The Guru Report: No. 3 Stanford Upset at Home by Arizona; JuJu Watkins Powers No. 7 USC Over No. 11 Colorado; Drexel Again Falls to Monmouth; Previewing Showdown Saturday

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

It was another split decision outing on the local front Friday, both part of the Coastal Athletic Association slate with Drexel falling 61-55 to Monmouth 61-55 at the OceanFirst Bank Center in West Long Branch, N.J., while Delaware at home whipped UNC Wilmington 73-35 in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.

 

In the former game, Monmouth (17-8, 10-4) completed a season sweep and ended the night in fourth two games behind front-running Stony Brook involved in four-team race for three other spots gaining double byes for next month’s tournament in Washington, D.C.

 

Drexel (11-13, 6-7) is in a three-way tie for seventh with Delaware (10-15, 6-7), an area that gets a one-game bye.

 

The Dragons have a tie break with Delaware, sweeping the season series but have yet to meet Campbell.

 

Monmouth lost the first five games in the series playing Drexel when the Hawks were in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference but have now become a mammoth opponent since joining the CAA last season winning four straight including knocking the Dragons out of the quarterfinals on the way to winning the championship.

 

In Friday’s game, the Dragons rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to within three going into fourth quarter.

 

The home team then stayed just enough ahead to claim the win in a game the Hawks were forced into 23 turnovers yielding 21 points for the visitors.

 

Drexel freshman Laine McGurk had a career-high 21 points, shooting 8-19 from the field, including 4-9 makes from deep, all totaled in the second half.

 

Amaris Baker was 5-10 scoring 10 points.

 

Monmouth got 21 points from Ariana Vanderhoop, while Kaci Donovan scored 19 and Taisha Exanor grabbed 11 rebounds.

 

Drexel begins a three-game home-stand, last of the season, Sunday at 1 p.m. (FloHoops) in the Daskalakis Athletic Center hosting UNC Wilmington coming up from its Delaware game.

 

In that contest, Rebecca Demeke shot 7-12 from the field for a career-high 20 points including tying a personal best six from deep, while Klarke Sconiers had 10 points and nine boards.

 

Kylah Silver had 16 for UNCW 5-19, 3-10.

 

Delaware Sunday heads to preseason favorite Towson in suburban Baltimore tipping at at 2 p.m. airing on both FloHoops and the Monumental Sports Network.

 

The National Scene: Missing Cameron Brink due to an illness unrelated to COVID-19, No. 3 Stanford was stunned at home by Arizona 68-61 in the Pac-12, the visitors snapping a seven-game series losing streak and getting the first win in Maples Pavilion in more than 20 years.

 

Jada Williams put the Wildcats ahead to stay with a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in regulation and finished with 23 points while Esmery Wilson scored 17.

 

Arizona only dressed seven players and had to go into triple overtime to beat Washington on Sunday.

 

KiKi Iriafen had 21 points and 15 rebounds for Stanford (23-4, 12-3), which holds a one-game lead over No. 7 Southern Cal and No. 9 Oregon State, which both played Friday night to close the gap.

 

The Wildcats (15-12, 7-8) had lost 15 of 16 to the Cardinal, including the 2021 NCAA championship on a missed shot at the buzzer.

 

It was their first conference road win since beating Arizona State in the league opener last December and they last 1 at Stanford in 2001.

 

On Sunday Stanford hosts Arizona State and Arizona is at Cal-Berkeley.

 

Oregon State closed its second-place gap pulling away down the stretch with a 14-2 run to win at Washington State 65-52 in Pullman.

 

Lily Hansford had 11 points and Timea Gardner scored 10 for the Beavers (22-4, 11-4) who play at Washington Sunday in Seattle.

 

Bella Murekatete had 14 points, nine rebounds and three steals for the Cougars (16-12, 5-10).

 

Southern Cal won at home in Los Angeles over No. 11 Colorado 87-81 as freshman sensation JuJu Watkins scored 42 points being perfect on the line with 18 foul shots and firing four connectors from beyond the arc for the Trojans (21-4, 11-4).

 

Harvard transfer McKenzie Forbes scored 24 and Penn transfer Kayla Padilla had 12 piints, shooting 4-5 on 3-point attempts.

 

Colorado (20-6, 10-5) got 18 points from Aaronette Vonleh and 12 from Quay Miller. The Buffaloes will be at UCLA Monday night while USC hosts No. 18 UCLA Sunday.

 

Looking Ahead: It’s a big day Saturday for several locals while on Sunday, Temple, the only team other than the already mentioned two CAA squads playing, will be at Rice in Texas for a first-ever meeting at 3 p.m. (ESPN+) trying to hold first place in the American Athletic Conference and move closer to locking up a double bye in next month's tournament at Fort Worth with a top four finish.

 

In the Atlantic 10, Saint Joseph’s will be trying to bounce back from Wednesday’s loss at VCU, hosting preseason favorite Rhode Island and going for a sweep at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) besides looking to lock up a double bye at next month’s tournament in suburban Richmond.

 

La Salle will be hosting VCU at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) while another key A-10 game will have Richmond at George Mason at 3 p.m. (ESPN+).

 

In the Ivy League, No. 25 Princeton will look to sweep host Columbia and virtually clinch the top seed at 2 p.m. (ESPN+). The host Lions have sold out Levien Gym, also the site for next month’s Ivy Madness, which both teams have clinched access to the four-team field.

 

Penn will try to stay in the hunt visiting Cornell at at 2 p.m., while Harvard hosts Brown at 2 p.m., both in contention.

 

In the Big East, Villanova chasing third place visits No. 21 Creighton in Omaha, Neb., at noon on FOX looking for a split.

 

Rider in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is on a three-game win streak and hosts Marist at 1 p.m. (ESPN+), while elsewhere in the MAAC Fairfield goes for its 22^nd victory hosting preseason favorite Niagara at 2 p.m. looking to clinch top seed for next month’s tourney in Atlantic City.

 

Wrapping up the locals for Saturday, the second season series in the longtime Patriot League rivalry has Lafayette at nearby Lehigh 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+) in Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., while in the Big Ten, Rutgers is at Michigan State at 2 p.m.

 

Nationally in the Big 12, No. 24 Baylor is at No. 22 West Virginia at 2 p.m. while No. 5 Texas is at UCF at noon, both on ESPN+, and No. 23 Oklahoma hosts Oklahoma State at 2 p.m. on FOX.

 

And that’s the report.