The Guru Report: Temple Overcomes Short Bench While La Salle, Lafayette, and Princeton Extend Streaks But Penn Routed at Harvard

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — Temple’s bench did not grow any larger for Saturday afternoon’s American Athletic Conference game in the Liacouras Center with visiting Central Florida (UCF) after the original one-day suspension of sophomore guards Jasha Clinton and Aniya Gourdine prior to the Tulane game turned into a permanent ejection as announced in a Friday night release from the school.

Also gone were Jalynn Holmes and Kourtney Wilson, who on Wednesday with the other announcement were said to have voluntarily withdrawn from the program.

For the second straight game, however, the Owls brushed aside the new state of affairs to hunker down and gain a 63-56 victory showing strength down the stretch to gain enough of a cushion to capture the victory.

UCF in the period went over six minutes without a field goal.

“We went into the the fourth quarter like, `We have to get stops,’” said Aleah Nelson, who played all 40 minutes, shooting 8-for-22  from the field and a perfect 10-for-10 on the line to score 28 points. “When we lock down and play defense just getting consecutive stops in a row, that builds confidence to go shoot the ball.”

Prior to the postgame press conference, the largest media turnout of the season were told one question on the situation would be permitted not that any detailed answer was provided by first-year coach Diane Richardson.

“Well, they are no longer part of the team,” she said. “I can’t comment on kids that are not part of the this team.”

However, she was pleased over the work by the Owls (9-11, 4-4 American) who defensively forced 22 turnovers of which six were steals.

“It was a battle today, it was a very physical game,” Richardson said. “But we withstood the pressure and came away with the win and played some great team basketball.”

The resiliency needed in this situation the Temple coach says comes from the nonconference schedule back in November and December.

“That was the thing we wanted early in the season,” she said. “That’s why we had a tough schedule.I wanted them to learn that we may get knocked down, but we have to get back up. What we are seeing now, especially with a shortened roster, is that resiliency coming out, and that willingness to fight to win.”

Nelson’s playing time by necessity and Tiarra East, who scored 12, have been increased.

The additional minutes were brushed aside, Nelson saying, “They have prepared me, you know, I look over at the bench and they tell me I am not tired. I am not, it’s mentally, I tell myself I am good and push through it and just do whatever it takes.”

Fueled by 4-of-8 from deep, Tarriyonna Gary scored 16 points.

The reserves of Denise Solis, Brtittany Garner, and Makayla Waleed scored just two points, on a Garner basket, compared to 41 from the opposition, but Solis had six rebounds and Waleed had five boards in their 20 minutes each and Richardson was pleased with their effort.

“They may not have scored, but they stopped some people from scoring,” Richardson said. “Very proud we stuck together.”

UCF only made one from beyond the arc in 10 attempts but Destiny Thomas had a double-double 16 points and 13 rebounds while Taylor Gibson scored 15 points.

The Temple situation became interesting with Caranda Perea fouling out, while East and Garner each accumulated four each but in this game at least the Owls weren’t caught with only the minimum five left or under it as the game got deeper.

Recently, the injury-riddled UConn squad, ranked fifth in the Associated Press women’s poll, had to postpone its game, made up last Monday, with DePaul for being under the Big East requirement of seven healthy scholarship players, and DePaul got caught in the same situation Saturday involving its game at Seton Hall.

The NCAA rule limitation count is six and the AAC requirement was unknown late Saturday night.

While emphasis has grown on defense, Richardson said she is not abandoning her offensive schemes.

“We’re still the equal opportunity offense, so we’re going to continue to do that,” she said. “This is a new situation where some of them are playing and not used to the minutes so we are going to work on their confidence in them scoring as well.”

While South Florida is dominating the conference and Temple would have to win the league tourney and automatic bid to get to the NCAA tournament, second place at the end of the regular season gets a berth, no matter the record into the WNIT. If the Owls can find a way, that finish is attainable.

Though most were unaware of the Owls’ new situation, Saturday was basketball alumni day bringing a large turnout from the eras of Andy McGovern, Linda Hill-MacDonald, Charlene Curtis, Kristen Foley, Dawn Staley, and Tonya Cardoza.

At a postgame reception the alums all spoke to the teams “welcoming you to the sisterhood.”

Richardson noted the legacy component saying she had been several schools but never felt the kind of bond the alums bring here.

Temple remains home for its next game, Wednesday, hosting Wichita State (12-8, 2-5) at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ getting closer to a top five finish in the conference which has the perk of a first-round bye in the postseason tourney in March in Fort Worth, Texas.

Ivy Wars Finish First Half With Columbia Alone at the Top After Harvard Knocks Penn Out of Tie: With four of the five contending teams for the four-berth Ivy tourney at Princeton in March, when the smoke cleared following Saturday’s games, Columbia after dominating Dartmouth 79-50 was at the top one game ahead of a three-way deadlock of Princeton, Harvard and Penn, with Yale bringing up the rear.

Princeton, after an 0-2 start, is well on the way of regaining its previous stature of annually dominating the league after the Tigers walloped Yale 79-30 at home in Jadwin Gym, the site of the Ivy men’s and women’s tourneys in March.

Penn (13-7, 5-2 IVY) after the first period suffered its second smoking following a recent loss at Princeton, losing at Harvard 84-60.

Mandy McGurk had 27 points, near a career-high for the Quakers while Kayla Padilla scored 10, Jordan Obi had nine points, six rebounds, and five assists, and Floor Toonders had seven points and six rebounds.

Harvard (12-7, 5-2) had 28 points from Elena Rodriguez and 11 rebounds, while while Lola Mullaney had 19 points, Harmoni Turner had 12 points and 12 assists, NMcKenzie Forbes had 10 points, and Saniyah Glenn scored nine.

Princeton (14-5, 5-2 IVY) did it with defense, the Yale 30 points the lowest dealt by the Tigers since a 65-27 win over Lafayette on December 7th, 2016.

Madison St. Rose continued to shine for the the home team, scoring 17 points, while Kaitlyn Chen had 11 points, six assists, and was +46 in her 30 minutes. Ellie Mitchell had 12 rebounds, and Chet Nweke had a career-high 10 points.

While Yale (10-10, 4-3) is just one-game back in the loss column, the Bulldogs, who beat Harvard on the first go-round, must do it again next weekend, to own a sweep in case a tie-break occurs for the last spot. Likewise in losing to the other three in the hunt, splits will be needed and perhaps an upset from the lower three teams who for now are separated out of contention.

In the win by Columbia (17-3, 6-1 IVY), which had the easiest draw of the day, playing Dartmouth (2-19, 0-7) on Schiller Court at Levien Gym on the Upper West Side in New York, Kaitlyn Davis had the first triple double in the Lions’ 39-year history with 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. 

“My teammates were finishing shots, finishing layups, making tough plays and getting stops so we could run plays on the offensive end,” she said.

Coach Megan Griffth said, “I felt today she played like she was the best player on the floor.”

Abbey Hsu had 19 points, while Patrick and Hannah Pratt each scored 17.

The Lions now have a chance to forge in front for the top side which a sweep would bring next weekend, beating Penn at 6 p.m. on Friday night and Princeton on Saturday at 4 p.m., the games on SNY and ESPN+.

Princeton on Friday goes to Cornell at 6 p.m. in Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y., while Penn goes there on Saturday at 4 p.m., both on ESPN+.

Harvard is at Yale, Friday, at 6 p.m. on ESPN+ in the Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn.

La Salle Handles St. Bonaventure:  The Explorers matched a six-year high with their fifth straight win in the Atlantic 10, beating St. Bonaventure 65-52 at home in Tom Gola Arena.

Picked for second in the preseason by the conference coaches, La Salle got a combo 38 points from two of its Australian three-sister trio as Claire Jacobs scored 21 points, highlighted by 8-for-12 from the field, including 4-for-7 from deep, while newcomer Mia Jacobs scored 17, propelled by 3-of-5 from deep.

Additionally, Charity Shears had 10 points for the Explorers (14-8, 5-2 A-10) and Kayla Spruill grabbed nine rebounds, and Molly Masciantonio dealt four assists and committed just one turnover. 

Maddie Dziezgowski had 15 points for the Bonnies (4-20, 1-8), while Breauna Ware scored 11.

The Explorers head to Richmond, Va., for a Wednesday game at 11 a.m. at VCU on ESPN+.

Patriot League — Fourth Straight for Lafayette; Lehigh Falls at Boston U.: The Leopards rode a second-half rally for a 53-45 win at home over Colgate at Kirby Sports Arena in Easton, Pa.

Abby Antognoli scored 23 for Lafayette (8-12, 5-5 PAT) while Kayla Drummond had a career-high 15 rebounds. 

Nicole Parks scored 14 for the Raiders (10-11, 4-6) and Madison Schiller had nine rebounds.

Its the first four-game win streak since 2019-20 for Lafayette, which looks for a sweep when it visits Lehigh Saturday at 4 p.m. at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., on ESPN+.

The host Mountain Hawks will be coming from an 82-69 loss at league-leading Boston U. At Case Gym in Massachusetts.

In Lehigh’s previous game, Saturday’s visitors (10-11, 6-4 PAT) helped Boston U., knocking Holy Cross from the unbeaten column in league play.

In this one, the Terriers (15-6, 9-0) dominated the boards on Lehigh 45-24.

“We knew they were a team who was going to come out and crash,” Lehigh first year coach Addie Micir said. “They did a really good job of that. We’ve got to figure out a way to get on the boards better and how to grab it with two hands.”

Boston U. outscored Lehigh 21-8 in the second period to take control.

“The thing that got away from us in the second quarter … we put them on the free throw line,” Micir said.

Sydney Johnson scored 22 for Boston U. while Caitlin Weimar had 12 points and nine rebounds before leaving in the second quarter with an injury.

Mackenzie Kramer scored 19 for Lehigh, while Frannie Hottinger scored 14, and Meghan O’Brien had all 10 of her points in the second quarter.

Nationally noted: In the Big 12 Ashley Joens had 32 points to lead No. 18 Iowa State at home to an 86-78 win over No. 14 Oklahoma, though the Sooners’ Taylor Robertson scored 25 and broke the NCAA career record for made three-pointers with 498 passing WNBA star and former Ohio State great Kelsey Mitchell.

“It’s really cool to break the record just because of all the people that are up there on the list,” Robertson said. “I wish I would have broken record in a win because that’s what matters, but it’s definitely something that means a lot to me.”

Robertson is at 503 and leads the nation in 3-point percentage at 44%. Her treys are most for all women in Division I, II, or III.

She has already passed the 2,000-point mark.

Texas got a split in its series with Oklahoma State beating the Cowgirls 78-69 at home in the new Moody Center in Austin.

Looking Ahead: In the Big 10 Nebraska rallied from a 17-point deficit at the outset of the fourth quarter but No. 10 Iowa held on for an 80-76 win at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.

Caitlin Clark scored 33 points, disrupting the national 1-2 scoring punch here of Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist and Drexel’s Keishana Washington, moving just in front of the Dragons star.

However, on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Big East Villanova plays No. 5 UConn in Hartford, giving Siegrist a chance to add some cushion in the game on CBSSN.

Washington will have a chance to take back second, the Dragons hosting Elon in a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) game in the Daskalakis Athletic Center at 1 p.m., which was moved back an hour due to the Eagles later in the afternoon playing the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship down at the Linc.

In other games involving the locals, Rutgers is at No. 6 Indiana in a Big 10 game at 2 p.m. in Bloomington at Assembly Hall, while Saint Joseph’s is at Richmond for an Atlantic 10 game at 4 p.m. on CBSSN.

In the Nova-UConn game Siegrist needs just two points to become the all-time women’s scorer in the Big Five.

Delaware is at William & Mary at 1 p.m. in Williamsburg, Va. for a CAA game on Flohoops.

Nationally in the ACC, Duke is at Florida State at 2 p.m., and Notre Dame is at N.C. State in Reynolds Coliseum at 3 p.m. on ESPN.

UCLA is at Utah at 2 p.m. while Stanford hosts Oregon at 4 p.m. on the PAC-12 Network.

On Monday, Penn State is at Maryland at 6 p.m. on the B1G Network, while Tennessee at 7 p.m. is at unbeaten LSU in the SEC on ESPN2.

And that’s the report.