The Guru Report: Saint Joseph's, Penn and Drexel All Fall in WNIT Openers Last Locals Are Villanova and Princeton

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopguru

 

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – All three local women’s teams in the WNIT had their postseason extended for just one game, each eliminated in varying ways Thursday night in first-round play.

 

The knockouts leave the best of all this season, the Villanova women, 10^th in the final Associated Press poll with the nation’s leading scorer and recently multi-named first-team all-American Maddy Siegrist, to carry the banner in the NCAA tournament in which the 4^th-seeded Wildcats will be hosting two rounds Saturday and Monday (win or lose) with the chance to move on to the Sweet 16.

 

But, first let’s deal with the immediate news of the night.

 

Here at Seton Hall in Walsh Gym, where the Pirates of the Big East a year ago quickly cut short Drexel’s entry, they nearly lost control of their handling of Saint Joseph’s, allowing the Hawks in the second half to make it all the way from a deep deficit of 20 points within a basket before the rally died, resulting in a 69-61 outcome.

 

Coach Cindy Griffin’s squad moves to a promise of next season following the major improvement executed in the one that is now in the history books.

 

Down in Virginia, following Penn’s dispatch from Ivy League champion Princeton in the conference semifinals last weekend, the Quakers got the same treatment without any ability to launch a comeback, falling to Richmond of the Atlantic Ten 75-52 in the host Spiders’ Robins Center.

 

While all this was happening, for a long time, Drexel was offering local hope nearby across the Hudson River at Fordham in the Rams’ Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx before the hosts moved ahead in the second half to a 73-63 victory.

 

 But before their exit, the Dragons (21-10), who finished in a three-way tie for first in the Colonial Athletic Association before suffering a second upset in the league quarterfinals from eventual winner, 7^th-seeded Monmouth, offered one more sensational performance from grad star Keisha Washington, currently the nation’s second leading scorer, who finished with a career-high 43.

 

The mark broke her own Drexel regulation game single record of 42 set last December against Penn State.

 

Washington, who recently became the all-time Canadian-born career scorer in NCAA Division I competition, also broke a Fordham opponents’ record, male or female, set by one Julius Erving, appearing when he scored 37 with UMass on January 21, 1970.

 

Her total also set a player’s mark in Rose Hill Gym, the nation’s oldest Division I arena, opened in 1925, two years prior to the opening of The Palestra. Fordham’s Ed Conlin scored 42 in 1953.

 

The CAA record books on Washington’s career closed with her total of 2,363 points passing former JMU star Precious Hall for fourth on the conference list and she passed Hall into second for single season points.

 

Unlike the Big East, whose conference achievement only tracks league games, the CAA mark also includes non-league games.

 

On the City 6 list, which this season saw Villanova’s Siegrist pass Drexel’s Gabriela Marginean for the all-time career mark, Washington is now sixth against former Saint Joseph’s star Sue Moran.

 

Washington’s individual game nights Include 65 straight in double figures, 13 this season with 30 or more points, and four with 40 or more. In what became her final fueling the record, she hit five shots from deep and was 14-of-15 from the line. 

 

Freshman Kylie Lavelle added 10 points to the Drexel attack, along with four steals, while Grace O’Neill had seven rebounds and three assists. Maura Hendrixson, whose career also ended while being among the national leaders in assists, was able to deal just two in this one. 

 

Fordham (19-12) got 22 points from Anna DeWolfe, while Asiah Dingle scored 16, Jada Dapaa had a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds, and off the bench Colleen McQuillen scored 11, and Matilda Flood grabbed 10 rebounds.

 

The game featured an exchange of runs and at the start of the third period the Dragons built an eight-point lead before going cold from the floor again allowing Fordham to launch a 19-3 run before Washington’s shot from deep got them back to a three-point 45-42 deficit entering the fourth quarter.

 

Early in the period, Drexel was twice within a basket before Fordham gained an eight-point lead, enough to withstand Washington’s 15 of her total in the final period.

 

This was Drexel’s ninth straight postseason participation, including an NCAA appearance, winning the CAA automatic bid in 2021. Coach Amy Mallon has continued a run begun under now-Villanova coach Denise Dillon of six straight seasons of 20 or more wins.

 

Fordham, which outscored Drexel 49-34 in the second half, in the next round will play Friday’s winner between NEC regular season champion Fairleigh Dickinson and host and regular season Ivy co-champion Columbia at a site to be determined.

 

Back here in North Jersey, this was Saint Joseph’s (20-11) first postseason appearance since 2017-18.

Like what happened to Penn in its first quarter against Princeton, the Hawks seemed doomed quickly when a 14-0 run carried Seton Hall to a 31-13 lead before Saint Joseph’s outscored the Pirates in each of the next three quarters to finish respectable.

 

For a short moment Griffin’s squad was on the cusp of a successful comeback on a 9-0 run against the Pirates (19-14) that brought the Hawks to a two-point deficit under the two-minute mark before the opposition applied the brakes.

 

With most of the squad returning next season Griffin subbed out six-year star Katie Jekot with 10 seconds left allowing her a nice ovation from the Hawk faithful who made the trip.

 

Saint Joseph’s Laura Ziegler, the Atlantic 10 rookie of the year, scored 18 points, while Talya Brugler, who had a similar honor last season, scored 17, grabbed nine rebounds, and grabbed three steals.

 

Jekot’s career marks close with 1,115 points, and 446 assists.

 

The Pirates’ Lauren Park-Lane had 30 points, 19 in the explosive first quarter, while Sydney Cooks had a double-double 17 points and 10 rebounds.

 

In round two, Seton Hall will host Syracuse (19-12) on Monday night, reuniting an old rivalry from the days when the now-Atlantic Coast Conference member was part of the Big East.

 

Syracuse in one of two opening games on Wednesday beat Kent State of the Mid-American Conference 84-56 at home while Nebraska (17-4) at home beat Missouri State 74-65 and in round two will host Northern Iowa (23-9), an 88-76 winner at home Thursday night over Colorado State (20-12).

 

In the Penn (17-12) game, Kayla Padilla had another outstanding performance in her farewell, scoring 21 points with eight rebounds, and five assists.

 

Though Padilla’s Ivy eligibility is expired, she has another of NCAA and could return playing near her home on what should be a highly regarded Southern Cal squad featuring No. 1 recruit Juju Watkins, named earlier this week the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

 

Like Saint Joseph’s Thursday and the Quakers’ recent Princeton experience, Richmond (21-10) exploded with a 21-11 opening period that extended to a 40-24 lead at the half.

 

Besides Padilla, it was also the last Penn game for Mandy McGurk, who had seven points and five rebounds, Faye Parker, Silke Milliman, and Sydnei Caldwell.

 

Junior Jordan Obi was held to six points and six rebounds.

 

The Spiders bolted to an 11-0 lead at the outset and by late in the third the advantage grew to 29 points before the Quakers lowered it on an 8-0 run.

 

Addie Budnik had 23 points for Richmond while freshman and Cardinal O’Hara grad Maggie Doogan had a double-double 18 points and 13 rebounds.

 

The Spiders will play Friday’s winner between Patriot League regular season champion Boston U. and Atlantic 10 regular season co-champion Rhode Island Sunday or Monday or Tuesday at one of the sites of the two winners.

 

WNIT Notables

 

In games elsewhere, the American’s SMU (17-12) defeated Ohio Valley regular season champion Little Rock 68-42, ending the Trojans’ season at 21-11, and on Monday will advance at Texas Tech (19-14), which beat visiting UTEP 67-54, ending the opposition’s season at 20-12.

 

Green Bay (28-5), the regular season Horizon champ that lost to Cleveland State, which is playing Villanova Saturday night on the Main Line in an NCAA opener, beat Niagara (18-13), the MAAC second place finisher, 84-52, and will stay home Monday to host Bowling Green (28-6), which at home beat Liberty 87-80.

 

Harvard at home (18-11) continued to thrive beating Towson 103-63 at home in Cambridge, Mass. and will meet Friday’s winner between host Massachusetts (26-6) and UAlbany (22-11).

 

Towson (21-12) under first-year coach Laura Harper, the former Cheltenham and Maryland star, finished with Northeastern and Drexel in a three-way first place tie in the CAA, got the top seed, and was upset at home in the title game by Monmouth, which is new to the league.

Lola Mullaney had 22 points for the winning Crimson while Harmoni Turner had 21 points and 13 rebounds. McKenzie Forbes scored 14, Saniyah Glenn-Bello scored 12, and reserve Katie Krupa scored 14 with six rebounds.

 

NCAA First Four

 

Following Wednesday’s opening wins, with Mississippi State over Illinois 70-56 to slot Friday against Creighton at Notre Dame, while Sacred Heart beat Southern U 57-47 to slot Friday at Stanford, besides Thursday’s 79-69 win by Tennessee Tech over Monmouth to play at No. 1 Indiana Saturday, the Thursday thriller saw No. 11 St. John’s (23-8) edge Purdue 66-64 to play Saturday sixth-seed North Carolina at Ohio State.

 

The Red Storm, one of the last at-large teams in the field of 68, including 36 at-large teams, are moving on thanks to Jayla Everett’s game-winner with 0.3 seconds left.

 

Everett had put her team in the lead with a jumper with 1:30 left in regulation.

 

However, on the next possession, St. John’s turned it over and the Boilermakers scored at 30.3 to knot the score at 64-64 on Lasha Petree’s shot with with 30.3 left.

 

Mimi Reid then knocked the clock down before dialing up the Red Storm offense with 10 seconds left at the Buckeyes’ Value City Arena.

 

Everett, who scored 20, came down, briefly lost possession, grabbed it back and let it fly off a trickly angle for the winning shot.

 

Reserve Unique Drake had 16 points, helped by four threes while Everett was 3-of-6 from deep and overall, the team was 11-of-23 averaging just 6.2.

 

Petree of the Boilermakers scored 20, including three threes, and grabbed eight rebounds.  

 

Caitlyn Harper had 14, shooting 7-of-11 from the field.

 

Injuries Bedeviling Field

 

While unbeaten and reigning NCAA champion South Carolina is pretty healthy, several other contenders are being hit with late injuries.

 

ACC rookie of the year La’Niya Latson of Florida State won’t play in the NCAA field, whose first round begins Friday, the school announced. 

 

Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles, who hasn’t played since hurting her knee in the regular season finale, won’t play following “after consulting with the medical staff,” the Irish announced.

 

And NC State point guard announced on her twitter she’s not playing this weekend, dealing with an ankle deal.

 

Looking Ahead

 

For the first time in a long while a piece of the NCAA tourney, whose Final Four was at the Wells Fargo Center in 2000, will be in the area, hosted by Villanova, win or lose.

 

The Wildcats on Saturday will play 11^th seed Cleveland State at 5 p.m. after fifth seed Washington State plays ASun winner FGCU at 2:30 p.m.

 

The winners meet Monday night and that winner will be part of the two main sectors in Greenville, S.C. The other two are in Seattle.

 

On Friday besides practicing in Fineran Pavilion, the four teams will attend day-long press conferences.

 

The two Saturday winners will part of Sunday preview press conferences for the next round.

 

And that’s the report.