By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru
PRINCETON, N.J. — For the second time in under two weeks here in Jadwin Gym a winning streak was laid to rest.
But unlike the earlier one in which Columbia edged host Princeton to hit the dominant Ivy power with its second Ivy setback and end 27-straight results of misery playing the Tigers, this time the home team did the knocking out against rival Penn 55-40 in a game that was not that close while separating the Quakers (12-6, 4-1 Ivies) from their 11 straight triumphs.
Thus moving forward, on one hand, the Penn loss after being the last Ivy still unbeaten, means perhaps a scramble in the race for the four berths for the league tourney here in March.
On the other, if the way the Martin Luther King marque setup went on Monday is a sign the ghosts of Princeton past are still current, the atmosphere and big crowd attending and enjoying the carnage offered Carla Berube’s squad (12-5, 3-2) a preview of fun to behold two months down the road.
“We locked in and played really good defense, Berube said. “We made things difficult for them. I thought Julia (Cunningham) did a really good job on Kayla (Padillia). She’s a phenomenal scorer, so it’s five against her.”
This one was reminiscent of the year Penn won its first Ivy crown under Mike McLaughlin when in the first meeting, also the league opener which was at The Palestra, the Quakers got off to a nice start and then the Tigers lowered the boom.
However, several weeks later Harvard made the race a threesome when the Crimson came here and ended their long futility against Princeton only 24 hours later to be mopped up out of West Philly while still celebrating by the Quakers, who then went on and shocked the Tigers here in the final game of the season to don their first in a series of dancing slippers.
Penn got a big win last weekend in The Palestra to edge Columbia the night after the Lions’ signature triumph here.
Berube admitted that unlike the Princeton go-to-(fill it in) teams under Courtney Banghart, now running North Carolina in the wild scrum occurring in the Atlantic Coast Conference, this edition will be a committee job and on Monday freshman Madison St. Rose went through her first postgame media appearance like she’s been doing them for years.
“I feel like this is a statement for us,” St. Rose referenced the turnaround the last three games, which on Monday featured her leading with 15 points, while Cunningham scored 11, Grace Stone scored 10, Kaitlyn Chen was held to nine on the Tigers’ side, and Elle Mitchell grabbed eight rebounds. “Together, as a team, we’re finally getting our offense and defense together and as we keep playing different teams hopefully we take our confidence and keep climbing to the top.”
Penn was there all week but came in here to cough up 20 turnovers the opposition mined into 18 points, while in answer to what about the rebounding? Don’t ask. The final talley on comparison of the board work was 39-26.
Padilla, averaging 16.1 points, scored 15, but it was on a paltry 5-for-17 from the field. Jordan Obi had 18 points, but only two other players scored — five points from Mandy McGurk and Michaela Stanfield had two points.
“They’re a focal point of what we do,” McLaughlin said of the 1-2 punch of Padilla and Obi. “But today there was too much pressure on both of them, and it was the first time in a while we didn’t have balance.”
When it came to the final 8:29 of the first half, outdoor temperatures were summer like compared to a Quakers freeze enabling a 14-2 Tigers run, delightful to the Princeton fans here and admittedly demoralizing to his troops, the Penn coach said, “went into the locker room limping a little bit.”
Still, the Quakers boarded the bus holding first, though the hands of Columbia and Yale are also on it. So it’s one at a time, get to the tourney, this season, at this hour, seed is irrelevant because of the parity on high. Will someone grab the rest of the way by the throat as Princeton has done in the past, or will it be a two-month free-for-all and then hope for the best when the tourney arrives.
For Penn, the next chapter is against another one of the elite bunch on Saturday when Yale visits The Palestra at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ and NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Nationally noted: The game here was the only one on the giant daily tracking chart, though later hanging back at The Palestra it became a daytime/nighttime sweep when the Tigers men beat the Quakers corp.
However, the lack thereof gives time to note the 11-game ending by the Penn women was overshadowed, nationally, by a streak far more better that met its bitter end.
For lack of needing one more voting point from the national media panel picking the weekly Associated Press rankings, the Baylor program that became a national power under former Louisiana Tech star Kim Mulkey, now at No. 3 LSU in a quick revival, the program that holds several NCAA trophies, the place where Brittney Griner won two national player of the year honors, for the first time since before Jan. 5, 2004, when you look at the weekly list you will not see the Bears listed.
Even after Mulkey left two seasons ago, Baylor continued strong under former WNBA Atlanta coach Nicki Collen, but started lower this season. Her husband, Tom, by the way, is a former coach who has made 60 appearances. She was about to be put on the public shown active list had she reached 30 this week.
A week ago Baylor, touting its surprise to all of us noting first time ever two back-to-back road wins of ranked teams, ended up getting away from the edge moving up to 18 in what was consecutive week 365.
Then the Bears fell twice to unranked teams and while 18 seemed high enough to avoid a direct ouster, off the wildness, when the final tally came that third-best ever and second-best current was no more.
Tennessee, under Pat Summitt and Holly Warlick, set the streak record at 565, but unless the unthinkable gets added to the injury pileup, UConn at a second-best and current 565 will likely tie that mark in October’s preseason poll for 2023-24 and then pass it after the first week of games.
Dawn Staley’s South Carolina unbeaten and reigning NCAA champions are still No. 1, but the shocking upset of No. 2 Stanford in the PAC-12 by Southern Cal, dropped the Cardinal to four, Ohio State moved up one to its best ever second, LSU held third — the top three all without losses, and UConn dropped one to be fifth.
Villanova moved up to 22, avoided getting lost in the shuffle, the Wildcats actually with their 57th listing tying Saint Joseph’s at 76th on the all-time list.
Looking Ahead: Temple hosts Tulsa in an American Athletic Conference game at 7 p.m. in the Liacouras Center on ESPN+ while the player who set the arena record for most points ever by a Temple opponent, the night she got 41 against the Owls, will be in action, also at 7, when Villanova and Maddie Siegrist in a Big East game host Xavier in Finneran Pavillion on Flohoops.
Siegrist, off her amazing recent points explosion, needs just 45 points to pass the Legendary Shelly Pennafather and become Villanova’s all-time scorer. Considering the opponent, it could happen Tuesday night.
On Friday the Wildcats are in Omaha, Neb., visiting Creighton, which has the only win over them in the conference to date.
On Wednesday, Saint Joseph’s hosts La Salle in an Atlantic 10 tilt in Hagan Arena sat 7 p.m., having already beaten the Explorers in Tom Gola Arena.
Here is the ongoing streak record for the current teams from the tracking sheet, showing how impressive the UConn run is. Only 15 teams ongoing from last season are still listed.
1-556 Weeks Connecticut across 28 seasons began Preseason 1993-94
2-241 Weeks Maryland across 11 seasons began Preseason 2010-11
3-198 Weeks South Carolina across 9 seasons began Dec. 10, 2012
4-94 Weeks Stanford across 4 seasons began week 13 of 2017-18
5-93 Weeks N. Caro. St. across 4 seasons began week 14 of 2017-18
6—66 weeks Indiana across 3 seasons began preseason poll of 2019-20
7 — 64 weeks Arizona across 3 seasons began week 4 of 2019-20
8 – 47 weeks Michigan began preseason of 2020-21
9– 30 weeks lowa State began preseason of 2021–22
10 — 27 weeks Notre Dame began week 4 of 21-22
11 — 26 weeks LSU began week 5 of 21-22
12— 20 weeks Iowa began week 11 of 21-22
13 – 19 weeks Ohio State began week 12 of 21-22
14– 18 weeks North Carolina began week 13 of 21-22
15 — 16 weeks Virginia Tech began week 15 of 21-22
16 — 11 weeks Oregon began week 1 preseason of 22-23
17 — 10 weeks Utah began week 2 of 22-23
18 — 9 weeks UCLA began week 3 of 22-23
19 — 8 weeks Gonzaga began week 4 of 22-23
20 — 7 weeks Oklahoma began week 5 of 22-23
21 — 3 weeks Duke began week 9 of 22-23
22 — Tie 2 weeks Illinois began week 10 of 22-23
22 — Tie 2 weeks Villanova began week 10 of 22-23
24 — Tie 1 week Colorado began week 11 of 22-23
24 — Tie 1 week Texas began week 11 of 22-23
Notable Departed Major Streaks Primarily Previous Six Seasons
xx. Tennessee 565 weeks. Began Feb. 17, 1985 after 10-wk drought and ran across 32 seasons ending on 2/15/16.
xx. Duke 312 weeks. Began week 3 11/29/99 and runs across 17 seasons ending 1/11/2016.
xx. Stanford 312 weeks across 17 seasons. Began Preseason 2001-02 ending 12/17/2017.
xx. Texas A&M 134 weeks. Began 11/16/09 2nd week and runs across 7 seasons ending final poll 2015-16.
xx. Oregon State 75 weeks across 4 seasons began December 19 2016 ending week 4 12/14/21
xx. Kentucky 132 weeks. Began Feb. 1 2010 and runs across 8 seasons ending 1/2/2017.
xx. Ohio State 59 weeks across 4 seasons began March 9 2015 ending final poll 2018
xx. Duke 35 weeks across 3 seasons began December 5 2016 ending preseason poll 2019
xx.Notre Dame 234 weeks across 12 seasons began Preseason 2007-08 ending week 2 poll 2020 11/1//19
xx. Texas 77 weeks across 4 seasons began Preseason 2015-16 end week 2 2020 11/11/20
Xx. Mississippi State 125 weeks across 6 seasons began Nov. 24, 2014 end week 12 2021 2/8/21
Xx –UCLA 44 weeks across 3 seasons began week 17 of 2018-19 ended week 4 11/29/21
Xx - Oregon 80 weeks across 3 seasons began preseason 2017-18 ended week 5 12/6/21
Xx - Texas A&M 55 weeks across 3 seasons began week 12 of 2018-19 ended week 10 of 2021-22
Xx - Kentucky 65 weeks across 3 seasons began week 4 of 2018-19 ended week 12 2021-22
Xx - Tennessee 32 weeks began week 8 of 2020-21 ended week 4 2022-23
Xx - Louisville 127 weeks across 6 seasons began January 11 2016 ended week 5 2022-23
Xx — Baylor 365 Weeks across 18 seasons began January 5, 2004 ended week 11 2022-23
And that’s the report.
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