The Guru NCAAW Report: Penn and Princeton Wrap Up Non-Conference Games With Wins Looking to Ivy Openers This Saturday

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

The local Ivy duo of Penn and Princeton finished up non-conference on the final day of 2024 winning games Tuesday afternoon in advance of the league wars kicking off this weekend.

Penn (9-4), out west in the Arizona desert, finished the Quakers’ two-day trip with a split, beating Benedictine Mesa 86-75 while Princeton at home in Jadwin Gym handled Le Moyne 75-43.
After narrowly almost upsetting Arizona State, coach Mike McLaughlin’s group was led by Stina Almqvist, who had a career-high 28 points, shooting 11-6 from the field for 68.8 % while she also grabbed 10 boards.

Mataya Gayle scored 18, freshman Sarah Miller, on what was a homecoming trip hailing from the Phoenix area, collected 15 points, and Saniah Caldwell matched a personal best with 12 points, while Katie Collins, another freshman, grabbed 11 rebounds.

Benedictine Mesa is a non-Division I squad while Le Moyne is in the Northeast Conference going through reclassification to Division I.

Penn comes home and goes into the deep end of the Ivy poll, opening Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) in The Palestra against regular season co-champion Columbia.

Princeton (9-4), which had struggled after losing Madison St. Rose to a season-ending injury earlier this season, is showing signs of replicating one of the Tigers’ final seasons under Courtney Banghart in which they struggled due to injuries on the front end but when crunch time came, they were still standing holding another league title.

But in terms of reality check, Le Moyne (0-13) is still seeking its first win of the season.

Ashley Chea had 16 points and six assists for the Tigers, Tabitha Amanze scored 11 with four boards, Parker Hill dealt a personal best five assists, and Katie Thiers matched her career-high with eight points.

While Penn on Saturday will be dealing with a league frontrunner, Princeton will be in the shallow end hosting Cornell at 2:30 p.m. in Jadwin Gym (ESPN+) in central New Jersey/

The National Scene

In games finishing up, considering New Year’s no longer treated by schedule makers with the reverence they hold for Christmas, in the Big Ten, New member Washington’s two-game jaunt to the Midwest finished perfect, winning 84-75 at Illinois in Champagne, while new member Oregon got its first conference win besting Northwestern 85-65, and Minnesota won at Wisconsin 59-50.

In the Washington game, the Huskies (11-4, 2-1 Big Ten) got 24 points, four boards, and eight assists, from Sayvia Sellers, who had five makes in seven attempts from deep; Dalyah Daniels had 16 points and 12 boards; and reserve Teagan Brown scored 10.

All of that cancelled 32 from Genesis Bryant for the Illini (11-3, 1-2), who were ranked early in the season.

Oregon (10-4, 1-2) got 14 points from Deja Kelly and 12 points and nine boards from Phillipina Kyei among the starters while off the bench, Nani Falatea scored 13, Alexis Whitfield scored 11, and Ehis Etute scored 10 against the Wildcats (7-7, 0-3), who got 17 from reserve Melanie Daley, 15 from Caileigh Walsh, and 14 from Kyla Jones.

Minnesota (14-1, 2-0) in its win over Wisconsin (10-4, 1-2) got 13 points from Amaya Battle, 12 from Grace Grocholski, and 11 points and eight boards from Sophie Hart.

Tori McKinney, the reigning USBWA national freshman of the week, dealt six assists to go with her seven points.

The Badgers’ Serah Williams scored 16 with 11 boards for a double-double, while Ronnie Porter scored 13.

Looking Ahead

Locally on New Year’s Day, No. 23 Iowa is at Penn State at 1 p.m., the next closest Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen will be to home after being in Brooklyn next month. The host Nittany Lions have yet to win in the early Big Ten schedule.

Temple will look to augment a fast start in the American Athletic Conference as the Owls host East Carolina at 4 p.m in the Liacouras Center (ESPN+), Villanova will seek to go 2-0 in the Big East, hosting Seton Hall at 8:30 p.m. in Finneran Pavilion on FS1.

Nationally, No. 7 Connecticut is at Marquette at 2 p.m. in Milwaukee on SNY; In the Big 12, Colorado will be looking for a second upset when the Buffs visit No. 11 TCU (ESPN+) at 7:30 p.m. in Fort Worth, Texas. UCF in another Big 12 affair, visits No. 18 West Virginia in Morgantown at 2 p.m. on ESPN+. No. 12 Kansas State at 3 p.m. is at Houston on ESPN.

In the Big Ten, No. 4 Southern Cal in the Galen Center is hosting Nebraska at 3 p.m. on the Big Ten Network, which also has No. 1 UCLA hosting No. 24 Michigan at 9 p.m., both games originating in Los Angeles. Purdue is at No. 21 Michigan State at 2 p.m.

On Thursday, the local lineup has Rider hosting defending MAAC champion Rider at 6 p.m. in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J. (ESPN+).

Rutgers is at No. 8 Maryland in a Big Ten clash at 7 p.m. at the Terrapins’ XFINITY Center in College Park; The Patriot League gets under way as Lehigh at 6 p.m. visits Bucknell in Lewisburg while Lafayette at 2 p.m. is at Boston U. in Beantown, both on ESPN+.

Saint Joseph’s has a second straight key Atlantic 10 game to start conference play visiting George Mason in Fairfax, Va., at noon on ESPN+ while on the same network La Salle in the A-10 visits Davidson at 7 p.m. in North Carolina.

The Southeastern Conference gets under way Thursday night and the major game involves the two new members from the Big 12 with No. 5 Texas at 9 p.m. visiting No.  9 Oklahoma in Norman on ESPN2.

No. 2 South Carolina is at Missouri at 7 p.m. on the SEC Network, while No. 15 Tennessee is at Texas A&M at 8 p.m. as new Lady Vols coach Kim Caldwell makes her debut in league competition.

The new Bay Area teams formerly with the former PAC-12 are making ACC visits, Stanford is at SMU at 8 p.m. while N0. 20 California is at Clemson at 7 p.m., the latter on the main ACC network, the former on the auxiliary ACCNX.

And that’s the report.