The Guru Report: Cold Shooting Dooms La Salle; Princeton Masters Columbia While Penn Gains Weekend Split; Siegrist Propels Nova to Another Win

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — When the ball doesn’t drop through the basketball there isn’t much else to say, which is where La Salle found itself for the second straight game, losing 66-42 here Saturday afternoon at Tom Gola Arena to Atlantic 10 reigning champion and preseason favorite Massachusetts.

After scoring 38 in a loss against VCU in Richmond during the week to end a nice win streak, the Explorers matched the weekend chill scoring just four more points against the Minutewoman (19-4, 9-1 A-10).

“It’s tough to win if you’re not shooting well,” La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray stated the obvious. “The sun will come up and the ball will go in. You know, it doesn’t feel like it after back to back games shooting really poorly. But I know the talent on this team. I know we have a team full shoot makers, and I feel bad for the team that is in front of us when the balls get knocked down.”

Technically, one could make the case that the sun was up all day outside the building but the shooting temperature indoors for the home team (14-9, 5-3 A-10) was a different matter.

Where many times double digit numbers have been attached to La Salle high scorers, such was not the case playing UMass (19-4, 4-1), though the nine points from Molly Masciantonio with four steals, two assists, and a turnover was a positive from the nation’s assist to turnover ratio at 4.26 going into Saturday’s contest. Mia Jacobs, the youngest of the Australian sister trio on the squad, also scored nine points.

“I don’t think we failed to get ourselves extra possessions,” McGillivray said during the postmortem. “We took 60 shots, they took 54. That should be a recipe for winning a basketball game, typically, but sometimes it’s not. And that’s just the way it goes. It’s basketball.”

The visitors’ 16-3 run in the second quarter sealed the deal, though the La Salle coach felt like hope might become reality when the Explorers drew closer 42-33 at the end of the third period.

But it was only a tease with the opposition exploding for a 21-9 finish in the final period.

“(UMass) did a really good job of getting out and getting scores in the second quarter,” MacGillivray said. “But, you know, we had a bad shooting game. A monumentally bad shooting game.”

Sydney Taylor had a double-double 26 points and 10 rebounds for the visitors, while Angelique Ngalakulondi also double-doubled with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Sam Breen, the reigning conference player of the year, scored 10 with 15 rebounds for yet another double-double.

The board work from UMass should a 47-30 advantage, though MacGillivray noted missing a lot of shots leads to more rebounds.

Considering the way it went, it would be inaccurate also to say the Explorers, picked second in the A-10 preseason coaches’ poll, shot themselves in the foot since they were likely to also miss in that situation.

“February is tough on all teams,” he noted. “The season starts getting long, and it’s not quite playoffs yet. The kids are in class mode. So all that’s challenging. It’s just about being mentally tough and going through it.”

The Explorers go right back to Virginia on Wednesday playing Richmond at the Robins Center at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

Villanova Sweeps Butler

If the Big East would like to have the Wildcats’ Maddy Siegrist break the conference scoring record (they don’t keep overall games) in a few weeks when UConn visits in one of the marquee broadcasts of the season, the conference may need to start thinking about re-arranging the conference schedule.

On our climbing milestone scoring watches that continue after the ‘Nova senior already set the all-time men’s and women’s combined record out on the Main Line along with the Big Five women’s record, it was noted after the 19th-ranked squad’s previous game that Siegrist just needs to average 21 points in the five games finishing with that contest.

On Saturday in a 78-58 beatdown of Butler in a conference game at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for a season series sweep, Siegrist scored 31 for the Wildcats (20-4, 11-2), who are likely to move up one or two spots minimally when the new Associated Press women’s poll is released early Monday afternoon.

The win kept Denise Dillon’s group in second, two-up in the loss column, on Creighton, which handled Saint John’s, now three games behind Villanova as is Seton Hall.

The Wildcats have one visit this month up to Saint John’s, completing the series that in the game at Finneran Pavilion saw the stunning fourth quarter rally. They also have the home-and-home series with Seton Hall.

In the win over Butler (7-16, 2-12), moving closer to nailing a first-round bye in the Big East tourney next month at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Lucy Olsen had 18 points and five assists while completing three of ‘Novas eight shots from deep, and Christina Dalce had another double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Butler’s Sydney Jaynes had 16 points.

Siegrist now has 2494 points, just six short of joining Drexel’s Gabriela Marginean as the two local women to score at least 2,500 points in their collegiate careers.

The native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., is now 88 points short topping Marginean (2581) for the all-time local women’s mark.

On Saturday, her Big East total increased to 1,473, just 74 away from Sarah Behn of Boston College, the all-time conference record holder at 1,5456.

The Wildcats, who had a 15 NET ranking through Friday games, head Wednesday to Georgetown at McDonough Arena in the nation’s capital at 7 p.m. on Flohoops.

Below before moving on to the rest of the roundup is the updated milestones ahead and points and averages in play involving Siegrist. 

Siegrist Milestone Watch

Siegrist’s 31 kept her holding on to leading the nation, the threat of Iowa super star Caitlin Clark right on her heels. Drexel’s Keishana Washington, who plays again Sunday, remains in third.

Siegrist Update 2/4/23

 

Gabriela Marginean, Drexel, 2581

 

Maddy Siegrist, Villanova, 2494, needs 88 points, 7 games left in regular season, average needed — 12.5 pts; if games still need, two or three in BEC tourney; at least 1 postseason.

 

Big East Scoring Record

 

Sarah Behn, Boston College, 1546

 

Maddy Siegrist, Villanova, 1473 needs 74 pts  4 games left to next UConn game, averaged needed —  18.5; end of season if needed — 10.8; see previous for games if still needed.

 

Local Men’s Scoring Record

 

Lionel Simmons, La Salle, 3217 — likely out of reach

 

Michael Brooks, La Salle, 2628

 

Maddy Siegrist, Villanova, 2494 — needs 135 pts, 7 games to end of season, average needed — 19.2

 

Mark Macon, Temple, 2609

 

Maddy Siegrist, Villanova, 2494 — needs  116 points, 7 games left regular season, average needed — 16.5. see previous for games still needed

 

Tom Gola, La Salle, 2461

 

Maddy Siegrist, Villanova, passed on 2/1/23

 

Combo Ranking as of 2/4/23

 

Lionel Simmons, La Salle, 3217

 

Michael Brooks, La Salle, 2628 — needs 135

 

Mark Macon, Temple, 2609 — needs 116

 

Gabriela Marginean, Drexel, 2581 — needs 88

 

Maddy Siegrist, Villanova, 2464

Penn Bounces Back to Win at Cornell While Princeton Flips the Revenge Act at Columbia

Having had just 24 hours after Friday’s rout at Columbia instead of a week to stew, the Quakers got after it with a 67-54 win at Cornell at Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y.

The must-win triumph over the Big Red (9-13, 2-7 Ivy) kept the Quakers (14-8, 6-3) very much in the hunt among the five teams competing the four berths in next month’s Ivy tourney at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym.

Kayla Padilla was hot from the field, shooting 8-for-12 from the field, including 7-of-11 from deep for 23 points and six rebounds with four assists, while Jordan Obi was 10-for- 12, scoring 21.

Floor Toonders joined Jordan on the boards with seven rebounds, each, while Mandy McGurk dealt six assists.

A 21-6 third period got the Quakers to a comfort zone of a 56-32 lead to withstand the Cornell 22-11 push in the final period.

Emily Pope had 12 points for Cornell while Ania McNicholas and Summer Parker-Hall each scored 11 points.

Penn can play the revenge card on Harvard on Saturday at the Palestra at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ to hold off Yale (11-11, 5-4), which will be at Columbia.

The 74-61 win at Brown completing a weekend sweep, including Yale, put Harvard (14-7, 7-2) in a three-way tie for first a game ahead of Penn.

Yale’s next three games are at Columbia on Saturday at noon on ESPN+, hosting Penn and Princeton back-to-back on Feb. 17 and 18, and finishing at Cornell and hosting Brown.

All of which brings us to Saturday’s first-place showdown at Columbia hosting Princeton.

Following Friday’s romp on Penn in the postgame prompted Columbia coach Megan Griffith, a former Princeton assistant before returning to her alma mater to coach the Lions, to proclaim “we are ready.”

On Friday at Levien Gym off Broadway on New York’s Upper West Side the revenge clash with Penn, who beat the Lions at The Palestra, drew a crowd of over 2,000, topped on Saturday by the program’s first-ever sellout 2,653 fans, anticipating a Columbia sweep of Princeton following last month’s snapping a 27-game losing streak in overtime at Jadwin Gym.

Except the Tigers arrived from their Friday win at Cornell ready to emphatically say “not so fast,” and controlled the game for a 74-56 victory that created a three-way tie for first and extended a non-weekend sweep of Penn and Princeton dating to 2008.

Columbia (18-4, 7-2 IVY) could control its destiny for a first place finish and top seed but Princeton (16-5, 7-2) has bounced back nicely from its 0-2 start in the league.

The Tigers held the high-scoring Lions with a pre-game 81.8 points average to a season-low in points 25 off the mark.

Julia Cunningham scored 15 points, and reached her 1,000th in the game, being the 27th in program history, while freshman Madison St. Rose stayed hot with 14 points, Grace Stone with 13, Kaitlyn Chen with 16, and Ellie Mitchell with nine points and 17 rebounds.

The Tigers host Dartmouth at 1 p.m. on Saturday on ESPN+

Kaitlyn Davis scored 12 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and dealt four assists for the Lions, while Hannah Pratt had 13 points and six rebounds. Abbey Hsu had 10 points and seven rebounds, and Kitty Henderson had 10 points.

“We started the way we wanted to, Hannah hitting a three the way we drew it up, but when the game didn’t go our way I think we did fold a little bit there,” Griffith said.

“We were just on our heels a bit, The game for us, the way we started — we missed a couple of open layups and turned the ball over a couple of times.

“They knew they had to win this game and I think that’s how they played,” Griffith continued. “Not that we didn’t know that. I think you go into every game the same way, but they had to win this game.

“We’ve earned that from everybody. We’ve just got to wear it better, move forward, stick together, and stick to the game plan.

“We are an NCAA tournament team. I absolutely believe that with everything I have. We just have to stick to our game plan moving forward, and that starts with our next weekend.”

Lehigh Earns Split with Lafayette in Rivalry Game

The Mountain Hawks prevented a sweep in their long-running rivalry with the Leopards, winning 79-48 in a Patriot League rematch at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa.

“The environment was great,” said senior Fran Hottinger. “We had so many fans here and so many different young girls watching us play, and I think we really emphasized some things like rebounding and transition defense that helped us be successful.”

Lehigh (11-11, 7-4 Patriot League) snapped a four-game win streak, including their previous meeting, by Lafayette (8-13, 5-6).

“I think it was huge,” Hottinger continued. “When we were at Lafayette, we definitely struggled, so it was good to see the strides we made just in a couple of weeks.”

She scored 28 for Lehigh, while Mackenzie Kramer scored 15.

First-year coach Addie Micir noted, “I want to credit Lafayette. In that second quarter (Leopards won 12-9) they made a run against us like they did in the first game, but I’m really proud of the way our entire team responded on both ends.

“Twenty assists on 28 baskets and only 15 turnovers. That’s exactly the type of basketball that we want. The percentage goes up when you take good open looks, and that’s what we did. It was a number of people knocking them down and really a total team victory.”

Halee Smith scored 18 for Lafayette.

Colgate next visits Lehigh on Wednesday at 6 p.m. on ESPN+ while on the same network Lafayette will host Holy Cross in the Kirby Sports Center at 6 p.m. in Easton, Pa.

Temple and Rider Suffer Setbacks

For a while it appeared Temple on its diminished eight-active player roster after four players departed from the program last week and one already lost for the season with an ACL injury might extend its three-game win streak heading into Saturday’s American Athletic Conference game at Houston.

But the Cougars rallied and the Owls with a chance to to tie in their final possession lost 65-60 to the Cougars (9-13, 6-3 AAC) in Texas.

Laila Blair had 25 points for Houston, while Caranda Perea had 10 points and a career-high 13 rebounds for Temple (10-12, 5-5), which lost a chance to both reach .500 overall and move to the upper part of the conference where byes will exist in next month’s tourney in Fort Worth.

“Blair had a great game,” said Temple first-year coach Dianne Richardson of the Houston star. “Five-for-12 from three, we need to be there on the catch. She had some really open looks and in a couple of them she did shoot contested shots, but we’ve got to be there on the catch on three-point shooters.”

In the late stages of the game, the visitors’ Tiarra East and Aleah Nelson led the attack and got a combined 31 points for the game.

Crediting the duo for coming together, Richardson said, “They fight for each other, they’re resilient and I’m really truly pleased and proud that they’ve done that.”

Before the Owls return on Saturday to host Cincinnati, they head to East Carolina on Wednesday at 6 p.m. looking for a split in the season series. The game will air on ESPN+.

Rider, meanwhile, over in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) fell at Fairfield 62-49 following the earlier overtime loss in the series back home.

Amanda Mobley had a career high 19 points for the Broncs (5-17, 2-11 MAAC) while Amanda Mobley snapped a tie with the great Stella Johnson playing in her 127th career game.

“Anytime I’m mentioned with Stella it’s obviously crazy because she was and will be the best player ever at Rider, so I’m in good company.”

Fairfield (13-9, 9-4) under first-year coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis, got 16 points from Mackenzie Daleba, while Izabela Nicoletti-KLeite and Mimi Rubino each scored 10 points, the former also dealing seven assists.

“We needed a couple of big buckets that we just didn’t get,” said Rider veteran coach Lynn Milligan. “You take away that run and I thought we did a pretty good job. Our small lineup that was all over the place and really trying to shake things up did a good job with that.

“We want to be playing our best basketball at the end of February. We need to understand what we did well and what we need to improve on. We have to make sure we see what we’re doing and keep our eye on the prize.”

On Thursday Rider heads to Marist in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. at 7 p.m. on ESPN3.

Small Colleges: Jefferson Rallies to 900 Wins Clinches Playoff Spot

Enjoying one of their best seasons the Division II Jefferson women rallied from an 18-point deficit to win at Post 77-71 in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) game in Waterbury, Conn.

In a back-and-forth game Morgan Robinson stole a pass for the visiting Rams (20-3, 11-1 CACC) to go up 71-70 with 3:33 left in regulation.

Emma Kuczynski made two foul shots to put Jefferson ahead by a basket with 1:22 left and then Robinson and Sam Yencha made successive steals for the Rams to stop Post (14-9, 9-4).

Haley Meinel sank two on the line for the Rams, the opposition then missed one from deep, and Kuczynski sealed it with two more free throws.

Cassie Murphy had 21 points, while Robinson had 16 points, shooting 6-for-9 from the field, while dealing six assists, grabbing six swipes, and getting two rebounds. Three others were in double figures, Kuczynski scoring 13, Yencha with a double-double 11 points and 13 rebounds, while Meinel had 11 points and five rebounds.

The win was the program’s 900th. 

The Rams clinched a berth in the playoffs and hold first place in the South Division with five CACC games remaining. Next hosting Wilmington at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, the Rams magic number is four to be at home for the quarterfinal round.

Over in New Jersey Rowan on the road held off Kean 78-76 in Union for the Profs seventh straight win while moving into a first-place tie in the New Jersey Athletic Conference.

Grace Marshall became the second milestone achiever this season reaching 1,000 career points only three days after Nicole Mallard did likewise in a win over Rutgers-Camden.

Marshall finished with 16 points behind freshman Ny’emah Middleton’s 19 off the bench. Dakota Adams and Kate Herlihy each scored 10, while Danielle McCurdy had eight points, nine rebounds and four blocks.

Kean, which had a seven-game win streak snapped, got 28 points from Shannon McCoy, while Macy Seaman scored 22. The streak began Rowan beat Kean in their first meeting in Glassboro on Jan. 7.

The Profs are in a three-way tie at the top with Kean and New Jersey City, whom they meet on the road on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Nationally Noted: After being on a tear and earning its way into the Associated Press women’s poll, this week at 21st, Middle Tennessee suffered its second straight setback, falling at UTSA 58-53 in San Antonio in Conference-USA.

After the Blue Raiders beat UTSA 80-41 last month back home, the squad got even with a 58-53 win on Saturday.

South Florida, which got ranked this week at No. 25, edged SMU on the road in Dallas, winning 65-63 in the American Athletic Conference making Jose Fernandez, the winningest coach in the conference with 119 league triumphs. That snapped a tie with UConn’s Geno Auriemma, whose Huskies left the league several years ago and returned to the Big East.

Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu, one of the top centers in the nation, scored 21 for the winning Bulls (22-4, 11-0 AAC), who lead the conference with a perfect record, while Sammie Puisis had a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds. Elena Tsineke had 15 points.

In the Big 12, No. 24 Texas on the road topped Kansas 68-65 to hold first in the conference as DeYona Gaston scored 24 points and intercepted a half-court pass with time running out.

Baylor, which has been out of the poll for several weeks after a long run of appearances, upset No. 12 Iowa State, 76-70, on the road as Sarah Andrews scored 21 points.

Nyamer Diew had 25 for the Cyclones and Ashley Joens scored 23.

In the Atlantic 10, the Richmond game at Dayton was cancelled.

After Duke coach Kara Lawson claimed a men’s ball was used in the first half of a recent loss at Florida State, an Atlantic Coast Conference investigation found the smaller women’s ball was used the entire game, though Lawson stood by her accusation.

Looking Ahead: Locally, a small schedule has Drexel finishing its road trip looking for a weekend sweep and series sweep playing at Stony Brook on Long Island at 1 p.m. in a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) game at 1 p.m. while Delaware will host Northeastern at the Bob Carpenter Center at 2 p.m. Both games airing on Flohoops.

In the Big Ten, Penn State hosts No. 6 Iowa at noon on the B1G in the Bryce Jordan Center at State College while Rutgers hosts Wisconsin at 2 p.m. in the Jersey Mikes Arena in Piscataway, N.J.

Nationally, the overall game of the day occurs in the XL Center in Hartford where No. 5 UConn hosts No. 1 and unbeaten South Carolina at noon on FOX.

No. 16 Duke is at No. 9 Notre Dame at 1 p.m. in South Bend, Ind., on the ACCNX, while Purdue in the Big Ten has sold out for its game hosting No. 4 Indiana at 2 p.m.. Elsewhere in the Big Ten, No. 10 Ohio State is at No. 8 Maryland at 4 p.m. in the XFINITYCenter in College Park, Md., at 4 p.m. on ESPN2.

And that’s the report.