The Guru NCAAW Report: Notre Dame Enjoys Homecoming Trip Beating Lafayette; Penn State and Lehigh Win.; Upsets Delivered to Stanford and NC State by Indiana and TCU

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

EASTON, Pa. – Last season Rutgers got visitored in a manner of speaking when Iowa’s appearance on the Big Ten schedule spawned a rare sellout at Jersey Mike’s Arena which was decidedly awash in gold rather than scarlet, fans wearing jerseys with the number 22 belonging to one Caitlin Clark.

“Was your daughter wearing one of those?” Rutgers coach Coquese Washington was asked.

“Yes, and she’s walking home,” Washington quipped to a round of laughter.

On Sunday afternoon here at a near sellout crowd of 2,329 in the Kirby Sports Center, Lafayette’s maroon gave way to green, the result of the Leopards hosting No. 6 Notre Dame, the ACC-favorite Irish bringing home Olivia Miles, who hails a mere short distance away across the Delaware River in Phillipsburg, N.J.

It was also a near homecoming for sophomore sensation Hannah Hidalgo, the ACC preseason player of the year, from Merchantville, as well as Sonia Citron from outside New York City, and Kylee Watson from outside Atlantic City.

If Notre Dame (4-0) made quick work of Lafayette given the comparisons of rosters and riding a program record afternoon of 15 three-pointers to a 91-55 victory, the team did not make a quick get-away, being mobbed for autographs by the bus parked just outside the arena.

The Irish air attack connecting 11 of those 15 in the first half, was a near perfect 6-8 in the second quarter.

Miles, who missed last season with an ACL injury, was not distracted by her well-wishers, scoring 20 points, with 11 rebounds and seven assists.

“I thought we had a great team win,” said ND coach Niele Ivey, who has been running the show at her alma mater in South Bend (Ind.) now in her fifth season since the retirement of Big 5 Hall of Famer and Saint Joseph’s grad Muffet McGraw, whose coaching career began down the road in Bethlehem at Leopards’ Patriot League arch-rival Lehigh.

“Really fun to watch. We’ve had a lot of (lineup) changes, so our rhythm has just been what we have available. We’re constantly pivoting and adjusting, but that’s a credit to the character of the group.”

Hidalgo continued to shine after being the top freshman in the country last season not named JuJu Watkins at Southern Cal. She led the winners with 29 points, and had five steals and five assists, while freshman Kate Koval lived up to being the new rookie flavor on campus with 11 points and 19 rebounds and seven blocks, the most Irish rejections since Brianna Turner in 2017 and the boards were just three short of another program record.

“That was an amazing performance for anyone, let alone a freshman,” Ivey said. “She stepped up and did what needed to be done. She’s bringing it every game.”

Sonia Citron was also in double figures with 10 points.

Though the matchup could be akin to a mid-major hosting a WNBA all-star team, the Leopards (1-3) competed as best they could, not being intimidated by the jerseys worn by the opposition.

In doing so, they held Notre Dame to its lowest differential (36) of the young season.

“They competed, and that’s one of the things we talked about, we understood their personnel and what the challenges presented for us, but at the same time we thought there were some opportunities for us,” said Lafayette coach Kia Damon-Olson.

“For us, it’s never about our opponent, it’s always about can we get better with the things we’ve been working on for the last couple of days and I thought that we needed to be super attentive coming off the Marist game where I thought we weren’t as attentive as we needed to be.

 “The girls tried to slow down the Notre Dame attack and as you can see in transition, they’re a handful for anyone to deal with and then battling against some of their size on the interior, that was a problem as well.”

Kay Donahue had 18 points for Lafayette, while Sauda Ntaconayigize scored 17 with eight rebounds, career highs for both through the nets, and Abby Antognoli scored nine.

The Leopards next have another nationally ranked opponent, traveling to No. 15 West Virginia on Friday in Morgantown at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).

Of course, this one, being unavoidable out of the way, sets up a national highlight just ahead for the Irish.

“Yes, now we can talk about it,” Ivey smiled.

“It,” being Saturday’s trip to No. 3 Southern Cal in Los Angeles (4 p.m., NBC), matching Watkins and Hidalgo for the first time.

“I think it’s a great matchup for women’s basketball, and we’re looking forward to going there,” Ivey said.

That comes a day before another showdown out west in L.A. with No. 5 UCLA hosting No. 1 South Carolina, the defending national champions.

Next month for the Irish comes games at home against No. 4 Texas and then the ongoing rivalry with No. 2 Connecticut, which means a visit from Paige Bueckers, who learned early Sunday evening she’s likely heading to WNBA Dallas, which won the No. 1 draft lottery pick. Villanova alum Maddy Siegrist represented the Wings on the ESPN telecast.

Three other locals played Sunday, Lehigh rallied from an eight-point deficit going into the fourth quarter and dominated the period 23-8 going on to a 62-55 victory at Brown of the Ivy League at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, R.I.

“I love how our kids responded in the fourth quarter,” said Lehigh coach Addie Micir, who competed against the Bears (1-3) playing for Princeton. “It took a little bit, but we took a deep breath after the third quarter, we took care of the ball, rebounded defensively, and we made shots.”

Maddie Albrecht, the Patriot League player of the week, had 16 points and 13 rebounds for Lehigh (3-1), while Ella Stemmer scored 15, and Lily Fondre scored 13.

The Mountain Hawks next hosts Hofstra of the CAA Friday in Stabler Arena at 6 p.m. (ESPN+).

Penn State reached triple digits for the second straight game, beating Monmouth of the CAA 100-55 to finish the season-opening home stand in the Bryce Jordan Center at 5-0.

Gracie Markle had 24 points and seven rebounds with three blocks, while Moriah Murray scored 17, Gabby Elliott collected 11 and reserve Taliyah Walker scored 18, shooting 7-8 to keep the Hawks (0-5) winless.

The Nittany Lions now head to the new WBCA Showcase in Orlando, Fla., playing Marshall, Thursday (7:30 p.m., Peacock), and Georgia, Saturday (2:30 p.m.).

La Salle (1-3) was competitive in the first half at Virginia (3-1), trailing the Cavaliers 29-25 at the half, but got outscored 47-23 the rest of the way for a 76-47 loss in Charlottesville at the John Paul Jones Arena.

Reserve Joan Quinn had 16 points for the Explorers, while Aryss Macktoon scored 13.

Kymora Johnson had 20 points for Virginia, leading four other teammates in double figures, including Latasha Lattimore, who had 12 points and 12 boards.

The Explorers host Rider at the John E. Glaser Arena, Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. iESPN+).

No locals are on Monday’s NCAA slate, but three teams are on the road Tuesday: Temple, going for three straight, visits Georgetown at 7 p.m. (FloHoops) in Washington, D.C.; Delaware hosts Colgate at 11 a.m. (FloHoops) in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark; Rutgers (5-0) takes its first road trip, the Scarlet Knights visit Virginia Tech in Blacksburg at 6 p.m. (ACCNX).

The National Scene

Two more weekend upsets highlighted the schedule of ranked teams, Indiana downed No. 24 Stanford 79-66 at home in Bloomington as Chloe Moore-McNeil scored 21 and Yarden Garzon scored 18 to help the Hoosiers (2-2) avenge last year’s rout by the Cardinal (4-1), who got 15 points from Nunu Agara to lead the visitors.

TCU (4-0) at home in Fort Worth, Texas, rode Sedona Prince’s 31 points and 16 rebounds to a 76-73 upset of No. 13 N.C. State (2-2), holding off a Wolfpack rally.

Taylor Bigby’s shot with 8.4 seconds remaining in overtime sealed it for the Horned Frogs.

Elsewhere, No. 16 Duke avoided the peril many teams have succumbed playing at South Dakota State in Brookins and pulled out a 75-71 victory as Jadyn Donovan had 23 points and 15 rebounds for the Blue Devils.

The Jackrabbits (3-1) were led by Brooklyn Meyer, who had 25 points off 9-13 from the field.

Rutgers transfer Kaylene Smikle had 21 points for No. 11 Maryland (5-0) in a 98-63 win over nearby Towson (0-4), coached by former Terrapins star Laura Harper, a Cheltenham grad who played in the WNBA.

Villanova transfer Christina Dalce had 13 points and 10 boards for Maryland, while Shyanne Sellers had 10 points and 10 assists.

Harmony Turner followed up her 41 points in a win over Boston College to lead Harvard (4-1) to an 83-41 win at Maine (2-2).

Iowa (4-0) stayed unbeaten winning 86-73 at Drake (2-2) as Addison O’Grady had 27 points and 10 rebounds while Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen continued to score in double figures, collecting 18 points.