The Guru Report: Villanova and Princeton Nipped; Another Upset Knockout Wave Takes Down Stanford, Tennessee, and UConn

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

NEW YORK — On a day in the national landscape of women’s basketball in which power teams that used to quickly take control and decide contests early got smacked as a trio for the first time in just under two decades, a closely-fought Ivy/Big East showdown of sorts took place here in an entertaining affair off Broadway on the Upper West Side.

 

Just when it looked like Ivy contender Columbia was about to break away from Villanova on an offensive rebound and 3-point shot from freshman Riley Weiss for a 62-55 lead with 7:06 left in regulation, the Wildcats fought back in the Lions’ Levien Gym for a two-point lead with 13 seconds remaining after Bella Runyon made 1-of-2 attempted foul shots.

 

Following the disaster that befell the soon-to-not-be ranked ‘Nova men off a week losing close at home to arch-rival Saint Joseph’s and then duplicate the manner of that outcome in the Big Five Classic fifth-place game to new local member Drexel Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center the women’s team was on the verge of maintaining its early season run.

 

But not so fast came the reply from the defending Ivy regular-season co-champion.

 

Cheered by the predominantly home crowd of 1,024, star playmaker Abbey Hsu went inside for two with an old-fashioned completed three-point play when fouled by Runyon with eight seconds left for a 76-75 lead.

 

Still, the Wildcats had time but with Lucy Olsen defended, Runyon went for a jumper and was blocked by Columbia’s Kitty Henderson with four seconds left.

 

Forced to foul, the visitors sent Henderson to the line, who went 1-2 to complete the scoring by both teams with the final tally showing 77-75.

 

Hsu finished with 22 points and nine rebounds for the Lions (5-4), while Henderson was 6-for-10 from the field for 18 points, including 6-for-8 from the line.

 

Reserve Weiss, Columbia’s future next great thing, was already pretty good in this one with 17 points, shooting 6-for-12 from the field, including 5-of-7 from deep and three rebounds. Cecelia Collins had 11 points to complete scoring in double digits for the Lions.

 

Nicole Stephens fortified the rebounding matching Hsu’s total of nine.

 

Olsen for the Wildcats (5-2) was 12-for-20 from the field, including 2-of-4 beyond the arc and a perfect 7-for-7 from the line for another 30 plus performance with 33, while Maddie Burke collected 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 4-0f-8 from deep.

 

Runyon had eight points and eight rebounds, Kaitlyn Orihel scored 7, and Christina Dalce had seven points and 14 rebounds, while matching a career-high five blocked shots.

 

While the visit to Columbia was the first against three of the best of the Ivies the next four games for Villanova, hosting a Big Five visit from Penn 7 p.m. (FloHoops) Tuesday, hosting defending league tourney champ Princeton next Monday night, from the other side, this was the Lions’ third against Big East schools, all wins including Providence and Seton Hall.

 

“I have a ton of respect for the Big East,” said coach Megan Griffith, whose home is in King of Prussia, near Villanova. “I know a lot of those coaches really well, but, if we were in the Big East, I think we would be one of the best teams in the Big East.

 

“Honestly, that’s just me being honest and direct. I don’t see us as a mid-major team. I see us as a Power Five team, just like Villanova sees themselves as a Power Five team. We are going to go out and schedule great teams every year because that’s what is going to prepare us for our Ivy gauntlet. That’s the bigger goal, right, is that we have to be playing great in March.”

 

“I think Villanova is better than last year,” she said, still giving difference to Siegrist. “Their spacing is better. Same with us, we graduated seven players.”

 

Villanova coach Denise Dillon likewise gave the Ivies their props and said they’d like to keep this series going, which next season will see a visit from the Lions to Finneran Pavilion. Prior to Sunday afternoon, the two teams had not met in nearly two decades.

 

The crowd included WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who had a brief chat with Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist, the all-time scoring leader now in the league playing for the Dallas Wings as the overall No. 3 pick.

 

Siegrist this winter is back with the Wildcats serving in a newly creative role as an assistant to Villanova senior women’s administrator Lynn Tighe.

 

Meanwhile, Princeton’s recent ranking likely will be short-lived, the Tigers who days after struggled to beat Seton Hall in overtime fell Sunday afternoon 60-58 at Atlantic 10 favorite Rhode Island in Kingston.

 

Dee Dee Davis had 21 points for the Rams (6-3), who previously suffered a narrow home loss to Quinnipiac, who had been struggling early in the season.

 

Princeton (5-3), who's previous two losses were a narrow one at then-No. 4 UCLA and to No. 9 Indiana, trailed close most of the way, took a slight lead late and then with the score knotted 58-58 Teisha Hyman broke the deadlock with a shot with 33 seconds left in regulation.

 

The lead then got increased 60-56 on Sophie Phillips two foul shots with 17.5 seconds left followed by Parker Hill’s shot to close it to 60-58 with five seconds left.

 

An offensive foul put the ball back in the Tigers’ hands, but Princeton couldn’t capitalize.

 

Princeton’s Madison St. Rose scored 17 propelled by 4-of-7 from deep, while Hill scored 11.

 

Behind Davis’ outburst for Rhode Island, Phillips scored 13, Hyman had 11, and Maye Toure grabbed 10 rebounds.

 

Rhode Island visits nearby Providence, Wednesday night at 7; while Princeton hosts Quinnipiac (2-4), at 7 at Jadwin Gym on ESPN+.

 

Two local teams turned in victories Sunday from Delaware and Lehigh.

 

Delaware in Pittsburgh beat Atlantic 10 contender Duquesne 74-57 as Tara Cousins scored 23 for the Blue Hens (4-3), Klarke Sconiers had 16 ppoints and six rebounds, and Sydney Boone scored 15.

 

Naelle Bernard scored 13 for the Dukes (3-3).

 

The Blue Hens next host unbeaten Old Dominion (7-0) on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.

 

Lehigh improved to 7-1 after winning 68-56 at Hosftra (4-3) in Hempstead, N.Y., on Long Island.

 

Ella Stemmer scored 16 for the visiting Mountain Hawks, Lily andre scored 15 with seven rebounds, and Remi Sisselman scored 10. The Pride got 18 points from Emma Von Essen, but no one else scored in double figures.

 

Lehigh next on Thursday at 7 p.m. hosts La Salle, who on Sunday, fell at home in Tom Gola Arena to Virginia 94-73.

 

Off the young roster of the Explorers (3-4), the Cavaliers (6-2) got the most against them in three seasons, since Dayton capitalized.

 

“I thought my team did a good effort of being aggressive and trying to battle them,” explained Makayla Miller reported by City of Basketball Love in its coverage of the game. “The size advantage was just overwhelming.”

 

Eastern Arizona transfer Tiara Bolden helped the short-handed La Salle roster, scoring a season-best 14 points with six rebounds, nine points coming in the first half. Freshman Nicole Melious scored 13.

 

Virginia’s Kymora Johnson was a markswoman premier shooting a perfect 6-for-6 and collecting 17 points.

 

La Salle prior to visiting Lehigh on Tuesday travels up to Rutgers at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., at 7 p.m.

 

In the only other game involving a local, Penn traveled to Milwaukee to play No. 23 Marquette of the Big East.

 

Early on, the game stayed competitive until the Golden Eagles began putting distance and taking the game 87-52.

 

Off to its best start in program history, Marquette is now 8-0 while the Quakers fell to 5-3.

 

Freshman Mataya Gayle had a game-high 23 points for Penn, while Jordan Obi scored 17. She also had three blocks and leads the Ivies with 16 on the season.

 

Floors Toonders in her second game back from knee injuries had seven rebounds.

 

Marquette’s Frannie Hottinger, a transfer from Lehigh, scored 20 and grabbed eight rebounds, while Mckenzie Hare had 19 points and Jordan King scored 17.

 

As noted, higher in this report, Penn next travels to Villanova on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

 

Penn State on Monday will visit West Virginia of the Big 12 in Morgantown at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

The National Scene: No. 16 Ohio State proved last year’s early season rout No. 20 Tennessee was not a one-off for the Buckeyes, No. 3 Stanford’s unbeaten surge from a preseason ranking of 15 up into the Top 5 moving head coach Tara VanDerveer close to retired Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s combined men’s and women’s collegiate record came to a dead stop, and injured No. 11 UConn is likely headed to a two-decade low in The Associated Press poll after suffering its first-ever loss to No. 10 Texas in the Longhorns’ home of Austin.

 

That trio of victim’s were once 75 percent of the field in NCAA women’s final fours. 

 

For those who go way back in time, the magnitude of the losses begged the question when was the last time Tennessee, which ended a consecutive Associated Press appearance ranking streak of 565 several years ago and since having runs in and out, perhaps on Monday in the next poll, out, Stanford, and UConn, which has the new AP streak record at 568, all lost the same day.

 

ESPN’s M.A. Voepel provided the answer, Dec. 29, 2004, the season after UConn’s Diana Taurasi’s and Stanford’s Nicolle Powell’s collegiate careers had ended, and Tennessee freshman Candace Parker was sidelined with a season-long knee injury.

 

Upon hearing that stat, LSU’s Kim Mulkey, noted, “Those three losing today is not like what happened in 2004.

 

“Back then, they were rebuilding after losing legends. They would be back the next year as strong as ever. It’s a different world now.”

 

It began to be different at the end of that season when Mulkey as a coach who was to win the first of her four NCAA crowns, the first three at Baylor, got there when her Bears rallied over LSU and Michigan State, coached by Joanne P. McCallie, upset Tennessee in the semifinals.

 

All three games were part of ESPN’s women’s side of the Jimmy V event.

 

Let’s begin with the win by Ohio State, itself a victim the first day of the season as a No. 7 knocked out of the Top 10 by then No. 21-Southern Cal.

 

It was wire-to-wire by the Buckeyes (6-1) in Knoxville on the way to a 78-58 victory.

 

An 11-0 run midway through the first quarter led to a 20-15 lead at the end of it. OSU then built on it by ten more points differential to a 43-28 lead at the half. It then got to 19 and eventually 20.

 

Cotie McMahon scored 19 for the winners, Rebeka Mikulasikova had 18^th, including her 1000^th career point, Celeste Taylor had a double-double 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Jacy Sheldon scored 13.

 

Tennessee (4-4), which blew a 16-point lead at home Wednesday to Notre Dame as part of the ACC/SEC challenge, was hounded into 20 turnovers. 

Destinee Wells scored 11 for the Lady Vols, Sara Puckett scored 10, and Jillian Hollingshead grabbed seven rebounds.

 

“It was a tough game for us tonight,” said Tennessee coach Kellie Harper. “I know several of their opponents have felt that way afterwards.

 

“We were hoping to do a little better job executing offensively, getting a few more points on the board than we did. Defensively, I thought we were okay in the halfcourt, but when you are letting them run out in transition off of your turnovers or off of some transition opportunities, then the board play was very disappointing. We talked about it as a group, and we will continue to address it.”

 

Tennessee has played four straight ranked teams, duplicating what happened a year ago when the Lady Vols lost to most of the ranked teams they played.

 

“I think every game has been different,” Harper said of this year’s problems. “Tonight, obviously, we know they’re going to score, but for us not to get to 60… Tonight, a big issue was our defensive production.”

 

Tennessee continues to miss Rickea Jackson, sidelined with an injury.

 

On Wednesday the Lady Vols in a neutral site game visits Middle Tennessee, not a ranked team, but one picked to win C-USA.

 

As for Buckeyes coach Kevin McGuff, “From our side of things, we played really hard, and I thought our competitive character for 40 minutes was really good. We competed at a high level. There were a couple of keys coming into it — We had to win the battle on the boards, and we did that.

 

“Against their size and athleticism, that is not easy to do. And the other thing, we had to have our press to be effective, and I think we had 28 points off of turnovers, so I thought those were the two keys where we could kind of hurt them,” McGuff said.

 

“If we could keep them off the board and the press be effective, the game could go our way.”

 

Ohio State will open its Big Ten slate at home in Columbus next Sunday, hosting Penn State.

 

Moving on to Stanford’s visit to Gonzaga, one of the top mid-major teams in the country.

 

In recent times, every year the Zags don’t show up in the preseason poll and then they go out and whip somebody and they’re back on board.

 

On Sunday it was an unsuspecting Stanford squad riding high arriving in Spokane Washington.

 

The first two quarters were competitive leading to a slim 45-41 lead by the home team.

 

Then the roof fell in with a 32-16 doubling in the third period, breaking the game open to a final 96-78 result.

 

Brynna Maxwell had 27 points for Gonzaga (8-2), which barely got past Big Sky contender Eastern Washington during the week. Yvonne Ejim scored 25 points with 12 rebounds.

 

This was just the third win in the last 16 in the series with Stanford (8-1).

 

“The players are very excited and they’re proud of themselves, which they should be,” said Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier, who took over the program when Kelly Graves moved on to Oregon. “Celebrating in the locker room is part of the deal at Gonzaga and I’m happy to be a part of it.”

 

Maud Huijbens scored 15 for the Bulldogs, while Kaylynne Truog scored 10 points, dealt four assists, and grabbed four rebounds. A fifth player was in double figures, Eliza Hollingsworth, also with 10 points.

 

Coming into the game, Stanford Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer saw her women’s career win record of six more than UConn’s Geno Auriemma expand to 10 after Friday’s win to 1,194 and closing in on the Krzyzewski combined mark of 1,202.

 

Cameron Brink, who has been lighting up both ends of the attack, was under the weather, scored 10 points in only 12 minutes of action and sat out the second half. Kiki Iriafen, who had been another high scorer, was limited to 10 points.

 

Courtney Ogden, Hannah Jump and Nunu Agara each scored 13 points.

 

“Our players played really hard, but Gonzaga was clearly the better team,” VanDerveer said. “They have very experienced players, and we can learn from this.”

 

Stanford hadn’t been handled this bad since a loss to Oregon 89-56 in the 2020 PAC-12 tournament title game and the 96 points were the most yielded since yielding 102 points in overtime to Oklahoma in 2000.

 

“We didn’t execute offensively, and they did,” VanDerveer said. “We need to work on moving the ball better and being more aggressively defensively. They were the more aggressive team today and we didn’t rebound well or shoot free throws well.

 

The win was the highest ranked opponent one in Gonzaga’s opponent history.

 

Stanford is off until hosting Portland on Dec. 15 while Gonzaga will be at the Cardinal’s PAC-12 traveling partner California in Berkeley on Thursday.

 

Meanwhile, in all this UConn had a minor asterisk, allowing all the injuries.

 

A year ago, an injured Texas team lost to the Huskies on campus in Storrs, making the visitors 0-10 in the series.

 

In the mid-80s when the Longhorns were the ruling elite in the sport, they would have easily owned a UConn squad with a negligible presence among the powers.

 

Then came Auriemma and the rise to 11 national championships.

 

A 12^th was on the dream radar over the summer before getting struck again.

 

Rori Harmon had 27 points and 13 assists for the No. 10 Longhorns (9-0), while freshman Madison Booker had 20 with four assists.

 

“Our kids were really ready,” said Texas coach Vic Schaefer, who was the sidelines orchestrator at Mississippi State, ending the 111-win streak in that season’s Women’s Final Four semifinals, derailing the impending 12^th title.

 

“These kids answered the question, `Are they that good?’” 

 

And those returning next year will have moved from competing for the Big 12 title they are picked for this year to going after the one in the SEC.

 

The home team opened with a 15-3 lead.

 

“I told them if we don’t punch first, we’ll be a punching bag all day,” Scahefer said.

 

At the three-quarter mark the Texas lead grew to 60-43 when UConn (4-3) began to stir and cut the lead to 74-68 when the Longhorns kicked it back up to ten.

 

Aailyah Edwards scored 22 for UConn, while Paige Bueckers, held to five points by Harmon in the first half and finishing with 13 overall.

 

“Aaliyah was brilliant. She was exhausted out there,” Auriemma said. “Maybe she’s still rusty but I thought Paige was lousy today. I thought she was bad. And I told her that.”

 

 Praising Harmon’s defense, Schaefer said, “Rori not only ran our team, she guarded the best two-guard in the country.”

 

And it didn’t stop with these three this weekend.

 

In the previous report, the Southern Miss upset of Ole Miss was noted, Rhode Island’s win today over No. 25 Princeton was already noted, but today Chattanooga beat No. 21 Mississippi State 59-53 after freshman Hannah Kohn connected on a long,wide-open 3-pointer for a lead with a little over five minutes left in regulation.

 

It was the first win over a Top 25 team by the Mocs (8-1) since downing then-No. 4 Tennessee in 2014.

 

Mississippi State has now lost to consecutive unranked teams after falling to Miami.

 

The visitors had led by as many as 11 at the outset of the third quarter.

 

Jada Guinn and Raven Thompson each scored 14 for Chattanooga, while Kohn, hitting 4-of-8 from deep off the bench, finished with 12 points.

Jerkaila Jordan scored 19 for Mississippi State (8-2) and Lauren Park-Lane had 14 points and six rebounds, along with four assists and two steals.

 

Some did beat back challenges like top-ranked South Carolina, which after rallying at North Carolina made good at Duke, 77-61, as Kamilla Kordoso had 15 points and 14 rebounds in Durham, N.C., for the Gamecocks (7-0).

 

Chloe Kitts had 14 points and nine rebounds, Te-Hina Paopao had 12 points, Bree Hall scored 13, and Raven Johnson scored 11.

 

“Duke’s good. Duke put us on our heels. They challenged us in every aspect of the game,” Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley said. “We just had a bigger run at the end.”

 

Reign Richardson had 17 for the Blue Devils.

 

No. 6 Southern Cal, likely to move into the Top 5, had an easy time with San Diego, winning 89-58 as freshman JuJu Watkins had 30 points, her fifth 30-plus game in seven in her career.

 

She also had eight rebounds and five assists.

 

“She has it all,” said USC coach Lindsay Gotlieb as the Women of Troy (8-0) stayed unbeaten. “At her size, with her skill set, we haven’t seen in women’s basketball very often. Her passing, her vision, her ability to score, shoot the 3, get to the rim, there really is not a lot that she doesn’t have.”

 

Rayah Marshall added 20 points and 12 rebounds, while former Harvard star McKenzie Forbes had 12 points.

 

In a tight one, Vermont edged Holy Cross 46-44, while Old Dominion beat FGCU 55-42.

 

Creighton beat Northern Iowa 115-62 as Emma Ronsiek scored 25 for the Bluejays (6-1).

 

No. 2 UCLA topped host Arkansas 81-66, the Bruins (7-0) getting 20 from Lauren Betts over the Razorbacks (7-2), while James Madison edged Wake Forest 55-53.

 

And that’s the report.