The Guru Report: Temple Tops UTSA for One-Game Lead in the AAC; Staley Gets 600th Win as South Carolina Claims No. 1 SEC Seed; Top Ten Upsets

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Remember Temple

 

That’s what the cry in the Texas Alamo city of San Antonio that could be Thursday night after the Owls claimed a 56–48 victory over UTSA for a season’s sweep, a four-game win streak and five of the last six for a full game lead in first place in the American Athletic Conference.

 

It’s the first time Temple has held first in a conference this late in a season since 2012 when the Owls (16-10, 10-4) played in the Atlantic 10. They also clinched a winning record and are close to clinching a top four berth with a double bye in next month’s tournament in Fort Worth Texas at Dickey’s Arena.

 

UAB who they beat and Rice who they visit and play Sunday for the first time are two back in the loss column.

 

Tulsa, who they host next Wednesday going for a sweep and North Texas who they lost to are a game behind.

 

In Thursday’s win over UTSA (13-12, 7-7) Tiarra East had 18 points and six rebounds, Aleah Nelson scored 11, and Demi Washington scored 10, while reserve Ines Piper scored nine with four boards.

 

   The Owls defense made up for the lackluster 27 percent shooting from the field.

 

“The shooting percentage was down for sure,” said second year coach Diane Richardson. “The biggest bulk of it was the 2-15 from three, but defense prevailed.

 

“We got stops, and we offensively rebounded 22 times. We knew rebounding was going to be a big deal today.” 

 

The offensive board work yielded 16 second-chance points.

 

Rider Routs Saint Peter’s: Suddenly, the Broncs are on a three-game win streak after blasting the visiting Peacocks with a 26-0 run across the first two quarters on the way to a 59-48 win in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) at home in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

 

The win by Rider (8-16, 5-10) gave the Broncs a season split with Saint Peters (6-19, 3-13).

 

“Really happy with the wind, getting towards the end of February here,” said veteran rider coach Lynn Milligan. “we want to win on our home floor, we want to play well on our home floor, so I was very happy with the outcome of the game.

 

“We played on quarter that got a bit sloppy, but I thought the 1st three quarters were about as good defensively as we've played all season.

 

“We know that if we can hold teams under 60, we've got a really good chance of winning the game. We have to continue to do that. Tonight, we were locked in on the game plan.” 

 

Taylor Langan had a game high 20 points while Makayla Firebaugh scored 13.

 

Rider next hosts Marist Saturday at 1 p.m. (ESPN+).

 

Elsewhere in the MAAC, Fairfield won its 21^st straight game overall, beating host Siena 71-67 in Loudonville, N.Y.

 

Meghan Andersen and Janelle Brown each scored 19 for the Stags (24-1, 15-0).

 

“We knew that was going to be a tough game and it's good for us to be tested,” said fairfield coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis. “I'm proud of how our toughness showed up in a lot of different ways.

 

“Whether it was rebounding the ball, making some difficult catches, or digging in on defense to get stops when we needed them.

 

“We probably could have done a better job at different times but I'm proud of how we gutted this one out against a really tough team.”

 

Fairfield can lock up the regular season title and top seed in next month’s MAAC tourney in Atlantic City when the Stags host preseason favorite Niagara on Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN).

 

The Purple Eagles (15-11, 12-4) in second place won at Quinnipiac 66-60 in overtime.

 

No. 2 Ohio State Handles Penn State: Playing a game in Rec Hall instead of the Bryce Jordan Center may have produced nostalgia for the Lady Lions but the differential was different against the Buckeyes in an 82-69 loss in the Big Ten then the earlier meeting in Columbus, Ohio, in which PSU forced the game into overtime before suffering a loss.

 

Ohio State (23-3, 14-1) opened up a two-game lead in the loss column on Indiana and the Caitlin Clark-led Iowa squad with its 14^th straight victory.

 

Jacy Sheldon scored 20 for the visitors while Celeste Taylor and Cotie McMahon each scored 16 points.

 

“I thought we had a great start; I thought that was the key,” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. “I felt like if we gave them confidence early, it could be a long night for us.”

 

Ashley Owusu scored 20 points for Penn State (16-11, 7-9), now on a six-game losing streak, while Ali Brigham and Leilani Kapinus each scored 10 points.

 

“We've got to get tougher; we've got to get more disciplined,” Penn State coach Caroline Kieger said. “I think that's the big thing that's hurting us right now is our lack of discipline and awareness.”

 

Ohio State hosts Maryland Sunday while Penn State is off until visiting Purdue next Wednesday.

 

The National Scene: Dawn Staley got her 600^th coaching victory dating back to Temple and No.1 South Carolina wrapped up another regular season SEC title as the unbeaten Gamecocks at home beat Alabama 72-44.

 

The winners gave Kamilla Cardoso, suffering some soreness, the night off without any letdown.

Ashlyn Watkins had 14 points and 10 rebounds for S.C. (26-0, 13-0).

 

The Gamecocks, after losing all five starters from their Final Four contingent, were sixth in the preseason poll then bolted to No. 1 and stayed there all season.

 

“We didn't expect it to be this good, but once we saw that we were this good, we never looked back,” Watkins said.

 

The Gamecocks have won 44 straight regular season SEC games.

 

No. 13 LSU, the reigning NCAA champs, edged visiting Auburn 71-66 as Angel Reese had 25 points and 20 rebounds for the Tigers (23-4, 10-3) in the SEC game.

 

There were three upsets, two involving Top 10 teams.

 

North Carolina, recently knocked out of the AP Poll at home in Chapel Hill, stunned No. 6 N.C. State 80-70 as Lexi Donarski scored 23 points for the Tar Heels (18-9, 10-5) in the ACC. 

 

Aziah James had 24 points for the Wolfpack (23-4, 11-4).

 

Duke won at No. 17 Syracuse 58-45 as Kennedy Brown scored 12 and Reigan Richardson scored 11 for the Blue Devils (17-9, 9-6).

 

Dyaisha Fair scored 22 for the Orange (22-5, 12-4) moving within four points of tying former Baylor star Brittney Griner for fifth on the all-time NCAA scoring list.

 

In the Big Ten, No. 14 Indiana at home beat No. 4 Iowa 86-69 in the Big Ten, making it a long night for Caitlin Clark, who still scored 24 points with 10 assists and nine rebounds.

 

She shot 8-26 from the field.

 

Clark now has 3,593 points within 57 of former Kansas star Lynette Woodard who has the major women’s college scoring record set before the NCAA began sponsoring women’s athletics.

 

“I think being physical, face guarding me, throwing a lot of different people at me, yeah, just very physical,” Clark said. “They kind of pushed me off my spots, got me out a little deeper than I wanted to be.”

 

Indiana (22-4, 13-3) was upset at Illinois Monday.

 

“I thought defensively, we were just terrific,” Indiana coach Teri Moren said. “I think we may everything very difficult for Caitlin Clark tonight and that's hard to do. She's a phenomenal player.”

 

Mackenzie Holmes had 24 points and nine reboundsfor the Hoosiers.

 

“We knew she was going to get her 25, 30, 40 points, whatever,” Holmes said.. “But we had a goal in mind to, you know, make it an inefficient 30, 40 points and to keep the others out of it

 “To be able to do that, and just be locked into the game that we had in store, that was the biggest thing.” 

 

Kate Martin had 19 points for Iowa (23-4, 12-3).

 

In the Pac-12 just one game was played, No. 12 UCLA at home in Pauley Pavilion beat No. 18 Utah 82-52 as Londynn Jones had a career-high 23 points off seven makes from deep for the Bruins (21-5, 10-5).

 

Alissa Pili had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Utes (19-8, 9-6).

 

Looking Ahead: Just two local games on Friday night, both in the coastal Athletic Association. Drexel travels to central New Jersey to play Monmouth at 7:00 p.m., while at the same time Delaware hosts UNCW in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark. Both games will air on FloHoops.

 

Nationally, it’s all in the Pac-12, where No. 3 Stanford hosts Arizona at 10 p.m., the same time for the others. No. 7 Southern Cal hosts No. 11 Colorado while Washington State hosts No. 9 Oregon State.

 

And that’s the report.