The Guru Report: Villanova Stays in Reveal; Rider Wins in Overtime

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Rider picked the right time for things to fall in the Broncs’ direction.

 

Reaching near the end of the regular season and the team playing new member Mount St. Mary’s, the home team in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J., nearly got clipped before time expired, but once in overtime, they made the most of it moving to a 68-59 victory in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference matinee game that aired nationally on ESPNU.

 

The Mountaineers (10-16, 6-11 MAAC) had tied the game on a layup with 21.6 seconds left and then were able to launch another that zipped through the net but a review determined the attempt was late sending the game into overtime.

 

The visitors drew first blood with a score and then the Broncs (8-19, 5-13) ran off seven straight points and Makayla Firebaugh was a perfect 6-for-6 from the line to secure the win.

 

“Super happy with the result today,” said Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “We really gutted it out when we had to.

 

“Overtime, I thought was terrific, we really regained our composure. For most of the game we played really solid defense,” she said.

 

“We’ve been in overtime before this year. The way regulation ended, we could have allowed that to knock us down. We needed to move on, we need to be in the now. We need to be where our feet are for these next five minutes, and we did that, even when they scored first.”

 

The result gained a split on the season.

 

Firebaugh finished with a game-high 18 points. She also grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds for her first double-double.

 

Ralphaela Toussaint had 16 points and 10 rebounds, her third straight double-double. Victoria Toomey had 16 points.

 

The Broncs have been in three overtimes this season, bringing their record to 2-1 in those games.

 

Rider is off until next Thursday visiting Manhattan at 7 p.m. on ESPN3.

 

Rutgers Downed at Michigan

 

It was a milestone night for Scarlet Knights freshman Kaylene Smikle, scoring 14 points, including the third frosh in program history to reach 500 points, but Rutgers fell 71-53 in a Big Ten game to No. 12 Michigan (21-7, 11-6 Big Ten) at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.

 

Kai Carler added 13 points for Rutgers (11-18, 5-12), which was in a one-point game at the half.

 

Emily Kiser had a double-double 34 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolverines, while Maddie Nolan scored 15.

 

Rutgers will finish the regular season Sunday hosting No. 25 Illinois at 2 p.m. in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., before heading off to Minneapolis later in the week for the Big Ten tournament.

 

Villanova Remains in the Second NCAA Reveal

 

The NCAA tournament committee Thursday night trotted out its second and final reveal of its Top 16 teams as of now prior to the real deal on Selection Sunday Night, March 12, 8 p.m. on ESPN, and 15th ranked Villanova held its ground even moving up in the committee’s ranking at 14th overall with a fourth seed.

 

Thus, if the entire 68-team field had this group as is, the Wildcats would be hosts for first and second round games at Finneran Pavilion on the Main Line.

 

The top seeds were South Carolina, the overall No. 1, Indiana, Stanford and Utah while the second seeds were LSU, Maryland, UConn, and Virginia Tech.

 

The three seeds were Iowa, Notre Dame, Duke, and Ohio State, followed by four-seeds Texas, Villanova, Arizona, and Michigan.

 

This season, the Sweet 16 will be a two-site format, two groups in Greenville, S.C., and the other two in Seattle, Wash.

 

In the previous reveal, Villanova was in the second group in Greenville, but in the latest release, coach Denise Dillon’s squad is Seattle Regional 3, meaning if it got out of the Main Line with two wins, it would face Stanford in the Sweet 16. The other two teams would be Maryland meeting Duke.

 

The Final Four will be in Dallas, March 31 and April 2.

 

Villanova pending the NCAA placement becoming real plays its final home game Friday night at 7 p.m., saluting seniors Maddy Siegrist and Brooke Mullen, playing Big East rival Providence on FloHoops.

 

Only two other locals are playing Friday, Drexel, trying to stay in first in the Collegiate Athletic Association, visits Hofstra at 7 p.m., while Delaware travels to Northeastern in Boston at the same time, both on FloHoops.

 

The one national game of note in the Big Ten has Maryland visiting Ohio State at 6 p.m. on the B1G Network.

 

Nationally Noted

 

Top-ranked South Carolina feel behind early at Tennessee in Knoxville and then roared back and grabbed a 73-60 Southeastern Conference victory to stay unbeaten as the Gamecocks (28-0, 15-0 SEC) won their 34th straight game.

 

“We’re blessed,” said coach Dawn Staley. “We’re a low-maintenance, high-performance team. Can’t ask for more than that.”

 

South Carolina’s Zia Cooke scored 19 points, while Kierra Fetcher tallied 15, and Aliyah Boston scored 11.

 

Kamilla Cardoso had 15 rebounds, while Brea Beal had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

 

“South Carolina … is a load,” said Tennessee coach Kellie Harper, whose Lady Vols (20-10, 12-3) lost to all nine ranked teams they played when the opposition held those rankings. “No one’s been able to crack them this year.”

 

Tennessee’s Rickea Jackson scored 21 points.

 

Elsewhere, No. 3 Stanford in the PAC-12 had another escape, winning 73-62 in double overtime at No. 21 Colorado.

 

Haley Jones had 13 of her 23 points in the two extra periods for the Cardinal (27-3, 15-2 PAC-12), who have one game left before next week’s conference tournament.

 

Lauren Betts, who scored 14, hit one of two foul shots with 3.8 left in regulation for the visitors to send the game into the overtime.

 

The Buffs (21-7, 12-5) got 19 points from Jaylyn Sherrod.

 

Little Rock on the road clinched the Ohio Valley Conference title outright its first season in the league winning 61-38 at SIUE.

 

No. 8 Utah beat California 101-76 at home in the PAC-12 in Salt Lake City, while No. 9 Virginia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference won at No. 22 North Carolina 61-59 in Chapel Hill.

 

No. 11 Duke in the ACC won at home in Durham against North Carolina State 77-62.

 

Oregon, on the bubble, upset visiting No. 14 Arizona 73-59 in Eugene.

 

And that’s the report.