The Guru Local Report: Villanova Long-Range Futility Against Creighton Snaps Win and Three-Point Streaks; Saint Joseph’s Wins at Rhode Island, Penn State Blossoming, Princeton Alone at Top of the Ivy League

Guru’s note: Due to a local transit situation Saturday night and given short turnaround between arriving home and back to a noon Villanova game plus all that occurred we’re combining Saturday and Sunday outcomes and splitting the roundups in two for local and national. The national report post is directly below this.

 

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

VILLANOVA — Up north, Saint Joseph’s on Sunday knocked off the team picked above it in the Atlantic 10, though by tipoff time in Kingston, Rhode Island was actually several notches below the Hawks.

 

Down in the city, Temple offered the prospect the Owls could hold interest into the American Athletic Conference tournament.

 

To the West, Penn State, which had improved greatly in any respect, is causing an anticipatory look to the next Big Ten heavyweight to cross the path of the Lady Lions.

 

On Saturday, Princeton maintain the Tiger’s long-running grip on the Ivy League in its showdown at home in Jadwin Gym against Columbia.

 

As for the other nine locals, in various ways they seemed to have all been suffering from Eagles disease.

 

Especially here in Finneran Pavilion, where Villanova off a fabulous week of things needed to happen were perhaps one step away from heading back to national ranking stature.

 

Unfortunately, as they did in round one here a year ago in their Big East rivalry, No. 21 Creighton transformed the Wildcats from taking a big step to suffering a big stumble in the form of the Bluejays’ 63-49 victory to take back home to Omaha.

 

“It’s not a bad loss in terms of who we played,” said Villanova coach Denise Dillon following the separation of a six-game win streak. “It’s a bad loss because of the way we played.”

 

How bad was it?

 

Let’s put it this way. If you were able to place a special prop bet on the one thing Villanova has done at least once in every game for the past decade, you’re a bit poorer today.

 

The reason for a dip in poverty is the total collapse of Villanova’s bread and butter specialty — the 3-point shot.

 

In terms of success from outside the arc, the Wildcats (12-6, 5-2 Big East) were very outside — like 0-for-17.

 

Since Jan. 2, 2004, the last time Villanova was futile on its trademark specialty, the Wildcats had gone 635 straight games sinking at least one from deep.

 

Though Lucy Olsen continued to be the major point producer, a game-high 29 points, which by the way was the only player attachment in double figures for the home team, she was 0-for-6.

 

Creighton (14-3, 5-2) on the other hand got 24 points and 13 rebounds from Morgan Maley, 19 from Emma Ronsiek, and 12 from Lauren Jensen.

 

“You’re not going to beat many teams as talented as that when you’re not shooting,” Dillon said, also pointing out that things were as dreadful close up also with missed layups.

 

“I felt the spacing was good, the attack mode was good, but you gotta finish.”

 

All season the hunt has been on to find consistent scoring to supplement Olsen.

 

“On the inside out, we’re not making layups, we’re not making threes, it’s not like they’re giving us the mid-range,” Dillon explained.

 

Villanova was outscored in every quarter.

 

“Like I’ve said about ourselves, we’ve just got to work smarter,” Dillon said.

 

“Bella Runyan came off a good game against Marquette, she had a good practice yesterday, she was looking for different shots, Maddy Webber, a freshman, you’re going to get those highs and lows, Christena (Dolce), we’re looking for her to score at a higher clip.

 

“They’re getting their experience now. But you got to take care of business, especially at home games,” Dillon said. “The environment today was tremendous.”

 

The arena was packed, not necessarily toward sellout level, but full enough, especially with several high school squads in the building.

 

Next up is a two-game road trip, Wednesday at Providence, which at times has been a pothole to the Wildcats. Tip time is 7 p.m. followed by a Sunday visit to DePaul at Wintrust Arena in Chicago at 2 p.m., both games on FloHoops.

 

Then it’s back here on Jan. 31 to face the first of two in the annual series with UConn, currently ranked ninth and likely higher when the next poll is released Monday at noon.

 

Saint Joseph’s Keeps Rolling: A ten-point cushion going into the fourth quarter for the Hawks to hold off a Rhode Island rally, beating the Rams 51-48 with another game still slated next month on Hawk Hill as one of the home-and-homes scheduled in the Atlantic 10.

 

“A ten-point lead, we hemorrhaged that a bit, but we did the necessary things, the 50-50 balls, to get the win and on to the next,” said Saint Joseph’s veteran coach Cindy Griffin, whose team was picked second behind Rhode Island by the league coaches in the preseason voting.

 

The front court continued to be a force for Saint Joseph’s (17-2, 6-1), who are holding second behind Rhode Island, which won at Hagan Arena earlier this month.

 

The new Big 5 women’s champs got 15 points from Mackenzie Smith, a double double 13 points and 10 rebounds from Laura Ziegler, and 11 from Talya Brugler, the last two who were consecutive A-10 rookie of the year honorees in successive years as freshmen.

 

Julia Nystrom scored seven points, while Chloe Welch had five points and seven rebounds.

 

Rhode Island (12-8, 4-3) got 16 points from Teisha Hyman, Maye Toure had 14 points and nine rebounds, Dee Dee Davis scored 13, while Hawa Komara grabbed 10 rebounds.

 

Saint Joseph’s moves to St. Bonaventure Wednesday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

La Salle, the other local in the A-10, was on the road Saturday, losing at VCU 66-50.

 

The Explorers (6-12, 3-4), despite the loss, got another standout performance from Makayla Miller with 16 points, while Tiara Bolden scored 1 against VCU (16-2, 5-1), which was led by Timaya Lewis-Eutsey, with 22 points and 11 rebounds.

 

Sarah Te-Biasu had 15 points, and Mary-Anna Asare scored 13.

 

La Salle on Wednesday will host Rhode Island at 11 a.m. at Tom Gola Arena, the annual Kids Day game, which will air on ESPN+.

 

Temple Rallies to Top Charlotte: Back in past the host Owls and 49ers had a nice rivalry when both were in the Atlantic 10 before Charlotte went on to C-USA, while Temple landed in the football part of the old Big East at the American Athletic Conference.

 

Now the 49ers are in the AAC also, one of several teams elected to replace the ones that defected to the Big 12.

 

Sunday at the Liacouras Center offered a big opportunity for Temple (10-8, 4-2), with preseason favorite South Florida having lost again to open the door wide to chase the No. 1 seed for the March tourney in Fort Worth, Texas.

 

And the Owls rallied to take advantage, beating Charlotte 73-68 to drop the opposition to 12-7 overall and 5-2 in the league.

 

Fifth-year guard Aleah Nelson claimed her 1500th career point, the 10^th player going through the program to reach that total. She also joins Feyonda Henderson as the only to having 1500 points and 500 assists, though Nelson claimed some of her numbers at Towson, where the Owls’ Diane Richardson coached two seasons ago.

 

For the game, Nelson scored 14, Tiarra East scored 12, and Ines Piper had 111, while off the bench, Tristen Taylor had 13 points.

 

Temple next goes to SMU Wednesday at 8 p.m. in Dallas on ESPN+ and will continue away Sunday visiting Tulane at 3 p.m. in New Orleans on ESPN+.

 

Princeton Rallies Over Columbia While Penn Falls at Harvard: A year after Columbia ended a long mastery here in Jadwin Gym by the host Tigers, resulting in a regular season co-championship shared by the duo, the visiting Lions at the half Saturday seemed ready to make it two straight on their rival on the road.

 

But coach Carla Berube’s team had final say the rest of the way for an 80-65 victory, though the two will face again in a few weeks at Columbia’s Levien Gym off Broadway on New York City’s Upper East Side, which will also be the site of this season’s four-team Ivy Tourney for both the men and women.

 

Leading the end to a 10-game win streak by Columbia (12-5, 3-1) Madison St. Rose had 21 points, six rebounds and three steals for Princeton (14-3, 4-0), while freshman Sky Belker had a career-high 21 points, shooting 7-for-11 from the field and also dishing four assists.

 

Ellie Mitchell continued to be an inside force with 14 points and 15 rebounds.

 

“Coming into this game, I just felt I wanted to bring it all for my teammates,” St. Rose said. “Whether it be rebounding, whether it be scoring in any way possible, just to help out because I really wanted this win. I don’t like when people win on our home court.”

 

Of her team’s play in the second half, Berube said, alluding to some adjustments, “I thought we came out with a lot of energy in that third quarter, and then I think we locked down really wellin that fourth quarter.”

 

Chet Nweke made her first start for the home team, scoring nine points, shooting 4-5 from the field, and hauling in six boards.

 

“I’m a defensive coach so I want to get my best defensive team out there, and Chet’s really been playing well on that side of the ball,” Berube said. “She came up big, she had a really great game.”

 

While Columbia’s Abbey Hsu scored 22 points, Belker frustrated her into shooting 8-22 from the field.

 

Freshman Riley Weiss scored 12.

 

“I just don’t think we strung together stops at all in this game,” said Columbia coach Megan Griffith, a native of King of Prussia.

 

“Wwe track something called turkeys, which is three stops in a row, and we only had one of those tonight. You’re not going to beat anybody let alone this team with one.”

 

Penn, meanwhile, in the battle between teams picked third and fourth, Harvard above Penn, the host Crimson beat the visiting Quakers 69-56 pulling away in the second half.

 

Freshman Mataya Gayle had 19 points for Penn (10-7, 2-2), which earlier fell to Columbia and will host the Lions in the Palestra on Saturday at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

Jordan Obi had 15 points and 10 rebounds against the Crimson (10-7, 3-1).

 

Princeton is home on Saturday hosting Cornell at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

Barring some upsets like Penn pulled last year it appears the Quakers’ two games with Brown will decide the fourth team in the league playoffs.

 

Big Ten Locals: Penn State Moving Up While Rutgers Winless: Like the booster that propels a space shot into orbit, the debut of Ashley Owusu, an all-American, previously at Maryland and Virginia Tech, a week ago at Rutgers impressed her third straight game, all wins, at Penn State.

 

On Sunday, she scored 20, shooting 8-13, as the Lady Lions (13-5, 4-3) beat Nebraska 82-73 at home in the Bryce Jordan Center.

 

Shay Ciezki added 17 points, while Leilani Kapinus had 13 points against the Cornhuskers (13-6, 5-3).

 

PSU next goes for a sweep after a previous home win when the Lady Lions drop in on Northwestern Thursday at 8 p.m. in Welsh-Ryan Arena in suburban Chicago.

 

Meanwhile, Rutgers celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the Scarlet Knights’ history by scoring 50 points against Michigan in its Big Ten game at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J.

 

But that was not enough to cover against the Wolverines, who covered 56-50 to keep Rutgers (6-15, 0-8) still in search of its first conference win of the season.

 

Jilian Huerter had 12 points for the home team, while Destiny Adams had 11 points.

 

Michigan (13-6, 4-3) got 25 points from Laila Phelia, while Lauren Hansen scored 12.

 

Rutgers next is at Wisconsin on Saturday at 3 p.m.

 

Drexel and Delaware Swept in CAA: The Dragons are still trying to beat Monmouth, which came into the Coastal Athletic Association last year and swept them at home in the regular season in Central New Jersey and in the conference tournament.

 

On Sunday, the Hawks (10-6, 3-2) outscored Drexel 18-12 in the fourth quarter to finish with a 63-55 victory.

 

Amaris Baker had a career-high 21 points on 9-14 shooting from the field for the home team (9-8, 4-2) in the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

 

Chloe Hodges had nine points as did Villanova transfer Brooke Mullin, while Laine McGurk scored eight.

 

Drexel is off Friday but travels to league leader Stony Brook on Sunday at 2 p.m. on FloHoops.

 

Delaware meanwhile fell at North Carolina A&T 65-62 in Greensboro, N.C.

 

Grace Sundback had a career-best 13 points for the Blue Hens (6-11, 2-3), while Klarke Sconiers scored 12 and Rebecca Demeke had 11 against the opposition (10-6, 4-1).

 

Delaware next hosts Northeastern on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark. The game will air on FloHoops and also stream on the network’s YouTube channel, Twitter/X account, and Facebook page free.

 

Wrapping up the weekend, three other games were played Saturday. In the Patriot League, Lehigh lost the season series to American, 2-0, falling to the Eagles 59-55 after leading much during the game in Bender Arena in Washington, D.C.

 

Ella Stemmer had 15 points against American (7-10, 5-1), while Maddie Albrecht had 14 and Meghan O’Brien had 13 for the Mountain Hawks (10-7, 2-4).

 

Lehigh next goes to Colgate Monday in Hamilton, N.Y. at 4 p.m. on the CBSSN.

 

Lafayette lost its game at Bucknell 65-58 in Lewisburg, Pa., despite Abby Antognoli and Halee Smith each scoring 17 points for the Leopards (6-11, 1-5) against the Bison (5-12, 2-4).

 

Next is a home game Wednesday against Loyola, Md., at 4 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

Finally, in the MAAC, Rider fell to St. Mary’s 60-53 in the Broncs’ Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

 

Makayla Firebaugh had 13 points, Langon Taylor scored 12, and Jessika Schiffer had 11 for Rider (5-11, 2-5), which has the same overall and league records as the Mountaineers.

 

Rider next hosts preseason favorite Niagara Thursday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ though Fairfield has since been storming through the conference at the top.

 

And that’s the local report.