The Guru Report: Saint Joseph’s Rides Second Half Surge Over La Salle; Temple Goes for a Share of First in the AAC; South Carolina Rallies Over Georgia

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

PHILADELPHIA — Considering what’s ahead for Saint Joseph’s in Wednesday night’s visit to VCU in Richmond, one of the four other teams in the hunt for a double bye in next month’s Atlantic 10 tournament, going through a 6-4 opening quarter Sunday afternoon here across town at La Salle, then still with a slim 19-17 lead at the half in Tom Gola Arena, the Hawks appeared entangled in a trap game.

 

Not to worry.

 

Coach Cindy Griffin’s team riding the defense that prevented things from getting out of hand, the Hawks came alive after the break with a 20-9 third quarter and continued clamping down 21-3 the next on the way to a 60-29 victory and season sweep of the Explorers (7-18, 4-10).

 

Last month’s win over La Salle at home in Hagan Arena gave Saint Joseph’s (24-2, 13-1) a 4-0 sweep for the Big Five title. 

 

The Hawks moved back into a first-place tie with Richmond, extended their best-ever start to 24-2, the win streak is at 11 straight and the 13-0 true road mark is tops in the nation.

 

With four games remaining in the regular season, they have a two-game lead over VCU, George Mason, and Duquesne with tie-breaking wins over all but VCU, which can be obtained Wednesday (6 p.m., ESPN+).

 

The sole A-10 loss was to Richmond at home early last month, giving the Spiders the No. 1 seed if they tie for the regular season crown or the advantage if tied elsewhere in the standings.

 

“We knew it was going to be a battle with Philly Big Five across the way, the second time we are playing these guys,” Griffin said. “Even though you prepare for a slow pace, you still have to play it.

 

“I thought besides that first quarter we really handled it well. To hold the team to 29 points is pretty, pretty amazing, and I'm really happy with our defense. We scored enough points to get the separation we needed.”

 

Talya Bruglar had 16 points, Chloe Welch had 12 points, and Laura Ziegler had eight points and 10 rebounds.

 

La Salle’s three points in the fourth quarter came on the line.

 

Kayla Miller had 13 points for La Salle, including 10 of the Explorers’ 12 in the second half.

 

It’s only the third time in nearly the last five decades, Saint Joseph’s has held La Salle under 30 points, only 10 times holding anyone, and just three since 1978-79.

 

The last similar low yield defensively came in 1999-00, this being the first in Griffin’s 23 years since returning to her alma mater, the previous low also against the Explorers 68-31 in February 2013.

 

“Sometimes when you're shot isn't going in, depend on your defense,” Griffin said. “And today we were terrific. We've got to continue to keep the buy-in moving forward and it's going to be really important.”

“That’s a really talented team,” said La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray. “I was pleased with our execution. We needed to play the game a little bit differently to be in the game against them, to be there with them at the half a basket away, without us being able to make a shot.

 

“I really feel bad for our girls,” he said. “They are putting in the time, putting in the work and really shooting well at practice, but we’re struggling.

 

“If we’re shooting 35 percent, it’s a totally different game and the pressure’s on them.”

 

La Salle is at Richmond (6 p.m.) Wednesday (ESPN+).

 

Drexel Edges Delaware: Coming out of Friday night’s tough three-point loss at Towson, the Dragons (11-12, 6-6), Sunday, got a layup with eight seconds remaining from Jasmine Valentine on an assist from Villanova transfer Brooke Mullin for a 61-59 win over the Blue Hens (9-15, 5-7) at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark for season sweep in the series and long-running local rivalry in the Coastal Athletic Association.

 

Drexel (11-12, 6-6) moved into a sixth-place tie with Towson, the preseason favorite, while Delaware fell to seventh.

 

Stony Brook (21-3, 11-2) moved to sole possession of first a game in front of North Carolina A&T (16-8, 10-3).

 

Amaris Baker had 15 points for the Dragons while freshman reserve Laine McGurk had 13 points.

 

Delaware reserve Rebecca Demeke had 18 points, shooting 6-11 from the field, and Ande’A Cheriser had 13 points.

 

Drexel next goes to Monmouth Friday in Central New Jersey at 7 p.m. while Delaware hosts UNC Wilmington at 7 p.m.

 

Elsewhere locally Sunday in the Patriot League Loyola, Md. beat visiting Lehigh 93-76 in suburban Baltimore while in the Big Ten, Penn State fell on the road at Maryland 77-62 at the Xfinity Center in College Park.

 

In the game in the Patriot League, the host Greyhounds (13-11, 8-5), shot 63.8 percent from the field and Lex Therien set a program record with 44 points while Laura Salmeron scored 23.

 

Lehigh (14-10, 6-7) got 19 points from Ella Stemmer, while Colleen McQuillen scored 14, Gracyn Lovette scored a career-high 11, and Maddie Albrecht scored 10.

 

The Mountain Hawks are back home Wednesday in Stabler Arena in Easton, Pa., hosting Army at 6 p.m. (ESPN+).

 

Penn State, which decimated Maryland in the earlier meeting, fell to 16-10, 7-8.

 

Ali Brigham was 7-8 from the field for 14 points with six rebounds, while Makenna Marisa scored 13.

 

The Terrapins (15-10, 7-7), who held former Maryland star Ashley Owusu to seven points, got 32 from Jakia Brown-Turner while Shyanne Sellers had a near triple-double with 17 points, nine assists, and nine rebounds.

 

The Lady Lions back home on Thursday will host a throw-back game against No. 2 Ohio State, moving to Rec Hall, their prior arena, at 6 p.m. on the Big Ten network.

 

The National Scene: Down 37-28 early in the third quarter at home in Columbia, No. 1 South Carolina (25-0, 12-0) rallied to beat Georgia 70-56 setting a record with the Gamecocks’ 43^rd straight regular season win in the Southeastern Conference.

 

Tennessee under the legendary late Pat Summitt won 42 from 1992-96.

 

Kamilla Cardoso had 16 points and 16 rebounds for SC, to help offset a career-high 27 points from Javyn Nicholson with Georgia (11-14, 2-10).

 

“I'm just proud of the former players and the current players to put together some of the most historical stretches in this league,” said Gamecocks Hall of Fame coach Dawn Staley. “It says something to be able to do that because this is a hard league.’

 

It was Staley’s 599^th career win including 172 in eight seasons at Temple and 427 in 16 seasons at South Carolina.

 

South Carolina hosts Alabama Thursday night.

 

Elsewhere in the SEC, Sunday, Tennessee won 86-61 at Vanderbilt in Nashville as Rickea Jackson had 24 points and seven rebounds for the Lady Vols while Jewel Spear had 16 rebounds and Jasmine Powell had 12.

 

Tennessee (16-9, 9-4) is in third down four in the loss column and visit No. 13 LSU, Sunday.

 

The reigning NCAA champions are down three a game ahead of Tennessee in second and visit Texas A&M Monday night on the SEC network.

 

Iyana Moore had 25 for the Commodores (19-8, 6-7) who go to Arkansas Sunday.

 

In the Atlantic Coast Conference, No. 6 N.C. State was forced into overtime at home by Georgia Tech but the Wolfpack (23-3, 11-3) hit their first five shots in the additional period and held on for an 86-85 win over the Yellowjackets (15-12, 6-9).

 

Aziaha James had 30 points for the home team which goes to North Carolina Thursday at 8 p.m. on the ACC Network.

 

No. 12 Virginia Tech won 86-70 at Louisville as Elizabeth Kitley had 26 points and 13 rebounds while Georgia Amoore had 23 points and 10 assists for the first place Hokies (22-4, 13-2).

 

Louisville (21-6, 10-4) in fourth place a game behind N.C. State had 19 points from Kiki Jefferson. 

 

Second place Syracuse (22-4, 12-3) got 33 points from Dyaisha Fair in a 85-79 win over Virginia in Charlottesville.

 

In the Big 12, No. z21 Baylor at home beat Texas Tech 61-32 on a day the Bears retired Brittney Griner’s jersey.

 

In the Pac-12, No. 10 Southern Cal won at No. 11 Oregon State 58-50 in Corvallis with rookie sensation JuJu Watkins scoring 18 points on an offday from the floor.

 

The Trojans (20-4, 10-4) won their sixth straight while stopping the six-game run from the Beavers (21-4, 10-4).

 

No. 9 UCLA (20-5, 9-5) won easily at Oregon 74-55 in Eugene as Stanford transfer Lauren Betts scored 17 with nine rebounds over the Ducks (11-16, 2-12) who got 17 points from Grace VanSlooten.

 

Looking Ahead - Temple Goes for First in the AAC: This might have seemed far-fetched a month ago but in the only local game on the Monday card the Owls host Tulane at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) in the Liacouras Center and if they win, thanks to a loss by North Texas Sunday, they would move up in a share of first in the American Athletic Conference.

 

You have to go all the way back to 2012 when Temple played in the Atlantic Ten to find the last time they were in a similar situation this late in the season.

 

Nationally, UConn hosts Creighton at noon Monday on FOX, the same time the new AP Women’s Poll for the week is released.

 

Indiana, in a virtual tie with Iowa for second in the bIg Ten visits Illinois at 2 p.m. on FOX completing a Presidents Day afternoon doubleheader.

 

Notre Dame at 7 p.m. in the ACC visits Duke at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.

 

Catching Up – Ivy Frenzy: Since we didn’t do an overnighter from Saturday here’s the important stuff – most of it not good for the locals.

 

In the Ivy League, Penn had a six-point lead late in the game at Brown with a win that would put the Quakers one game up on the Bears in fourth for the final spot in next month’s Ivy Madness tourney at Columbia in New York City.

 

But it got away and in the final seconds Brown scored for a 61-59 victory.

 

Penn freshman Mataya Gayle had 19 points, Jordan Obi had 16 points, and Stina Almqvist had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

 

The loss means a split so other tiebreaks would be needed if the two teams are knotted for the last spot.

 

Brown’s last four are at Harvard, hosting Columbia, hosting Cornell, hosting hosting Yale.

 

Penn goes to Cornell Saturday and then hosts Dartmouth, hosts Harvard, goes to Princeton.

 

Yale goes to Dartmouth, hosts Cornell, hosts Columbia, visits Brown.

 

 There’s no easy path, but the ideal situation would be stealing Harvard, and Yale beating Brown for a split. This assumes no stealing from the other two.

 

Meanwhile on the high end, No. 25 Princeton, the defending champs, became the first to clinch a spot and on Saturday won at Yale 70-25 as reigning Ivy player of the year Kaitlyn Chen scored 18.

 

The Tigers are at Columbia Saturday at 2 p.m. looking for a sweep that would almost certainly guarantee the number one seColumbia on Sunday won at Harvard 71-63 as Cecilia Collins scored 20.

 

Katie Krupa had 25 for the Crimson.

 

Meanwhile at Villanova, the Wildcats were upset by Butler 55-52 at home in Finneran Pavilion, the Wildcats falling to 16-9 overall and 9-5 in the Big East.

 

The loss may ultimately cost Villanova finising third and if advancing would likely meet UConn in the semifinals rather than dodging the Huskies.

 

Lucy Olsen scored 25. 

 

Providence visits Wednesday at 7 p.m.

 

And that’s the report.