The Guru Two-Day Report: Saint Joseph’s Ruins Temple Big Five Comeback in Overtime While Princeton Topples No. 22 Oklahoma

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — After cashing in victories by comfortable margins Saint Joseph’s ruined a Temple comeback here Wednesday night and claimed a 67-65 Big Five thriller in overtime away from home in the Owls’ Liacouras Center while down in Nassau, Bahamas, a future Big Ten clash saw Penn State let a major upset get away down the stretch as freshman JuJu Watkins rescued No. 8 Southern Cal leading to a 71-70 victory in the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship.

Elsewhere involving locals on the eve of Thanksgiving, Lehigh beat Marist 82-64 in the first day action in the Savannah Hoops Invitational and on the West Coast Penn romped over Division III Chapman 92-46.

On Thanksgiving Day, the trimmings belonged to Princeton, beating a ranked team for the fourth time in program history, upsetting No. 22 Oklahoma 77-63 in the Island Division of the Fort Myers Tipoff in Florida that later saw No. 21 Indiana beat No. 19 Tennessee 71-57, while No. 23 Washington State crushed Maryland 87-67 in the Cancun Challenge - Mayan Tournament in Mexico.

A day earlier besides the tough Penn State loss occurring in the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship in Nassau, Bahamas, Columbia appeared to claim its first triumph over an opponent from the Southeastern Conference when Cecilia Collins gave the Lions a go-ahead basket over Florida with 1.5 seconds remaining in regulation.

But that was all the time in the world for the Gators’ Alliyah Matharu to connect on a 3-pointer as time expired for an 83-81 victory.

Like the turkey and side dishes on the holiday dinner table there’s a lot to digest, especially with all the multi team events underway or about to get under way and continuing across the weekend.

But since we’re forced to retell the Wednesday narrative due to what was a technological glitch while posting, let’s start with the Big Five thriller that was the 12th overtime in City Series play, six involving the Hawks playing the Owls.

Back here at Temple, after the first two City Series encounters of the season last week saw Saint Joseph’s easily handle Penn while Villanova did likewise to Temple, the unbeaten Hawks (5-0, 2-0 Big Five) at the outset appeared on the way to dealing the Owls (2-4, 0-2) another beatdown in soaring to a 24-11 lead as Laura Ziegler scored 10 of her 21 points in the first quarter. She also grabbed 13 rebounds.

It was the third straight local action for Saint Joseph’s having won at Drexel 64-53 on Sunday.

The Hawks continued to fly early in the second quarter building the lead to 17 points at 28-11 when Temple began a methodical rally that resulted in Aleah Nelson back-to-back scoring an old fashioned three and then one from beyond the arc and the Owls, whose men’s counterparts fell to Ole Miss by a point in the opener of the double header, were up 50-49 with 8:37 left in regulation.

That began a series of five ties and five lead changes the rest of the quarter and Saint Joseph’s managing to win with defense and foul shooting after failing to score from the field the last four minutes in regulation and the entire five-minute overtime.

“We’ve been so good in flow, and when someone breaks that flow, we’ve gotta be able to grind,“ Saint Joseph’s veteran coach Cindy Griffin said afterwards. “We did grind today.  That’s certainly a confidence booster that we know we can win a close game.”

With Villanova still to play Penn first, circle Saturday night, Dec. 10, when the the Wildcats visit Hagan Arena for a game that could clinch a tie for the winner pending La Salle’s situation that night. The Explorers’ first Big Five game is next Wednesday, 6 p.m., at Penn. 

Saint Joseph’s won’t play La Salle until Jan. 15, the first of two in the Atlantic 10 annual rivalry series but the one that also has City Series implications.

Freshman Gabby Casey scored 15 points while Talya Brugler scored 10, including what became the final field goal for Saint Joseph’s. Mackenzie Smith and A-10 rival Davidson transfer Chloe Welch each scored eight points.

Welch has been a key addition, Griffin crediting Melissa Dunne, her recruiting coordinator who was a Temple point early in Dawn Staley’s coaching career here.

“We were losing some key guards, l knew enough about her, she certainly scored enough against us, she fits our system and she wanted to come to a program with a chance to win the Atlantic Ten title.”

Temple freshman Tristen Taylor scored 21, including nine in the fourth quarter, while Nelson scored 16, and Rayne Tucker had 10 points and 12 rebounds.

“It was a disappointing loss,“ said second year Temple coach Diane Richardson. “We showed we have fight, but again we start our games slow in the beginning and then we have to fight. We won every quarter fighting back and then overtime free throws killed us.

“I don’t understand how we play a physical team and we shoot nine free throws And they shoot 23.”

The Hawks were 8-for-10  in both the fourth quarter and in overtime. They shot 18-for-23 from the line in the game while Temple was just 8-for-9.

In regulation, Temple held a 60-59 lead, and had the ball with 10 seconds to play.

Ziegler, however, knocked away an inbound pass, Welch got fouled on the baseline, but with a chance to win right then, she missed the second from the line and Nelson couldn’t connect going the other way forcing the overtime.

“Watching (Temple) against Villanova, we know the sidelines out of bounds plays they run, and I was counting on that they were going to go to one of their guards,” Ziegler said of causing the turnover, 

“We knee we needed to get a steal and knew we needed to get that bucket. It was kind of a risk but it worked out, so I’ll take it.”

Of the Hawks defensive stance, Griffin explained, “I think we’re older, that helps. I think the experience out there and understanding, they’ve faced a lot of different schemes. Just having that confidence and having Chloe coming in and just adds another punch defensively.”

The winners late in the overtime built a five-point cushion, enough to sustain a made three for Temple.

Saint Joseph’s goes to Bucknell of the Patriot League on Tuesday at 6 p.m. (ESPN+)  in Lewisburg, Pa., near Harrisburg, while Temple is off until next weekend’s two-day event in the Briann January Classic hosted by Arizona State in suburban Phoenix, the Owls playing Xavier Friday night and Pacific Saturday night.

Penn State Edged by No. 8 Southern Cal: Late in the final game of the day-long Pink Flamingo event Penn State was up six on the Women of Troy and holding a strong case to appear in next Monday’s Associated Press women’s poll for the first time since the final poll of the 2013-14 season.

The Lady Lions (5-1) had already beaten two Big 12 members in Kansas back home and on Monday Oklahoma State in Nassau in the Pink Flamingo open round of predetermined opponents for all contests.

Unfortunately for Carolyn Kieger’s group the offense went dry the rest of the way while USC rookie sensation JuJu Watkins, who had 31 points and 12 rebounds, scored all seven, the game winner, a layup with 30 seconds left.

After that, Leilani Kapinus turned the ball over but an upset chance still remained when Rayah Marshall gave it right back with 20 seconds left. 

Shay Ciezki’s jumper, however, didn’t go down.

Watkins has already matched Lisa Leslie’s USC freshman mark with her third 30+ game.

In the finishing drought for Penn State across the final 2:15, Ciezki missed three, including a three-pointer, while Mackenna Marisa and Drexel transfer Kylie Lavelle each missed one.

Marshall had 11 points and 10 rebounds for USC (5-0), which becomes a Big Ten rival next season when the Women of Troy join the conference with UCLA, Oregon, and Washington from the PAC-12.

Penn transfer collected a trio of 3-pointers on the way to nine points.

Ciezki scored 18 for the Lady Lions while Lavelle and Marisa each scored 10.

If there’s any consolation after the opportunity was lost is perhaps Penn State is ready for moving up to to hold its own when playing the heavyweights of the Big Ten.

Penn State hosts Providence Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College.

A Split For Lehigh and Win For Penn:  Lehigh played the last two days in the Savannah Hoops Invitational in Georgia, all rounds predetermined, and on Wednesday beat Marist 82-64 as Ella Stemmer scored 21 for the Mountain Hawks (5-1), Meghan O’Brien had 17 points and eight rrbounds, and Colleen McQuillen had 13 points.

Jackie Piddock  13 points for the Red Foxes (2-3) and Zaria Shazer had 12 points and eight rebounds.

But on Thursday morning Bowling Green (4-1), coached by former Dawn Staley assistant Fred Cmiel (Temple, South Carolina) and who beat Mercer Wednesday, got the two-day sweep, denying Lehigh with an 85-73 win.

Lexi Fleming scored 22, Erika Porter had 20, reserve Morgan Sharps had 15, and Amy Velasco scored 14 for the Falcons while McQuillen scored 19, Lily Fandre scored 13, and O’Brien and Stemmer each scored 12 for the Mountan Hawks.

Lehigh next hosts Drexel 6 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN+) at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa.

Penn (3-1) on Wednesday got its Southern California trip Saturday with a 92-46 win at Chapman in Orange as Stina Almqvist continued her season-starting hot hand with 20 points and eight rebounds and eight rebounds, Jordan Obi had 18 points and 9 rebounds, Kizzy Groetsch scored 13, and  reserve Abby Sharpe scored 10.

The trip continues into the weekend with the Quakers involved in the San Diego Thanksgiving Classic playing San Diego State 4 p.m. Saturday on the Mountain West Network, and at the University Of San Diego Sunday at 5 p.m. in ESPN+.

Princeton Topples Oklahoma: The Tigers are the only Ivy to ever get ranked as well as the only school from the Ancient Eight to earn an NCAA at-large bid. On the heels of a narrow loss last Friday at now-No. 2 UCLA and an appropriateThursday gobbling up No. 22 Oklahoma 77-63 in the Fort Myers Tip-Off - Island Division in Florida, pending how Princeton does against No. 21 Indiana in the same event Saturday (FSWBucs.com), Princeton could return to the poll.

Long-range the Tigers are building a resume that could provide another NCAA at-large rescue if they fall short in the Ivy tournament.

Longer-range coach Carla Berube is clearly the inner fold leader to succeed Geno Auriemma at her alma mater the day he decides to retire at UConn.

Madison St. Rose scored 24 points as the winners jumped to a 23-7 lead after the opening quarter.

The Sooners (5-1) rallied within four but Princeton (4-1) stopped any further incursion,

Kaitlyn Chen, the reigning Ivy player of the year, had 20 points, Skye Belker scored 10, while Ellie Mitchelle grabbed 18 boards and Chet Nweke grabbed 10.

Next Wednesday the Tigers will host Seton Hall at 7 p.m. at Jadwin Gym.

“Just because we’re mid-major doesn’t mean we can’t compete against Power 5s and Top 25s,” Berube said.

In the same tournament - there are two under the tip-off, the other is a true format - a week after Maryland ended a 13-year run in the poll Tennessee could be in trouble after losing to the Hoosiers and will play Oklahoma at 1:30 p.m., Saturday, the first ever basketball broadcast aired by the new Women’s Sports Network.

Yarden Garzon had 23 points for Indiana (4-1) and Mackenzie Holmes scored 17, while Sara Scalia scored 10.

The Lady Vols (3-2) got 13 each from Sara Puckett and Karoline Striplin, while Jasmine Powell scored 12 points.

The National Scene - Wednesday: In the loss to Florida,  Abbey Hsu had 29 points for Columbia (2-4), while Colins and Kitty Henderson each scored 18.

Matharu, who hit the game-winner for the Gators ( 5-1), scored 26. 

The game had 12 ties and 15 lead changes.

‘There were some really positive moments quarter,” Columbia coach Megan Griffith said. “We had a four-or-five-point lead but we didn’t say, ‘Hey, nail in the coffin.’ You can’t do that against teams like Florida that have talent and skill. I thought today, we made really bad critical mistakes and a lot of critical turnovers.

“At this point, this one is giing to be hard to sit with.”

In other scores in the Pink Flamingo, Seton Hall beat East Carolina 68-57 giving coach TonyBozzella his 500th career triumph; Georgia beat Purdue 65-57, and No. 15 Ohio State beat Oklahoma State 75-57.

Northeastern will visit Columbia Saturday afternoon at 4 on ESPN+

In the Ball Dogs Classic in Henderson, Nev., outside Las Vegas No. 4 Stanford beat Belmont 74-55 with a closing 15-2 run as Cameron Bink had 27 points and 16 rebounds. 

Prior to the closing run, the Bruins had moved within six at 59-53 with 4:34 left in regulation. 

In the earlier game, No. 13 Florida State beat Northwestern 90-52.

Sara Bejedi had 17 points for the Seminoles (5-0) while Hailey Weaver had 12 and 13 rebounds for the Wildcats (3-2).

The event is being run in pure tournament advancement style.

Brink’s consecutive foul shooting streak ended at 73 just short of the record 75 set by North Dakota’s Michelle Gaislerova on Feb. 23, 2020

Stanford Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer got her 1,191st victory which is eight more than UConn’ s Auriemma and moved her closer to the combined men’s/women’s mark of 1,202 by retired Duke men's coach Mike Krzyzewski.

On Friday, Northwestern will play Belmont for third at 11:59 p.m. after Stanford meets Florida State for the championship at 9:30 p.m.

The National Scene - Thursday: There used to be a time there might be a few games on Thanksgiving Day but now it’s more than few, though still nothing like what’s ahead over the weekend.

Some surprises as they continue were already mentioned because of local involvement.

But though unranked Maryland losing to No. 23 Washington State 87-67 in one of the all-rounds predetermined Cancun Challenge - Mayan Tournament may seem routine to the unknowledgeable it is not.

For one, the losing Terrapins (2-3) just ended a 13-year run in the AP Poll, a current consecutive streak number exceeded only by the now-extended recorded 30-year 567 ongoing run by No. 6 UConn.

All three losses so far - to No. 6 South Carolina, which helped the Gamecocks quickly bolt back to No. 1, then No. 8 Connecticut, which might have been first had the Huskies not lost to then-unranked North Carolina State and Washington State have not been close for a considered dark-horse though very competitive contender for the Big Ten title.

On the other end, however, the triumph adds to the more recent success Washington State has gained under former Texas star Kamie Ethridge.

It started out the way many thought it would go, Maryland jumping to a big lead with 31 points at the outset until the unbeaten Cougars (6-0) applied the defensive brakes with a 21-8 second quarter and limited the Terps to only 22 more the second half.

Charlisse Leger-Walker’s first career triple double with the winners produced 11 points, 15 rebounds, and 13 assists, only the second in program history with the first occurring from Penny Bowden on March 3, 1988. Bella Murekatete had 17 points and four blocks, the rejections a new career mark with 159 for Washington State’s program passing Carly Noyes.

More double digit scoring came from Eleonara Villa (14), Beyonce Bea (12), Tara Wallack (12) and Astera Tuhina (11).

Maryland got 18 from Lavender Briggs, while Allie Kubek and Jakie Brown-Turner each scored 12.

On Friday Washington State faces Massachusetts at 11 a.m. while Maryland meets Green Bay at 1:30 p.m.

The three other ranked teams in action Thursday all won easily competing in the Paradise Jam with Island Division winners No. 3 Colorado 77-60 over Cincinnati; No. 10 NC State beating Kentucky 84-55; and in the Reef Division No. 12 Texas 84-42 over Arizona State.

TCU is still unbeaten at 6-0 after beating UTEP 85-56 in the St. Pete Showcase in Florida, VCU won 56-51 over St. John’s in the Puerto Rico Classic.

Looking Ahead: Local participation Friday has Delaware in a true tourney format opening with Florida Gulf Coast in the Gulf Coast Showcase at 5 p.m. in Estero, Fla., that side of the bracket matching winners and losers Saturday has No. 5 Iowa meeting Purdue-Ft. Wayne at 7:30 p.m.

The other side has No. 16 Kansas State meeting Western Kentucky at 11 a.m. while No. 18 North Carolina plays Vermont at 1:30 p.m.

Rutgers meets Texas Tech at 9:30 p.m. in the South Point Classic while on Saturday the Scarlet Knights play Boise State the same time. FloHoops is the broadcaster.

On Sunday, local team involvement not already mentioned and all in just regularly scheduled games has Villanova at Wake Forest at noon on the ACCN, while at 2 p.m., Rider is at Fairleigh Dickinson on NEC Front Row and Lafayette in Central Pennsylvania at St. Fracis.

Friday’s key national game is in the Cayman Islands  Classic No. 6 UConn meeting No. 2 UCLA at 7:30 p.m., the first game for the Huskies since learning Azzi Fudd has been lost for the season with an ACL. 

FloHoops has the whole event, Virginia-Tulane at 11 a.m., No. 7 LSU believed still without Angel Reese playing Niagara at 1:30 p.m., and No. 9 Virginia Tech meeting Kansas at 5 p.m. 

And that’s the report.