The Guru Report: Sellout Crowd Sees No. 14 Villanova Fall Just Short Again in Second Big East Game With No. 6 UConn

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

VILLANOVA - A week ago after Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist poured down 50 points in the win over Seton Hall, she spoke of a somewhat awkward shot going through the basket and thinking “it must be my day.”

On Saturday afternoon in a 1-2 showdown in the Big East standings between No. 14 Villanova and No. 6 UConn out here on the Main Line, the nation’s leading scorer launched a lot of shots that have easily whisked through the nets most of the season, but in going 8-for-22 against the Huskies the pendulum went the other way in a 60-51 defeat.

“Sometimes the shots go in and sometimes they doin’t,” Siegrist said matter of factly.

It may not have been the Wildcats’ day in getting swept on the season by UConn (24-4, 16-1 Big East) but from the ambience created from a second-ever sellout of 6,501 — the first back in February 2004 — there’s no denying it’s clearly Villanova’s time.

“It’s so exciting to see how much the crowd has grown, especially in my time at Villanova” said Siegrist, who’s matching worst day of the season with 21 points are a total that would be desired by scores of others. “You look at the crowd and the first few minutes are like wow, this is awesome.”

Over the years as the UConn program has grown into one of the dominant national powers in the nation, huge crowds have come in the past to Finneran Pavilion when the Huskies make their annual regular season visit — but for the most part it was a local chance to watch the team they usually see celebrated in the news and often on TV.

And a chunk have been from the Norristown family and friends element from UConn Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma’s younger days in the Philadelphia western suburb.

But this crowd’s priority was to watch and cheer their own team with its own mega star they have come to love and unlike the past when these battles as many others going against the Blue and White from the north were usually decided long before the actual game ended, in both games the Wildcats (23-5, 14-3) enjoined the battle to late in the game.

“The atmosphere was unbelievable,” Auriemma said, who recalled the early days of the Big East when beating the Wildcats was the goal of everyone else in the conference.

“I didn’t feel like we capitalized on opportunities that we had, credit to UConn and their defense,” said Villanova third-year coach Denise Dillon, who has gone against the Huskies as a player and now coach at her alma mater. “A tough one and anxious to see how our team bounces back.”

It will have to be a rapid reaction because as the closeout prior to next month’s Big East tournament at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., comes rumbling to the finish, DePaul, playing better, visits on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on FloHoops, following the Saturday game that was on the national FOX Sports network.

On Friday Villanova will host Providence at 7 p.m. on Senior Night and then visit Seton Hall next Monday at 7 p.m. in Walsh Gym in South Orange, N.J.

Early in the fourth quarter, UConn struck with an 8-1 run to get into double digits, the largest lead for the visitors with 12 points.

“But you knew it wasn’t going to go from 10 to 20,” Auriemma said.

Sure enough, Siergrist and Lucy Olsen, who scored 13 points, keyed a 10-0 run with consecutive three-balls.

When Olsen off a turnover hit a jump shot to make it a mere two-point differential, 52-50, with 3:56 left, the crowd went wild.

That was the high watermark of the rally, however.

Aaliyah Edwards, who had the main job guarding Siegrist, scored on a layup on the way to a double-double 13 points and 14 rebounds.

Lou Lopez Senechal, the graduate transfer from Fairfield, followed and wrapped it up with two foul shots with 46.4 seconds left, finishing with a game-high 22 points.

In a season in which the Huskies have been plagued with constant injuries from the long-term likes of former national player of the year Paige Bueckers claimed as a freshman, to a slew of others Auriemma credited Senechal for being a prime factor in UConn staying in the top 10 and even getting a No. 1 seed in the first reveal from the NCAA Committee earlier this month.

“I don’t know where’d be without her,” he said.

UConn now has a two-game lead with three remaining for first, which Auriemma downplayed as breathing room, not outlandish considering all the decades of invincibility that have gone by coping with the injuries.

“Obviously, we’re Connecticut, so the expectations are such that we have to win every game,” Auriemma said. “And we have to win the Big East championship every single year. And wee gotta go to the Final Four every year.

“I don’t think there’s any other program in America that has those expectations placed on them.”

Then explaining the choices of meeting the expectations or managing the current situation, he noted, “I think the main focus is trying to keep everybody as healthy as they can.”

Describing the ending fadeout, Dillon said, “It was a little bit of pressure, just trying to get looks even out of timeouts, and just didn’t make them. I think the wheels were just turning at that point, not realizing there is still a lot of time in the game and possession. That happens in such a crucial part of the game.”

Opportunities arose from four UConn turnovers in the closing minutes, but ‘Nova came up empty off six missed shots and just connecting on 1-for-four from the line.

On defending Siegrist, Lopez Senechal said, “She is a great player and is going to get as many shots as possible. We tried to cover as much as possible.”

Noting the native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., as unstoppable, Auriemma described the mission as “Whatever she gets, she gets, but it can’t be easy. I was really proud of the defensive effort.”

In 2003, the year Villanova advanced to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament, the Wildcats lost their two season encounters like this year, but they upset the Huskies in the Big East title game at Rutgers, ending a then-NCAA-record 70-game win streak.

The Wildcats are in position to land a two or three seed in the conference tournament, thus not meeting UConn again if they advance until the title game like last year.

“The expectation has to be there that you are capable of winning such games,” Dillon said of the next growth step for this team.

“It wasn’t until the last 20 seconds that I didn’t think we were going to win the game, so that’s tough,” Siegrist said. “You have to learn from it and move on.”

While Villanova lost a chance to perhaps lock up a Top 16 seed with a signature win — the second and last reveal prior to Selection Sunday is coming Thursday — the NET ranking of 10 off playing UConn might go up a point or two but shouldn’t drop much with the loss.

Last month immediately after the close loss in Hartford, the Wildcats actually moved forward a bit in the Associated Press poll. This week at 14 a bunch of teams in front of ‘Nova have already taken losses so it will be interesting to see how the nationwide media panel evaluates the week’s action.

With 21 points, Siegrist is just seven from passing La Salle’s Mo Brooks into second all-time scoring at the city’s six Division I schools for the combination men’s and women’s list.

La Salle’s Lionel Simmons had over 3,000 points.

The win was Auriemma’s 1,173rd, second all-time in Division I women’s basketball behind Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, who holds the record and moved to 1,182 on Friday with a win over Southern Cal.

The Cardinal next host UCLA in PAC-12 action Monday night on President’s Day.

Ivy Madness Field Set While Penn Stumbles

If the weekend schedule for the Penn women on the road set by the Ivy League had been reversed in light of Saturday’s result, the Quakers might have been dealing with a ton of pressure.

After bagging their second elite squad in the sub group a week ago getting a season split on Harvard at home at The Palestra, Penn took off on the road on Friday and handled Yale to become part of the four team field for next month’s tourney at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym.

And then the group traveled a little further north the next day and gave up a lead losing to Brown 68-59 in Providence, R.I.

So in the world of pick your poison for the semifinals, it may the poison will be served to them.

Harvard easily beating Cornell 86-59 with help from a Princeton 68-42 romp at Yale put the keys to the last open women’s spot for the Crimson to provide the lineup in the March for the two-day event that will lead to an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Columbia won at Dartmouth handily 80-37 in Hanover, N.H.

Had the events occurred in reversal, Penn first losing to the Bears would have created extra pressure to top Yale and be one of the four teams.

With two games left next weekend across the Ancient Eight, it’s likely Columbia and Princeton will be the one and two seeds through a tiebreaker, and Penn could end up being fourth behind Harvard.

It will be fan fun, if anything, unless someone dominates back-to-back ahead of the pack.

At the moment, Penn (16-9, 8-4) is tied for third with a trip to Dartmouth Saturday at 2 p.m.  Then Princeton will visit Friday, March 3, obviously needing to complete a sweep of the Quakers and then unless something unexpected happens, will finish first or second or tied for first and needing to grab the tiebreakers.

In the game with the Bears (11-13, 4-8), Kayla Padilla scored 21, including five from deep, to become the new Quakers three-point career artist, while Floor Toonders had a double-double 14 points and 10 rebounds, Jordan Obi had 14 rebounds, and Sydnei Caldwell had 10 points.

Grace Arnolie scored 20 for Brown with six 3-balls, while Ada Anamekwe scored 10 with seven rebounds.

Padilla pulled into a tie for the three-point mark with the first score of the game and the Quakers built a 10-3 lead before the Bears got right back into the mix.

In the second quarter, Penn built a 21-11 run and during the attack Padilla helped herself to the career threes milestone now bearing her ownership.

She scored her third before the half for a 37-25 lead.

But the Quakers couldn’t escape their hosts, being tied 51-51 heading into the last period.

Brown, though, in the final stanza edged out in front and scored foul shots to stay there the rest of the way.

Back in New Haven, Princeton easily made it 11 straight in snuffing out Yale’s last postseason hopes as Kaitlyn Chen scored 25 for the Tigers. Ellie Mitchell had nine points and 15 rebounds.

Princeton forced 27 Yale turnovers as they continue to win out and claim another in a long string of regular season titles.

Part of the twisted pretzel of tie-breaking will go into play Friday with Princeton hosting Harvard at 6 p.m. on Senior Night before finishing out at Penn the following Friday.

The Crimson in their win over Cornell got 20 points from Mckenzie Forbes, reserve Maggie McCarthy scored 17, Harmoni Turner scored 16, Elena Rodriguez scored 12, and Lola Mullaney had 10 points.

Columbia (21-4, 10-2) gunning for the No. 1 seed for the regular season title in beating Dartmouth 80-37 held the Big Green to a program all-time scoring low.

“In a couple of games recently, we have fallen apart a little bit and hit some adversity,” said Columbia coach Megan Griffith. “All five players buying in and that’s what we saw today.”

Abbey Hsu scored , Kaitlyn Davis scored 15, and Hannah Pratt scored 11.

Columbia visits Brown on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Temple Falls to Houston 

The Owls’ rally stopped short at home in the Liacouras Center, losing 56-48 to Houston in an American Athletic Conference game for their fourth straight setback.

A bright spot for Temple (10-15, 5-8 AAC) was Ines Piper had six blocked shots. That’s the most sincer Ugo Nwaigwe had six against Penn in January 2016.

Caranda Perea had nine points and 10 rebounds for the home team while Tarriyonna Gary scored 11.

Houston (11-14, 8-4) had 15 each from Laila Blair and Britney Onyeje, while Bria Patterson scored 12, and Tatyana Hill had 11 rebounds.

On Tuesday Temple goes to UCF, which is headed for the Big 12, tipping off at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

Rider Edged by Quinnipiac

A late rally carried the Bobcats over the Broncs 59-54 ina Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference despite having held a 10-point lead late in the third period at Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Ralphaela Toussaint had 16 points and 10 rebounds for Rider (7-19, 4-13 MAAC) while Jessika Schiffer scored 15, and Victoria Toomey scored 14.

“Im disappointed,” said Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “We played a really good game against as very good team. We played extremely well for a majority of the game. We had a couple too many turnovers in that fourth quarter, and they were just chipping away at the lead and we didn’t execute.”

Quinnipiac (19-7, 14-3) got 15 points from Mikala Morris, while Jackie Grisdale scored 12, and Ella O’Donnell scored 10.

Rider finishes its four-game home stand hosting Mount St. Mary’s Thursday at 11 a.m. on ESPNU.

Lehigh and Lafayette Split Results in the Patriot League

While still a long way from first, Lehigh has made it into third place in the Patriot League with three remaining after beating American U. 66-49 in Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., for a series sweep.

“This was awesome today,” said first-year coach Addie Micir. “I thought we did a good job of jumping out on them early, and when shots weren’t falling in the second half, we needed to get stops, andwe got them, which was really important.” 

Jamie Behar had a career high 17 points for the Mountain Hawks, while Frannie Hottinger also scored 17, Mackenzie Kramer scored 14, and Anna Harvey had a career high 13 points.

Kayla Henning scored 14 for the Eagles (6-20, 5-10).

Lehigh on Wednesday is at Bucknell at 6 p.m. in Lewisburg, Pa., on ESPN+.

Lafayette, meanwhile, suffered under a quick start by visiting Army who went on to a 72-51 victory in the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa.

Makayla Andrews had 14 points and nine rebounds, while Halee Smith had 12 points for the host Leopards (8-17, 5-10).

Sabria Hunter led the attack for Army (12-13, 10-5), scoring 17 points and graabbing 21 rebounds.

Lafayette on Wednesday goes to Colgate at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

Nationally Noted: Visiting No. 22 Iowa State topped  Baylor 81-77 in double overtime in a Big 12 game in Waco, Texas, as Ashley Joens had 27 points and 11 rebounds for the Cyclones (17-7, 9-5 Big 12), while Lexi Donarski scored 16 points, Emily Ryan had a double-double 10 points and 11 rebounds, while dealing five assists. 

Diew Myamer also scored 10 and Fritz Denae scored 12.

Baylor (16-10, 7-7) got 19 points each from Bella Fontleroy and Darianna Littlepage-Buggs.

South Florida clinched the top seed for the AAC tournament with a 70-62 victory over SMU at home in the Yuengling Center as Elena Tsineke scored 27 for the Bulls (24-5, 13-1 AAC), Sammie Puisis scored 18, and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu scored 12 points with 10 rebounds.

Elsewhere in the conference, Tulane won at Cincinnati 65-54 allowing longtime Green Wave coach Lisa Stockton to pass former Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore with the most women’s collegiate wins in the state with 577.

Illinois for her time there will honor former Rutgers coach Theresa Grentz denoting last September’s induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame at State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill.

Penn State is the opponent for the 3 p.m. tip on the subscription B1G+.

Little Rock (18-9, 15-1 OVC) in its first year in the Ohio Valley Conference won the top seed by beating Eastern Illinois 46-42. 

Nebraska in its Big Ten game hosting No. 6 Iowa in Lincoln drew a record of 14,289 but the visiting Hawkeyes grabbed an easy 80-60 win over the Huskers.

Caitlin Clark scored 30 for the winners (22-5, 14-2 Big Ten) while the Huskers fell to 14-13 overall and 6-10 in the conference.

Looking Ahead: Drexel heads to Delaware at 2 p.m. trying for a sweep and holding on to first in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.

Saint Joseph’s in the Atlantic 10 hosts Rhode Island looking for a split when the teams meet at 2 p.m. in Hagan Arena while La Salle in the A-10 will be at Saint Louis at 2 p.m.. Both games will air on ESPN+.

Nationally in the Big 12 No. 17 Texas hosts West Virginia at 4 p.m. on ESPNU.

No. 11 Virginia Tech hosts NC State at 4 p.m. on ESPN2.

And that’s the report.