The Guru NCAAW Report: Temple Tops Drexel in Owls’ First seasonal Big 5 Outing; Penn State and Villanova Beat SEC Members Georgia and Texas A&M; Notre Dame Wins at USC

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – Playing its second of the new two-game tournament format Saturday afternoon leading to the Big 5 Classic triple-header at Villanova Friday Jan. 6, Drexel picked up on host Temple in the Owls’ Liacouras Center where the Dragons left off in their destruction of La Salle jumping to a 16-4 lead and heading to a spot in the championship game in their first official season as part of the Big 5.

But Temple coach Diane Richardson shook off another mediocre shooting performance ascribing to the “defense wins games” mantra, locking down Drexel’s high-scoring Amaris Baker (21 ppg.) to a day of just four points off 2-10 from the field and reversing the tide to a 52-43 victory putting the Owls in the favorite role to be in the title game.

It will all be decided next Sunday, one slot in the feature game going to the Holy War winner of the Villanova-Saint Joseph’s on Hawk Hill and the other to Temple by winning at La Salle or if an upset occurs perhaps still to the Owls with a strong .Net rating to snap a three-way 1-1 tie in that pod.

  It was a big day for the locals other than the somebody must lose in the situation here with two meeting each other.

Villanova in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas, beat Texas A&M of the Southeastern Conference and at 4 p.m. Sunday will meet No. 16 North Carolina, which advanced to the semifinals with a 63-52 win over Ball State.

The other semifinal at 1:30 p.m. has No. 18 Baylor, a 101-55 winner over Southern Miss, meeting Indiana, a 72-62 winner over Columbia.

The four losers from Saturday drop to the consolation bracket with Sunday’s losers playing for 7th place Monday, the winners for 5th.

Sunday’s losers will meet on Monday for third and the winners for the championship.

All of Sunday’s games will air on FloHoops.

Penn State, meanwhile, which hosts Drexel Wednesday in Happy Valley, completed a two-game sweep by beating Georgia 67-47 in the new State Farm Showcase co-sponsored by the Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association (WBCA) at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla.

La Salle won at American U. 69-60 in Washington, D.C.

Nationally, in the first of two mega-attractions in Los Angeles this weekend, No. 6 Notre Dame will be moving up in the next AP women’s poll Monday in the wake of dazzling performances from Merchantville’s Hannah Hidalgo (24 pts.) and Olivia Miles (20) leading the Irish (5-0) to a 74-61 victory over No. 3 Southern Cal (4-1), which got 24 points, six rebounds and five assists from JuJu Watkins, who beat out Hidalgo as the top freshman last season.

On Sunday at 4 p.m. Dawn Staley’s defending national champion and No. 1 ranked South Carolina team will be at No. 5 UCLA in Pauley Pavilion (FS1).

Back at Temple (2-2), the Owls forced 25 turnovers, eight by Baker.

‘’ It was a tough game, but our defense won it for us,” Richardson said. “We turned up the pressure, we weren't hitting shots early, so we turned up the pressure early and then it turned the tide for us.

“Being a Big 5 champion is big in this city, and I've learned that,” Richardson continued. “We want to represent Temple in this tournament because i think there are going to be a lot of eyes on the tournament this year.”

Tiarra East had 15 points and Anissa Rivera scored 12, and the latter, nicknamed Peanut, helped the Owls dominate in the fourth quarter with 10 of her points.

“She's played for me before and so I know what buttons to push with her, and I've known her since she was a little kid, so I know what kind of gets her going,” Richardson said. “Coming off the bench, she'll put up some numbers for us and she knows exactly what we do.”

Drexel (2-2) got a huge effort from Dana Evans, scoring 18 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and blocking a career-high nine blocks, one short from earning a triple double.

“I'm really proud of Deja,” Drexel coach Amy Mallon said. “I think Deja tonight, you saw what she's capable of doing. I think that's just going to continue to be something she builds on. She almost had a triple double; she missed it by one block. Just really really impressive what she did.”

Temple host Ivy tournament champion and regular season co-champion Princeton Tuesday night. The Tigers, first, play at Rutgers Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., (B1G+).

They’re coming off a win at Seton Hall, part of the central New Jersey round-robin among the three schools. It’s the second without Madison St. Rose, lost for the season after suffering an ACL during a recent loss at Quinnipiac.

In Penn State’s triumph, Moriah Murray scored 24 points in the first win in three games in which the Nittany Lions (7-0) played the Bulldogs (4-2).

Villanova (4-1) got a double double performance from Denae Carter with 14 points and 11 boards against Texas A&M (3-3) in the first meeting between the schools while Jasmine Blascoe had a game-high 15 points.

La Salle (3-3) had a career-high 22 points for the Explorers winning in Bender Arena at American (0-5), which is still without a victory.

Ashleigh Connor had 10 points, while Joan Quinn and Ayisse Magassa each scored nine with Quinn grabbing nine rebounds.

The Explorers host Lehigh in John Glaser Arena on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. (ESPN+).

Besides the Princeton at Rutgers and Villanova games mentioned for Sunday, Delaware is at Providence at 2 p.m. (FloHoops) and Rider is at VCU at 1 p.m. (ESPN+).