The Guru Report: Penn State Snaps Decade-Old AP Poll Drought Then Loses at West Virginia; Tennessee and Three Other SEC Schools Ejected; UConn at 30-Year Low

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Daylight at last but daylight unable to last.

 

That might be one way to describe the Monday experienced by Penn State on a day not much existed in the daily slate.

 

When the clock struck noon revealing another major upheaval in the latest Associated Press women’s poll, the Lady Lions managed to sneak into the group at No. 25, the last spot and first appearance in a decade since the final vote if the 2013-14 season. 

 

It’s the program’s first ranking under coach Carolyn Kiegert, though she appeared more recently in the final vote of 2019 when she was at Marquette in the Big East.

 

When Penn State frittered away a looming upset of then-No. 8 Southern Cal two weeks ago in the Caribbean for the season’s first loss, the new plan seemed to be to take care of business the next few games and then a new opportunity is at hand opening the Big Ten schedule Sunday at now No. 12 Ohio State at 1 p.m. in Columbus.

 

Then came the carnage with traditional stalwarts Tennessee, Stanford, and UConn all taking huge hits in separate locations in a Jimmy V Women’s Classic televised tripleheader on the same day for the first time since Dec. 29, 2004, and adding some upsets elsewhere into the media panel voting calculation, when the tabulation was done, Connecticut was sent spiraling down from 11 to 17, it’s lowest ranking in 30 years.

 

Stanford, which had been upset free and unbeaten, slipped to ninth.

 

And Tennessee and three other Southeastern Conference rivals were sent packing leaving room for Penn State to be the fourth replacement.

 

However, ahead of facing the Buckeyes was a short trip Monday night to Morgantown, playing another member of the Big 12, this one West Virginia, which once competed regularly with the Lady Lions in the Atlantic.

 

Sadly, as has happened many times in the past to teams achieving poll breakthroughs in the afternoon, the Lady Lions joined the experience of game breakdowns at night.

 

Final score: West Virginia 83, Penn State 65, the first win for the Mountaineers (8-0) in the series since 1989.

 

The Lady Lions (7-2) averaging 85.3 at the opening tip had their sixth best offense in the nation trimmed by 20 points, helped by committing 26 turnovers yielding 31 points.

 

Penn State’s Tay Valladay off the bench shot 7-for-11 in WVU Colliseum, including 3-of-4 from deep for 18 points. Chanaya Pinto scored 10 points, while Ali Brigham also scored 10.

 

West Virginia junior JJ Quinerly scored a game-high 22 points, Jordan Harrison had 14 points, nine assists, and six steals; Kyah Watson had 15 points and eight rebounds, while Lauren Fields scored 12, and Tavy Diggs 10 points.

 

In the fourth quarter, Penn State opened with two baskets, moving within seven of the Mountaineers who then sealed it with a 14-4 run.

 

This was the only local game, but the Guru tracker listed just two others and in those results, Syracuse beat visiting Northeastern 79-57, and Towson won at Liberty 73-70 in overtime.

 

Looking cAhead: Three games are on the local Tuesday card, both coming off losses, Penn, which lost at then-No. 23 Marquette, visits Villanova at 7 p.m. (FloHoops) for a Big Five game, the Wildcats last Sunday fell at the finish at Columbia.

 

A Villanova win sets up a 2-0 battle of unbeatens Saturday night at 7 at Saint Joseph’s, which has already beaten Penn and Temple. 

 

The Hawks first on Tuesday visit Boston U at 6 p.m. on ESPN+ and then host No. 11 Utah Thursday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. Coach Cindy Griffin’s squad is one of 20 on the women’s side yet to lose.

 

La Salle is at Rutgers 7 p.m. in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J. and then on Thursday at 7 p.m. visit Lehigh in Stabler Arena (ESPN+) in Bethlehem, Pa.

 

On Wednesday, all four local games tip at 7 p.m., Quinnipiac is at Princeton on ESPN+; Rider is at Virginia in John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville (ACCNX); Drexel is at Marist in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (ESPN+) Lafayette is at No. 14 Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.

 

Thursday, the other game has Old Dominion at Delaware at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.

 

And that’s the report.