next go to Nebraska Wednesday at 8 p.m.

Rider Falls at Mt. St. Mary’s: The Broncs were the only one of seven D-I locals not to get a winning effort, losing 74-52 at Mount St. Mary’s, one of the new teams in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), in Emmitsburg, Md.

Once again Rider got stung with the opposition launching a big run in the third quarter, this time 15-0 from the Mountaineers (6-8, 2-3 MAAC), who were previously Northeast Conference champs the previous two seasons.

“They made a couple of good runs, made a couple of threes,” said Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “We had some stops, when they would respond with one second on the shot clock, and they’ll deflate you.

“We have got to be able to have a stop, come down, and score. We just haven’t done a good job lately,” she continued.

“If we were throwing the ball all over the gym and taking careless shots, that’s a different story. We’re getting the looks, we just need to be confident and strong.”

It was the first conference meeting between the two teams but not the first — the Mount leading 19-6 in the series with Rider (4-11, 1-5).

Makayla Firebaugh had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Broncs, who also got 15 points from Ralphaela Toussaint. Emily Strunk had a career high nine points.

Rider returns home Thursday hosting a MAAC game against Canisius at 7 p.m. in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Nationally Noted: Elsewhere in the Big Ten, No. 13 Maryland at home took a high-scoring game beating Michigan State 94-85 at home in College Park in the XFINITY Center, Diamond Miller scoring 25 for the Terrapins, while No. 16 Iowa edged No. 14 Michigan 94-85 on the road in Ann Arbor, the winning Hawkeyes getting 28 from Caitlin Clark, Monika Czinano scoring 19 with eight assists, 

Leigha Brown had 20 and six assists for the Wolverines, while Emily Kiser scored 19, and Laila Phelia had 16, and Jordan Hobbs scored 12 points.

In the Big 12, Texas fell at Oklahoma State, 85-82, while Baylor beat another ranked conference team, the No. 23 Bears edging No. 21 Kansas 75-62 after earlier downing Oklahoma.

Looking Ahead: After a day like today, there’s still side competition Sunday with the nation’s top two scorers in action, Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist who will be a threat for the Wildcats hosting Butler in a Big East contest at the Finneran Pavilion on the Main Line, while Drexel’s Kishana Washington will be suited up for the Dragons in a CAA contest playing new member Stony Brook at 2 p.m. on Flohoops in the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

La Salle is at Rhode Island for an A-10 showdown at 2 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network, while in the Patriot League, Lafayette is at Bucknell at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

And that’s the report.