The Guru Report: Villanova and Saint Joseph’s Pick Up Wins Amid a Night of Upsets

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

VILLANOVA, Pa. — A nearly 10-minute scoring drought across the third and fourth period Wednesday night in which a 14-point lead shrank to one at 61-60 here in the Finneran Center made it seem like Villanova would get stunned by visiting Georgetown and join the high-end victims list of Big East upsets.

However, Maddy Siegrist, the nation’s leading scorer, snapped the slide with a driving layup with 1 minute, 50 seconds left in regulation and then Bella Runyon got a steal from which Lucy Olsen cashed in a shot to put the Wildcats on the way to a 71-64 victory courtesy of a perfect six-for-six from Siegrist on the line.

Even though Siegrist struggled a bit from the field in this one, her 16-for-17 from the line helped secure another double-double with 29 points and 10 rebounds.

While the focus has been on her now in second chasing Shelly Pennefather’s school record 2,408 points, Siegrist broke Helen Perretta’s 33-year-old record of 367 career free throws reaching 371 and she also in the Georgetown game tied the record of Perretta, married to former longtime Wildcats women’s coach Harry Perretta, with the 16 made foul shots.

Penn State transfer Maddie Burke helped the cause with 11 points, including 3-of-8 from deep, while Olsen scored 13, and Christina Dalce grabbed nine rebounds for the Wildcats (13-3, 4-1 Big East), who have won four straight.

Georgetown (8-7, 1-5) stayed in contention much of the night until the Wildcats opened up that wide lead moving from 50-45 advantage on an 11-2 run.

Kennedy Fauntleroy was 9-for-15 from the field and scored 24 for the Hoyas while Kelsey Ramson scored 12 and Jada Claude had 10 points and nine rebounds.

“It’s wild,” Villanova coach Denise Dillon said afterwards, reflecting the other results with losses suffered by No. 24 St. John’s, No. 25 Creighton, and DePaul. “Every night.

“We expected nothing less,” she said of the challenge from the Hoyas. “They’re talented. They have more players now so they’re able to rotate more players in there to body and add to that pressure.

“I was pleased. We got that stretch where we were up a little bit but Georgetown wasn’t going anywhere. I’m not sure if our players knew that. We struggled scoring in the fourth, but we got stops.”

Butler visits Sunday at 2 p.m. on Flohoops.

Saint Joseph’s Snaps George Washington’s Four-Game Win Streak: Early in the New Year 12 months ago, wins were still hard to come by on Hawk Hill. Not so this time around.

Down in the nation’s capital, the Hawks topped the Colonials 77-61 in an Atlantic 10 game played at the Smith Center — the game the only other involving a local on Wednesday night.

At 12-2 overall, besides 2-0 in the conference, it’s the second-best record in the 22-year Cindy Griffin era after 14 games, the other being the season she returned to her alma mater in 2001-02 and guided the team to a 14-2 start before hit with the third loss.

George Washington (9-6, 1-1) narrowly won its previous game at Richmond in the start of the Colonials’ league schedule.

The Hawks built a huge 39-22 lead until turnovers helped the home team get within seven until Griffin’s bunch halted any further advance.

Mackenzie Smith scored 16 points off a 7-for-10 shooting night and dished a career high five assists for the visitors. Laura Ziegler had a double-double with 13 rebounds and 10 points, while Olivia Mullins had a career-high 15 points, propelled by sinking four shots from deep. Talya Brugler, who has scored in double figures in all but two games, scored 15 in this one.

George Washington’s Mia Lakstigala, a grad transfer from Penn, scored 17 points, while Asjah Innis scored 15 points.

On Saturday, Saint Louis will visit Hagan Arena at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

Nationally Noted: More commendable than the win is the differential as Seton Hall took down No. 24 visiting St. John’s 72-51 in a Big East game at Walsh Gym in South Orange, N.J., handing the Red Storm (13-1, 4-1 Big East)  their first overall loss of the season ending a 13-game win streak.

The Pirates (12-4, 5-1) are off to their best conference start in eight seasons, when they were also 5-1. Previously beating Marquette when they were ranked, it’s the first time in seven seasons since 2015-16 Seton Hall has claimed two foes ranked in the Associated Press Women’s Poll.

Amari Wright had career highs of 17 points, off 6-for-6 from the field and 4-for-4 from the line, and seven steals for Seton Hall, while Sidney Cooks had a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Lauren Park-Lane had 15 points and 11 assists.

Providence, meanwhile on the road, came back from a 12-point deficit to beat No. 25 Creighton 79-75 at D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha, Neb.

Grace Efosa had a career-high 27 points, the best of four players in double figures for the Friars (10-6, 1-4 Big East) who beat a ranked team for the first time in 10 seasons dating to 2013 when they upset Villanova home in Alumni Hall.

Janai Crooms had 14 points, six rebounds, four assists, and two steals.

Creighton (9-5, 3-3) got 30 points from Morgan Maley, while Laura Jensen scored 13 points, and Emma Ronsiek scored 10.

Marquette in a rivalry game dating to when the two were in previous conferences together beat DePaul 72-63 on the road at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. 

“I’m just so proud of our effort,” said Marquette head coach Megan Duffy. “We were without Liza Karlen tonight and the new players that had play were awesome. We made some shots, obviously, but our defense was great to make it as tough as possible on (Aneesah) Morrow. I’m just proud of our focus and our effort here on the road.”

Jordan King scored 23 for the visiting Golden Eagles (10-5, 3-3 Big East), while Chloe Marotta had 18 points, nine rebounds, and four assists while three blocks and a steal.

Makiyah Williams, a Chicago native, had nine rebounds for a personal best.

Morrow had 24 points and 15 rebounds for DePaul (10-6, 3-2).

In a matchup between the defending Atlantic 10 champions UMass and contending Rhode Island, the visitors, who a week ago let one get away at Princeton, made use of shooting from deep in the fourth period to down the Minutewomen 75-68.

Rhody (11-3, 2-0 A-10) was 6-for-11 on three-point shots in the final period, when the Rams used a 15-2 run to go up 14, enough to cushion the 7-0 finish from UMass (

Maye Toure had 20 points for the winners with 10 rebounds, while Madison Hattix-Covington had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Sophie Phillips scored 15, shooting 5-for-7 from deep, and grad transfer Sayawni Lassiter scored 13, dishing seven assists.

In the game in the Mullins Center in Amherst, Mass., the home team (11-4, 4-1) got 20 points and 13 rebounds from reigning Atlantic 10 player of the year Sam Breen, while Ber’Nyah Mayo scored 11, and Destiny Philoxy scored 10.

On Sunday, Rhode Island will host La Salle at 2 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network. The Explorers’ game scheduled Thursday at Davidson in North Carolina was cancelled due to health issues with the home team and will count as a no-game.

In another Atlantic 10 game of note host Fordham nipped VCU 60-59.

Looking Ahead: On the local charts Thursday, Rider hosts Iona at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J., while in the Patriot League both tip times, 6 p.m., Lehigh will host Bucknell in Stabler Arena in Easton, Pa., while Lafayette hosts league favorite Boston U. At the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa. ESPN+ has both games.

On Friday, Cornell is at Penn, while a key Ivy showdown has Columbia at Princeton, both games at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

The longtime rivalry first of two Delaware at Drexel will tip at 6 p.m., the Colonial Athletic Association game in the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Flohoops.

And that’s the report.