The Guru Report: Penn Battles Princeton Falling Just Short in Ivy Semis; Columbia Advances at Home; Drexel Stuns Monmouth in CAA Quarterfinals; No. 1/AP25 Fairfield Advances to MAAC Title in Atlantic City

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

NEW YORK — Penn’s first Ivy title under Mike McLaughlin gained in 2014 came in a season it was least expected long before the Ancient Eight became the last of 32 conferences to stage a postseason tournament for their men and women, though much different in format.

Princeton under former coach Courtney Banghart, now at North Carolina, had become a powerhouse replacing the longtime fearsome duo in the north of Harvard and Dartmouth, though the former continued to be one of the major threats in the annual race in which final standings determined the league’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament.

But that year the Tigers had handled the Quakers easily in the league opener at The Palestra though as the race evolved a couple of upsets created an unprecedented situation in which the two teams were tied at the top with the squads set to meet the second time on the final day of the Ivy slate at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym.

It was a surprising tight contest, but the longer Penn lasted the more the Quakers gained control and, in a stunner, prevailed.

After two double-digit losses by Penn in this year’s series, one less than a week ago, the league’s geographic rivals were set to open the Ivy Madness semifinals late Friday afternoon here at Columbia’s Levien Gym, a 1-4 meeting via seeds, before the host Lions, tied for first but second seed, met third-seeded Harvard.

Princeton (24-4) came into the contest a strong favorite, ranked five times since November and considered a strong candidate to land an NCAA at-large bid if the Tigers were to falter.

The Tigers have not missed a beat since Banghart left for North Carolina, succeeded by former UConn star and Tufts coach Carla Beube.

Penn (15-13) figured to be sent to a quick conclusion, especially with no shot at postseason play in either the new WBIT organized by the NCAA or the long-running WNIT, which the league has nixed for its schools as a secondary tournament.

Instead, buoyed by the play of Ivy freshman of the year Mataya Gayle, it was the Quakers up by eight near the end of the first period and still in front by two at the half.

And though Princeton came back several times and threatened to head to a rout, Penn would spurt back into contention, the Quakers’ play recalling that 2014 shocker over the Tigers.

But Princeton had too much to be turned aside, especially on the boards where they dominated 42-26, including 17-3 on the offensive end.

Gayle for Penn had 20 points in her first Ivy tourney appearance, shrugging off the defense from Princeton’s 2023 Ivy player of the year Kaitlyn Chen.

Stina Almqvist, a strong candidate for most improved player in the Big Five, had 11 points, Jordan Obi in her final game scored 16.

“I’m incredibly proud,” McLaughlin said. “They competed at such a high level.

“Little Things add up to big things. They grew so much. I just think that these three and the rest of the group put themselves in position to be a really good team and to compete at the highest level.”

Reviewing the season, Almqvist noted, “I think, in the beginning of the year we struggled because it’s all new people,” she said. “We will have a great group next year and I’m super excited. It’s something to build on.”

However, the fact that the Tigers are now 12-0 in recent times in the series does not sit well with Gayle, who is only 0-3 personally as a newcomer in that stretch.

“Both teams really fought hard, but this loss really hurts, so it is one you won't forget,” Gayle said. “That will stick with us going into next season.

“I don’t feel like I played them at my best yet,” she said. “I feel like coming in today, I had something to prove to them, and to myself.… I felt like I was really locked in today, and I wanted to compete as hard as I could.’’

The Penn coach, who has had a slew of recruits win either Big Five or Ivy individual rookie honors during his time guiding the program, praised his star newcomer who helped lessen the loss of sensation Kayla Padilla, who with Ivy eligibility expired, returned home and became part of the super Southern Cal squad that won the Pac-12 tourney over Stanford, may be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tourney, and is ranked third with one more Associated Press poll coming Monday afternoon.

“She was really special today in some of the shot making that she’s capable of doing, and I’m excited for where the future lives for her, and us as well.”

To a lot of Penn fans, and McLaughlin, what also will burn occurred in the closing 14 seconds with Princeton up 57-54, Obi drove the lane and scored but a referee negated the play with a charging call against the senior on the play with Princeton three-time defending of the year Ellie Mitchell against her.

“I am a pretty transparent person, and that was a block at the end,’’he said, and informed that he had looked at replays on the way to the post game news conference here.

“I think anyone who saw it would say the same thing. That’s as far as I’ll go.’’

On Princeton’s side, after another superior season that saw a near upset early on at UCLA, which has traversed on the high and low sectors of the Top 10 in the AP rankings, the Tigers are ready for their part in Saturday’s championship thriller at 5 p.m. on ESPNNEWS, playing a Columbia squad they shared for a regular season title for the second straight year.

Each team beat the other at home in their own venue here and at Jadwin Gym.

Princeton’s Mitchell grabbed 12 rebounds for the Tigers and set the combined men’s and women’s program career record with 1,100 just past the 1,099 held by Maggie Meier Benchich since 1978.

Madison St. Rose had 19 points, Kaitlyn Chen had 18 and Chet Nweke grabbed 10 rebounds.

Meanwhile, Columbia (23-5) had a tournament score to settle with Harvard (16-12) off last year’s semifinals at Princeton when the Crimson upset the Lions costing them a spot in the NCAA tournament.

Though it got dicey, a near capacity crowd saw the home team hold off Harvard 63-61.

“This game was a battle,” said Columbia coach Megan Griffith, a native of King of Prussia. “Harvard is a really good team and they've got a lot of talented players.

“I think Carrie (Moore) is a good coach, it was something we knew we were going to walk into. 

“They weren't going to roll over.

“This isn't a team that has a quit mentality,” she continued.

 “With that though, I thought our first half we didn't really execute our game plan. We really challenged our team to come out and set a tone for that third quarter and I thought that's exactly what we did,” she explained.

 “We created a separation then pretty much held on to lead the rest of the game. I am really proud of our team executing the second half, but the job is not done. We have to move on to the next one now.”

Abbey Hsu, Ivy player of the year for this season, led the Lions with 22 points and 14 rebounds. Susie Rafiu had 11 points, Cecelia Collins had 10 points, as did Kitty Henderson, with six rebounds.

Harvard’s Harmoni Turner scored 21 points, Katie Krupa scored 16, but Lola Mullaney was held to four points.

Said Hsu of Saturday’s showdown, “I think we’re not at all satisfied. We are extremely hungry. We were right in this same spot two years ago. Just because we got through the first one doesn’t mean we’re going to lay down and be happy. We know there’s a mission to accomplish and we are ready for it.”

Columbia drew even with the Tigers in the standings beating them 67-65 here on senior night in front of a sellout crowd, which is expected to occur again on Saturday.

Princeton won the first one, 80-65, in late January.

Drexel Advances to CAA Semifinals

After a roller-coaster season, the Dragons have emerged as the last hope for a local Philly team to land in the NCAA tournament.

On Friday at the home of the WNBA Mystics in Washington, seventh seeded Drexel (17-14) in the Coastal Athletic Association won a second straight narrow outcome, this one 58-56 over second-seeded Monmouth (21-9) after holding double digit leads earlier in the game.

Grace O’Neill hit a jump shot with 34 seconds left in regulation to snap a tie and hold on to win, snapping an 0-4 streak since the Hawks joined the CAA last season.

The Dragons had been 5-0 in the series before that.

In the semifinals on Saturday, Drexel at 4:30 p.m. on FloHoops will meet sixth-seeded Towson (20-10), which upset third-seeded Charleston 69-60.

On the other side of the bracket, top-seeded Stony Brook (26-3) beat eighth-seeded beat eighth-seeded Campbell 61-52, the Camels ending their season at 17-14.

The Seawolves at 2 p.m. will face fourth-seeded North Carolina A&T (20-10), which advanced beating 13^th-seeded Hofstra 55-40, the Pride ending their season at 11-21.

Amaris Baker led Drexel with 18 points, shooting 7-9 from the field, while Hetta Saatman scored 13 propelled from three makes from deep. Brooke Mullin scored 11.

Monmouth just had one player score in double figures, Ariana Vanderhoop with 16 points.

Fairfield Keeps Rolling in the MAAC

The top seed and 25^th-ranked Stags down in Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City handled fifth-seeded Canisius 77-64, setting a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference record with 28 straight wins, second best streak in the nation behind No. 1 and unbeaten South Carolina (22-0).

Jamelle Brown scored 19 for Fairfield, while freshman Meghan Andersen scored 16.

The Stags at 3:30 p.m. Saturday will face second-seeded and preseason favorite Niagara (20-12), which advanced with an 87-70 win over Siena (18-12).

Fairfield is coached by Carly Thibault-DuDonis, the daughter of Mystics general manager Mike Thibault, whose son Eric succeeded him as coach of the WNBA team.

The MAAC championship will air on ESPNU.

Upsets Abound

Two conference No. 1 seeds with no hope of being taken went down Friday, Toledo losing to fourth-seeded Buffalo 77-74 in overtime, Toledo finishing with a 26-5 record in the Mid-American Conference.

In the other semifinal, third-seeded Kent State (20-10) beat second-seeded Ball State (28-5) by a score of 65-50 and will play for the MAC title Saturday at 11 a.m. in Cleveland in Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, which is the site of this season’s NCAA Women’s Final Four.

In the Big West, No. 1 Hawaii (20-10) was upended 51-48 by No. 5 UC Davis (20-13) in a semifinal at Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada, neighboring Las Vegas.

UC Davis will face No. 2 UC Irvine (22-8) in the conference championship at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

In some other title games, Saturday, in the Western Athletic Conference top-seeded Cal Baptist (27-3) meets third-seeded Stephen F. Austin (22-11) at 1:30 p.m. from the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

Top-seeded Florida Gulf Coast (28-4) hosts third-seeded Central Arkansas (21-10) for the Atlantic Sun title at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

The complete schedule and results roundup of all other conference tourneys are on a post below this one.

The complete 68-team NCAA field and pairings will air Sunday night at 8 p.m. on a one-hour show on ESPN.

The first four out will be the top No. 1 seeds in the new WBIT.

And that’s the report.