The Guru Report: Villanova and Penn Win With Penn State and Lafayette Surviving Blown Leads; Iowa Avenges Upset By Kansas State

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Though less hectic than the previous three days of tournaments galore across the Thanksgiving weekend, Sunday still had it all from a revenge win for No. 5 Iowa against No. 16 Kansas State in the title game of the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla., to another unranked upset of a ranked team which occurred in the same event, and a near perfect five of six wins for the locals led by Villanova and Penn.

 

We’ll start with the locals of which the losing team had a lead, and two others nearly gave their games away.

 

Villanova on the road down in Winston-Salem, N.C., for a single contest, closed out Wake Forest on a 9-0 run to pull away to a 74-65 win over the Demon Deacons of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

 

The Wildcats (4-1) jumped to a 23-10 lead on their opponent (2-4) after the first quarter, but Wake Forest narrowed the gap to 53-49 with 10 minutes left in regulation.

 

It got tighter and eventually the home team tied it twice, the second time 65-65 with 1:08 left in regulation.

 

The ‘Cats took a timeout setting up a play on the sidelines from out of bounds.

 

Using their go-to, Lucy Olson complied with a three-ball that gave ‘Nova the lead for good.

 

The Wildcats then caused a critical turnover and with the clock running down, the Deacons were forced to foul and ‘Nova foiled the strategy with a perfect 6-for-6 from the line over the final 30 seconds.

 

In this one, coach Denise Dillon had her wish list fulfilled in getting the usual early season performance from Olsen, who had 21 points, five assists and four rebounds. 

 

But help also came from the supporting cast, Kaitlyn Orihel off the bench scored 14 points, Christina Dalce had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, and Brynn McCurry also scored 12.

 

Malaya Cowles scored a game-high 22 for Wake Forest.

 

On Thursday night Richmond of the Atlantic 10 will visit Finneran Pavilion at 7 p.m. on FloHoops. The Spiders had a hot hand this weekend in Drake’s tourney winning all three games against Maine, the hosts, and Louisiana Tech in Des Moines, Iowa.

 

Out West in a two-day tournament of predetermined matchups in San Diego, Penn bounced back from Saturday’s loss to San Diego State by beating UC San Diego 76-68 to finish the Southern California trip with a pair of wins counting the opener last Wednesday at Chapman.

 

With leading scorer Stima Almqvist in foul trouble, Jordan Obi accelerated her reliable effort, scoring 18 of her game-high 22 points on 7-for-7 from the field in the first half, including hitting all three attempts from deep for the Quakers (4-2).

 

Obi also had a career and game-high four blocked shots, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.

 

Freshman Mataya Gayle scored 12 and dealt five assists, while Lizzy Groetesch had 10 points and nine boards, and freshman Abby Sharpe in reserve had 11 points, shooting 4-for-4 from the field, including a pair of three-pointers. She also grabbed five rebounds.

 

In her first start, freshman Ese Ogbevire had nine points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal against the Tritons (2-4) of the Big West Conference.

 

Penn returns home to host its second City Series game at The Palestra when La Salle visits Wednesday night at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) for the Explorers’ first Big 5 affair on the season.

 

Then it’s back on the road for four games, though two will be nearby for Big 5 visits to Villanova and Temple.

 

Out at State College, Penn State at the outset seemed to suffer no negative after-effects from its near-upset of No. 8 Southern Cal during the week, jumping to a 29-9 lead at home at the Bryce Jordan Center in the first quarter against Providence of the Big East.

 

But the Friars (3-3), who are 0-7 in the series, rallied to go in front of PSU (6-1) 54-49 at the start of the fourth quarter.

 

The Lady Lions regained control down the stretch for a 73-66 victory.

 

Shay Ciezki led the winners with 17 points, shooting 6-for-13 from the field, including three from deep, while Chanaya Pinto had a personal best 14 points, and Mackenna Marisa scored 13.

 

The Lady Lions picked up 35 points off 26 turnovers.

 

On Wednesday Penn State will host Radford at 6 p.m.

 

Meanwhile not far from State College in Loretto, Lafayette won its third straight, beating host Saint Francis, Pa., of the Northeast Conference 60-58.

 

Halee Smith scored 15 for the Leopards (3-3) of the Patriot League, Abby Antognoli scored 12, and Kayla Drummond scored nine while Kendall Carruthers scored 21, Destini Ward collected 14 points, and Julianna Gibson grabbed 10 rebounds for the opposition (0-6), which has yet to win this season.

 

Nevertheless, Lafayette had an 11-point lead at the half, grew it to 19 in the third quarter, and then had it all disappear, trailing 55-51 with 4:53 left in regulation.

 

Kay Donahue, however, got the Leopards to a tie with a 3-pointer and foul shot with 3:17 left.

 

Antognoli at the line got it to 60-57 with 2:36 left.

 

St. Francis got one more point but with 16 seconds remaining, the Leopards forced a shot clock violation.

 

Next up on Wednesday its off to Baltimore to play UMBC at 7 p.m.

 

While Lafayette and Penn State escaped disaster, not so much for Rider, which went up to North Jersey to play Fairleigh Dickinson.

 

In a roller-coaster of a game in Hackensack, the Broncs outscored FDU 20-13 in the first quarter, got shutdown 18-2 in the next, regained control 23-11 in the third, and then up seven points with less than three minutes remaining, it all vanished under a 10-0 run giving the Knights (1-5) a 64-59 victory, their first under new coach Stephanie V. Gaitley.

 

Makayla Firebaugh shot six from deep and had a game-high 23 for Rider (2-4). Taylor Langan scored 12, and Kaylan Deveney scored 10.

 

Rider is off until Saturday hosting former MAAC rival Monmouth, now in Drexel’s Coastal Athletic Association, at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

 

Delaware salvaged a win and 7^th place in the Gulf Coast Showcase, beating Vermont, 73-66, as Tara Cousins matched a personal best with 22 points, shooting 9-for-16 from the field, including 4-of-7 from deep for the Blue Hens (2-3).

 

Chloe Wilson and Sydney Boone each scored 17 against the Catamounts.

 

Delaware next visits American U. In Washington, D.C., Wednesday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

The National Scene: At the top of the Gulf Coast Showcase, one of the few events this past week using a true tournament format instead of predetermined pairings in rounds, No. 5 Iowa trotted out its Caitlin Clark showcase and the Hawkeyes avenged a recent upset that got No. 16 Kansas State into the Associated Press women’s poll, beating the Wildcats 77-70 for the championship.

 

Kansas State (6-1) twice reduced double digit deficits in trying to become the fourth team and first outside the Big Ten to go 3-0 on the Hawkeyes (7-1) with Clark on the roster.

 

But the reigning national player of the year would have none of it, scoring 32 points, her 40^th career 30 plus game, with seven 3-pointers, and the NCAA runners up finished on a 10-2 spurt.

 

“We just responded and stayed together,” Clark said.

 

Iowa also got 13 points from Molly Davis and 11 points and 10 rebounds from Kate Martin.

 

“We’ve won the last four minutes of the two previous games,” said Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie. “Didn’t do it today.”

 

The Wildcats’ Serena Sundell and Ayoka Lee each scored 18 points and Zyanna Walker scored 11.

 

In the third-place game reigning ASun champion Florida Gulf Coast did what it's done several times as an unranked team – beat one that’s rank.

 

This time the Eagles (5-2) edged No. 18 North Carolina 65-64 as Kierra Adams scored on a layup with seven seconds left in regulation.

 

The Tar Heels (5-2) lost to Kansas State 63-56 in one of the semifinals.

 

FGCU, who lost at Villanova in an NCAA second round game in March, lost to Iowa here in the other semifinal and at Stanford earlier this month.

 

The Eagles’ Dolly Cairnes scored 18 points and Maddie Antenucci scored 15.

 

Deja Kelly scored 24 for UNC and Boston College transfer Maria Gakdeng scored 22 with nine rebounds.

 

In other events with championship games Sunday, Miami beat ETSU 68-44 to win its tourney, while William & Mary spoiled FIU’s bid as a host winning 59-57.

 

No. 4 Stanford at home in a single game crushed UAlbany 79-35 extending Tara VanDerveer’s women’s record to 1,193 back to nine more than Uconn’s Geno Auriemma.

 

And that’s the report.