The Guru Report: Valladay and Owusu Lead Penn State to Big Ten Win Over Purdue While Three Ranked Teams Upset in ACC by Three Unranked Foes; PAC-12 Place to Be On Weekend

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

The enhanced new look of Penn State continued Thursday night with an 80-67 win over Purdue at home in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College while in the only other local on the night’s card Rider dropped its visit to Siena 79-58 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

 

Nationally, the Atlantic Coast Conference got slammed with a major storm of upsets in league play: Miami toppled No. 4 NC State 73-59 at home in Coral Gables, Syracuse took down visiting No. 15 Florida State 79-73, Duke beat visiting No. 14 Virginia Tech 63-46.

 

On the other hand, No. 23 edged host Georgia Tech 73-68, No. 19 Notre Dame won 86-76 at Virginia in Charlottesville, and No. 13 Louisville won at Clemson 81-64 in South Carolina.

 

Up at Penn State the Lady Lions (12-5, 3-3 Big Ten) rode the graduate guard transfer duo of Tay Valladay with 22 points off 7-11 from the field, including two makes from deep, and the recent lineup debut of reserve Ashley Owusu in her first home game with 19 points with five rebounds and four assists against the Boilermakers (9-8, 2-4).

 

PSU was again deadly from the field shooting over 50 percent for the ninth game this season, while also outscoring Purdue 21-13 in transition.

 

On Sunday, Nebraska will visit.

 

Meanwhile in upstate New York in suburban Albany, Rider (5-10, 2-4 MAAC) initially shook off a 23-13 deficit to rally to a 31-30 lead at the half against the Saints (7-8, 4-3), who were picked second in the preseason coaches’ poll.

 

But Siena decidedly controlled the third period 24-8 and added six more points in the fourth to add to the differential. 

 

Rider’s Taylor Langan had 19 points and 10 rebounds while Makayla Firebaugh scored 18, including three makes from beyond the arc.

 

Siena’s Anajah Brown had 21 points and 13 rebounds.

 

“I thought the game was won on the glass,” said Rider coach Lynn Milligan.

 

The Broncs are home Saturday  playing Mount St. Mary’s at 4 p.m. (ESPN+) in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

 

The National Scene: In the win by Miami (12-5, 2-4 ACC) over the Wolf Pack (15-2, 3-2), who lost just their second game, this one by a much wider margin than the recent buzzer beater, the Hurricanes grabbed 11 steals and forced 16 turnovers.

 

Miami’s Jasmyne Roberts, Shayeann Day-Wilson, and reserve Lashae Dwyer each scored 18 points, while Mimi Collins had 18 points, Saniya Rivers scored 17, and Zoe Brooks scored 14 for the visitors.

 

Syracuse (15-2, 5-1) finished with a bang in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Seminoles 25-11 with Dyaisha Fair scoring 11 of her 31 points. She made nine shots from deep.

 

The Orange rallied from an 18-point deficit to FSU (14-5, 5-2).

 

Duke (12-5, 4-2) got 22 points from Reigan Richardson in beating the visiting Hokies (13-4, 4-2), overcoming an early 11-point deficit highlighted by a 27-8 rout in the third quarter. 

 

Elizabeth Kitley had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the opposition.

 

Deja Kelly had 27 points for her third straight game leading UNC (13-5, 5-1), while Sonia Citron scored 28, including her 1000^th, and South Jersey’s Hannah Hidalgo scored 23 in the win by Notre Dame (13-3, 4-2). The duo also combined for 23-26 from the line.

 

Elsewhere, Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference bounced back from Sunday’s loss to beat Mississippi State 75-64 on the road rallying from a 13-point second quarter deficit as Rickea Jackson scored 19 points.

 

No. 10 LSU, the reigning NCAA champs, also got back to winning ways, downing host Alabama 78-58. Angel Reese had 20 points and 17 boards while Aneesah Morrow had 20 and 11.

 

Out West, Yvonne Ejim shot 11-15 from the field, scored 24, and grabbed 12 rebounds on the road leading No. 17 Gonzaga to a 72-48 win over Loyola Marymount as Lisa Fortier got her 250^th career win in a West Coast Conference game in Los Angeles.

 

Looking Ahead: just two locals in action, both in the Coastal Athletic Association on FloHoops, Delaware visiting William & Mary at 7 p.m. in Williamsburg, Va., while Drexel is scheduled to host Hofstra at 6 p.m. at the Daskalakis Athletic Center but check the Dragons’ website throughout the day for any weather-related changes in the schedule.

 

In the PAC-12, a potential historic weekend lies ahead for No. 8 Stanford and coach Tara VanDerveer with a sweep of visiting Oregon, Friday night at 10 p.m., in Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, Calif., and Oregon State Sunday at 5 p.m.

 

The first would give the Hall of Fame coach her 1,202^nd career win, tying her with retired Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski for the collegiate record, while the second moves the record to hers alone.

 

Elsewhere in the league features key games in the Rockies with No. 5 UCLA visiting No. 3 Colorado at 8 p.m. on Friday night in Boulder while No. 6 Southern Cal visits No. 20 Utah in Salt Lake City at 9 p.m.

 

On Sunday, Southern Cal plays at Colorado at 3 p.m., while on Monday, UCLA is at Utah at 7 p.m.

 

And that’s the report.