Womhoops Guru

Mel Greenberg covered college and professional women’s basketball for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he worked for 40 plus years. Greenberg pioneered national coverage of the game, including the original Top 25 women's college poll. His knowledge has earned him nicknames such as "The Guru" and "The Godfather," as well as induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

The Guru Report: Utah Upsets UCLA in Overtime; Lehigh Beats Colgate

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Even the quiet days aren’t so quiet anymore.

 

Only hours after reclaiming No. 2 in the Associated Press women’s poll UCLA fell to No. 16 Utah 94-81 in overtime Monday night in a Pac-12 road game in Salt Lake City enabling the host Utes (14-5, 4-3) to claim a weekend sweep of the Los Angeles ranked duo having beaten then-No. 6 Southern Cal on Friday.

 

It’s the highest ranked team Utah has ever beaten and came on a night Alissa Pili did not score in her high-volume numbers.

 

She still reached double digits at 16 points, behind leader Kennady McQueen with 21. Dasia Young and Matyson Wilke each scored 12 off four 3-pointers apiece.

 

“We were sick of coming up short. So, we have a bit of an attitude,” said Utah coach Lynne Roberts, whose team’s five losses were all against ranked opponents.

 

Gabriel Jaquez scored 21 while Kiki Rice had 16 and Charisma Osborne 14 for UCLA (15-2, 4-2), which gave up a lead in the fourth quarter and was outscored 22-9 in overtime.

 

“We showed a lot of guts to put us in position where I thought we should have won the game. We got to close that out,” said Bruins coach Cori Close.

 

Ines Vieira made a driving layup for the home team to force overtime.

 

Meanwhile in a game between two ranked teams in the Big 12, No. 4 Kansas State rallied to win the Wildcats’ 13thstraight 58-55 at No. 13 Baylor (15-3, 4-3) in Waco, Texas.

 

Celebrating its highest ranking in 21 years and without all-American center Aoki Lee, sidelined by an fractured ankle injury until late February, a trio of Wildcats players each scored 16 from Eliza Maupin, Gabby Gregory, and Serena Sundell.

 

Kansas State (19-1, 8-0) trailed by 13 late in the first half.

 

Bella Fontleroy scored 12 for the host Bears while Dre’Una Edwards scored 11.

 

Elsewhere, Mississippi State beat host Florida 89-77 in the Southeastern Conference while Seton Hall beat visiting St. John’s 74-66 in overtime in the Big East.

 

   There was just one local game, which saw Lehigh (11-7, 3-4) win at Colgate 79-61 in the Patriot League.

 

Maddie Albrecht had 27 points, shooting 10-13, for the winning Mountain Hawks, while Ella Stemmer scored 12, and Lily Fandre had 11.

 

Tiasia McMillan scored 15 for Colgate (11-7, 4-3).

 

Lehigh next goes to league-leading Holy Cross Saturday at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ in Worcester, Mass.

 

Looking Ahead: There’s no local games Tuesday, though in Division II Jefferson is hosting Holy Family.

 

Connecticut has a Big East game at Marquette at 7 p.m.

 

On Wednesday, Rhode Island comes to La Salle at Tom Gola Arena at 11 am., the annual Kids’ Day game on ESPN+, in the Atlantic 10, while elsewhere in the conference Saint Joseph’s is at Saint Bonaventure at 7: p.m., and Richmond is at Duquesne at 6 p.m., both on ESPN+. 

 

Villanova will try to bounce back with a win in the Big East visiting Providence at 7 p.m. on FloHoops, while Temple in the American Athletic Conference visits SMU in Dallas at 8 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

Lafayette hosts Loyola, Md., at 7 p.m., also on ESPN+, in the Patriot League at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa.

 

And that’s the report.

 

 

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