The Guru Report: Drexel Falls Just Short of Norfolk State on Night Keishana Washington Uniform Retired; Bueckers Returns As No. 2 UConn Handles Dayton

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

PHILADELPHIA — The Drexel women came within 19 seconds Wednesday night of having a totally festive season opener here in the Dragons’ Daskalakis Athletic Center in what was the only local action on the daily schedule.

 

Pre-game featured a civilian encore appearance from Keishana Washington, whose uniform was retired after she finished her career as the second all-time leading scorer in program history and last season third in 2022-23 behind Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark.

 

The CAA player of the year joined Gabriela Marginean and Barb Yost with similar honors from their alma mater.

 

Washington, a native of Pickering, Ontario, a suburban of Toronto, who became the highest scoring Canadian in men’s or women’s competition, later met the media at halftime of a tight game with eight lead changes and nine ties between Drexel and Norfolk State, the preseason pick for second in the MEAC.

 

With 29 seconds left in regulation, Amaris Baker, a Cardinal O’Hara grad and Harcum transfer who led NJCAA in scoring and her team to a 30-4 record and the NJCAA semifinals, scored in the paint to snap a 47-47 tie for the Dragons.

 

But that was to be the last hurrah for the home team.

 

Ten seconds later, freshman reserve Anjanae Richardson, who finished with 14 points, nailed a three-pointer to regain the lead for the visitors at 50-49.

 

Then Villanova transfer Brooke Mullin lost the ball for the Dragons in a tie-up situation with six seconds remaining.

 

Richardson was then fouled by Baker, missed the second of two free throw attempts, giving the Dragons hope of at least a tie with after Grace O’Neil’s rebound with five seconds left.

 

But with time running out, Mullin lost the ball again and Norfolk State got the win 51-49.

 

“I was saying this team is like a blank page right now and this is the first little written part of what we’re seeing with this team this year,” said Drexel coach Amy Mallon at the postgame press conference. “I’m actually happy with some of the things I saw from this group defensively, because I think they showed they’re capable of doing some really good things defensively.”

 

Kierra Wheeler had 15 points for Norfolk State, the only other player on the opposition scoring in double figures.

 

Call the non-conference phase of the Drexel schedule, which next quickly sees a stop Friday night at 5:30 at Delaware State, also of the MEAC, down in Dover, a shakedown cruise as the team retools in the post-Washington era.

 

“I think our non-conference schedule is really going to challenge us, and it is going to help us prepare for the conference,” Mallon explained. “The only way you get experience is by getting out there and doing.”

 

Between now and December, Drexel will locally host the Big 5 and the Atlantic Ten duo of Saint Joseph’s and La Salle next week, nationally-ranked Florida State of the ACC on Dec. 17, and then play  predetermined games in the Homewood Suites Classic in Fort Myers, Fla., facing ASun champion Florida Gulf Coast and Horizon winner Cleveland State, both of whom played Villanova last March when the Wildcats hosted first and second round play in the NCAA tournament.

 

Though the stats here showed Mullin, who was then a Wildcat, with seven points off 3-for-10 from the field, including 1-for-7 from beyond the arc, and four turnovers, Mallon said the Neshaminy grad is in a different role here than under Denise Dillon, who was the longtime Drexel coach until returning to her alma mater three seasons ago.

 

Mullin will be more featured than she was averaging 4.8 points playing in a lineup that was led by Maddy Siegrist, an all-time collegiate area player now in the WNBA.

 

“We put her in a situation tonight to take shots and had the ball in her hands in crucial moments, and that’s not going to change, I have total confidence in her doing that,” Mallon said. “That wasn’t her role before she was here, so for us that will change, and I think she is going to get comfortable with that.”

 

O’Neill, now considered a Drexel leader on the team, had 12 points, while Baker scored 14.

 

Getting the kinks out of the way is what matters now before action moves into competition in the now-called Coastal Athletic Association, a first part of the name change from Colonial after the addition of several teams through realignment.

 

“Obviously, they’re going to remember, I’m going to remember the possessions that were crucial with turnovers,” Mallon said.

 

“The consistency comes with getting the experience, obviously the in-game experience now and reiterating that at practice and doing the same situations so (we develop) the sense of urgency to get to the spots to run the plays and know who you’re looking for and everyone be ready.” 

 

Meanwhile, Washington, who finished with 2,363 points and is playing pro-ball in Poland following a short stay in the WNBA during camps, reflected her honor at halftime during a chat with the media.

 

“It’s surreal,” she said of returning here for the week. “I knew it was going to happen, I saw the banner before it was unveiled. Seeing it up there is a completely different feeling.

 

“For it to happen so soon shows the impact I’ve had and that’s something I’m extremely proud of,” Washington said.

 

Her last game at Fordham, when Drexel was eliminated in WNIT first-round play, she set a Rose Hill Gym men’s/women’s scoring record with 43 points.

 

“I did say my sophomore year that I wanted my jersey in the rafters,” she recalled. “To have that happen it’s a proud moment for sure.

 

“Coming in as a freshman, my goal was just to make an impact, whatever that impact was,” Washington said. “I just wanted to be a part of a winning team, be part of the culture, adapt at whatever was needed, and from there to get better.”

 

With expansion becoming a reality in the WNBA, a team in the Bay Area in San Francisco and Oakland already awarded ahead of a potential second new franchise for the summer of 2025, Washington is hopeful there’ll be room to return to a roster.

 

“Playing now in Poland is a good first step,” she said.

 

The National Scene – No. 2 UConn routs Dayton in Bueckers Return: Paige Bueckers, the national player of the year as a freshman in 2021, was back after a season lost to injury, having last played 584 days ago in the 2022 championship loss to South Carolina, and No. 2 UConn opened play at its second home in Hartford lowering the boom on Dayton of the Atlantic 10 with a 102-58 victory.

 

Chomping at the bit to play as a healthy unit, the Huskies found themselves up 2-0 before taking the court, the benefit of an administrative technical foul on the Flyers who turned in a lineup with the wrong number for one if their players.

 

On a minutes-restriction from Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma, the Minneapolis native had eight points, seven rebounds, four assists, and a steal in 21 minutes, in a game well under control by then.

 

Auriemma, making sure Beckers doesn’t over-do things, said, “She wants to get it all back on each possession.”

 

Said Bueckers, who also missed much of the previous 2021-22 season with an injury on her other knee, “This is a process coming back from a major injury — getting my legs under me, getting the rhythm and flow back of playing basketball again.”

 

Aaliyah Edwards had a game-high 23 points for UConn with nine rebounds, while Azzi Fudd scored 13, Aubrey Griffin had 12, freshman Qadence Samuels had 11, while Nika Muhl and Caroline Ducharme each scored 10.

 

Dayton’s Ivy Wolf scored 16 points on a squad the latest featuring Auriemma on the sidelines opposing one of his past superstars now in the coaching ranks.

 

The Flyers are led by Tamika Williams-Jeter, one of the mainstays of the era back in the early part of the last decade in which she was one of four starters going high in the first round of the 2002 WNBA draft.

 

The fifth, Diana Taurasi, went overall No. 1 a year later, to the Phoenix Mercury, where she still active at the age of 41 and is currently with a USA Basketball group training in Atlanta, having won at Tennessee Sunday and playing at Duke this Sunday.

 

Auriemma told his former star that Dayton looked 1,000% better than what he viewed on film a year ago, she said.

 

“He wouldn’t say it unless it was true. And, for me, being a player under him and just playing and coaching this game, that means everything, especially to my team.”

 

The victory brings UConn short of a win at NC State Sunday that could propel the Huskies back to No. 1 in the Associated Press women’s poll for the first time since March 2021 in the wake of defending national champion LSU at the top spot being taken down by No. 20 Colorado Monday in Las Vegas.

 

Auriemma kept pace six wins 1187-1181 behind Stanford’s Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer, whose No. 15 Cardinal took its season-opener at home in Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, Calif., routing Hawaii 87-40.

 

Stanford junior Kiki Iriafen had 23 points and 13 rebounds, reserve freshman Nunu Agara had 18 points and six rebounds, junior Brooke Demetre had 12 points and eight rebounds, junior starter Elena Bosgana had 10 points and eight rebounds, and Cameron Brink scored eight with eight rebounds.

 

VanDerveer and Auriemma are 1-2 with the most triumphs in women’s hoops coaching history, both having passed the previous record holder, the late Tennessee legend Pat Summit.

 

Besides a chance to become No. 1 again, the Huskies already have spent the most time overlooking the rest of the competition in the 48-year history of the AP rankings.

 

UConn is poised to set an AP record that will likely never be topped when Monday’s first in-season weekly rankings are revealed, appearing 566 straight weeks, a streak that began in the preseason of 1993-94 at No. 19 and continued 30 full seasons and two weeks in the current ones.

 

After that preseason vote, the Huskies have never been that low.

 

With four freshmen making their debut scoring Wednesday night, 122 players, many becoming WNBA and international greats, are now part of the UConn historical roster responsible for breaking the mark established with its end several years ago by Tennessee under Summitt and after she stepped down, and Holly Warlick.

 

Samuels had 11 as already noted, Ice Brady, who also missed last season with an injury, scored three points, KK Arnold had eight, and Ashlynn Shade collected four in their UConn debuts.

 

No Buffs Let Down: Following its stunner Monday over LSU, there was not letdown for Colorado Wednesday in its home opener in Boulder, routing LeMoyne 97-38 and not allowing any visiting Dolphins in double figures.

 

Colorado’s Frida Formann had 15 points, Aaronette Vonleh scored 13 with 11 rebounds to complete the double-double, while off the bench Maddie Nolan scored 15 and Sara-Rose scored 10.

 

No. 13 Texas got its season started at home in Austin beating SWAC contender Southern 80-35 as Taylor Jones with 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Amina Muhammad had 14 points and 11 boards to collect a pair of double-doubles.

 

Rori Harmon, the Big 12 coaches' choice for preseason player of the year in the conference, had eight points, seven rebounds, and nine assists.

 

No. 16 North Carolina at home in a dual season-opener in Chapel Hill cruised over Gardner-Webb 102-49 as Stanford transfer Indya Nivar scored 17 points and 11 rebounds; Iowa State graduate transfer Lexi Donarski scored 14, and Maria Gakdeng from ACC rival Boston College scored 13.

 

In a Mid-American/Sun Belt Conference Challenge, the top one featuring the coaching No. 1 picks in each, on the road Toledo of the MAC won at James Madison 60-49.

 

Sophia Wiard had 14 points, six rebounds, and seven assists for the visiting Rockets, while Quinesha Lockett had a double-double 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Jessica Cook had 11 off the bench.

 

The Dukes in their Atlantic Union Bank Center had 13 points and 13 rebounds from Kseniia Kozlova.

 

Oregon beat visiting Ark-Pine Bluff at home 86-60 in a PAC-12/SWAC Legacy matchup of conference teams in Eugene in the Northwest as Chance Gray scored 20, Grace Vanslooten scored 19 with 11 rebounds for a double-double, Phillipina Kyei had 16 points and 11 rebounds had a double-double, and fredshman Sofia Bell scored 14.

 

Zaay Green on the visitors scored 24.

 

   Looking Ahead: On Thursday’s local card, La Salle will be looking for its second straight when the Explorers open at home at 4:30 p.m. (ESPN+) hosting America East favorite Maine, while three others will also be home for 7 p.m. tips.

 

Temple (ESPN+) hosting Georgetown of the Big East in the Liacouras Center will be after a second straight onslaught following Monday’s explosive win over Delaware State, Rutgers (B1G+) in the Jersey Mike’s Arena at home will be looking to be 2-0 hosting Wagner of the Northeast Conference, and Delaware makes its season and home opener in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark hosting Longwood (FloHoops).

 

The National highlight features a premium clash on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. in the Ally Tipoff in Charlotte as No. 3 Iowa and No. 8 Virginia Tech meet; No. 11 Tennessee visits No. 18 Florida State; in a Boston rivalry affair Ivy Leaguer Harvard visits Boston College of the ACC; No. 12 Ole Miss hosts Oklahoma; and LSU seeking to be bouncing back from the Colorado hosts welcomes Queens of North Carolina.

 

And that’s the report for Wednesday.