The Guru NCAAW Report: Temple Defense Carries Owls at Delaware; Rider Wins at LIU; Ranked Teams Sweep With Records Set

By Mel Greenberg, @womhoopsguru

 

NEWARK, Del. – The name of the game was defense to give Temple its first win of the year, a 67-56 triumph here Tuesday night at Delaware (0-3), an hour to the south in the Blue Hens’ Bob Carpenter Center, a place that holds special memories for Owls’ coach Diane Richardson.

 

For the home team, dropping their second straight game to an area Big Five team after losing at La Salle Saturday to still be winless, Delaware’s demise was rooted in the first quarter making just one shot and being unable to do much on the line to trail 12-4 at the end of the period.

 

That put Temple on the way to get to a 1-1 record at the start of a three-game road trip next stopping at VCU in Richmond Friday night at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) and then meeting Georgetown next week in the nation’s capital.

 

This was the place where Richardson completed the rebuild of Towson in 2019, the Tigers rallying on Drexel for the CAA title raising her profile to make her the catch Temple wanted when the school decided to make a coaching change three seasons later.

 

Tarriyona Gary led the way Wednesday with 17 points for the Owls, fueled by three shots from deep, while Anissa Rivera, a graduate transfer from Towson, off the bench, scored 11 and had three steals, and Tristen Taylor was a third player in double figures on the visiting side with 10 points and seven assists.

 

Amaya Oliver, another graduate transfer, being previously at Southern Cal and Loyola Marymount, was effective on both sides, scoring eight points while collecting eight boards, with two steals and a block.

 

Though Temple had its own scoring problems preventing the Owls from a larger dominating lead, defensive pressure in the first half helped create runs of 9-0 to start the game and 11-0 from causing 10 turnovers to stay in front.

 

This was a game that might have gotten away several years ago with Delaware moving within three points when getting untracked in the third quarter but Temple through its defense had answers and went on to lead by as many as 16 points in the final quarter.

 

“We played tough, tough defense, turned them a little bit, 22 times, that’s good defense for me, we shot the ball okay and got out of here with a win,” Richardson said.

 

“We started, they weren’t hitting, we weren’t hitting, but then we shot a little better, then they got close, so we had to change our style of defense to stop the runs.”

 

The two teams hadn’t met here, which was Delaware’s home opener, in exactly in 11 years.

 

Reserve Michelle Ojo matched her personal best scoring 15 points for the Hens with 7-11 from the field, four rebounds and a block, while Chloe Wilson had a double double with 12 points and 12 boards.

 

The home team got 16 points over 19 Temple turnovers, which the Owls will look to clean up moving forward.

 

Delaware returns here Tuesday with an 11 a.m. (FloHoops) Education Day tip hosting Colgate.

 

In the only other local action Rider got its first win, occurring on the road with the Broncs topping Long Island 66-54.

 

“I’m Happy with our overall performance,” said Rider veteran coach Lynn Milligan. “To come on the road, in a tough environment, have some adversity, some foul trouble, and be able to hold on to our lead, make some big buckets, plus stick together for the entire 40 minutes. I thought it was a good first W,” she continued.

 

“I saw a big step from the week we had in between the practice. We obviously locked in a lot of our defense. I thought our help side was terrific, ... I thought our rotations and our scrambles were really good, and that's what it's going to take. I think it's one of those games we can look and say, okay, we had all five people guarding the ball.”

 

Spaniard Mariona Cos-Morales had 14 points, La Salle transfer Gabby Turco had 13 points, Camryn Collins scored 10, and Australian Emilee Tahata had a personal best five blocks in the Broncs’ first-ever meeting with the Sharks (1-3).

 

Rider (1-1) next is back home in Alumni Gym Friday in Lawrenceville, N.J., at 5 p.m. (ESPN+) hosting Bryant.

 

The National Scene

 

In a strong mid-major test against each other A-10 favorite Richmond dazzled at MAAC favorite Fairfield, both defending conference champions, winning 62-39 in Connecticut as A-10 player of the week Rachel Ullstrom scored 17 points with 11 boards, her first double double, while Broomall’s Maggie Doogan scored 15.

 

Addie Budnik had nine points while Ally Sweeney scored eight.

 

The Spiders (3-0) stepped on the gas and kept it there with quarters of 19-3 and 13-4 for a 32-7 lead at the half before the Stags (1-1), who raised eyebrows winning at Arkansas last week, played even the rest of the way with a 32-30 advantage.

 

In the first half they shot a dismal 12 percent.

Fairfield had bolted its way into the prominent mid-major discussion last season under Carly Thibauldt- Dudonis after a narrow opening loss at Vanderbilt, going unbeaten the rest of the way before a first-round loss in the NCAA tournament.

 

Along the way Fairfield made its first appearance in the AP women’s poll and would have been in the final ranking had not the company decided for the first time to hold one more vote after the NCAA tourney as is done in football after the collegiate championship.

 

Richmond deprived any player on the Stags from reaching double figures, Meghan Andersen and Kaety L’Amoreaux each scoring nine points, while Emina Selimovic scored eight.

 

“Just a fantastic outing for our entire program and our entire team today,” said Richmond coach Aaron Rousseau. “What you saw today is the depth this group has.”

 

Fairfield, which sought to strengthen its non-conference slate, goes to Oklahoma State Saturday at 2 p.m., while Richmond is hosting Gardner-Webb Friday at 11 a.m.

 

Tennessee Passes a Test Beating Middle Tennessee

 

The Lady Vols took the air firing a near program record 15 three-pointers, one off the mark, to win 89-75 at home in Food City Center in Knoxville as redshirt sophomore Talaysia Cooper had her first ever double double with 18 points, shooting 8-16 from the field, and 10 rebounds.

 

Samara Spencer had 17 for Tennessee (3-0) while Tess Darby and Sara Puckett had 14 and 13 points, respectfully.

 

MTSU (2-1) got a game-high 25 points from Courtney Blakely, leading three other Blue Raiders also in double figures.

 

“That’s a good team, so happy to get out of here with a win,” said first-year coach Kim Caldwell. “Very, very well coached. Experienced, we still have some things we need to fix, but we survived to live another day.”

 

Tennessee next hosts Liberty Saturday at noon (SECN+).

 

Noteworthy

The new incumbents in this week’s AP Poll all came away from wins on a big slate. No. 3 Southern Cal (3-0) set program records for points and differential in a 124-39 rout of CSUN at home in the Galen Center in Los Angeles as Lindsey Gottlieb picked up her 300th coaching victory and JuJu Watkins led the way with 21 points and a career-high nine assists. Next up the Trojans host Santa Clara Friday at 3 p.m. (B1G+).

 

No. 15 West Virginia (3-0) won its seventh straight Backyard Brawl beating Pitt 82-54 at home in Morgantown at WVU Coliseum as the Mountaineers forced 32 turnovers as JJ Quinerly had a game-high 17 points. Next up is a visit from Texas A&M Friday at 7 p.m.

 

No. 12 Ohio State (2-0) at home in Columbus handled Charlotte 94-53 as Chance Gray tied a program record with nine from deep on the way to a personal best 31 points, the Buckeyes causing separation with a 17-0 run at the end of the first quàrter. Next up is a road stop to Nashville to play at Belmont Sunday at 3 p.m. (ESPN+).

 

Looking Ahead

 

Locally, they’ve played annually in recent times but Wednesday night at 6 p.m. following the men’s team last season, the Drexel women wear the Big Five identity hosting La Salle at 6 p.m. in the Daskalakis Athletic Center (FloHoops), it’s also the first overall affair in the new two three-team pods format leading to the Big Five women’s classic triple-header Friday, Dec. 6 at Villanova.

 

Villanova begins the first of a three-game run with the Ivy powers visiting defending champion Princeton at 7 (ESPN+), hosting defending regular season co-champion Columbia, Saturday, at 2 p.m. and then hosting Penn next Wednesday in a Big Five pod meeting.

 

Penn, Wednesday night (tonite) at 6 p.m. hosts Siena in the Palestra (ESPN+) ahead of Friday’s Big Five visit from a Saint Joseph’s at 4:30 p.m. prior to a men’s game.

 

Lafayette, which hosts No. 6 Notre Dame Sunday, as at Marist at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).

 

Nationally, Notre Dame hosts Sun Belt favorite at James Madison at 7 while at the same time No. 11 Maryland visits Syracuse. No. 25 Stanford hosts UC Davis at 10 p.m.; Iowa hosts Toledo at 7 also. No. 4 Texas hosts Lamar at 8 p.m.