The Guru Report: Olsen Leads ‘Nova Over Providence; Idle Temple Jumps to Sole Possession First in AAC; VCU’S Big 3rd Quarter Ends St. Joe’s Runs and Records

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

VILLANOVA, Pa. — The Wildcats delivered a payback to Providence Wednesday night at home in Finneran Pavilion avenging the earlier loss to the Friars in New England with a 68-58 victory as Lucy Olsen scored 30 points, the eighth time she reached that number this season.

 

It was also a feel-good performance coming off Saturday’s upset loss here to Butler.

 

The win increased the third-place lead in the Big East to a full game for Villanova (17-9, 10-5) but whether that is the seed the Wildcats will land in next month’s tournament at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., remains to be determined.

 

Obviously, the desire to be on the side of the bracket avoiding seeing No. 15 Connecticut until the championship is the lesser of the two poisons.

 

But on the non-UConn side it is still deadly, nonetheless, though coach Denise Dillon’s squad will have a chance to prove if its manageable Saturday when they travel to Omaha, Nebraska, to play No. 21 Creighton, which last month ripped through here with a 63-49 win.

 

The Bluejays are in decent shape to finish second so Villanova if both advanced and the ‘Cats had the third seed they would have to play a third time in the semifinals.

 

Unfortunately, the second UConn game has yet to be played, which will occur next Wednesday at the campus Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, already declared a sellout earlier in the day by the Huskies.

 

Fortunately, the final game will be Sunday, March 3, and it will be played here against a DePaul team having one of the Blue Demons’ worst seasons.

 

For the moment, Villanova was one of the few locals in action Wednesday that went through pleasantries, enjoying theirs at the expense of the Friars (12-16, 6-9).

 

“We never know how our scoring is going to go, so we have to play good defense all the time,” Olsen said. “They are a tough team who scored a ton of points against us last game, so we had to buckle down. 

 

“We were talking all week about playing good defense.”

 

Besides Olsen’s performance, helpful with Zanai Jones sidelined a second straight game with an upper body injury, Christina Dalce had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Kaitlyn Orihel was 3-5 from the field and scored 10 points.

 

Providence had 14 points from Grace Efosa, Olivia Olsen had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Brynn Farrell scored 11.

 

Early in the third quarter, the Wildcats built a 21-point lead, but the differential was reduced thereafter because while ‘Nova was efficient from the line 8-11, the Friars got there more often shooting 18-23.

 

Nevertheless, defense was the key, ‘Nova forcing 17 turnovers and mining a 21-5 differential off the miscues, while also dominating the paint 40-16.

“It was really great to see we stayed on point defensively, especially our guards,” Dillon said. “I think they did a really nice job of balancing out their scoring and then recognizing different presses, moving the basketball, and taking advantage.”

 

And going the other way, Olsen said, “When everyone’s a threat, it’s tough to guard all five of us. They were making good passes to me. I got a few easy buckets. Everyone had their eyes up, looking at the basket, looking at the court.

 

“I know Bella (Runyan) had seven assists, which is awesome. She really stepped up. I don’t think she had a turnover either. It’s nice to be playing with her.”

 

Temple Gets a Helping Hand: After moving into a first-place tie in the American Athletic Conference at home Monday night, the Owls will take the floor for the first of two road games Thursday night all alone at the top playing UT San Antonio because on Wednesday night Charlotte nailed a three-pointer before overtime expired downing North Texas, which pushed Temple ahead by a half-game.

 

This is the latest point in the season the Owls have been this high in conference play since their days in the Atlantic 10 in 2012.

 

VCU Third-Quarter Rally Dooms Saint Joseph’s: After building a 36-23 halftime lead in Richmond against VCU, one of the other top teams in the Atlantic 10 contending with the Hawks for best positioning for next month’s tournament nearby in Henrico County, the host Rams, with the nation’s second best defense, applied the breaks with a lopsided 19-4 third-quarter rally and went on to a 59-48 victory knocking the visitors out of a first-place tie with Richmond.

 

Thus ended the best start in Saint Joseph’s (24-3, 13-2) history and the nation’s second-best road record that was 13-0. For the moment, the campaign to try get into the weekly Associated Press women’s rankings becomes moot.

 

But the long-range goals are still in place, for one, getting in one of the top four positions to earn a double-bye to the semifinals.

 

If coach Cindy Griffin’s team wins out, the worst will be a second-place finish, where the Hawks were forecasted at the beginning of the season by the conference coaches.

 

And Richmond, which is now alone in first place after handling La Salle, which played the Spiders nearby, George Mason, and VCU still has competitive games on the remaining schedule.

 

In the Saint Joseph’s game, which made Rams coach Beth O’Boyle the winningest coach in the program’s history with 168 triumphs, Laura Ziegler had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks, Mackenzie Smith scored 10, Chloe Welch had 12 points and joined Smith with seven rebounds each, but Talya Bruglar was held to seven points.

 

The Hawks just had five field goals in the second half.

 

Sarah Te-Biasu had 16 points for VCU (23-4, 12-3), while Mary-Anna Asare had 12 points, and Mykel. Parham grabbed 10 rebounds.

 

The Hawks on Saturday will be looking for a sweep of Rhode Island, which was picked above Saint Joseph’s but have had its own problems, when the Rams visit Hagan Arena at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).

 

La Salle, meanwhile, fell 74-54 to Richmond in the Robins Center, though the Explorers (7-19, 4-11) only trailed by three 14-11 at the end of the first quarter before the Spiders (24-4, 14-1) went into high gear.

 

  Nicole Melious had 12 points and eight rebounds for La Salle, while Tiara Bolden scored 11, and Molly Masciantonio had 10 points and seven assists.

 

Richmond’s Rachel Ullstrom had 20 points including five treys, Maggie Doogan out of Cardinal O’Hara had 13 points and six rebounds, Grace Townsend had 12 points and six assists, and Siobhan Ryan had 11 points.

 

La Salle hosts VCU Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) at Tom Gola Arena, and Richmond visits George Mason.

 

Local Split in Patriot League: Lehigh beat visiting Army 77-60 at Stabler Arena in Easton, Pa. while Lafayette fell 75-49 at Colgate in Hamilton, N.Y.

 

The winning Mountain Hawks (15-10, 7-7) got 28 points and 10 boards from Maddie Albrecht while Meghan O’Brien and Colleen McQuillen each scored 16 points against Army (14-11, 7-7).

 

The losing Leopards (9-16, 4-10) didn’t have anyone score in double figures.

 

On Saturday, in what has been a long-running rivalry Lafayette visits Lehigh at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

Rutgers Woes Continue: The Scarlet Knights fell 81-62 in the Big Ten on the road to Maryland (16-10, 8-7), with five players in double figures for the Terrapins led by Shyanne Sellers with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists.

 

Destiny Adams had 15 points and eight rebounds for Rutgers (8-21, 2-14) while Kassondra Brown and Lisa Thompson each scored 11 points. The Knights next go to Michigan State Saturday at 2 p.m.

 

The National Scene: It was all in the Big 12 Wednesday where No. 10 Kansas State beat No. 22 West Virginia at home in Manhattan 73-64 in overtime as Ayoka Lee had 34 points for the Wildcats (23-4, 12-3).

 

The Mountaineers (22-4, 11-4) got 23 points from Ja’Na Quinerly.

 

No. 5 Texas at home in Austin edged Texas Tech 77-72 as Amina Muhammad had 16 points and a career-best 15 boards, 10 on the offensive end for the Longhorns (25-3, 12-3).

 

No. 24 Baylor at home in Waco, Texas, beat Kansas 69-61 as Dre’una Edwards scored 20 for the Bears 20-6, 9-6).

 

Looking Ahead: Locally, besides the Temple game Thursday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+ in San Antonio, in the Big Ten, Penn State in a throwback game on the Big Ten Network at 6 p.m. is hosting No. 2 Ohio State in Rec Hall, the Lady Lions’ previous arena.

 

In the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Rider is hosting St. Peter’s in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J., at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

 

Elsewhere in the MAAC, Fairfield visits Siena in Suburban Albany (N.Y.) as the Stags go for their 21^st straight victory.

 

In the Big Ten, No. 2 Iowa with Caitlin Clark visits No. 14 Indiana at 8 p.m. on Peacock.

 

In the Pac-12, No.18 Utah visits No. 12 UCLA at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN.

 

And that’s the report.