The Guru Report: Big Second Half Carries No. 11 UConn at Villanova; La Salle and Temple Win in Closing Seconds; Penn State and Saint Joseph’s Still Surging; Iowa’s. Clark Now 2nd on All-Time NCAA Scoring List

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

VILLANOVA — What a hump day it was locally and nationally on Wednesday as January officially ran its course heading into leap month just 29 days ahead and March Madness arrives.

 

Here on the Main Line in the Big East, No. 11 UConn got a challenge from Villanova for a little over a half, but the Huskies then put some separation from the Wildcats and bounced back from Saturday night’s home loss to Notre Dame leaving Finneran Pavilion with an 81-60 victory.

 

Two other local games landed in the win column at the finish, La Salle, in the Atlantic 10, hitting a pair of free throws with a second left to gain a 63-61 victory at Massachusetts in the Mullens Center in Amherst while Temple’s three-point buzzer beater from Tiarra East at home in the Liacouras Center gave the Owls a 66-65 triumph over Wichita State for a sweep in the two-game series and landed them in the heart of the American Athletic Conference race.

 

Despite the absence of Laura Ziegler for an unspecified condition, Saint Joseph’s controlled the outcome most of the night, winning 61-50 at Loyola Chicago to zoom back to a half-game lead over Richmond in the Atlantic 10.

 

Penn State pounced on host Minnesota 80-64 in a Big Ten game in Minneapolis to extend the Lady Lions’ win streak to six games and maintain a grip on fourth in the standings.

 

And in the Patriot League a pair of upsets in opposite directions, Lehigh losing at Navy 62-46 in Alumni Hall in Annapolis, Md., while Lafayette took a stunner nipping American 60-55 in Bender Arena in Washington, D.C.

 

Nationally, No. 3 Iowa won in a route 110-74 in Welsh-Ryan Arena in a Big Ten game at Northwestern in suburban Chicago and Hawkeyes’ sensation Caitlin Clark took two giants steps up the NCAA career scoring ladder and is now second behind former Washington star Kelsey Plum and rapidly moving closer.

 

In another game involving a ranked team in the Big Ten, No. 10 Indiana broke away from a differential that became narrow and won at Maryland 87-73 in College Park, while in the Big 12, the curse of a No. 2 ranking in the AP Women’s Poll continued with Kansas State nipped at Oklahoma 66-63.

 

Elsewhere in the Big East, No. 22 Creighton at home in Omaha, Nebraska, edged Marquette 76-71.

 

Starting with detail on all this, a crowd of 4,109, about two-thirds full, saw UConn (18-4, 10-0), despite all its injury problems, continue its unbeaten mastery of the Big East with the inside force of Aaliyah Edwards scoring 22 points, while the backcourt slickness of Paige Bueckers totaled 21.

 

“Aaliyah Edwards is a force to be reckoned with,” Villanova coach Denise Dillon said. “It’s not a team you can double off in the post. You need one-in-one coverage there.”

 

Freshman KK Arnold scored 13, and Niki Muhl double doubled with with 12 points and ten assists.

 

“I thought Edwards was fabulous,” Huskies Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma said of her performance after picking up his 1,198^th career victory, seven behind Stanford Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer who last weekend extended her new record career collegiate win win total at 1,205.

 

Between the two is retired Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski at 1,202.

 

As to what changed after the half, Dillon said “They made the adjustment at halftime to turn up the intensity and be more aggressive and I felt on the flipside we didn’t do as great job of using each other with the screens.

 

“We were kind of just running and interchanging a lot and it wasn’t clean by any stretch.”

 

The game was the annual homecoming for Auriemma, who grew up in Norristown and said winning against the Wildcats (13-8, 6-4) is always special while also expressing respect for Dillon and her staff.

 

Lucy Olsen, who is among the top scoring leaders in the nation, had 15 for Villanova, while Zanai Jones had 14, and freshman Maddie Webber, who was moved into the starting lineup at the DePaul win Sunday had 11 points.

 

Olsen had two fouls quickly when the game got under way, but the Wildcats were able to remain in competition while she was on the bench.

 

“I thought the whole first half, we were a little bit lax in keeping Lucy out of the lane,” Auriemma said. “I think when she gets in the lane, she makes things really difficult not just with her scoring, but with everything else that happens.

 

“The keys were limit how many times they got paint touches, get in the lane, and no second shots. You have to convert offensively. That way you force Villanova to have to make shots. We needed to get some separation and that second half was about as good as you can draw up.”

 

Olsen, while saying it’s a learning experience the way things went, noted, “They’re a tough team, all the Big East is pretty tough though, so every night I get a nice challenge, which is fun.

 

“It was fun to play them, they’re ranked 11^th right now. It’s always fun play against a ranked team.”

 

On Saturday, Villanova hosts Seton Hall at 2 p.m. on FloHoops, while Connecticut hosts St. John’s Sunday at 3 p.m. on CBSSN.

 

Winning Cliffhangers: A week after an apparent game-winner at the finish from deep from Tiarra East at SMU was negated for not having gotten the ball out of her hands quick enough, this time as Temple trailed by two in the final 15 seconds but she grabbed a rebound beyond the arc and fired it through the net as time expired for the victory.

 

And an important victory over Wichita State (6-16, 2-8) it was for the Owls (12-9, 6-3), who are just a game behind the top of the American Athletic Conference after several upsets elsewhere.

 

“I knew I had to knock the shot down,” East said afterwards. Everyone was telling me I was going to make another one and I got another opportunity today and knocked it down.”

 

Temple had a 12-2 lead to open the game and then fell down by nine in the third quarter until inching back into contention.

Aleah Nelson had 13 points on a poor shooting night, while Demi Washington scored 12. Rayne Tucker had 11 rebounds.

 

In their first meeting with the Shockers out in Kansas, the Owls won 72-49.

 

Temple will be going for another sweep Sunday at Charlotte, a rival from when both played in the Atlantic 10.

 

The Owls won 73-68 on Jan. 21. Sunday’s game in North Carolina is at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ and then Temple will be off all week until preseason favorite South Florida visits a week from Saturday at 3 p.m.

 

Meanwhile, while Temple’s ending game with a dagger, La Salle (7-13, 4-7) rallied from a seven-point deficit at the top of the fourth quarter and won the Atlantic 10 game the easier way, Makayla Miller sank two foul shots at the finish after the Minutewomen (3-19, 1-9) tied it with a long three with four seconds left in regulation.

 

Jolene Armendariz scored 16, Miller had 14, and Tiara Bolden scored 10.

 

On Sunday La Salle hosts Dayton in the Atlantic 10 at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

Surge City for Saint Joseph’s and Penn State: The Hawks used to Windy City to blow another road opponent away, running their perfect total to 10-0 with the 61-50 victory at Loyola, Chicago in the Atlantic 10 in a game that saw them ahead by 18 at the outset of the fourth quarter.

 

The second-best part in program history (20-2, 9-1) saw them again move out of a tie with Richmond to a half-game in front.

 

In the game in Gentile Arena, Mackenzie Smith led the visitors with 15 points and a personal best five steals, Talya Brugler had 14 and seven boards, in her first career start Aleah Snead had a personal best 13 points, and Chloe Welch had 11 points.

 

The Ramblers fell to 11-10 overall and 5-5 in the league.

 

Saint Joseph’s is back home Saturday in Hagan Arena celebrating National Girls and Women in Sports Day and hosting Massachusetts at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

Penn State (16-5, 7-3) ran its win streak to six games and reserve Shay Ciezki had a game-high 18 points, transfer Ashley Owusu, whose debut coincided with the start of the streak, had 17 points and 11 rebounds, Leilani Kapinus had 16 points, shooting 6-for-9, and Makenna Marisa had 13 points.

 

The Lady Lions are back home Saturday at 6 p.m., hosting Michigan at 6 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

 

Lafayette and Lehigh Split in the Patriot: Lafayette (7-13, 2-7) pulled off an upset in the Patriot League at American U. as Makayla Andrews and Kayla Drummond each scored 12 points, and reserve Kay Donahue scored 10.

 

Ivy Bales had 13 points for American (8-12, 6-3), while Lauren Stack and Anna LeMaster each scored 12 and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Emily Johns scored 10.

Lafayette hosts Army in the Kirby Sports Center in Easton at 2 p.m., while Lehigh at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem also at 2 p.m. hosts Boston U., both games on ESPN+.

 

While the Leopards were winning, the Mountain Hawks (12-8, 4-5) had their nine-game win streak against Navy (6-14, 2-7) snapped.

 

Rookies Zanai Barnett-Gay and Kyah Smith scored 21 and 19 points respectfully for the Midshipmen.

 

Lerhigh’s Maddie Albrecht had 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Lily Fandre had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

 

The National Scene: In Iowa’s lopsided win in the Big Ten over Northwestern, Caitlin Clark caused another sellout on the road, and she delivered again, this time with 35 points, 10 assists and six rebounds to rocket in points past former Missouri State guard Jackie Stiles, and Ohio State guard Kelsey Mitchell to second on the NCAA All-time list at 3,424, in back of current holder former Washington state guard Kelsey Plum with 3,527.

 

In passing Mitchell, she’s the new all-time scorer in the Big Ten.

 

“I think the coolest thing is just the names that I get to be around,” Clark said. “These are people that I grew up watching, especially Kelsey Plum, Brittney Griner, Kelsey Mitchell. Those are really, really great players.”

 

Iowa next is at Maryland Saturday night.

 

Meanwhile in the Big 12, Oklahoma edged visiting No. 2 Kansas State the latest runnerup in the AP Poll to South Carolina to lose the week after reaching that ranking.

 

“Skylar Vann had 21 points for the winning Sooners (14-6, 8-1) in snapping the 14-game winning streak by the Wildcats (20-2, 9-1), who got 18 points from Gisela Sanchez and 15 with 10 rebounds from Serena Sundell.

 

Looking Ahead: Just one local game, in the MAAC, Rider hosts a red-hot team In Fairfield at 7 p.m. in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.  The visiting Stags have lost just one game, which was 73-70 out of conference back in November to Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn.

 

In the Big 12, the second in the series between now No. 12 Texas and No. 13 Baylor moves from Austin, home of the Longhorns, to the new Foster Pavilion in Waco, Texas.

 

Baylor won the first one in early January.

 

In the ACC on the conference network, No. 24 North Carolina is at No. 5 N.C. State at 8 p.m. in Raleigh, N.C. 

 

At 7 p.m., Tennessee is at Georgia on the SEC Network.

 

And that’s the report.