The Guru Report: Olsen Scores 40 as Villanova Cruises Past Temple in Big Five Game While Saint Joseph’s Stays Unbeaten Winning at Drexel; Penn and Princeton Also Win

GURU’S NOTE: It’s a split dateline since writing one roundup and was at both local games Sunday.

 

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

VILLANOVA/PHILADELPHIA — Though Maddy Siegrist has graduated and moved on to the WNBA though she is still around this her alma mater this winter in a newly-created job with the Wildcats, apparently Villanova is quickly coming up with a new scoring demon.

 

She’s junior Lucy Olsen, and with Siegrist watching Sunday afternoon, Olsen came within one missed foul shot of joining her former teammate all-American with the most points ever scored in a Big Five women’s game, collecting 40 as Villanova routed visiting Temple 90-62 in the Wildcats’ home opener in Finneran Pavilion before a lively crowd of 2,185 attendees.

 

It was the first City Series game for both teams and second of the overall ten in the round-robin, the next one coming quickly when Saint Joseph’s visits Temple Wednesday night on the road at 6 p.m. at the Owls’ Liacouras Center following a men’s game on North Broad Street.

 

Siegrist set both the freshman record and overall record with 41 at La Salle, and then last season broke the arena record at Temple repeating that total in a game that was much closer than this one, which was the 50^th in the long-running series between the two schools.

 

A week ago, as Villanova (2-1) launched its season in the Pacific Northwest, Olsen, a 5-9 guard from nearby Collegeville, Pa., scored 20 in the win over Portland and then set her career mark with 24 in the Wildcats’ narrow loss at Oregon State.

 

By halftime Sunday Olsen was well-past those numbers with 26 before finishing with 12-for-22 from the field, including 4-of-6 from deep, and 12-of-13 on the line.

 

Her performance was the seventh 40-points or more effort in Villanova history, Olsen being the fourth player in the program to do so, Siegrist did it four times, while Shelly Pennefather, who had all the program marks that Siegrist end up breaking, did it once, as did Lisa Ortlip.

 

Freshman reserve Maddie Webber out of Bridgeville, Pa., scored 13, her best to date in her young career, off 4-for-7 from beyond the arc, while Christina Dalce grabbed 18 rebounds for a career-high.

 

Temple (2-3) has now won two routs this season against lesser opponents and suffered three wipeouts to Georgetown, at No. 23 Ole Miss on Wednesday, and Sunday to Villanova.

 

The Owls got 16 points from Aleah Nelson, while Tarriyona Gary scored 12, and Rayne Tucker had 11 points.

 

Olsen began scoring almost from the opening tip, though after one quarter, it was still competitive, Villanova holding a 20-15 lead.

 

Then the Wildcats reeled a 7-0 run, Olsen scoring five of the points and Bella Runyon scoring on a lay-up for the other two.

 

By halftime Villanova was up 43-24 and powered by Olsen stayed well in front the rest of the way.

 

Among the crowd was Olsen’s 98-year-old great uncle Richard Ronca, who was honored with the program’s ongoing military salute feature during games. Watching from a wheelchair at courtside, it’s the first time he got to watch his niece in person.

 

A season ago, Olsen, in the shadow of Siegrist, averaged 12.4 points a game behind the ‘Nova superstar’s nation-leading 29.2 points per game. Sunday’s explosion has her at 28.0 ahead of Tuesday night’s visit from Patriot League favorite Holy Cross (2-2) at 7 p.m. on FloHoops.

 

The opposition will be arriving after a 68-55 loss Sunday at Stony Brook.

 

“I was just looking for whatever was open,” Olsen said of her highlight afternoon. “I always want to be aggressive. I just took what they gave me, read the defense, tried to play at a slower pace. It all came together today.”

 

Temple second-year coach Diane Richardson, who coached against Denise Dillon when Richardson was at Towson and Dillon at Drexel in the then-called Colonial Athletic Association, jokingly inferred her local colleague must feed her players “magic food” in dealing with the two standout performances back-to-back by Nova stars against the Owls.

 

But she also gave credit to Olsen’s day.

 

“She was persistent,” Richardson said. “Even though we tried to stop her with different defensive assignments, she worked really hard to get open and get shots, so we’ve got to work as hard defensively to stop a player like her.

 

“She deserved it because she worked hard. She worked every second of the game.”

 

Olsen credited her supporting cast for enabling her game against the Owls.

 

“It’s exciting. I mean, I just want to win the games, so whatever has to be done to win, my teammates did a great job finding me, setting screens to get me open,” Olsen said. “I would not have been able to score without them all being a threat and taking what was open.”

 

Dillon contrasted the play of Siegrist and Olsen.

 

“Because of her effort on the defensive end, and she makes plays for us there and helps her teammates out, and then offensively the ball is in her hands so much, so it’s a different style than Maddy,” the Villanova fourth-year coach said. “It was finding Maddy, where Lucy can create shots for herself and her teammates. But just to see her grow is all because of her will and determination to be the best.

 

“One thing Lucy doesn’t do is skip steps. She lives everything. She’s detailed in her commitment to getting better and learning the game. I think that’s probably the biggest growth you’ve seen this season so far.”

 

Saint Joseph’s Stays Unbeaten: The way the season has evolved off the Hawks’ first four games, though it might be unknown who will be the star of the night, what seems assured so far is that someone will be claiming honors, even if it’s not the same one each time out, ala Maddy Siegrist least season at Villanova.

 

Following watching her alma mater claim its Big Five opener against Temple out on the Main Line, Siegrist was back in the stands at the Daskalakis Athletic Center at Drexel where her former teammate Brooke Mullin, who transferred to play her graduate season with the Dragons, scored a career-high 17 points against Saint Joseph’s (4-0).

 

“We talked about her responsibilities with this team this year and they’ve definitely multiplied from her past years,” Drexel coach Amy Mallon said of Mullin becoming more featured in the Dragons’ attack. “That’s something you want to see because I think it’s something she’s capable of doing, it’s something we talked about.

 

“I’ve seen that in the preseason, but it’s the first game you’ve really seen that production from her on the floor.”

 

But the story here was basically another Hawks successful effort with group versatility leading to a 64-53 win over Drexel (2-2) in a game that next year could be tagged with a City Series label if matched as the women’s program follows its male counterparts formally into the Big 5.

 

Should the tournament format be adopted for the women as ongoing at the moment for the men, and the Hawks and Dragons do not meet, they might still play each other except it would not count in the local standings the way the annual second Atlantic 10 game between Saint Joseph’s and La Salle does not.

 

That said, in this one Sunday, Saint Joseph’s was up 24-18 the half outscoring the Dragons in each quarter, then the Hawks drove to an 18-point advantage, Drexel battled back within seven in the fourth, the visitors then stopped any further incursion to knock off their second straight local opponent following last week’s one-sided win down the street at Penn in the Palestra.

 

It’s not in stone yet when considering the wild way this season has begun nationally, but the answer at the moment to the best women’s team in the city is Saint Joseph’s, with perhaps Villanova coming up fast while Drexel and Penn are showing a lot of potential.

 

Off the Hawks’ versatility shown to date, this one belonged to the post players, Talya Brugler, the former A-10 rookie of the year, scoring a season-high 26 points with 10 rebounds, while Mackenzie Smith in the backcourt scored 18.

 

Filling in to solidify the attack, Laura Ziegler, last season’s rookie of the year, had eight points, 12 rebounds, and six assists, and newcomer and x-factor Chloe Welch, a graduate transfer from Davidson, had seven points, six rebounds, three steals and a pair of blocked shots.

 

“I think it was definitely obvious today that they were fronting our post players, and for us guards it’s easier for us to throw over the top and (get) easy layups for them,” Smith said. “But I do think you’ve got to feel the game out …”

 

Smith’s total all occurred in the second half.

 

Drexel’s Amaris Baker, a Cardinal O’Hara grad, who played shortly at Kennesaw State and then out on the Main Line at Harcum Junior College, continued to impress, scoring 14 points.

 

Mallon said she was aware of Baker when still at O’Hara, but the program’s needs were different at the time.

 

“However, when she was scoring all those points at Harcum, I had to check her out,” said Mallon, who following her playing career at Richmond, transferred at Saint Joseph’s and later was enshrined in the Big Five Hall of Fame.

 

Sunday in talking about coaching and defending against the Hawks, Mallon said, “It’s really hard. They spread you out and you have to be point defensively with what you’re doing.

 

“If it’s not one person, it’s someone else stepping up and scoring for them, which makes it more difficult as well.”

 

Mallon was not the only one involved Sunday in personal familiarity between programs, Bruglar being opposite her older sister Tessa, Drexel’s director of basketball operations/scouting whom Tayla played against her freshman season when Tessa had transferred to the Dragons from Bucknell.

 

Saint Joseph’s has now meagerly allowed just 196 points in the Hawks’ first four games, best ever in Cindy Griffin’s 23 seasons coaching her alma mater and third overall in program history.

 

“I think we have a lot of weapons on the offensive side,” Griffin said. “There’s been games that our posts have stepped up, there’s been games that our guards have stepped up. Having that balance is very necessary if we want to go far in non-conference and also in our conference play.”

 

Looking at the way things went for Saint Joseph’s last season with a smiliar fast start but a fade in the Atlantic 10, Talya Bruglar said, “We had a taste of what that was like last year, and we knew that momentum helped us going into the A-10s and the strength we had from that.

 

“It’s similar in a sense that we know that we want to keep going more, we don’t want to settle as a team. We can’t be happy at 4-and-0.”

 

Saint Joseph’s could be halfway to a Big Five crown beating Temple Wednesday (6 p.m., ESPN+) while the Owls need to saddle the Hawks with a loss in Big Five play to stay in the hunt.

 

Drexel is off until visiting Lehigh at 6 p.m. on Tuesday Nov. 28 when the Dragons travel to Lehigh at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa.

 

Road Wins for Penn/Princeton Ivy Duo: The Quakers bounced back from the Big Five loss to Saint Joseph’s at The Palestra winning at Siena 85-79 in suburban Albany, N.Y. as both teams are now 2-1.

 

In the first of a four-game road trip — the next three are this weekend in Southern California in the San Diego area — Penn freshman Mataya Gayle soared to a personal best getting 25 points, of which 20 were scored in the first half.

 

The newcomer just missed matching the individual game record of six from deep by a rookie in scoring 5-for-8 on 3-point attempts.

 

Current Penn member Simone Sawyer got six triples a year ago at San Francisco while former star Kayla Padilla now playing her graduate year at Southern Cal did in twice in 2019-20.

 

Stina Almqvist had another career day scoring 25 points with 10 rebounds. Jordan Obi did one of those stats sheet stuffers scoring all 12 her points in the second half with a game-high four assists and game-high three blocked shots with four rebounds and a pair of steals.

 

Abby Sharpe, a freshman reserve, off the bench, scored 11 with a perfect 3-for-3 on 3-pointers with an add-one plus 2-for-3 from the line.

 

The game had several lead changes until Penn took control down the stretch.

 

The road trip continues out West Wednesday at Chapman and then in a tournament of predetermined opponents each round, meeting San Diego State and UC San Diego, both games on streaming platforms.

 

Princeton’s bounce-back 62-51 win over San Diego of the West Coast Conference at the Jenny Craig Pavilion following the narrow loss at No. 3 UCLA technically made it two days of local sweeps since two of the four games involved games in each other at Villanova and Drexel.

 

In this one, sophomore Madison St. Rose had a game-high 22 points for the Tigers (3-1) against the Toreros (2-2) while Kaitlyn Chen, the reigning Ivy player of the year, had 13 points, six assists, two steals and two blocks.

 

Princeton’s monster non-conference schedule now continues back across the country to the Southeast in the Fort Myers Tip-Off on Thanksgiving Thursday at 3 p.m. playing No. 25 Oklahoma and then on Saturday No. 18 Indiana at 11 a.m.

 

With a new Associated Press Poll being released Monday at noon the rankings numbers are likely to change.

 

The National Scene: When the new poll comes out Monday one of the questions will be whether No. 20 Maryland will still be listed or will the Terrapins’ long-running runner up 251 appearance streak across 11 seasons to No. 8 UConn’s now what will be extended record of 566 streak weeks conclude.

 

The Terrapins after an opening week wipeout at the hands of then No. 6 now No. 1 South Carolina dropped from 14^thto 20^th.

 

Then Maryland got kicked at Uconn but on Sunday at home Maryland barely beat Syracuse 83-81 and was in jeopardy of losing in an upset.

 

Allie Kubek had 23 points from the bench, while Shyanne Sellers scored 19 for the Terrapins (2-2).

 

The upset bid from the Orange (3-1) saw Georgia Woolley score 21 and grab eight rebounds while Dyaisha Fair scored 14 points and Alaina Rice score 13 points.

 

Uconn (3-1) took the official homecoming trip Sunday to Minneapolis to play Minnesota set up when Paige Bueckers signed with the Huskies — they ended up her sophomore season in the twin cities when they advanced to the Women’s Final Four losing to South Carolina in the title game in 2022 — and won 62-44.

 

Bueckers scored 12 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dealt four assists.

 

The difference this time also was they played for the NCAA title in the Target Center, the home of the WNBA Minnesota Lynx and the NBA squad while on Sunday they played in the Golden Gophers’ Williams Arena on campus.

 

“For me to be the one taking the court in a game I used to watch was kind of crazy, kind of surreal, but it was just amazing, the support,” Bueckers said. “Minnesota’s done so much for me.”

 

Aaliyah Edwards had 16 points and nine rebounds to make it two straight including the rout of No. 20 Maryland at home Thursday after being the upset victims at NC State a week ago in Raleigh.

 

The arena was packed with a crowd of 10,869 who roared for her when she was subbed out in the fourth quarter.

 

“You can feel and see the love and the support that Minnesota has for Paige,” Edwards said. “She deserves it all.”

 

The UConn contingent was still incomplete, though Bueckers is now back after missing last season with an ACL.

 

Azzi Fudd missed her second straight game with a knee injury that needs further diagnosis.

 

“These games are not easy on those kids that everybody’s gaga over, because they put so much pressure on themselves,” said UConn Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma, whose next game is against No. 3 UCLA Friday in the Cayman Islands Classic.

 

Auriemma gained his 1,183^rd victory but remained seven behind Stanford Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer, whose women’s win mark reached 1,190 after the No. 6 Cardinal on Sunday escaped Duke at home in Maples Pavilion in overtime 82-79.

 

Cameron Brink had nine of her career-high 29 in overtime, two on foul shots with 11.9 left in the extra period.

 

Stanford (4-0), which was 15^th in the preseason poll, moved up to sixth after crushing then-No. 9 Indiana at home and is likely to move up a few more spots in the Top 5 after No. 2 Iowa and No. 4 Utah, a PAC-12 rival, suffered upsets during the week.

 

“They gave us all we could ask for,” VanDerveer said of the Blue Devils. “This game was kind of a heavyweight fight, and it was a grind-out game. These are the kind of games that will get us ready for the PAC-12 Gauntlet.

 

“There are things we can do better but I’m really excited about how our team stuck together, battled and found a way to win.”

 

Kiki Iriafen, one of five Ann Meyers Drysdale USBWA national players of the week in the college basketball writers association new expanded awards program, had a career-high 27 points and nine rebounds. Hannah Jump nailed five from deep for 15 points.

 

Duke (3-2), coached by former Tennessee and WNBA star Kara Lawson, had 22 points helped by six 3-pointers.

 

The Blue Devils rallied from a 17-point first quarter deficit.

 

“Tough loss for us,” Lawson said. “We battled and battled. We have a lot to learn, we have a lot of ways we have to grow. But it was fun to watch them compete on this floor.”

 

Down in Raleigh, N.C. State (4-0) nearly was an upset victim themselves a week after toppling UConn, which got the Wolfpack back into the AP Poll at 14^th, rallying to beat Atlantic 10 favorite Rhode Island 67-58.

 

Saniya Rivers, the star of last week’s win that also earned her a USBWA honor, and Aziaha James propelled as 14-2 run over the last 4:14 to grab the win.

 

Rivers had 19 points with seven assists and seven steals while James scored 17 against the Rams (3-2) while Mini Collins had 10 points and 11 rebounds while Zoe Brooks scored 10.

 

Back in time, Rhode Island coach Tammy Reiss and her backcourt mate Dawn Staley played for Virginia in high-powered ACC games against NC State.

 

In other games involving ranked teams, Utah won the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage beating Eastern Kentucky 117-72 as Alissa Pili, who transferred to the Utes from Southern Cal prior to last season, completed her homecoming weekend scoring 28 while Eastern Kentucky got 29 from Antwainette Tucker.

 

No. 2 Iowa (4-1) after its loss to Kansas State earlier in the week recovered to beat in-state rival Drake 113-90 in a high-scoring affair at home in Iowa City as national player of the year Caitlin Clark scored 35 points while Grace Berg scored 19 for the opposition (3-1).

 

Clark also had 10 assists and Kate Martin had a career-high 25 points.

With her performance Clark broke now WNBA star Kelsey Plum’s NCAA women’s record set at the University of Washington in 2017, reaching 39 career 30-point games, and her next two will match and break the overall record set by Detroit’s Antoine Davis last season.

 

“We played a little bit better than we did on Thursday night, which I was thankful for,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “We came out and resumed playing Iowa basketball — high assists, low turnovers.”

 

No. 22 Creighton won its in-state game at the Big Ten’s Nebraska 79-74.

 

No. 21 Baylor (3-0) at home in Waco, Texas, after its upset of Utah beat a feisty Harvard team 81-71 as five starters scored in double figures led by Aijha Blackwell with 16 points.

 

Harmoni Taylor had 29 for the Crimson (3-2) of the Ivy League while Lola Mullaney scored 19 with four steals.

 

No. 11 Texas (4-0) at home in the Moody Center in Austin got 25 points from Taylor Jones in a 96-44 win over Louisiana Tech (2-1), which several times decades ago ruined Longhorn bids for national titles.

 

Marquesha Davis scored 17 for No. 23 Ole Miss in a 56-47 win over Arizona (5-1) as the Rebels (5-1) advanced to Monday’s title game in the Bad Boy Mowers Battle for Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas, where they’ll face Michigan, which turned aside South Dakota 70-52 as Taylor Williams scored 19 points for the Wolverines (4-0).

 

Arizona and South Dakota (3-2) will play for third.

 

In the consolation round, Memphis beat Howard 52-43 as Madison Griggs scored 20 and Middle Tennessee (3-2) held off DePaul 71-69 as Ta’Mia Scott scored 20 while Anaya Peoples scored 18 for the Blue Demons (2-3).

 

DePaul will play Howard (1-5) for seventh place and Memphis (2-3) will play Middle Tennessee for 5^th place.

 

In the Bank of Hawaii Classic in Honolulu, which is using predetermined pairings each day, Fullerton edged San Francisco 54-48 while Idaho beat host Hawaii 50-40.

 

Looking Ahead: On Monday the only single game local action has unbeaten Rutgers hosting Fairfield at 7 p.m. in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J. on the subscription B1G+.

 

But Penn State gets under way at 6 p.m. in Nassau Bahamas playing Oklahoma State, the format calls for daily predetermined opponents with FloHoops airing the entire event.

 

The Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Field on Monday also calls for Georgia to play Ivy contender Columbia at 11 a.m.; East Carolina playing Ohio State at 1:30 p.m.; Florida playing Perdue at 4 p.m.; and Southern Cal playing Seton Hall at 9 p.m.

 

The North Shore Showcase in Laie, Hawaii, has a single game with Saint Louis playing Wake Forest at 8  p.m.

 

South Carolina, which will remain No. 1 in the next AP Poll, released Monday at noon, will host South Dakota State at 7 p.m. on SECN+.

 

And that’s the report.