The Guru Report: Rider Advances to MAAC Quarterfinals; Upsets Strike Top Seeds South Florida and Gonzaga

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

The regular season is over, most of the major conference tourneys, but not all, are done and between now and Selection Sunday night, the remaining titles with automatic qualifiers will be determined, some of which involve the locals, whose season is still alive.

 

And as Tuesday showed, there will still be drama, with 10^th seeded Rider beating 7^th seeded Marist in the opening day of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tourney at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, while top seed South Florida fell 65-53 to eighth-seed Wichita State, the team that eliminated Temple on Monday, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas; and 18^th-ranked and top seed Gonzaga fell 64-60 to Portland in the West Coast Conference tourney at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

 

In the Mountain West Tourney at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, No. 21 UNLV, the top seed, barely escaped San Diego State 71-68 in a semifinal game, while in the Horizon League at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis, the championship game saw second seed Cleveland State beat top seed Green Bay 73-61.

 

The Summit League at the Denny Sanford Premier Center was determined with top-seeded South Dakota State beating Omaha 93-51.

 

Rider Advances in MAAC

 

Like a year ago after the Broncs made a small run in the MAAC tourney following a season of struggle, on Tuesday afternoon Rider, back in upset mode, put away Marist 63-50, which became the final game of retiring longtime Red Foxes coach Brian Giorgis.

 

Though the Broncs (10-20) led most of the way, a 16-3 run across the third and fourth period brought Marist to a 16-3 run and a 46-46 tie.

 

But coach Lynn Milligan’s group responded huge with a 12-0 run to advance to Wednesday’s 3:30 p.m. quarterfinal game against second-seeded Niagara (17-11) on ESPN+, which is airing the whole tournament with the addition of ESPNU also broadcasting Saturday’s championship at 3:30 p.m.

 

“Super proud of the effort of our young ladies,” Milligan said. “We’ve had a lot of adversity, we had adversity today.

 

“I thought you saw the young ladies that just refused to lose. In March, everyone wants to win. It’s not about who wants to win more, it’s about who refuses to lose,” she continued.

 

“There wasn’t any panic in our huddle, there wasn’t any fear. We got a little scared on some possessions we rushed, but when you sit in a huddle as a coach and you make eye contact with all five players, and they’re locked in, you don’t worry about that stuff.”

 

Rider swept all three of the games with Marist this season.

 

“We knew going into the game that we couldn’t have any lulls,” said graduate guard Amanda Mobley. “So, once it started to happen, we realized we need to pick it up, be more aggressive defensively. Don’t let what they’re doing change how we play.”

 

Mobley had a career-high 20 points, while Makayla Firebaugh scored 19, Victoria Toomey scored 10. Sofie Bruintjes out of the Netherlands made her first career start and matched a personal best with six points while grabbing a career-high six rebounds.

 

Marist (12-18) got 11 points each from Zaria Shazer and Catie Cunningham.

 

In the other two opening round games, 8^th-seeded Mount St. Mary’s, a new member, topped 9^th-seeded Canisius, 54-41; while sixth-seeded Manhattan edged 11^th-seeded Saint Peter’s, 59-56.

 

The quarterfinal rounds are split over two days. On Wednesday, besides the Rider-Niagara game, top-seeded Iona (23-6) will meet Mount St. Mary’s at 1 p.m.

 

On Thursday, 4^th-seeded Siena (18-12) and 5^th-seeded Fairfield (15-14) will meet at 3:30 p.m. while third-seeded Quinnipiac (21-8) plays Manhattan at 1 p.m.

 

Mount St. Mary’s (12-18) outscored Canisius 32-19 in the second half out of a 22-22 at the break. Michaela Harrison had 18 points, while Aryna Taylor and Jessica Tomasetti each scored 14 points and Tomasetti had a double-double with 10 rebounds.

 

Canisius (9-21) got 15 points from Cheyenne Stubbs and a double-double 10 points and 10 rebounds from Sisi Eleko.

 

Saint Peter’s (0-30), totally winless on the season, fought till the finish holding a 49-44 lead after three periods before Manhattan (14-16) rallied with a 15-7 fourth quarter to advance.

 

Reserve Narrie Dodson had 20 points for the winning Jaspers, while Brazil Harvey-Carr had 16 points, and Petra Juric had a double-double 12 points and 10 rebounds.

 

Saint Peter’s had 17 points from Jada Leonard.

 

Gonzaga Upset in West Coast Title Game

 

The 16^th-ranked Zags (28-4), assured of an at-large bid as a rescue, costing a bubble team a spot, took a loss in the West Coast Conference championship 64-60 from Portland (23-8), which had the game turn the Pilots’ direction on Alex Fowler’s shot that danced on the rim and then fell for the first part of an old-fashioned three-point play completed with a free-throw for a 61-59 lead with 37.8 seconds in regulation.

 

It's the first NCAA appearance for Portland since 1997, though the Pilots would have gone in 2020 with the WCC title had not the NCAA tournament been canceled due to the pandemic.

 

“I’m still in shock we won this,” said Fowler, who was the tournament MVP after scoring all 15 points in the second half and grabbing 11 rebounds.

 

Fowler, as a freshman, was also the MVP on the forlorn squad that after a preseason pick of 10^th knocked out Gonzaga, the top seed, in the semifinals and then beat San Diego for the title.

 

The Zags, who blew a 20-point lead in the 2020 semifinals to the Pilots, were up 33-22 in this one.

 

“Portland was aggressive and very physical throughout the entire game,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said. “Turnovers were the reason for the outcome. I wish we would have handled the pressure a little better than we did.”

 

Cleveland State Upsets Green Bay for Horizon Crown

 

A year after the Vikings (30-4) were upset in the Horizon championship by IUPUI, they came back and knocked out top-seed Green Bay 73-61 for their third trip and first since 2010 to the NCAA tournament.

 

Gabriella Smith was 5-for-7 from deep for Cleveland State on the way to a game-high 19 points.

 

The Vikings were 13-for-27 from long range and were a near 22-of-23 on the line.

 

Green Bay (27-5) won both games during their seasonal meetings.

 

South Dakota State Wins Summit League Title

 

There was no upset in this mid-major conference title game with top-seeded South Dakota State easily handling Omaha 91-53 to beat the sixth-seeded Mavericks (15-17) as tournament MVP Haleigh Timmer scored 18 points.

 

“It could be anyone today on this team, we’re just so deep,” Timmer said of her postgame aware for leading the Jackrabbits (28-5)

 

South Dakota State push the accelerator from the outset, shooting 8-of-14 from the field, including 3-of-4 from deep, on the way to a 28-point halftime lead.

 

South Florida Stunned in American Quarterfinals

Owning the American Athletic Conference all season and making several brief appearances in the Associated Press rankings, the Bulls were relegated to an at-large hopeful for the NCAA tourney after being stunned by eighth-seeded Wichita State 65-53 in a quarterfinal game in Texas.

 

South Florida’s Elena Tsineke had 19 points and six rebounds, while Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu had 15 points and six rebounds for coach Jose Fernandez’s squad (26-6).

 

Wichita State (18-13) got 20 points and eight rebounds from Jane Asinde while Curtessia Dean scored 14 points.

 

The Shockers in Wednesday’s 5 p.m. semifinal on ESPN+ will meet fourth-seeded Houston (14-15), which cruised over fifth-seeded SMU 52-33 though Laila Blair with 12 points was the only Cougar in double figures.

 

SMU had no one in double figures, however, Savannah Wilkinson the best player for the Mavericks (16-12) with nine points.

 

On the other side of the bracket, second-seeded Memphis (20-9) edged 10^th-seeded UCF 48-46 and will meet third-seeded East Carolina (21-9), which eliminated 6^th-seeded Tulane 69-58.

 

In the Memphis game, the Tigers went ahead 46-45 with 22 seconds left on a pair of foul shots from Emani Jefferson.

 

A foul Destiny Thomas after a Jimirah Shutes steal put Jefferson back on the line and she made both shots for a 48-45 lead with two seconds left.

 

Jefferson then fouled, Ashton Verhulst sank the first shot for UCF (14-15) and missed the second on purpose, but Jefferson got the rebound to end the game.

 

She was the only person scoring double figures in the game with 15 points along with 11 rebounds.

 

UCF, which is heading to the Big 12 next season, had no one in double figures, Taylor Gibson had a team high nine points.

 

East Carolina’s Micah Dennis scored 17 points, Synia Johnson scored 16, and Morgan Moseley scored 11 against the Green Wave (18-13), which got 21 points from Kyren Whittington, while Marta Galic scored 16, and Dynah Jones scored 14.

 

Looking Ahead

 

On Wednesday, UNLV, the 21^st ranked team with a 30-2 record, will meet Wyoming (22-9), the second seed, for the Mountain West crown at 10 p.m. on CBSSN.

 

In the Big Sky, top-seeded Northern Arizona (21-12) will meet Sacramento State (24-7), the third seed at 5 p.m. in Boise, Idaho, for the championship.

 

Semifinals in the ASUN tourney, have top-seed Florida Gulf Coast (30-3) hosting Austin Peay (17-11) at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ while second-seeded Liberty (23-7) hosts Lipscomb (20-11), also at 7 p.m.

 

Awards in the Colonial Athletic Association had Drexel’s Keishana Washington bookend her preseason player of the year honor with the postseason award, also.

 

And that’s the report.