The Guru Report: Saint Joseph’s Streak Stopped by No. 11 Utah; La Salle Crushed at Lehigh; ODU Rallies at Delaware; No. 23 Gonzaga Goes OT Over Cal

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

PHILADELPHIA — To a certain extent, Utah’s ranking of No. 11 belied somewhat what Saint Joseph’s was up against to maintain the Hawks’ season-opening unbeaten record when the preseason Pac-12 favorites came visiting Hagan Arena Thursday night.

 

Coach Lynne Roberts’ squad, which advanced to the Sweet 16 last season and came close to beating eventual NCAA champion LSU, started out with a best-ever No. 5 in the opening Associated Press women’s poll but an upset loss at Baylor several weeks later knocked the Utes down several spots and then with all the other chaos happening to ranked teams they slipped to 12^th and moved up to 11^th on Monday.

 

So, in some respects, in reality this loomed as a top five team disguised as one lower that was being accorded alongside the known national brand name contingents such as Stanford, Iowa, UConn, UCLA, and a few others.

 

But adversity did strike last Saturday in a game against in-state rival BYU, already in the Big 12 Utah will be joining next season, when junior Gianna Kneepkens, the second-leading scorer, was lost the rest of the way with a foot injury.

 

Utah still had enough firepower in senior Alissa Pili, the reigning PAC-12 player of the year, among a few others to open with a 17-2 bombing run and ultimately prevail 74-48, though the Hawks (8-1) put up impressive defensive resistance to move within six points in the third period before Utah (8-1) took over the rest of the way.

 

Ironically, a year ago Saint Joseph’s 9-0 start was derailed by Villanova, then ranked and possessing of All-American Maddy Siegrist, though when its this particularly rivalry in the Big Five wars, the extra stuff attached is not the same as playing the caliber of Thursday night’s opponent.

 

Pili, a native of Anchorage, Alaska, who transferred from conference rival Southern Cal prior to last season and is likely to go high in the WNBA draft, had a game-high 31 points, shooting 12-of-17 from the field, including 3-of-4 on 3-point attempts.

 

Kennady McQueen was 4-of-6 and 2-of-4 for 11 points as Utah tries to figure out how to maintain its powerful offensive attack, overall, with Kneepkens out of the lineup.

 

“It’s not going to be (achieve) in one game,” said Roberts, whose group will meet No. 1 South Carolina Sunday at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase Triple-Header at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn.

 

No. 17 Connecticut meets No. 24 North Carolina at 5 p.m. on ESPN, while No. 20 Florida State, which comes to Drexel a week from Sunday, opens at noon against No. 2 UCLA on ESPN2.

 

Ironically, Saint Joseph’s has little time to recover, hosting Villanova Saturday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN+, the winner in position to claim the Big 5 outright by finishing with a win on La Salle, which has yet to play either team.

 

Though the Hawks have played many super talented teams over the years, Utah was the first similar type opponent for the current squad.

 

“This group has not experienced that, and today was good for us because as much as you can say about Top 25 or Top 15 team, until they experience it, until they sense it, taste it, feel it, compete against it, they won’t know,” said veteran Hawks coach Cindy Griffin.

 

“This is really good for us because we need to experience this if we want to be there in March.”

 

It’s the same reason a Princeton has loaded up its non-conference schedule knowing that these are the type of teams that need to be knocked off to advance in the NCAA tournament.

 

After the Hawks energized the crowd shaving a 20-point deficit to six, Pili noted Pearl Harbor Day with her own personal bombing run 14-2 to keep the outcome away from the hosts.

 

Talya Brugler had 16 for the Hawks.

 

“We had a lot of fight in us,” Griffin said. “We made some key mistakes defensively that really hurt us, and a team like that can really penalize for that and they did.

 

“And of course, Pili is just an unbelievable player. We go on a run, and all of the sudden she turns it up three notches and we’re back down 15, 20 points.”

 

Roberts said the game got scheduled here when their slate came up short with the cancellation of most of the preseason WNIT and the Hawks were still looking to fill their card and Utah got invited to Sunday’s event because of the new-found status.

 

As it turned, Saint Joseph’s is the kind of team that is helpful to play given Utah’s injury situation and the conference slate the Ute’s will face in the PAC-12 that has six teams currently ranked.

 

“They run good stuff,” she said of the Hawks. “They run stuff for their personnel. They play with good tempo.

 

“They just execute well. You can tell they’re really, really well coached. They’ve got some good individual players. I thought they kind of ran out of gas a little bit when may be we had more depth, but I thought the second quarter they hung in there.”

 

Trying to shake this one off and move forward, Griffin said, “There’s never a good time for a punch in the mouth. I’m not gonna say that.

 

“We’re just going to try to flip a negative into a positive. We’ll learn from it. We’ll watch the film. We don’t have a lot of turnaround time before we play our next game, but sometimes that’s better. Get back on the horse and start ridiing.”

 

The other silver lining is the rest of the way Saint Joseph’s isn’t going to see anyone with the quickness of Utah, and the Atlantic 10 race, which starts soon, is definitely wide open for the moment.

 

La Salle on the Wrong Side of History: There’s Mountain MacGillivray, the coach of the Explorers and there’s the Mountain Hawks mascot of Lehigh.

 

On Thursday it was all uphill for the visiting Explorers in a 106-60 loss at Stabler Arena in Bethlehen, Pa., ahead of a long break until hosting Temple a week from Sunday in a Big Five game at Tom Gola Arena at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

In the loss to Lehigh (8-1), Nicole Melious scored 16 points, propelled by four connected shots from beyond the arc, and Molly Masciantonio had 13 points and four assists for the Explorers (3-6).

 

On the Lehigh side, however, the 106 points set a game-record for the program.

 

“It feels so good,” said Ella Stemmer, who collected a career-high 33 points in what is now Lehigh’s best start since 2014-15, nine seasons ago. “We share the ball so well, and we did a lot of little thing.

 

“The second half kind of slipped away from us for a little, but we pulled it back together and scored 106 points.

 

Lehigh was also hot from downtown, tying a Patriot League record with 17 three-pointers. 

 

“It’s what we do,” said second-year coach Addie Micir, a Princeton graduate from lower Bucks County. “We share it, and shoot it, so when the opportunity presents itself to knock down shots, we do, we shoot a high percentage to get there, which I’m proud of.”

 

From out on the perimeter the Mountain Hawks were 17-of-41 for 41.5 percent.

 

Lehigh previously had a hot shooting night with 17 from beyond the arc on Feb. 19, 2022.

 

Also cashing in with a personal best was Lily Fandre with 22 points propelled by five shots from deep. She also grabbed eight rebounds.

 

Meghan O’Brien added 13 points to the Lehigh attack, while Maddie Albrecht and Whitney Lind each scored nine points, and Remi Sisselman had eight points and seven rebounds.

 

Colleen McQuillen dished nine assists.

 

“La Salle is a good team, and they had a tough stretch of games with playing Virginia (Sunday) and Rutgers (Tuesday), so we wanted to push pace and test their legs a little bit, but you have to give them credit,” Micir said. “They came out in the third quarter, and we weren’t going to lay down.

 

“They came out and shot a lot of threes. I love how this team responds and celebrates each other.”

 

Freshman Julianna Ouimette at the finish scored the game’s last four points to pass the previous total of 103 set in 1977 against Albright.

 

Lehigh also dominated the boards 54-35.

 

Next up is a trip to Pitt in the Steel City Sunday at 2 p.m.

Old Dominion Rallies at Delaware: The Blue Hens had a visit in the Bob Carpenter Center from a former rival when the conference was named the Colonial Athletic Association, being unbeaten no less in the Lady Monarchs.

 

Delaware had also been on a streak with three straight games to get to .500 at 4-4 and while it controlled things early ODU (8-0), now in the Sun Belt Conference, came back to get the win at 57-53.

 

“Old Dominion was a lot tougher than us tonight,” said Delaware coach Sarah Jenkins. “They took away some stuff that we tried to do. They outrebounded us and that was the big thing headed into the game.

 

“We knew that they were a really good rebounding team, we needed to box them out and they got 19 offensive rebounds. Toughness wins basketball games and when it gets down to the wire, the tougher team is always going to win.”

 

Sydney Boone was 7-for-10 from the field, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc while grabbing four rebounds. Klarke Sconiers had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

 

Old Dominion won without anyone scoring in double figures — Kaye Clark and Ed’Dya Buford each scored nine points, Jordan McLaughlin and Nnenna Orji each scored eight with Clark and Orji grabbing six rebounds apiece, and Lanetta Willliams and Mimi McCollister each scored seven points.

 

Delaware on Monday is at VCU in Richmond, Va., at the Siegel Center at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

The National Scene: No. 23 Gonzaga made it a sweep of the PAC-12 Bay Area shools but after routing then-No. 3 Stanford at home Sunday, the Zags on the road had to go into overtime to win at California 78-70 Thursday.

 

Yvonne Ejim, one of five USBWA national players of the week, scored 21 points for the Bulldogs (9-3), while Brynna Maxwell scored 18.

 

The Bears (7-2) were up two in the final minute of regulation but Kayleigh Truong’s jumper with 31 seconds left got the game into overtime, and she finished with 14 points, while also dishing 12 assists.

 

Cal’s Marta Suarez scored scored 19 and grabbed 10 rebounds, Leilani McIntosh reserve Lulu Laditan-Twidale each scored 13, reserve Lla Lane scored 11 and Mckayla Williams had 10. McIntosh also dished a career-high 11 helpers.

 

Gonzaga will visit Rice on Saturday in Texas while Cal will great Nevada the same day.

 

No. 2 UCLA was also in high-scoring mode, CSU Northridge 111-48 in Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles to stay unbeaten at 8-0 as Londynn Jones scored 19, Gabriela Jaquez and Stanford transfer Lauren Betts each scored 18, Kiki Rice had a triple double of 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, Angela Dugalic scored 13, and Christeen Iwuala scored 10 to drop the opposition to 2-5.

 

The Bruins next head to the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut for their game against Florida State on Sunday.

 

Duke opened its Atlantic Coast Conference slate being upset on the road by Clemson 80-64 as Amari Robinson scored 22 points for the Tigers (6-4) while Taina Mair scored 19, the lone player in double figures for the Blue Devils (5-4).

 

Fairfield won at home over St. John’s 67-62 as Meghan Andersen had 15 points, Janelle Brown and Kendall McGruder each scored 2, and Kaety L’Amoreaux scored 10 for the Stags (6-1).

 

The visiting Red Storm (4-6) got 21 from Unique Drake and Jillian Archer scored 10.

 

Looking Ahead: Penn is the only local in action Friday, traveling to Merrimack in Andover, Mass., at 7 p.m. streamed on NEC Front Row.

 

DePaul is at unbeaten Miami at 7 p.m. on the ACCN from Coral Gables.

 

On Saturday, Drexel hosts Buffalo at 2 p.m. on FloHoops at the Daskalakis Athletic Center, Rutgers opens its Big Ten slate on the Big Ten Network at 4 p.m. hosting No. 16 Indiana at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., and then the Big Five showdown with Villanova at Saint Joseph’s at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

Harvard is at Boston U. at 7 p.m., while UNLV is at Oklahoma at 3 p.m., both on ESPN+. 

 

On Sunday No. 25 Penn State opens its Big Ten slate at No. 12 Ohio State at 1 p.m. in Columbus while Penn is at Temple for a Big Five game at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ in the Liacouras Center.

 

The WNBA Draft lottery positioning will be held at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN.

 

On Monday Princeton is at Villanova at 7 p.m. on FloHoops from Finneran Pavilion.

 

And that’s the report.