The Guru NCAAW Report: Temple Rally Dies Just short of a Startling Upset; The Big Ten Owns France and South Carolina Dodges Michigan; Fairfield Handles Arkansas

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — Day one of the newly minted 2024-25 women’s collegiate basketball season which got under way Monday, some 120 sunrises and sunsets to occur between now and the onset of March Madness, was not as explosive and upset-laced as the previous one 12 months ago, but it was still intriguing here locally at Temple in the Owls’ Liacouras Center as well as globally in Paris and Las Vegas where some of the WNBA futures grabbed the torch from the landmark summer of the pros and helped launch the new chapter of what is now year-round activity.

Starting our overnight coverage here in the arena that saw both presidential candidates hold rallies to capture the key swing state of Pennylvania, the results begin being tabulated Tuesday night, it was not a great day for the nine of 13 Guru locals seeing action, going 3-6 against opponents.

Still, the Owls a bit overall younger than the group that finished in a three-way tie for the regular season title of the American Athletic Conference, in Monday night’s second half managed to finish chewing up what had been a 17-point deficit to Atlantic 10 favorite Richmond, also the defending A-10 champs, even taking a lead late in the fourth quarter before the visiting Spiders  applied the breaks with an 8-0 closeout to return to Virginia with a narrow 79-72 victory.

“It was a good one to get, we’ll take it,” said coach Aaron Roussell, who is now in his sixth season successfully having transformed the Spiders into an outfit that deals the medicine here to several teams that usually did likewise every time the Southerners came calling.

Despite things that still need some cleaning up that were costly to the outcome, third-year coach Diane Richardson could calmly accept the word “encouragement,” on the way her Owls fought against a team expected to battle Saint Joseph’s down the road for A-10 supremacy.

“It’s encouraging to know we can play because in that second half, we played Temple basketball,” said Richardson, who gave the media at the presser a welcome to the new season greeting. “In the first half, I don’t know if it was first game jitters, but we weren’t as aggressive.

“We play hard and we’re aggressive defensively, but we had some miscommunication today,” she explained. “Talking has got to be the key. We have got to talk and talk loud and talk often.”

Trailing 58-50 heading into the fourth quarter after making some progress after the half, Temple went up only to see the Spiders counter with their own three-ball and go on to an 8-0 finish while the Owls hurt themselves with some costly turnovers.

Defensively, the Owls could pride themselves on spoiling one of several ongoing homecomings this season by Maggie Doogan, the daughter of former La Salle great Chrissy Doogan, also the coach of Cardinal O’Hara, by holding her scoreless, while Addie Budnik scored nine with seven assists.

But Rachel Ullstron was a compensating force with 32 points, shooting 9-11 from the field, including 4-5 from deep and a perfect 10-10 on the line, while Downingtown’s Anna Camden scored nine and was part of several key plays. The visitors’ Katie Hill was another factor in the offense with 11 points.

That’s a good team, we knew what they were, and Aaron’s done a great job with them since he’s been there,” she said of the Richmond coach previously at Bucknell in the Patriot League.

Temple’s defense forced 25 turnovers, much of them in the second half, with Richardson saying they needed to be that aggressively earlier in the contest.

A key to the comeback was veteran Tiarra East with 18 of her 23 points in the second half, 11 in the fourth quarter.

Richardson said the spotlight is East’s to have. “She’s worked really hard this summer and she has that mentality that we are this close so you got to give more. She did that in the second half and kind of turned the ball game around for us.”

Tarriyona Gary contributed 18 points from Temple’s veteran sector of the roster, and transfer Amaya Oliver from Loyola Marymount had 14 points and eight boards.

Temple now has time to return to the drawing boards ahead of a layoff into next Tuesday when the Owls travel to play Delaware at the Blue Hens’ Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.

Tip time is 6:30 p.m., the game airing off the FloHoops deal with the Coastal Athletic Association.

Delaware Downed by GWU

The Hens opened their season down in the nation’s capital against George Washington of the Atlantic 10 and they fell to the now-named Revolutionaries 78-66.

“We weren’t disciplined as we needed to be on the defensive end and we have to do a better job of guarding in moments like this this,” said coach Sarah Jenkins.

 “There are some lessons from this game and there are things we’re going to have to clean up offensively. We got frustrated when our shots weren’t falling.

 “We have to finish up around the rim, there were a lot of layups we just didn’t make and GW did a phenomenal job finishing up around the rim. We have got to go back to the drawing board and we have to get better. I still have a lot of belief and faith in this team.”

Newcomer Alieghya  Barthololew led all scorers for the visitors with 14 points to go with five rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

Tara Cousins scored 13, Rebecca Demeke had 12 while Ande’a Cherisier scored 11.

The Blue Hens mined 19 points out of 20 turnovers from the hosts, whose Makayla Andrews scored 24 points, while Gabby Reynolds collected 17, Mariona Planes Fortuny scored 14, and Sarah Lewis grabbed eight rebounds.

Delaware, which has competed a long time with Drexel in what is now the America East before both joined the CAA, is now on a farewell tour of its current affiliation before heading toC-USA next season.

While Temple is off until visiting the Blue Hens, Delaware next travels nearby up Broad Street here at La Salle helping the Explorers on Saturday with their home opener at noon in the renovated and now named John Glaser Arena, the game airing on ESPN+.

Coach Mountain MacGilivray saw a rash of exits through the transfer portal, the team retaining just two players in grad Jolene Armendarz and Aryss Macktoon, the second-year Explorers augmented by 11 new members of which five are freshmen, one as redshirt sophomore, six juniors and a graduate transfer in Mackenzie Daleba from Fairfield’s MAAC champions.

The Explorers seventh year coach was nevertheless upbeat at A-10 media day in Washington last month, even with being chosen last in the conference.

“Our goal is just to get better every day,” he said.

La Salle was involved in one of the earliest games on Monday, traveling to America East favorite Maine up in New England, which will meet several other area teams from this area, and falling 65-51.

Ayisse Magassa had 13 points for the Explorers, while Joan Quinn scored 12 after finishing Cardinal O’Hara with all-Catholic honors.

Fourth Quarter Tide Carries Duquesne Over Princeton

If you want to talk about a local shocker result, it came from multi-Ivy defending tournament champion and preseason favorite Princeton, which fell in Pittsburgh to Duquesne of the A-10 76-66 wasting Madison St. Rose’s first double double of with 22 points and personal best 12 rebounds.

Skye Belker scored 14 of which 12 are from a career-high four shots from deep.

Duquesne blasted its way to victory with a 14-0 run at the outset of the fourth quarter.

Megan McConnell, a member of the family clan that includes all-time Penn State great Suzie McConnell-Serio, who played and coached in the WNBA and was a USA Olympics star in 1988, scored 24.

The losing Tigers try to quickly reverse traction next when they DePaul of the Big East on Saturday, the game airs in Chicago on FloHoops.

In Central New Jersey in Lawrenceville, halfway between Trenton and Princeton, Rider of the MAAC was sunked by Navy of the Patriot League, losing 74-52 at home in Alumni Gym.

“We’re disappointed losing on our home court,” said veteran coach Lynn Millligan. “I think it really came down to our rebounding and our turnovers.

“Those are things that we will be locked in on for the next week, but I thought our second half was much better than our first. Our young kids, for their first game, all the freshmen did a pretty good job. They scored 23 of our 52 points, so I was happy with the way they responded in the second half.”

The Broncs have one of the La Salle refugees in Gabby Turco who will soon be facing her former team and scored a Division I career high with 21 points. Like Temple, Rider is off until next Tuesday when the Broncs visit Long Island U. of the NEC, the game airing on ESPN+.

For the two local Patriot League teams it was a split outcome, Lehigh, picked third in the league, winning at home, 83-59 over Long Island in Stabler Arena in Bethlehem upstate, while Lafayette, picked last, fell 85-55 at Boston College of the ACC.

In Lehigh’s win, the Mountain Hawks took command early in the game and never trailed the rest of the way as Maddie Albrecht scored 15 points and Colleen McQuillen collected 14 with six rebounds and four assists.

The winners head to a piece of Big Ten Country Friday playing Michigan in Ann Arbor in the Crisler Arena at 7 p.m. on B!G+.

Lafayette, which hosts nationally ranked Notre Dame on Sunday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m., was beaten on the road with two players both scoring 14 points in the Leopards’ Abby Antognoli and Kay Donahue.

Their next stop is home in the Kirby Sports Center hosting Saint Francis from Central Pennsylvania at 2 p.m. on Saturday, the game airing on ESPN+

Finally on  this local portion, the two area members of Big Ten lived up to their favorite's roles in their home openers, Penn State besting Bucknell 90-68 in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, while Rutgers edged Manhattan of the MAAC 85-79 in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J.

In the Penn State game, Moriah Murray rode a career-high eight from deep to collect 28 points, while Gracie Merkle scored 21 while grabbing 13 rebounds.

Bucknell’s 22 turnovers led to 33 Nittany Lions points.

The home team dominated the boards 44-32.

The Bison stayed somewhat competitive connecting on 13 three-pointers.

Newest up Canisius of the MAAC visits on Thursday night at 6 pm. on the subscription channel B1G+, which will also air Rutgers’ next game Thursday night, the second of four straight games at home when Cornell of the Ivy League visits at 7 p.m.

In the win over Manhattan, an affair the Scarlet Knights were able to stay slightly ahead down the stretch, Chyna Cornwell had a double double of 21 points and 15 rebounds.

Adding to the offense, Destiny Adams scored 14 points as did JoJo Lacey, while Zachary Perkins continued the parade of scores in double figures with 11 points.

In the coming days, the four locals not seeing action Monday, will see Saint Joseph’s host area D-II Goldey-Beacom at 7 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN+, Drexel open at home Thursday at 7 against Marist of the MAAC on FloHoops in the Daskalakis Athletic Center, Penn play host to Merrimack Friday at 2 p.m. in The Palestra on ESPN+, and Villanova welcome Wake Forest of the ACC Sunday at 2 p.m. in Finnerman Pavilion on FloHoops.

Nationally Speaking

It was a big day for the Big Ten, including a sweep of the four new members formerly with the dormant PAC-12 highlighted by the doubleheader grab of the Aflac Oui-Play event in Paris, France, in which No. 3 Southern Cal squandered a 15-point lead over No. 20 Ole Miss of the SEC but came back in the closing seconds to pick up a pair of steals while former Stanford star KiKi Iriafen connected with  pair of free throws for a 68-66 win followed in the second game with No. 5 UCLA slipping past No. 17 Louisville of the ACC 66-59.

Back in the States, the two other realignment sisters in the Big Ten saw Oregon romp over visiting Cal-Baptist of the WAC while Washington crushed visiting Seattle from nearby 95-53.

Speaking of neighborhood scrums, former Villanova post star Christina Dalce helped No. 18 Maryland to a 74-32 lop-sided winning result over host UMBC with a double double of 13 points and 10 rebounds but elsewhere Michigan threatened but couldn’t get ahead of No. 1 South Carolina to stay and the defending national champs out of the SEC overcame early shooting woes to to beat the Wolverines 68-62 in Las Vegas in the Naismith Hall of Fame Series.

Opening day was far different for Dawn Staley’s crew than 12 months ago when the Gamecocks, whose all five graduating starters went in the WNBA draft, played in the inaugural and then single-game Aflac Oui-Play event and thumped Notre Dame to get right back to No. 1 going unbeaten the rest of the way.

Against Michigan, Chloe Kitts scored 19 with 14 rebounds while Tessa Johnson collected 15 points. Joyce Edwards was also in double figures for the Gamecocks with 10 points.

Michigan’s Sylvia Edwards had a monster game for the challenger from the Big Ten, scoring 27 points with 12 rebounds.  Jordan Hobbs collected an extra contribution of 19 points.

Sports book favored South Carolina by 21 ½ points according to an Associated Press report.

With 22 seconds left, the Gamecocks held a 64-62 lead but would not break for Michigan.

Nine of 11 from the championship are back but one of the missing is the graduated center Kamilla Cardoso, who went third in the WNBA draft to the Chicago Sky.

Back in France, USC’a Iriafen’s two foul shots with 10 seconds left gave her 22 for the game while JuJu Watkins, the rookie standout of last season, scored 27 points.

Ole Miss got 19 from K. K. Deans.

In the UCLA game, the highly acclaimed Bruins overcame a rugged start as Lauren Betts, last season’s transfer from Stanford had 18 points and blocked for shots, while Oregon State transfer Timea Gardiner scored 15 and the Bruins also got 13 from Londynn Jones.

Louisville’s Tajianna Roberts scored 21 for game honors.

The big story for No. 6 Notre Dame wasn’t the 105-61 thrashing of Mercyhurst, which was playing its first Division in South Bend, Ind., it was the return of injury-healed Olivia Miles from a season’s absence with triple double of 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, while Pitt transfer Liatu King scored 24.

Haddonfield’s Hannah Hidalgo, another of last season’s top freshman, added an additional 19 to the Irish total, with nine rebounds, six steals and two assists.

Kenny Brooks, formerly with Virginia Terch, made his coaching debut of No. 22 Kentucky and the Wildcats at home in Lexington routed USC Upstate 98-43 as Clara Strack scored 22 while Georgia Amoore, who folllowed him from Blacksburg, scored 11.

Former Penn star Jordan Obi did not get into the game.

Columbia had a long memory and wasn’t going to let Stony Brook strike twice after last season’s opening upset. The Ivy regular season co-champs pounced on the bunch from Long Island, winning 87-47 as Riley Weiss, now, a sophomore matched her personal best with 18 points, while Kitty Henderson scored 17 and grabbed eight boards, and Cecilia Collins scored 15 points.

Special mention to MAAC champion Fairfield, which went into SEC country to play Arkansas and shredded the Razorbacks 81-67 as Kaety L’Amoreaux scored 18 and Meghan Andersen totalled 17 off 7-for-12 from the field leading the way to the Stags’ first-ever win over an SEC opponent.

“It feels great,” said Fairfield coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis, the daughter of former WNBA Mystics GM Mike Thibault and sister of former coach Eric. “We’ve been thinking about it since we lost at the end of last year (in the NCAA tourney) and we wanted to come back even better.

“I thought our team came out ready to go and set the tone early and wore them down.

“Our depth played a factor in wearing them and I'm proud how we kept fresh bodies in and kept going.”

Quinnipac coach Trish Sacca-Fabbri had been saying, “We’re back” of the years they owned the MAAC.

Monday, the Bobcats opened winning at Patriot champion Holy Cross 78-74, ruining the debut of interim coach Candice Green as Karson Martin scored 25 and Israeli Gal Raviv from the town of Kadima made her freshman debut scoring 22 points with five rebounds and four assists.

Looking Ahead

By coincidence, not design, locals are not scheduled on Election Day but a small cluster of those in the national mix will see action, a sampling showing Niagara at Syracuse, Florida Gulf Coast at Davidson, Towson at West Virginia, Cleveland State at No. West Virginia, and Montana at Gonzaga.

Others later in the week are already mentioned higher above in this roundup.