The Guru Report: Temple Smashes Xavier; Rutgers Ends Lafayette Four-Game Win Streak; Stanford Coach VanDerveer Moves Within Nine Wins of NCAA Combo Mark

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Once upon a time Temple and Xavier battled at the top of the Atlantic 10.

 

Both have since gone separate ways many conference realignment chapters ago but on Friday night the duo were together again, part of the opening day of the Briann January Classic at Arizona State at Tempe near Phoenix.

 

And with the exception of the recent tough overtime loss to Saint Joseph’s in a Big 5 contest, Temple’s month of November was a roller coaster win big, lose big, rhythm.

 

Out in the desert the Owls with December newly arrived matched the Musketeers with how they got the season under way last month against Delaware State — they won big 78-41.

 

It’s Temple’s first win in Arizona, a state last visited in 1988.

 

The Owls (3-4) put this one away relatively early with a 16-2 run at the end of the half that gave them a 19-point lead on a Xavier (0-7) still in search of its first season win.

 

Four Temple players reached double figures led by Tiarra East with 13 points shooting 5-for-8 from the field, while reserves Jaleesa Molina and Tristen Taylor, both freshmen, each scored 12, and Tarriyona Gary scored 10 off the bench. Ines Piper grabbed 10 rebounds.

 

Kaysia Woods was the lone Xavier player in double figures, collecting 16 points.

 

In the second game, Arizona State topped Pacific 76-66 as Jaddan Simmons scored 26 with 7 rebounds for the Sun Devils (7-2) and Jalyn Brown scored 20.

 

Elizabeth Elliott scored 24 with 11 rebounds for Pacific (4-3) and Kadie Deaton scored 15 with seven rebounds and Liz Smith scored 13. 

 

This is Temple’s first win in a multi-team event since beating Harvard 81-69 in the Hall of Fame Women’s Challenge at the Mohegan Sun on Nov. 30, 2014 a decade ago.

 

The event is named for a former Arizona State star who went on to play in the WNBA.

 

Though with both days of matchups predetermined and their teams won’t meet, a reunion of sorts is occurring with second year Temple coach Diane Richardson and Arizona State coach Natasha Adair who coached against each other in their previous jobs in the formerly named Colonial Athletic Association – Richard at Towson in suburban Baltimore and Adair down at Delaware in Newark.

 

On Saturday Temple will meet Pacific at 3 p.m. while Arizona State will play Pacific at 6 p.m. The games will air on what is now PAC-12+ but is a rebrand of live streaming at the school website.

 

Rutgers Ends Lafayette Streak: The Scarlet Knights at home in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., beat Lafayette 69-48 stopping the four-game win streak from the Leopards (4-4) of the Patriot League in the only other local game on an overall light card.

Antonia Bates had a strong performance in the win, facilitating both ends of the floor with career-bests ten rebounds, seven assists, and three steals.

  

"We talked to Antonia before the season even started about her being a defensive stallworth for us,” said second-year Rutgers coach Coquese Washington. “She is really embracing that. 

 

“She just does so many things that just don't necessarily show up on the stat sheet, but what she brings to the team in terms of helping us operate is huge and can't be talked about enough." 

 

Chyna Cornwell had a season-high 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds. 

 

Destiny Adams and Kaylene Smikle were the other scorers in double figures for RU with 14 and 13 points, respectively.  

 

Kassondra Brown secured her first double-digit rebounding performance of the season with 10, including eight on the defensive end. The graduate student also tacked on seven points for the Scarlet Knights (5-5).

 

Abby Antognoli scored 15 points and dealt six assists for Lafayette while Halee Smith shot 4-of-7 from the field including 3-of-5 attempts long range for 11 points.

 

Rutgers next hosts La Salle Tuesday at 7 p.m., while Lafayette on Wednesday makes up last year’s canceled game visiting No. 18 Notre Dame at 7 p.m.

Incidentally, the Scarlet Knights’ Big Ten Host of Iowa and Caitlin Clark on Jan. 5 is the 7th advance sellout in program history, the previous six all UConn in the old Big East era most recently February 2006.

 

The National Scene: No. 3 Stanford (8-0) rolled over host San Diego State 85-44 as Cameron Brink had 25 points and 11 rebounds.

 

It was Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer’s 1194 extended victory record in the women’s game ten more than UConn’s Geno Auriemma and needing to win nine more to pass retired Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski’s combined mark of 1, 202. 

 

Looking Ahead: On Saturday, unbeaten Saint Joseph’s host North Florida of the ASun Conference at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) while at the same time Rider hosts former MAAC rival Monmouth in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J. (ESPN+).

 

Temple wraps up in the Arizona State event playing Pacific at 3 p.m.

 

On Sunday, locally, Villanova visits Columbia at 2 p.m. (ESPN+); La Salle hosts Virginia at 1 p.m. at Tom Gola Arena (ESPN+); Penn at 2 p.m. is at No. 23 Marquette (FloHoops); Delaware at 2 p.m. is at Duquesne (ESPN+); No. 25 Princeton at 1 p.m. is at Rhode Island (ESPN+); and Lehigh at 2 p.m. is at Hofstra (ESPN+).

 

Nationally, the Jimmy V Classic tripleheader feature South Carolina at Duke at 1 p.m. before No. 11 UConn visits No. 10 Texas at 3 p.m., both on ABC, followed by No. 16 Ohio State at No. 20 at Tennessee at 5 p.m. on ESPN.

 

Elsewhere Stanford at 4 p.m. is at Gonzaga (ESPN+) while No. 2 UCLA is at Arkansas at 3 p.m.

 

And that’s the report.