The Guru Report: Saint Joseph’s Back in 1st Place Tie in A-10 After Beating Rhode Island; Columbia Upsets No. 25 Princeton While Penn Rallies on Cornell; Fairfield Clinches MAAC 1-Seed

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

PHILADELPHIA — February frenzy, the prelude period leading to March Madness, struck here with all its force in the Atlantic 10 race to the finish and also over in the Ivy League Saturday afternoon.

 

When the curtain finally dropped on the afternoon action in the A-10 Saint Joseph’s held on to beat Rhode Island 72-67 here at Hagan Arena for a season sweep and an hour later the Hawks (25-3, 14-2) found themselves back in a first-place tie with Richmond (24-5, 14-2), which was upset in overtime at George Mason 82-76 in overtime in Fairfax, Va.

 

Latvian Paula Maurina, a transfer from Hartford filling in for Laura Ziegler (expected back Wednesday), had her best day with her newer Hawks (also Hartford’s mascot) scoring 19 points, with five rebounds.

 

“She was unbelievable today,” said Saint Joseph’s veteran coach Cindy Griffin. “Defensively, she did a wonderful job in the paint just limiting the other team’s touches.”

 

Earlier in the season, Maurina had a nice outing and at that time Griffin said she could be a big help moving forward.

 

Griffin’s comment was quite prophetic.

 

“Defense is a lot about Effort and how much effort you put into what you're doing,” her reserve star said “I just try to execute the game plan that the coaching staff had talked to us about.”

 

Talya Bruglar had 17 points, 11 in the second half, Chloe Welch scored 14 while Mackenzie Smith scored 13.

 

Senior days always produce roster alterations at the outset as coaches put those normally off the bench into the starting lineup and in that regard, Emma Boslet took advantage picking up four assists while later in the game freshman Gabby Casey off the bench had seven points and four assists.

 

The Hawks were again perfect on the line 17-17, all which helped at the finish when the Rams rallied.

 

The two A-10 leaders heading into the final week of the regular season hold a one-game lead over a group of three, GMU (22-5, 13-3), VCU (24-4, 13-3), and Duquesne (18-9, 13-3), tied for third and one of five will be eliminated from the perk of a double bye into the quarterfinals at next month’s tournament in suburban Richmond, from which the winner gets an automatic bid to the Big Dance.

 

“We have five teams that could finish one through four,” said Griffin, now in her 23rd season at her alma mater. “I think this is a multiple team league from a national standpoint.”

 

It is moot to go into all the scenarios now with a re-do that will be needed following Wednesday’s contest to look at what the situations are for Saturday’s final games on the league slate.

 

But from the Hawks’ standpoint right now, a win at home Wednesday night (7 p.m., ESPN+) over Fordham for a season sweep, would ensure a finish in the top four.

 

In a season that featured the program’s best start that was disrupted at VCU, the next win ties a record for total victories.

 

Furthermore, if they win out, meaning winning at Duquesne in Pittsburgh Saturday, should Duquesne upset Richmond Wednesday, Saint Joseph’s could finish with the No. 1 seed.

 

If they tie for first, Saint Joseph’s will be the two seed off a head-to-head loss here to Richmond in early January.

 

“It's going to be a very dynamic finish for all of us, and we're excited to finish, but we also got to get little things cleaned up a little bit tooand get ready for Fordham on Wednesday,” Griffin said.

 

As for what occurred here Saturday against a Rhode Island squad that was the coaches’ preseason pick, the Rams (17-12, 9-7) off suffering with injuries along the way arrived here trying to finish in the top eight — they’re now sixth — to at least grab a first-round bye.

 

But on senior day, the Hawks for most of the afternoon were in control building a 16-point lead during the second period and still comfortably ahead by 13 after the third period.

 

Then the Rams got life on three long makes from deep, the last of which from Dee Dee Davis, who had 19 points, was quickly followed by a shot by Anaelle Dutat off a turnover and suddenly it was 66-62 with 2:15 left.

 

Dutat then cut in to 66-63 with 1:24 left in regulation, shooting 1-2 from the line, and then it got even even closer at 66-64 on Ines Debroise going 1-2 from the line with 1:20 left.

 

Saint Joseph’s Julia Nystrom made two foul shots for a 68-64 lead with 24 seconds left, but URI countered with a deep three from Davis with 17 seconds left.

 

That was as far as the visitors gained as Bruglar banked two free throws, Davis missed the other way with a three and then Bruglar delivered two more from the line and the Hawks were back on the winning side.

 

“We were familiar with the situation and just knew that we needed to stay calm,” Bruglar said, “and execute what we were doing, and I think we did a good job of that.”

 

In the Richmond game, Cardinal O’Hara grad Maggie Doogan led five Spiders in double figures with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Sonia Smith had 23 points for the Patriots, Taylor Jameson had 19 points, reserve Zahira Walton had 18 points and 14 rebounds, and Ta’Viyanna Habib scored 13.

 

George Mason led most of the way but Richmond rallied in the fourth quarter, finally took a 68-66 lead on a Doogan three with 1:10 left.

 

Smith tied it from the line with 54 seconds left with Richmond then missing a game-winner just before regulation expired.

 

Walton’s layup in the first minute of overtime snapped the deadlock with the Spiders, and the Patriots went on to outscore the visitors 11-8 the rest of the way going up by eight with with 23 seconds left.

 

Ivy Chaos: Before a sellout crowd at the site of next month’s four-team Ivy Madness tournament in New York City, Columbia, which had been one of the seven dwarfs to the Princeton giant until Megan Griffith returned to coach her alma mater, had a tennis style game, set, match upset of the No. 25 Tigers winning 67-65 at Levien Gym to move into a first-place tie with the Tigers with two weeks remaining for the second straight season.

 

A year ago, Columbia ended Princeton’s mastery early at Jadwin Gym before the Tigers repaid the experience down the stretch and went on to win the automatic qualifier at home.

 

This time Princeton (20-4, 10-1) struck first at home early last month, but Columbia (19-5, 10-1) kept pace to be in position to even it up once more.

 

The Tigers arrived on the short trip with a 15-game winning streak.

 

Lions senior Abbey Hsu had 16 of her 26 points in the second half and became the fourth Ivy woman to reach 2,000 career points.

 

“The job is not finished yet and we are not satisfied but it's definitely a great win,” Hsu said.

 

A year ago, Columbia lost the tie-break, got upset in the semifinals by Harvard, costing minimally an NCAA at-large bid, though they made Ivy history advancing to the WNIT final before losing at Kansas.

 

Until Saturday, Columbia, which became Division I in 1986-87, was 0-12 against Associated Press Top 25 opponents.

 

Noting remarks she made to her seniors on their day at the postgame press conference, Griffith, a native of King of Prussia, related, “I hope you took a moment to just soak it in and look around at what you've built. There is no environment in our league like this - there's not even a lot of mid major environments in the country like this - and to have the support of our community, our families, you all, the media, and the people that just really bought into this program.

 

 “I could not be more proud of them for how they represent not only Columbia athletics and Columbia women's basketball but the university and what it stands for and the values that we hold here at Columbia.”

 

Cecilia Collins scored 14 points with four assists and three rebounds while Kitty Henderson had 11 points and eight rebounds.

 

Princeton’s Chet Nweke was 7-for-11 from the field and scored 17 points, reigning Ivy player of the year Kaitlyn Chen had 14 points and eight assists while Ellie Mitchell had nine points and 18 rebounds.

 

Both teams clinched berths last weekend.

 

Harvard (15-9, 8-3) clinched a berth Saturday beating Brown 80-73 as Lola Mullaney scored 24 points, Harmoni Turner scored 21, Abigail Wright had a career-high 18, and Karlee White scored 11.

 

“We're a resilient group, and it's about how do we respond when things aren't going our way,” said Harvard coach Carrie Moore. “So incredibly proud of how we finished the game because we have been talking a lot about finishing plays and finishing games.”

 

Penn (13-11) took advantage of the Brown loss to move into a fourth-place tie with the Bears (14-10, 5-6) for the last spot but the Quakers at Cornell in the fourth quarter were closer to an early spring vacation than a trip to Columbia, trailing the Big Red (7-16, 1-10) by eight points with 5:55 left in regulation.

 

However, freshman star Mataya Gayle keyed a 17-2 rally with 10 of her 12 points on the way to a 61-54 victory.

 

Jordan Obi had 18 points and 12 rebounds while Stina Almqvist scored 15 with six rebounds and Floor Tooners had nine boards off the bench.

 

The Quakers host Dartmouth Friday at 5 p.m. In The Palestra and Harvard Saturday, both on ESPN+.

 

If you’re a Penn fan, conceding the final game in two weeks at Princeton is not going to go well, your best hope is to sweep the weekend Brown among its last three games loses to Columbia and Yale.

 

Had the Quakers not yielded leads last weekend to Brown and in their first meeting to Yale they would be in the field with fighting for seeds the only remaining element in the title chase.

 

Villanova Falls at No. 21 Creighton: A promising halftime tie with the Bluejays in Omaha, Neb., fall apart in the second half resulting in a 69-59 defeat ahead of a trip to UConn Wednesday night in the final week of the Big East season that ends with a visit at DePaul next Sunday.

 

Lucy Olsen had 26 points for the Wildcats (17-10, 10-6), whose seeding fate from 3-5 will be determined in part by other games.

 

Christina Dalce had 14 points and 13 rebounds while freshman Maddie Webber scored 10. 

 

Creighton’s Lauren Jensen scored 20, matching Olsen with four from deep, while Morgan Mally had 18 points and eight rebounds, Emma Ronsiek scored 15, and Molly Mogensen scored 13.

 

The Bluejays swept the season series but if the teams were to meet in the semifinals ‘Nova likely would need a win for an NCAA bid. Of course if the ‘Cats are in the other semifinal facing ‘UConn, they will be a high seed in the new NCAA-run WBIT or the WNIT.

 

The Other Locals: VCU remained in the Atlantic 10 traffic jam at the top at the expense of La Salle, ruining the Explorers’ senior day here in town at Tom Gola Arena with a 75-50 victory.

 

Sarah Te-Biasu had 17 points fir the visiting Rams, who upset Saint Joseph’s at home last Wednesday. Timaya Lewis-Eutsey had 14 points while Mykel Parham grabbed 15 rebounds for the Rams (24-4, 13-3).

 

Molly Masciantonio had 12 points for the Explorers (7-20, 4-12), while Mikayla Miller and Tiara Bolden each scored 11.

 

La Salle Wednesday hosts Saint Louis at 6:30 p.m., and VCU in a key game is at Rhode Island at 6 p.m., both on ESPN+.

 

In the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Rider won its fourth straight beating Marist 62-61 in overtime at home in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

 

The visiting Red Foxes (5-21, 3-13) went up by a point 54-53 with 20 seconds left in regulation on an 8-1 run with two foul shots and then the Broncs (9-16, 6-10) countered with a foul shot to tie but missed the game-winner to force the extra period.

 

Rider scored first and then Marist countered and the score remained much of the rest of the way until Molly Lynch’s shot gave the Broncs a 60-59 lead with 34 seconds left.

 

Taylor Langhan stole a ball and Makaya Firebaugh made it 62-59 with a second left.

 

Marist then took a long desperation shot and Rider was charged with a foul.

 

The Red Foxes made the first two but missed the third and Rider escaped and gained a season split.

 

“Great home win,” said veteran Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “This late in February, every MAAC win is so important. It's going to come down to the wire every single time.

 

 “Not exactly how we drew it up, but I'm happy with how we stayed connected today, especially on the defensive end.”

 

The streak is the longest since 2020.

 

Mariona Cos-Morales got into double figures for the first time and had a career-high 14 points while Langan had 13 points and nine rebounds and Sanaa Redmond scored 10.

 

Rider is at preseason favorite Niagara on Thursday at 6 p.m. (ESPN+).

 

The Purple Eagles (15-12, 12-5) were a 95-65 victim at Fairfield (24-1, 16-0) as the Stags won their 22^nd straight game and clinched the top seed in next month’s tournament in Atlantic City.

 

Meghan Andersen led four players in double figures for the winners with 26 points and nine rebounds.

 

In the Patriot League in the second game in the season series between the two local members, Lafayette won at Lehigh 68-63 in Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., for a split as Makayla Andrews had 20 points and eight rebounds for the Leopards (10-16, 5-10), Kayla Drummond had 15 points and six rebounds, and reserve Kay Donahue scored 13.

 

Lehigh (15-11, 7-8) had 25 points from Colleen McQuillen, 15 points and six boards from Ella Stemmer, and 10 points from Remi Sisselman.

 

On Wednesday Lehigh is at Boston U. at 6 p.m., the same time Lafayette hosts Navy, both games on ESPN+.

 

In the Big Ten, Rutgers lost at Michigan State 93-57 in East Lansing as Moira Joiner had 22 points for the Spartans (20-7, 10-6) and Erica Lafayette had 20 for the Scarlet Knights (8-22, 2-15) who host Northwestern next Sunday at 2 p.m.

 

Looking Ahead: Just three games locally Sunday, Temple at 3 p.m. looking to expand its first-place lead in the American Athletic Conference in a battle of Owls when they play their first game at Rice (ESPN+).

 

In the Coastal Athletic Association, Drexel hosts UNCW at 1 p.m. in the Daskalakis Athletic Center, while Delaware at 2 p.m. visits Towson in suburban Baltimore, both games on ESPN+.

 

Nationally, in the Big East, UConn is at Depaul in Chicago at 6 p.m. on CBSSN.

 

In the SEC at noon, No. 13 LSU is at Tennessee on ESPN, while at 3 p.m. No. 1 South Carolina is at Kentucky at on SECN.

 

In the Big Ten at 1 p.m. Illinois is No. 4 Iowa on FS1.

 

And that’s the report.