The Guru Report: Siegrist Keys No. 25 Villanova Closing Surge Over St. John’s; Saint Joseph’s Nipped at UMass; Penn and Princeton Set Ivy Showdown

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

VILLANOVA, Pa. — For three quarters Saturday afternoon St. John’s was on a nice revenge cruise here on No. 25 Villanova in a key Big East encounter for the Wildcats jumping back into the Associated Press women’s rankings and replacing the Red Storm in the current poll, whose week ends Sunday.

But dead ahead in the final period as the home team forces of Maddy and Maddie began to build in Finneran Pavilion was not just a surge, but a powerful tsunami that carried Villanova from a 16-point deficit with 5 minutes, 28 seconds left in regulation to a stunning 64-61 victory that enabled the Wildcats (16-3, 7-1 Big East) to maintain sole possession of second place behind No. 4 UConn.

Senior Maddy Siegrist, the nation’s leading scorer, poured down 18 points to the delight of a Women’s Basketball Alumni Day crowd of  2,103 and finished with 32 causing more revisions to the milestones lists she has continuing to climb at a frenetic pace.

But what coach Denise Dillon, one of those grads, has shown is while the transfer portal may cause subtractions from a successful roster there are also additions to be had.

While in the offseason Israeli Lior Garzon departed for Oklahoma State in the Big 12 where she is one of the impact players Dillon picked up Penn State transfer Maddie Burke, the other Wildcat in double figures here with 12 points.

All 12 came from four attempts from beyond the arc, but half of those came approaching the one-minute mark on consecutive daggers and then Siegrist nailed a pair of free throws to but Villanova ahead 62-61 with 41 seconds remaining.

“That was great,” Dillon said of Burke’s scores. “All we kept saying, the coaches on the bench, was how we need someone to put the ball in the basket other than Maddy Siegrist.

“I think we’re trying to get these girls to understand that we’re a tougher matchup with multiple scorers.”

That was enough time for St. John’s (14-3, 5-3) to rescue itself from an eighth straight loss to the Wildcats and 15th in the last 19 games.

But the Villanova defense, including Siegrist, continued to make the squad a two-way threat, blocking a shot that Christina Dolce landed with the rebound and then Siegrist got to the line, making 1-of-2 for a 63-61 lead with 25 seconds left.

Still enough time to force an extra period except Siegrist stole a pass and Dolce made one of two free throw attempts to make it 64-61 with 23 seconds left.

The Red Storm called time and advanced the ball needing a shot from the deep to again cause a tie.

But sophomore Kitlyn Orihel from Archbishop Wood came into game and grabbed a steal with nine seconds left and Villanova dribbled out the clock.

Thirteen of the Red Storm’s turnovers came in the fourth period.

“You know, I don’t know it was necessarily Maddy,” said a Saint John’s official said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before,” alluding to the melt down on the offensive end.

Those that go way back with the program, including retired longtime ‘Nova coach Harry Perretta, hold memories of one occurrence.

“Yeah, I thought of that Providence game here when we came back from 21 at halftime and Sue Glenning hit the game winner at the end,” he said. “But that one happened over the entire half (way before the rules change to quarters). This is special in coming from that far back in the amount of time left.”

Dillon was a player on the biggest Wildcats rally her junior year when they came back against Providence down 24 with seven minutes left. Perhaps likely same game.  

“ I remember well, we pressed the crap out of them,” Dillon texted on Sunday. “ Freshman PG broke BE turnover record that day.”

Siegrist’s total line on the game included seven rebounds, two steals and four blocked shots, while Dalce had 10 rebounds.

“You’d like to cut to like five or eight going into the fourth quarter - that’s just more doable,” Siegrist said of the comeback. “We just had to know that you need to take it one possession at a time.”

Villanova only made six turnovers while the Wildcats outscored the opposition 23-2 on points from turnovers, the Red Storm committing 20.

Siegrist in the postgame talked about the atmosphere in the arena giving the team energy.

“It was so exciting, and it helped so much,” she said. “This is my fifth year, and seeing how the crowd has grown over the years is exciting. I think especially in a game like that, it affects the other team more than it affects us.”

Saint John’s improved with a bunch of additions from the portal and set a program record with a 13-0 season start and breaking a long ranking drought.

But the fun lasted one week after Seton Hall dropped them from the unbeaten column 72-51 in the Pirates’ Walsh Gym. The Red Storm came back to beat Xavier by the same score.

However, on Wednesday at home in Carneseca Arena in Queens, N.Y., No. 4 UConn, which celebrated the return of coach Geno Auriemma, who missed time with the flu and grieving the death of his 91-year-old mother that occurred in early December, as well as Azzi Fudd, missing time with a leg injury, gained an easy 82-52 victory.

In this one, Jayla Everett, an addition from Pitt, scored 18, while Kadaja Bailey and Unique Drake each scored 13, and Raven Peeples scored 11 and grabbed 11 for a double double. 

After the 16 point advantage, Siegrist, averarging 28.7 points per game, sliced most of it with an 11-0 run, and for the game was 13-for-25 along with 5 of 7 free throws in reaching the 30-point threshold her ninth time this season, 26 in the her career, in which she is the reigning Big East player of the year, and duplicated the honor in October in preseason voting by the conference coaches.

In Big East games, Siegrist is now second with 1,346, trailing Sarah Behn, who scored 1,546 for Boston College.

This was her third straight 30-plus points game and third in which she scored 10 points in the last five minutes.

In the race to replace the fabled Shelly Pennefather, who finished in 1987 with the Nova career mark of 2,408, Siegrist is at 2,364, just 45 points away and it is not outlandish to think it could happen Tuesday night when Xavier visits at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night on Flohoops. After that, the Wildcats visit Creighton on Friday night at 9 p.m. in Omaha, Neb., where they will look to make up for their only league setback.

Defensively, Siegrist, who on Jan. 23 will received the Philadelphia Sportswriters Association’s Amateur Athlete of the Year at the annual awards dinner at the Doubletree Hotel on Route 70 in Cherry Hill, N.J., is now tie for second in Villanova’s all-time rebounding mark with Lisa Ortlip at 945. Pennefather is the leader there too with 1,171 carooms.

“Extremely proud of the resilience that this group showed being down a good bit,” Dillon said. “St. John’s came out and showed their talent, but just thankful that we had a lot in the tank.”

Speaking  of the defense in the fourth quarter, she said there was no magic strategy.

“We just turned up the heat,” Dillon said. “We had nothing to lose. We were playing timidly defensively. They were the ones trying to preserve the lead, and we were playing scramble basketball.”

On the all time combination Philly Six/Big Five lists climbed one more step to fifth, just 12 points behind Temple’s Mia Davis, who set the Owls mark with 2,376 graduating last season.

Pennefather is third, while Penn’s Diana Caramanico holds the Big Five mark with 2,415, just 51 in front of Siegrist. Drexel’s Gabriela Marginean holds the all-time mark at 2,581.

Considering at the current pace and there are conservatively cautious 13 games left in her collegiate career counting two in the Big East tournament and at least one postseason in the NCAA or WNIT tourneys, even just the ten regular season, it is no longer outlandish to predict Siegrist will get that mark also.

Saint Joseph’s Edged by UMass at Finish While La Salle Top GWU: Coaches don’t ascribed to moral victories, though nice performances against the elites of the world will eventually be acceptable.

So letting a game get away to reigning Atlantic 10 UMass 58-56 at the Mullins Center in Amherst, the first conference loss of the season by the Hawks (14-3, 4-1 A-10) stings on its merits that the game film will not ease.

That said, after beating Loyola Chicago Tuesday night and heading to the encounter with the Minutewomen (13-4, 3-1), veteran Saint Joseph’s coach Cindy Griffin said of the tough test, “There’s a lot of basketball ahead. This is going to be more about us and where we stand.”

And now they know that the program is truly back on firmer ground, that they have the ability to win the league. 

And that will drive them in the challenges the rest of the way.

In this one, Laura Zigler, the rookie of the week, who missed time in foul trouble, still collected 22 points with seven rebounds, while Olivia Mullins scored 13 and matched a personal best with four from deep. 

Talya Brugler, last season’a rookie of the year in the conference, scored 12 points with five rebounds.

Turnovers were a problem the recent careful ball handling reduced to 18 miscues.

UMass got 19 points from Ber’Nyah Mayo, while Sydney Taylor and Makennah White each score 10 points and reigning A-10 player of the year Sam Breen was held to nine points while grabbing eight rebounds.

On Wednesday, Saint Joseph’s will be back home at 7 p.m. at Hagan Arena on ESPN+ attempting a sweep of La Salle, which was picked second preseason in the conference and fell to the Hawks 68-64 at home in Tom Gola Arena on New Year’s Even being the Big Five closer and league opener for the two teams.

On Saturday, the Explorers picked up their second straight A-10 win, also at home in Tom Gola, beating George Washington 74-65 as Kayla Spruill got her first double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Mia Jacobs shot 6-of-10 from the field, scoring 16 points for La Salle (11-8, 2-2 A-10), while Claire Jacobs and Molly Masciantonio each scored 13 points.

La Salle shot 12 from deep, three more than George Washington (11-7, 3-2), which got 20 points from Nya Robertson, and a doubledouble of 10 points and 10 rebounds on a pseudo homercoming visit from former Penn player Mia Lakstigala.

Penn Holds Ivy Lead Eyes Princeton: The Quakers and Tigers didn’t get caught in trap games, Penn topping Dartmouth 69-57 at home in The Palestra while Princeton stopped Brown 67-54 at home in Central New Jersey in Jadwin Gym, the home of this season’s four-teams each Ivy men’s and women’s tourneys in March.

Jadwin will also be the site on Monday (Martin Luther King Day) in the league’s top rivalry day encounter among the four games games scheduled.

It’s another of what has become a whole lot of major pieces in the Ivy women’s scenario no longer Princeton and the rest of them.

The Tigers started league play losing at Harvard and then a week ago ended a 27-game win streak in a former dominating series, losing at home to the now blossomed Columbia group.

The next night Penn got to flex it’s “we’re back baby” muscles stunning Columbia at home while Harvard got surprised by Yale.

On Saturday while the Quakers and Tigers wanted to avoid more trouble before Monday’s clash at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ and NBC Sports Philadelphia, Columbia regained its prowess at home on upper Broadway in New York, handling Harvard 82-56 on Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium.

The Lions (14-3, 3-1 IVY) dominated the boards 56-20 while Jada Patrick scored 15 points with six rebounds and four assists, Abbey Hsu had 15 points, four rebounds and three assists, Kitty Henderson had 12 points, nine boards, and three assists, and Hannah Pratt had 11 points against the Crimson (9-7, 12-2).

“That was a big goal of ours,” said Columbia coach Megan Griffith, a native of King of Prussia, about her alma mater’s rebounding effort. “We have to dominate the glass. Harvard is a very good rebounding team as well. They’re flying in from the perimeter, so we harped on it quite a lot throughout the week. That wins you the game when the ball is not going into the basket, so it’s great to see.”

On Monday, Columbia plays its rival Cornell at 2 p.m. in Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y.

“One game at a time,” Griffith said. “One day at a time. No opponent is less than the next. We will treat Cornell like they’re the defending champions on Monday.”

Meanwhile, at Penn, upping their win streak to 11 and batting 10-for-10 on the long home stand completed perfect, the Quakers (12-5, 4-0 IVY) are the lone Ivy unbeaten in league competition.

The run in the Palestra ties the program record set in 2000-01.

Kayla Padilla, the reigning Ivy player of the week and also Ann Meyers-Drysdale national player of the week recipient from the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), scored 21 points, including four shots from deep. She also dished seven assists.

Jordan Obi had 17 points, shooting 6-for-11 with eight rebounds and three assists, while Floor Toonders had 12 points, shooting 5-for-8, and 12 rebounds.

Mandy McGurk scored 14 points, the fifth time four Quakers scored in double figures this season.

Penn has beaten the Big Green 15 times and has evened the series at 43-43. 

Belying the Dartmouth record (2-16, 0-4), Victoria Page scored 17 points, while Mia Curtis scored 15, Mekkena Boyd scored 11, and Emma Koch grabbed 10 rebounds.

At Princeton (11-5, 2-2 Ivy), where the margin for error has become smaller for seed, which this year may not be as meaningful, Grace Stone was the sole player scoring in double figures, collecting 13 for the Tigers, while Chet Nweke had 11 rebounds.

Brown (8-8, 1-3) got 11 points from Charlotte Jewell, and 10 each from Grace Arnoli and Alyssa Moreland.

Heading into Monday, the standings at the top in league play are as follows:

Penn 4-0

Columbia 3-1

Yale 3-1

Harvard 2-2

Princeton 2-2

Penn State Routed at Iowa: The No. 12 Hawkeyes appear to have used the Lady Lions for target practice winning 108-67 in a Big Ten game in Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.

Shay Ciezki scored 20 for the visitors (11-7, 2-5 Big Ten) while Leilani Kapinus scored 16, and Taniyah Thompson had 13 points.

Caitlin Clark, who trails Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist and Kieshana Washington in the NCAA scoring statistics, had 27 points for Iowa (14-4, 6-1), while Monika Czinano scored 20, McKenna Warnock had a double-double 16 points and 10 rebounds, Sydney Affolter scored 12, and Hannah Stuelke scored 11.

Penn State next hosts Minnesota on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa.

Rider Falls to Niagara: A flood of 32 turnovers were costly to the Broncs in a 67-55 loss to Niagara at home in Alumni Gym in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) game in Lawrenceville, N.J.

“We’re disappointed with the loss,” said Rider coach Lynn Milligan, the loss resulting in a season sweep by the Purple Eagles (7-9, 6-2 MAAC) in the conference series. “We played hard, our effort was there, but there were 32 times that we didn’t, and when you turn the ball over 32 times, it’s tough to get a win.

“They make you speed up and make some decisions quicker than you’re used to, but we also made some mistakes that we’re better than.

“The difference today was our three pointers. We did a good job finishing around the rim, but we didn’t make threes. If we make threes, it’s probably a different game.”

Ralphaela Toussaint scored 21 points, the lone player in double figures for the Broncs (5-12, 2-6).

The Miscues enabled Niagara to outscore the home team in points off turnovers 33-4.

Rider next travels to Iona Thursday in New Rochelle, N.Y. For a 6 p.m. game on ESPN3.

Lehigh Rallies for Win While Lafayette Loses in Patriot League:  Though the Mountain Hawks fell behind by 11 to American U. In Bender Arena in the nation’s capital, it never got worse and they found their way back for a 79-77 victory.

Lehigh (8-9, 4-2 Patriot League), however, didn’t get its first lead on the Eagles (3-14, 2-4) until the final period, 62-61, when Mackenzie Kramer shot one from deep with 8:37 left in regulation.

It became a battle of foul shots down the stretch and the Mountain Hawks completed 19 in the final 10 minutes and finished with 28-of-36 for the game.

“We said to our team after the game, sometimes you have to find a way to gut out a win on the road, and that’s what we did,” said Lehigh coach Addie Micir. “It came down to playmaking time.”

American had a chance to have the last word or by forcing overtime get the win that way but the squad missed two shots as time expired.

“We were really, really strong the entire game, and finally, calls started going our way, and it was time to just mentally lock in and do it.”

Emily Hottinger was 14-of-17 at the line and finished for the visitors with 26 points and 10 rebounds, while Kramer scored 15 in her first game back after missing Wednesday’s match at Holy Cross. Jamie Behar scored 11 with four steals and Ella Stemmer scored nine.

American got 20 points from Emily Johns.

Lehigh next will host Loyola of Maryland at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Stabler Arena in Easton, Pa., on ESPN+.

Meanwhile, in the other Patriot game involving a local, Lafayette on the road was downed by Holy Cross 66-50 at the Hart Center Arena in Worcester, Mass.

Abby Antognoli scored 15 for the visiting Leopards (4-12, 1-5 Patriot), while Makayla Andrews had a double-double 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Holy Cross (14-3, 6-0), yet to lose in conference, got 11 points from Janelle Allen, while Cara McCormack scored 10.

Lafayette next hosts American U. Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa., on ESPN+.

Nationally noted: No. 3 Ohio State in the Big Ten stayed as one of three national unbeaten teams along with No. 1 South Carolina, the defending national champion, and No. 4 LSU, both in the Southeastern Conference, by beating host Nebraska 76-67 in Lincoln.

Taylor Mikesell scored 14 for the Buckeyes (18-0, 7-0 Big Ten), while Rebeka Mikulasikova scored 25, and Taylor Thierry scored 13 against the Cornhuskers (11-7, 3-4).

Looking Ahead: With nine of the Guru’s local 13 having played on Saturday, a thin slate is set for Sunday with the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) duo of Drexel and Delaware on the road.

Drexel, yet to lose in conference, where the Dragons are the preseason favorite, they visit William & Mary at 1 p.m. in Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg, Va., while the Blue Hens will be at North Carolina A&T in the Corbett Sports Center in Greensboro.

The Delaware opposition are the only other CAA team yet to lose.

In the Big Ten, Rutgers on a two-game win streak, travels to No. 9 Maryland at 1 p.m. in the XFINITYCenter in College Park, Md., at 1 p.m.

Nationally, in the Big 12 of note, Iowa State is at Texas at 5 p.m. on ESPN2. 

In the ACC, at 1 p.m. Louisville is at Florida State, while NC State at 3:30 p.m. is at North Carolina. 

In the SEC at 1 p.m., Georgia is at Tennessee either on SECN or ESPN2. No. 1 South Carolina hosts Missouri the same time with the same network options.

In the PAC-12 Arizona is at Utah, while at 5 p.m. No. 2 Stanford is at Southern Cal.

On Tuesday, besides the Villanova game hosting Xavier, at the same time Temple will be hosting Tulsa at 7 p.m. in the Liacouras Center on ESPN+.

And that’s the report.