The Guru Report: Penn State Stays Unbeaten at 5-0 Handling Oklahoma State While Fairfield Upsets host Rutgers; Angel Reese Sidelined Again

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

The only two locals playing Monday night were the Big Ten duo in Rutgers and Penn State and the outcomes were in decidedly different directions.

 

In a single game at home in Jersey Mikes Arena in Piscataway, NJ., against Fairfield of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Rutgers got upended 78-54 falling back to a 3-3 .500 record.

 

No one on the Scarlet Knights scored in double figures, Destiny Adams and reserve Jilian Huerter, a freshman, each collecting nine points.

 

 Chyna Cornwell grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.

 

It will be considered a bad loss for Rutgers though while the Scarlet Knights are anything but among the cream of the Big Ten consider it a nice win for the visiting Stags (3-1) and coach Carli Thibault-DuDonis, the daughter of WNBA Washington Mystics general manager and former longtime coach Mike Thibault, her brother Eric now in charge on the sidelines.

 

Fairfield’s Emina Selimovic and Janelle Brown each scored 14 points, Kendall McGruder scored 12, and freshman reserve Kaety L’Amoreaux scored 11 and grabbed 11 rebounds.

 

The Stags, who return to the Garden State later in the season playing Rider, part of the home-and-home competition in the MAAC, broke this one open with an 18-0 run toward the end of the first quarter.

 

It was Fairfield’s first win over Rutgers but DuDonis in what may have been important in landing her first head coaching job guided Minnesota to a road win several years ago over the Scarlet Knights, filling in for then head coach Lindsay Whelan who had underwent emergency surgery.

 

‘’We outrebounded them so that was a huge step for us,” she said.

 

Fairfield’s last win against a Big Ten school was Indiana 39 years ago in 1984.

 

“We know this team can be really special, but we know we have to keep getting better,” the Stags coach noted.

 

Rutgers will be involved in a holiday tourney this weekend in an event of pre-determined opponents in Las Vegas playing Texas Tech Friday and Boise State Saturday, 9:30 p.m., both airing on FloHoops.

 

Moving the other way down in the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo championship event in Nassau, Bahamas, in the first day of a format with predetermined opponents, Penn State extended its season-opening run to 5-0, beating Oklahoma State, 89-80, its second win over a Big 12 school after topping Ksnsas at home a week ago.

 

Six Lady Lions scored in double figures paced by a career-high 27 from Shay Ciezki, who connected on seven 3-point attempts.

 

Penn State forced the Cowgirls into 25 turnovers mining 29 points.

 

Tay Valladay scored 16 with five steals, Ali Brigham had 14 points and 10 rebounds, Chanaya Pinto scored 11, Makenna Marisa and Jayla Oden each had 10 points.

 

Oklahoma State (2-2) had three in double figures, led by Quincy Noble with 15 points.

 

FloHoops is airing the entire event.

 

Penn State will be in position to draw attention in their next game Wednesday at 9 p.m., playing No. 8 Southern Cal (4-0), which beat Seton Hall 64-54 as freshman JuJu Watkins scored 15 points with seven rebounds, and Rayah Marshall had 14 points and 14 rebounds.

 

Columbia transfer Kaitlyn Davis scored 13 and Harvard transfer McKenzie Forbes tallied 12.

 

The Pirates (3-2) got 16 points from Azana Baines while Micah Gray scored 14.

 

USC is one of five PAC-12 teams in the top ten of the latest AP Poll, the others UCLA (2), Colorado (3), Stanford (4), and Utah, which fell from 4 to a tenth-place tie with NC State. A sixth, Washington State, is 23^rd.

 

While No. 6 UConn extended its AP record appearance streak to 567 straight weeks, previous No. 20 Maryland, which had the second-best current streak at 251 over 13 seasons, sixth best in history, dropped out.

 

Other Monday results from the Pink Flamingo had Georgia beating Columbia 73-56, No. 15 Ohio State bested East Carolina, 79-55, and Florida edged Purdue 52-49.

 

The National Scene: In single contests at home, Angel Reese was not suited for her second straight game, not that it hampered reigning NCAA champion and No. 7 LSU (5-1), which got 17 points each from DePaul ransfer Aneesah Morrow and Flau’jae Johnson and 16 from Louisville transfer Hailey Van Lith in a 106-47 win over Texas Southern. 

 

Top-ranked South Carolina beat South Dakota State 78-38 with Kamilla Cardoso double doubling to @3 points and 10 rebounds.

 

No. 24 Ole Miss won the Battle 4 Atlantis beating Michigan 60-49 in Nassau as Marija Avlijas scored 11 for the Rebels (5-1) and Lailah Phelia scored 21 for the runner-up Wolverines (4-1).

 

Looking Ahead: On Tuesday night Villanova hosts Patriot League favorite Holy Cross at 7 p.m. on FloHoops, La Salle visits Rider at 7 p.m. in Lawrenceville, N.J., and Lafayette at 6 p.m., hosts NJIT in Easton, Pa., both games airing on ESPN+

 

On Wednesday Penn begins its West Coast three-game swing visiting Chapman at 4 p.m. while at 6 p.m. in Temple’s Liacouras Center the Owls (0-1 B5) host Saint Joseph’s (1-0) in the third of 10 Big Five games, which will air on ESPN+

 

Lehigh opens play against Marist at 2:30 p.m. in the Savannah Hoops Invitational in Georgia, the other game has Mercer playing Bowling Green.

 

Notable: Villanova’s Lucy Olsen, who scored 40, in the Wildcats’ Big Five win over Temple, is the Big East player of the week, while Drexel’s Laine McGurk, Penn’s Mataya Gayle, and Saint Joseph’s Gabby Casey each respectfully won weekly rookie awards from the Coastal Athletic Association, Ivy League and Atlantic 10.