The Guru NCAAW Report: Ohio State and Southern Cal Take Easy Wins

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

The finals period is under way meaning for the next week snd a half the bulk of local and national games will slow with not much going on a bunch of days.

Tuesday was one such occasion, but a few ranked games happened that were one-sided going in and became one-sided coming out.

Both occurred in the Big 10, though considering which was one, the realignment still takes some taking to adjust.

In the Midwest, No. 11 Ohio State at home in Columbus stayed among the unbeaten crowd at 9-0 with an 80-48 win over Ball State (6-4), the preseason pick in the Mid-American Conference.

Chance Gray scored 21 points for the Buckeyes, Taylor Thierry scored 12, Ajae Petty had 10, and Ava Watson scored 15.

The squad is back in action Saturday hosting Youngstown State at 11 a.m.

Out West, No. 5 Southern Cal (9-1) at home in the Galen Center in Los Angeles whipped Fresno State 89-40 as Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen had 24 points and 12 rebounds, her fourth straight double double, while JuJu Watkins had 21 points with five assists, and Rayah Marshall grabbed 13 rebounds.

Mia Jacobs and Holly Griffiths each scored 11 for the Bulldogs (7-4).

Next up Elon from Drexel’s Coastal Athletic Association comes across the country from North Carolina for a game Sunday at 3 p.m.

Looking Ahead

On Wednesday, locally, Villanova, trying to shake a two-game slide, is at Delaware at 6:30 p.m. on FloSports, while Princeton hosts Rhode Island at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) in Jadwyn Gym; Penn State is at Providence at 7 p.m. on FloSports, and and Rutgers at 7 p.m. (B1G+) hosts Fairleigh Dickinson.

No. 18 Iowa State (8-2) is at No. 21 Iowa (8-1) at 9 p.m.

The big game of the week that far out on Thursday is the Shamrock Classic as No. 2 Connecticut visits No. 8 Notre Dame at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Azzi Fudd, having suffered a mild knee sprain Saturday in the Louisville game in Brooklyn, will not play in that game and then will be day-to-day, according to Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma.

Tidbits

Off the Big 5 Classic, Tiarra East of champion Temple has earned a national honor, one of five USBWA players of the week, a conference honor from the American, and the Big 5, while Penn’s Sarah Miller was the Ivy and USBWA freshman of the week.

The local Net numbers through Monday:

(Conference rank)

 

Saint Joseph’s 39 (A-10 2)

Princeton 51 (Ivy 3)

Villanova 55 (BEC 4)

Penn State 73 (B-10 13)

Temple 75 (AAC 1)

Lehigh 80 (PAT 1)

Penn 108 (Ivy 4)

Drexel 117 (CAA 1)

Rutgers 144 (B-10 17)

Delaware 210 (CAA 4)

La Salle 236 (A-10 10)

Rider305 (MAAC 9)

Lafayette 324 (PAT 9)

STILL UNBEATEN

 

LSU 11-0

Maryland 10-0

Portland 10-0

Georgia Tech 9-0

Michigan State 9-0

Ohio State 9-0

UCLA 9-0

Buffalo 8-0

Conn. 8-0

Tennessee 7-0