The Guru Report: Temple and Villanova Land Big Wins While Princeton Wins at Penn to Stay Perfect in the Ivy League

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

PHILADELPHIA — One important game in February captured with a win does not necessarily signal fun times ahead in March Madness are just around the corner.

 

But start stringing a few together and momentum can mean a lot.

 

In that regard Temple at home at the Liacouras Center and Villanova on the road took important steps Saturday afternoon while Penn (11-10, 3-5) was respectable here in The Palestra losing 67-54 in the first of two against nearby rival Princeton (18-3, 8-0), the Ivy long-running heavyweight that is nationally ranked 25^th in The Associated Press women’s poll.

 

In the giant pileup at the top of the American Athletic Conference standings Temple (13-10, 7-4), with more positives than negatives, recently, edged preseason favorite South Florida 59-55 to land in a three-way tie for fourth just one game out of first.

 

With the loss, the Bulls (14-11, 6-6) fell into a three-way tie behind 2.5 games behind the frontrunners of North Texas (18-5, 8-3) and UAB (17-6, 8-3), who Temple visits Wednesday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

Rice (14-9, 8-4) is next by a half-game and the Owls are even with East Carolina (14-8, 7-4) and Tulsa (17-7, 7-4).

 

Five of Temple’s last seven games are against these teams, offering a heavy dose of battle testing, but the minimum goal is to land in the top four and earn a double bye to the quarter finals in next month’s tournament in Fort Worth, Texas.

 

Villanova (15-8, 8-4) in a closely fought contest edged Marquette 55-52 to earn a sweep in the series and hold third place by a half-game in the Big East ahead of St. John’s with a trip to Georgetown Tuesday morning at 11. 

 

The Wildcats will be favored in four of their last six games, the other two looking for season splits in road stops at No. 21 Creighton and No. 11 UConn, the latter in Storrs at Gampel Pavilion.

 

Villanova will not play a second game against St. John’s, which holds the tie-break off the winning rally in December at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

 

Elsewhere upstate in a long-running Patriot League rivalry Lehigh edged host Lafayette 70-68 in overtime at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa.

 

As for the other locals, La Salle lost 57-52 to Duquesne in the Atlantic Ten in Pittsburgh; Rutgers in the Big Ten got routed at Michigan 86-58 in Ann Arbor, and Rider (6-16, 3-10) won at home in the MAAC 58-54 over Manhattan (15-7, 8-5) in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

 

Let’s go to the tape, beginning with the Ivy game here in West Philadelphia.

 

Penn came into the contest off last Saturday’s overtime setback here to Yale knowing as a big underdog to the Tigers, coach Mike McLaughlin’s squad was not going to lose more ground than the game the Quakers trail Brown for the fourth and final spot in next month’s Ivy Madness in New York City.

 

That’s because Columbia, the host next month, at home beat Brown Friday.

 

On the high end, Princeton needed to go back up to a full game lead on Columbia and not drop to a tie.

 

Coach Carla Berube’s squad jumped to a 14-point lead and stayed up 11 at the half but Penn made it interesting with an 18-11 advantage in the third quarter.

 

The rally momentum carried into the fourth within a basket 48-46 on a second chance score from freshman Ese Ogbevire, a 5-7 freshman guard from Katy, Texas, in the Houston suburbs.

 

She saw more time because in the second quarter the Penn crowd got a scare when Mataya Gayle went down and was helped off the court to have her leg tended to in the locker room.

 

She later returned and McLaughlin said the mishap was in the nature of a charley horse.

 

“When Mataya came back, that was exciting for this group,” he said. “They didn't know she was going to come back. I honestly didn't know she was going to come back.”

 

Princeton, though, locked the Quakers defensively with a 12-2 run though and the Tigers regained control with Ellie Mitchell drawing the home team into several offensive fouls and overall Penn committed 27 turnovers enabling the Tigers to outscore Penn 28-2 in transition and 42-24 in the Paint.

 

Kaitlyn Chen the reigning Ivy player of the year, had 20 points for the defending champions, while Chet Nweke, recently made a starter, scored 17.

 

Jordan Obi had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Quakers, Ogbevire had a career high 16 points, including 3 makes in four attempts, Gayle scored nine, Lizzy Groetsch had eight boards, but Stina Almqvist was held to three points.

 

“(Mitchell) really came alive in the fourth quarter, defensively, took those charges,” Berube said. “It was a tough game all around. We fought through it. We struggled on offense; we could have done a better job executing and getting better looks.

 

“We expect our opposition to give us their best. We have to go into every game thinking that way. I thought Penn played really well, they made some tough shots, and executed well and really made it hard for us,” she said.

 

“I love playing here, but it’s never been easy.”

 

Berube, a former UConn star on their first NCAA champions, recalled being here on the ABL New England team, when the Rage made The Palestra the home court.

 

“I didn’t get in the game very much.”

 

McLaughlin was overall pleased with his team’s performance.

 

“Overall, I was really proud of the way we actually competed,” he said. “Obviously, we're sitting here because we didn't win the game, but I did think we competed at a very high level against a really talented team.

 

“I thought Jordan just played such a professional game today,” he said. “I mean, she's a great teammate. She was easy to coach today, which she always is.

“But she really wanted this one. She was aggressive on the offensive side, and we were able to get her on and off the floor a little bit more than we've done.”

 

“Penn-Princeton, for everyone that's around, is a very big deal, and I want the team to embrace that,” McLaughlin said. “I do want them to represent Penn out there, and I thought they did that.”

 

Even if beating Princeton and Columbia to win the NCAA automatic bid is daunting, becoming part of the Ivy Madness field and landing a berth in the new WBIT or WNIT is rewarding enough.

 

To that end, next weekend is big visiting Yale Friday at 7 p.m. and Brown Saturday. 

 

Sweeping the weekend also earns a tie-break because the Quakers would be 2-0 on Brown, which on paper will put them in improved position especially since they would on a tie break and withstand whatever happens their final two games which is hosting Harvard and finishing at Princeton.

 

‘Nova Completes sweep of Marquette: It’s a big win but the ‘Cats will need to keep it up because finishing 4^th or 5^thmeans a likely semifinal meeting with UConn.

 

And while being in a two or three position, the Big East is a pick your poison deal since dodging Huskies still leaves potential meetings a third time with Marquette (18-6, 7-6) or Creighton.

 

The only thing likely is the Main Line residents will avoid an early vacation but as far as spending the time on the postseason Main Line is unknown and unlike last season it won’t be in the Finn.

 

As for how Saturday went, the Golden Eagles were up 42-38 with 2:06 left in the third period when Bella Runyan launched her own 8-0 run with a pair of shots from deep and a jump shot in the lane to flip the momentum.

 

But Marquette came right back with a 7-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter and a 49-46 lead and two more exchanges occurred with the ‘Nova defense allowing only three points on the closeout.

 

But after the visitors went ahead 53-52, the outcome was still uncertain during a mutual scoreless closing stretch of 4:22 with Marquette going 0-6 with a turnover and the ‘Cats 0-4 with a turnover.

 

Freshman Maddie Webber got the differential up three with a pair of foul shots with 8.1 seconds left in regulation and it ended when Marquette’s shot from deep to force overtime failed as regulation ended.

 

Lucy Olsen scored 19 for the winners, Runyan had 13 and Christina Dulce had 10 points and 10 boards.

 

Marquette’s Mackenzie Hare had 16 points while Jordan King scored 13.

 

‘Nova looks to sweep the Hoyas on Tuesday, the first win last month came in overtime.

 

Temple Trips USF: Unlike the advice once given by newspaper publisher Horace Greeley to “Go west young man and grow with the country, the Owls went East Saturday afternoon as in Tiarra East who tallied 14 of Temple’s 24 first half points and finished with 21 while Tarriyona Gary clinched the four-point win with a key steal.

 

“We’re trying,” second-year coach Dne Richardson texted of the crowded chase down the stretch to obtain a premium seed in the AAC playoffs.

 

Even if the Owls fall short of NCAA aspirations, they’re close to clinching a .500 record, which would enhance their chances of making either field in the two other tourneys, alone a major improvement over last season’s struggles with a limited roster.

 

East also had six boards, Rayne Tucker had nine points and six boards with a pair of blocks, Aleah Nelson had seven points and six rebounds, Gary fueled the win with all eight of her points in the fourth quarter.

 

Picking the right time to play defense, Temple limited USF to 30 percent from the floor, though Romi Levy broke loose for 26 points, Evelien Lutje Schipholt had 13 points and 19 boards and Carla Brito scored 12.

 

Unlike other past meltdowns Temple won despite yielding a 14-point lead.

 

‘Great team effort,” Richardson said. “The third quarter kind of slipped away a little but they were poised, bounced back and knew we had to get stops. That’s how we won the game.”

 

Lehigh Edges Lafayette: It’s a short distance from Lehigh’s campus in Bethlehem to Lafayette and even shorter between the two on Saturday, the visiting Mountain Hawks (14-8, 6-5) winning the league game by a basket in overtime.

 

“It's the Patriot League, and it's Lehigh- Lafayette,” said Lehigh coach Addie Micir. “That’s just what you would expect. You have to give a lot of credit to Lafayette.

 

 “they shot the ball so incredibly well- just big shot after big shot, but I'm really proud of the resilience we showed.”

 

The winning points came from Lily Fandre on a layup with 32 seconds left in the overtime and then with eight seconds left Abby Antognoli tried to tie it for the Leopards (8-14, 3-8), missed and Ella Stemmer grabbed the rebound.

 

Lehigh had just edged Boston University 64-62, making it three of the last four for the Mountain Hawks involved in games decided by one possession.

 

Stemmer had 18 points, including four shots from deep, with a career-high eight rebounds. Fandre had 16 points and 14 rebounds while Meghan O’Brien had 11 points and Colleen McQuillen scored 10.

 

Makayla Andrews scored 16 for Lafayette.

 

Lehigh next hosts Bucknell Wednesday at Stabler Arena at 6 p.m. while the Leopards visit Loyola, Md., in suburban Baltimore at 7 p.m. both games airing on ESPN+.

 

Rider Takes Manhattan: The Broncs topped the Jaspers as Molly Lynch had a career-high 13 points, while Taylor Langan scored a game-high 15. 

 

“You just saw two teams that really went through it this week with injuries and sickness and hats off to every young lady that had a Rider and Manhattan uniform on today,” said Bronx coach Lynn Milligan. “We preach adversity when things are tough, and you saw two teams do that really well.”

 

Rider next on Thursday visits Iona in New Rochelle, N.Y., at 6 p.m. (ESPN+).

 

Local Struggles:  Rutgers (7-19, 1-12) fell at Michigan (16-9, 7-6) Saturday night in the Big Ten as Destiny Adams scored 15 points and Kassondra Brown scored 10.

 

The Scarlet Knights are back home in Jersey Mike’s Arena Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Piscataway, N.J., host Minnesota on the Big Ten Network.

 

La Salle (7-16, 4-8) fell short of the Dukes (15-9, 10-3) on a day Gabby Turcol scored her 1,000^th point. 

 

Jolene Armendariz had 15 points and 10 boards while Nicole Melious scored 10.

 

The Explorers next go to George Washington Wednesday at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

The National Scene: In the Big 12, in a game involving first year members, BYU, formerly with the West Coast Conference, won 69-57 at Cincinnati, a former AAC representative as Lauren Gustin had 21 points and 20 rebounds for the winning Cougars.

 

Number 18 Baylor beat visiting No. 24 West Virginia 65-58 in Waco, Texas, as Darianna Littlepage-Buggs had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Bears (18-5, 7-5), while Bella Fontleroy had 12 points and 10 boards.

 

The Mountaineers (20-3, 9-3), who had a seven-game winning streak stopped, got 13 points from Ja’Naiya Quinnerly.

 

No. 7 Texas (22-3, 9-3) had 13 points while Shay Holle scored 14 in a 65-43 win at TCU in Fort Worth, while 8 Kansas State (21-3, 10-2) at home in Manhattan edged Oklahoma State 69-68, the winning basket with 26 seconds left from Serena Sundell. Brylee Glen scored 23 for the Wildcats.

 

In the MAAC, Fairfield (21-1, 13-0) is still rolling and perfect in the conference after beating visiting St. Peter’s 52-46 at home as Izabela Nicoletti Leite scored 12 points and Emina Selimovic scored 11.

 

Looking Ahead: Just three games for the local, two in the Coastal Athletic Association where Drexel hosts co-leader North Carolina A&T at the Daskalakis Athletic Center at 1 p.m., while Delaware visits Monmouth at 2 p.m., both on FloHoops.

 

Penn State has a Big Ten visit to Wisconsin in Madison at 3 p.m.

 

Nationally, staying within the Big Ten as women’s hoops has its own Super Sunday, No. 2 Iowa is at Nebraska on FOX at 1 p.m.  Caitlin Clark on the visiting Hawkeyes needs 39 points to pass former Washington star Kelsey Plum to become the new NCAA Division I women’s career scoring leader.

 

No. 11 UConn at 2 p.m. is making an intersectional visit to No. 1 and unbeaten South Carolina at 2 p.m. on ESPN.

 

In the ACC on the CW network, No. 15 Louisville is at No. 23 Syracuse at noon; at the same time No. 15 Notre Dame is at Florida State on ACCN.

 

In the Pac-12, No. 17 Oregon State is at No. 4 Colorado at 2 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network, which will air No. 6 Stanford at Washington State at 4 p.m.

 

No. 20 Utah hosts Oregon at 2 p.m., while No. 9 UCLA hosts Arizona State at 3 p.m.; and on Monday on ESPN2, No. 10 Southern Cal hosts Arizona at 9 p.m.

 

In the SEC, No. 13 LSU hosts Alabama at 4 p.m. on ESPN2.

 

And that’s the report.