The Guru Report: Saint Joseph’s Sets Program Record at 25th Game; Temple Moves to Third in AAC; No. 7 Kansas State Upset in Big 12
By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru
PHILADELPHIA — A few seconds after Saint Joseph’s defeated Dayton 73-49 Wednesday night at Hagan Arena to keep pace with Richmond on top of the Atlantic 10, the team came together jumping up and down in the postgame huddle.
Then they posed for a group picture and cheered some more.
No, they had not won the Atlantic Title and automatic bid to the NCAA tournament whose opportunity comes next month in the conference tournament in suburban Richmond (Va.).
No, they had not clinched the regular season crown and No. 1 seed to that event.
And no, the fact the opponent was Dayton (10-15, 4-10) in itself due to the status of the Flyers did not have the impact as it might have had not long ago.
But what the Hawks did achieve was something no earlier edition had achieved in the six-decades long history of the program after the 25th game on the schedule.
The team record reached 23-2 for the best start to date snapping the tie Saint Joseph’s (23-2, 12-1) had shared the past week with the 1976-77 squad that counted future Hall of Fame Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw among its group of talented players.
The night also had some extra icing as junior Mackenzie Smith joined junior Talya Brugler to become the second player this season to reach her 1,000th career point, which occurred at the end of a 7-0 run in the first quarter on an old-fashioned three-point play to gain a five-point lead that expanded to 17-8 at the end of the period.
The outcome also marked the 200th conference win for coach Cindy Griffin, now in her 23rd season back at her alma mater, joining two others in conference history.
That 1976-77 team was also ranked, the first season of The Associated Press women’s poll that began in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
This Saint Joseph’s group just began receiving poll votes, the team strength of schedule perhaps holding the honor back or that Richmond (22-4, 12-1), which beat the Hawks here early last month, is tied for first and has a similar impressive record as does Fairfield (21-1, 12-0) atop the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and is also collecting a flurry of votes in the AP Poll.
Back then, there were no .Net or RPI measurements for voters or the NCAA women’s basketball tournament committee.
There was just eye test.
And if you would like to meet someone in that regard meet Dayton coach Tamika Williams-Jeter who just underwent an up close and personal experience from the Hawks after watching them on film for several days to prepare for the game.
“I like them a lot. I really do. They remind me of those old (Jim) Foster teams,” she referred to the former Saint Joseph’s coach, now retired, on whose staff she served at Ohio State.
And if you need more credentials, she played on the UConn powerhouse squad (1999-2002) with classmates that included Sue Bird, Asjha Jones, and Swin Cash, who all were among the top six of the WNBA draft after their collective graduation, a group whose other star a year behind was one Diana Taurasi.
Wednesday’s win was the tenth straight since the loss to Richmond that rallied Wednesday night to win at crosstown rival VCU. That’s just behind the 2002 squad that won 11 straight across December into early January that season.
The Hawks sizzled from the field shooting 57.9 percent against Dayton, matching a tying best mark for Hagan Arena. They dominated the paint 48-20 and had 21 assists on 33 field goals.
Brugler had 20 points, Laura Ziegler collected 19, Smith had 12, and Chloe Welch 11, though Griffin pointed out she considers the combination of Julia Nystrom (6) and Emma Boslet (5) a fifth in double figures off the way she uses her rotation.
Dayton’s Ivy Wolf was the sole Flyer scoring in double figures with 19 points.
That the Hawks are where they are standings wise is no surprise considering the A-10 coaches picked them second behind Rhode Island (16-11, 8-6), which is in seventh place having suffered injuries.
But considering the quality of league play off the current records of George Mason, Duquesne, and VCU, all of whom now trail the Hawks and Spiders by two games, the Saint Joseph’s performance to date has excelled beyond the high forecast.
“The league is very competitive, there are four teams close to five these last five games, things can go either way, said Griffin. “So, the only thing you can do is control what you can control and that’s take it one game at a time for us and focus in on the next opponent and not getting too far ahead of ourselves, and know what our goals are.
“We have our offensive punch, our defense is getting better and better, so continue to work as a team for the next game. The depth is really important,” she continued.
“It’s not something you think about,” Griffin said of the numbers to date versus how the league has developed. “You look at the numbers and say, `where can we be.’ I’m not going to tell you we said we’re going to be 23-2. That’s something that’s a tough thing to do.
“You look around our league and a lot of teams are having that much success because there’s a lot of good players in our league. I almost get like, this is great. We want more. That’s the nature of the beast you want to continue to you want to put yourself in this position and then you want to win the Atlantic 10,
“But listen, everything is very fragile. We don’t take it for granted.
“Tonight, we came out very determined,” Griffin said. “Somethings as a coach after a week off from a very big win, you’re concerned about how we would respond after a little bit of rest.”
Brugler said of when she and Smith arrived as freshman, “The basketball team wasn’t doing very well and we both came from winning teams and programs, she was on the Canadian national team.
“We wanted to win. We wanted to change the culture, get back to our roots and what Saint Joseph’s is really about.”
The Hawks on Sunday, getting closer to clinching a double bye in the A-10 tourney, will be looking for a sweep visiting La Salle at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) at Tom Gola Arena after winning here last month to complete a 4-0 sweep of the Big Five.
La Salle was at George Washington Wednesday night in the nation’s capital at Smith Arena and fell to the Revolutionaries 71-49.
Makayla Miller scored 16 points and Nicole Melious had 14 for the Explorers (7-17, 4-9) while Niya Robertson led three players scoring in double figures with 25 points while Mayowa Taiwo grabbed 10 rebounds for GWU (10-15, 3-10).
Temple Tops UAB: The Owls (14-10, 8-4) picked up a big 86-72 win in Birmingham (Ala.) moving into a two-way tie with Tulsa for third in the American Athletic Conference a half-game behind Rice and a game behind North Texas.
Aleah Nelson had a season-high 24 points, also a team-best, coming in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
The win-loss record to date is the best since 2019-20 and as they say in football the Owls are two games from being bowl eligible.
Teams with records of .500 or better can be considered for at-large selection to the new 32-team field NCAA WBIT or 48-team WNIT. The WNIT will consider regardless of record the highest conference team not in the NCAA or WBIT as an automatic entry filling 32 slots.
To clinch the .500 requirement the Owls need to finish high enough to stay at that level if they were to be ousted in their first game in the AAC tourney though while winning the entire thing and be NCAA bound is not a certainty the capability to do so has become a reality.
Against UAB (17-8, 8-5), now a half-game behind Temple, Tiarra East scored 17, Rayne Tucker had 14 points and 15 rebounds, and Demi Washington also scored 14 points.
A 32-point second quarter provided enough to stay ahead the rest of the way.
“It felt good,” said second-year coach Diane Richardson on a postgame zoom call. “Our defense was kicking. I'm so happy that our defense was on all cylinders today, and that's how it's got to be for every game. I guess this is a big game, but all of them are big.
“I kind of saw it yesterday in our practice. They were really free and loose.
“They came into this game loose and having fun, and I think that kind of started it. Yesterday with practice to shoot around today, they were knocking down shots.”
Temple is back home Monday in the Liacouras Center at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ hosting Tulane.
Lehigh and Lafayette Suffer Patriot Losses: A Lehigh rally fell short and the Mountain Hawks (14-9, 6-6) suffered a 54-49 setback at home to Bucknell (9-15, 6-6) at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa.
Colleen McQuillen scored 12 points while Ella Stemmer and Lily Fandre each scored 10.
Bucknell’s Ashley Sofilkanich had 22 points and 15 rebounds.
“We showed a lot of fight all year, but too little too late,” said head coach Addie Micir: “We are learning those lessons a lot. You have to give a lot of props to Bucknell.”
Lehigh next goes to Loyola, Md., outside Baltimore Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPN+
Meanwhile, Lafayette (8-15, 3-9) travelled there Wednesday night and fell 76-51 to the Greyhounds (12-11, 7-5), who moved into a three-way tie for second place a game behind Holy Cross (14-9, 8-4).
Abby Antognoli had 12 points and Mikayla Andrews scored 10 with six rebounds for the Leopards, who next host American U. Saturday at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.
The National Scene:
In the Big East, No. 15 UConn crushed host Xavier 86-40 in Cincinnati as the Huskies (21-5, 13-0) used a 30-0 run to down the Musketeers (1-21, 0-13).
Paige Bueckers had 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists fir the visitors, while Aaliyah Edwards had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Ice Brady had her first career double double with 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Freshmen Ashlynn Shade and Quadence Samuels were each in double figures, scoring 14 and 10 points, respectfully, while Nika Muhl dealt 11 assists.
The Huskies host Georgetown Friday night.
In the Big Ten, Nebraska played its second straight No. 2 ranked team but unlike Sunday’s upset of Iowa, the Huskers were overrun 80-47 at Ohio State (22-3, 13-1).
Jacy Sheldon had 23 points for the Buckeyes while Cotie McMahon scored 20 with 10 rebounds.
Ohio State goes to Penn State next Thursday.
No. 14 Indiana (21-3, 12-2) stayed a game behind OSU, winning at Wisconsin 68-54 as Mackenzie Holmes, recently becoming the Hoosiers’ all-time leading scorer, had 24 points.
In the Big 12, No. 23 Oklahoma at home in Norman beat No. 21 Baylor 84-73.
Reserve Kiersten Johnson had a career-high 20 points for the host Sooners (18-6, 12-1) while Payton Verhulst had 16 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and five blocks.
The 12-1 conference record is the first for Oklahoma since 2008-09 finishing 15-1 and advancing to the NCAA Final Four.
Sarah Andrews had 14 points for Baylor (18-6, 7-6).
Unranked Iowa upset No. 7 Kansas State 96-93 at home in double overtime as Addy Brown and Audi Crooks each scored 20 points for the Cyclones (14-9, 8-5).
Ayoka Lee and Serena Sundell each scored 20 for the visiting Wildcats (21-4, 10-3).
No. 5 Texas (23-3, 10-3) won at new member Houston 82-66 as Madison Booker had 23 points and seven rebounds.
Looking Ahead:
The first of two reveals from the NCAA tournament committee showing which teams would host the first two rounds on opening weekend will air at 6:30 p.m. Thursday night on ESPN.
Just two local games are scheduled with Penn State in the Big Ten hosting Illinois in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College while in the MAAC Rider visits Iona on ESPN+.
Both games tip at 6 p.m.
Nationally, No. 1 South Carolina in the Southeastern Conference visits Tennessee on the SECN at 7 p.m. while at 8 p.m. on Peacock in the Big Ten Michigan visits No. 4 Iowa, the host Hawkeyes’ Caitlin Clark just eight points from eclipsing former Washington star Kelsey Plum with the new NCAA Division I scoring record.
In the ACC, at 6 p.m. No. 6 NC State visits No. 16 Notre Dame on the ACCN.
That’s the report.
posted by Mel Greenberg | 8:29 AM
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