The Guru Report: Temple Cruises Over Wichita State Giving Diane Richardson Her 100th Victory While Saint Joseph’s Tops Saint Louis

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

The road was kind to the only two local teams in action Tuesday night, Temple completed a successful two-stop swing in the American Athletic Conference giving second-year coach Diane Richardson her 100^th career victory by way of a lopsided 72-49 triumph at Wichita State (5-11, 1-3 AAC) in Kansas, while elsewhere in the Midwest Saint Joseph’s avenged an early loss in last season’s Atlantic 10 tournament winning at Saint Louis 69-57 in Missouri.

 

The Owls (9-7, 3-1) were able to have someone decorate the locker room early celebrating Richardson, who previously coached at Towson in suburban Baltimore, by jumping to a 15-5 lead at the end of the first quarter, extending to 32-15 at the half, and 55-28 heading into the final period.

 

On the postgame zoom call covered by the Temple News, Richardson remarking on her 100th cited the trio of players who followed her from Towson — Nelson, Rayne Tucker and Tiarra East “and without my staff who have been with me the entire time I’ve been a head coach. I’m happy and glad that we could accomplish that, and I’m really proud of my squad.” 

 

Demi Washington was on fire shooting 9-for-11 from the fielding, including connecting on her only 3-point attempt, for a personal best 20 points, Aleah Nelson scored 11 and dealt five assists while Ines Piper and Tarriyonna Gary each scored 10 points with Gary collecting a double double with a career-high 11 boards.

 

Nelson is now within 24 points to reach 1,500 in her career.

 

Temple coming off a big rally at Tulsa Saturday allowed just one player to score in double figures, barely at that with Salese Blow gaining 10 points.

 

“I think things are clicking both defensively and offensively,” Richardson said. “Our defense turns into our offense, which gives us more confidence and more confidence when we shoot the ball, and we saw that today.”

 

The Shockers were held to their lowest shooting percentage at 28.1 percent.

 

Temple is off until Sunday hosting the alumnae day contest against Memphis at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) in the Liacouras Center.

 

Saint Joseph’s bounced back from Saturday’s tough home loss to Richmond and started off against the Billikens (6-11, 1-3 A-10) in the same manor as Temple in its game, soaring to a 37-20 lead at the half.

 

But the home team clipped the Hawks (14-2, 3-1) taking eight points off the lead in the third forcing the differential to stay in single digits deep into the fourth until the visitors made it a little more comfortable for themselves in the closing minutes.

 

Saint Joseph’s was up 60-54 with 2:56 left in regulation when Saint Louis lost the ball and Laura Ziegler hit a shot from deep to go up nine at the 2:30 mark.

 

She then grabbed a rebound and Chloe Welch the other way sank two from the line to make it 65-54 with 1:37 left effectively stopping the rally.

 

Ziegler had a game-high 18 points shooting 7-for-10, including making two of the Hawks’ nine from deep, and grabbed nine rebounds.

 

Welch had 15 points while Talya Brugler and Mackenzie Smith each scored 11 with smith also grabbing nine boards.

 

Freshman Gabby Casey was effective early and finished with eight points.

 

  Saint Louis got 16 points and seven rebounds from Kyla McMakin while Marcavia Shavers 14 points and eight rebounds and Peyton Kennedy scored 11.

 

The Hawks will be back in Hagan Arena Saturday in a doubleheader with the men tipping off at 12 p.m. on ESPN+ in the first game hosting Duquesne.

 

On Monday at noon on Hawk Hill on CBSSN on Martin Luther King Day in the first of an annual home-and-home season series rivalry with nearby La Salle, a win would also give Saint Joseph’s the outright Big 5 title at 4-0.

 

The National Scene: It was more or less quiet on the national card involving a pair of Big East games and two in the Big Ten.

 

In the Big East St. John’s easily won 60-42 at Xavier while No. 23 Marquette for the moment avoided sliding further by winning 75-54 at Seton Hall in South Orange, N.J.

 

Liza Karlen had a career-high 30 points for Marquette (14-2, 3-2 Big East), while Jordan King had 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

 

The Golden Eagles snapped a four-game losing streak at Walsh Gym dating to 2019. The run still had a chance to continue for the host Pirates (10-6, 2-3), who trailed 33-31 at the half before Marquette pulled away in the third quarter.

 

Micah Gray had 16 points and Azana Baines scored 12 for Seton Hall.

 

In the Big Ten, at home in East Lansing, Michigan State topped visiting Maryland 74-69 as Moira Joiner and Julia Ayrault each scored 20 for the Spartans (12-3, 2-2 Big Ten) while Ayrault also grabbed 10 rebounds). 

 

Maryland (10-5, 2-2) got 23 points and nine rebounds from Shyanne Sellers, while Bri McDaniel had 20 points and eight rebounds.

 

In somewhat of an upset, Minnesota got an 82-66 road win over Michigan (11-5, 2-2) in Ann Arbor as Mallory Heyer had had 21 points for the Golden Gophers (12-3, 2-2) and Grace Grocholski scored 19 points.

 

Michigan (11-5, 2-2) got 16 points each from Laila Phelia and Lauren Hansen while Elissa Brett scored 14 with six rebounds.

 

Looking Ahead: Locally, Villanova on Wednesday has its annual Education Day game hosting Big East opponent Georgetown 11:30 a.m. in Finneran Pavilion on FloHoops. The visiting Hoyas are tied with Saint Joseph’s for best NCAA road record at 8-0.

 

In the Patriot League, Lafayette hosts Colgate at 11 a.m. in the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa. on ESPN+ which will also air nearby Lehigh visiting Bucknell at 6 p.m. in Lewisburg, Pa.

 

In the Big Ten, Penn State visits No. 14 Indiana at 7 p.m. while in the Atlantic 10 La Salle visits St. Bonaventure in Olean, N.Y. at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

Nationally, Richmond hosts UMass at 11 a.m. in the Atlantic 10, which also has Davidson at George Mason at 7 p.m., both games on ESPN+.

 

In the Big East, Uconn hosts Providence at 6:30 p.m.

 

In the Big 12, No. 12 Kansas State hosts Oklahoma at 7 p.m. on ESPNU, No. 4 Baylor is at Kansas 7:30 p.m. while No. 24 West Virginia is at Iowa State at 7:30 p.m., and TCU is at No 10 Texas at 8 p.m. the latter on the Longhorn Network, everything else on ESPN+.

 

In the Big Ten, No. 3 Iowa is at Purdue at 8 p.m. on Peacock.

 

On Thursday, Rutgers is at No. 17 Ohio State at 6 p.m. on the Big Ten network.

 

Rider is at Marist at 7 p.m. in the MAAC at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

And that’s the report.