The Guru NCAAW Report: UConn Shakes Slow Start on Holy Cross in 2nd Half; La Salle Takes A-10 Opener; JuJu Watkins Lights up No. 6 USC Scoreboard

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

STORRS, Conn. – On a relatively light schedule of importance Tuesday night in terms of meaningful games it took a half for No. 2 Connecticut to get untracked before going on to beat defending Patriot League champion Holy Cross 88-52 at home on campus in Gampel Pavilion.

Out in the Midwest, the lone local on the slate, La Salle got its Atlantic 10 action under way and after nearly beating Temple at home Sunday in its second and final Big 5 pod game, the Explorers got off to a winning start beating Loyola Chicago

Still further west, sophomore JuJu Watkins, who edged Merchantville’s Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame last season for singular national freshman honors, she had herself an air raid show with a program record nine three-pointers and collected 40 points overall in a career best performance leading No. 6 Southern Cal over Cal Baptist 94-52 at home at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.

Yes, a bunch of other ranked teams did play, no, none were threatened nor were expected to suffer upset losses, and none came close.

Here, freshman Sarah Strong, considered the top freshman in this year’s class, gave the Huskies nation reason to have a new favorite once Paige Bueckers moves on as the likely next No. 1 draft pick in April’s WNBA draft, scoring a season-best 22 points and UConn’s plus 30 in the second half on the Crusaders (4-4) ruined the hopes of those from nearby Worcester, Mass., from cashing in betting on underdog points.

Hall of fame coach Geno Auriemma, whose updated winningest collegiate mentor record improved to 2,120, said the “lackluster” first 20 minutes was no surprise consider the past history of games immediately following successful play in holiday tournaments in the tropics.

“It’s just really, really hard to get back into the rhythm of things,” he said.

Auriemma had his “small world” moment, a daughter Hannah of Saint Joseph’s coach Cindy Griffin in Philadelphia, whom he tried to recruit as a player early in his 40-year career here, plays for Holy Cross who he was coaching against when she got in the game for a few minutes making the one shot she took.

Last week UConn (7-0) added Oregon State and No. 18 Ole Miss to the perfect start of season results ahead of Holy Cross in the Bar Mar Continental Tournament in the Bahamas.

It will get a little more challenging Saturday night down in Brooklyn at the home of the WNBA champion New York Liberty in the Barclays Center playing No. 22 Louisville after Tennessee meets Iowa in the Women’s Champion Classic.

“You can chalk that up to we have a lot of new guys that haven’t played, don’t understand what it’s all about yet, still learning, still growing, still trying to figure things out.

“But we also have a freshman that doesn’t have any problem figuring things out. So on to New York.”

Princeton transfer Kaitlyn Chen scored 14, Bueckers had 11 with seven boards and five assists, and Azzi Fudd, inserted into the starting lineup for the first time this season after recently returning from a nearly entire season sidelined with knee injury, picked up seven points in 18 minutes of play.

For consolation prizes after not getting close overall to a shocking upset, the Crusaders on the bus ride back to campus can talk about holding UConn to a season-low 33 points and be the only foe within single digits in the first half.

The Huskies had a season best 14 threes following 3-14 in the previous win over Ole Miss.

Lindsay Berger scored 14 and Plymouth Meeting’s Kate Flanagan scored 12 for Holy Cross, who host Stony Brook Sunday.

Last Become First at La Salle

Picked last in the 15-team Atlantic 10 by the conference coaches, the Explorers (5-4, 1-0) are at the top of the heap at the moment tied with George Mason after their win over Loyola (5-4, 0-1) in the Windy City while the Patriots topped nearby George Washington.

Four players scored in double figures for La Salle, which has eight newcomers; Ashleigh Connor and Aryss Macktoon each collected 11 points and Ayisse Magassa and Daleba Mackenzie both scored 10.

Sitori Tanin was the lone player for the hosts with 17 points besides grabbing 7 rebounds, and Naelle Bernard scored nine, coming close.

La Salle next opens the women’s inaugural Big Five Classic tripleheader at Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion Friday, playing Penn in the 5th place game at 3:30 p.m., the entire slate will air on NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus.

Saint Joseph’s and Drexel play for 3rd (5:45 p.m.) followed by Villanova and Temple in the championship game at 8 p.m.

The National Scene

Picked as a NCAA title contender, USC (7-1) was quickly criticized off the mark following the upset home loss to then-No. 6 Notre Dame late last month.

But all was well Tuesday night in year two of the revival from the Cheryl Miller era decades ago as the Trojans overwhelmed winless Cal Baptist (0-9), which was coming off a loss to Penn in the FGCU Homewood Suites Classic last weekend.

Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen scored 18 points with 10 rebounds, while Talia Von Oelhoffen from Oregon State collected 14 points with six assists, and Rayah Marshall added 10 points and 10 boards.

The Lancers got 12 points from Grace Schmidt.

USC opens play in its new conference home Saturday traveling to Oregon, both two of four coming to the Big Ten from the leveled PAC-12 along with UCLA and Washington.

In games involving other ranked teams playing Tuesday, No. 7 Maryland (9-0) was led by Villanova transfer Christina Dalce scored 13 points in an 87-52 win over visiting Mount St. Mary’s from the middle of the state at the XFINITY Center in College Park.

  Shyanne Sellers and Allie Kubek each scored 12 points, while transfers Saylor Poffenberger and Kaylene Smikle both scored 10 each. The Terrapins are also in a Big Ten opener Saturday visiting Purdue.

No. 13 Kansas State (8-1) beat visiting Eastern Illinois 90-43 in Manhattan as Ayoka Lee scored 15 and became the Wildcats’ career best with 2,334 points eclipsing Kendra Wecker, who set the previous mark in 2005.

No. 20 Iowa State (7-2) home in Ames beat South Carolina Upstate 92-35 as Audi Crooks had 15 points with 13 boards while Addy Brown had 14 points, Aili Tanke scored 12, and off the bench Kelsey Jones scored 11.

No. 25 Nebraska (7-1) joined the rout parade of home teams by beating Lindenwood 69-48 as Alexis Markowski scored 11 and grabbed 11boards in what became a 13-0 closeout. Britt Prince had 14 points.

Looking Ahead

Drexel ahead of the Big Five Classic hosts Lehigh, making the short trip from Bethlehem, playing the Mountain Hawks Wednesday at 6 p.m. (FloHoops) in the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

In the only other game of the night involving locals, Lafayette greets Fairleigh Dickinson at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) in the Kirby Sports Center in Easton.

Nationally, the two-night ACC/SEC gets under way, the marquee games are virtually all Thursday – the two conferences have 11 ranked teams this week – but on Wednesday No. 11 Oklahoma is at No. 22 Louisville in the Yum! Center in Kentucky at 5 p.m. (ESPN2).

 Tennessee (5-0) hosts Florida State (8-1), the toughest game of the season for the Lady Vols under new coach Kim Caldwell, at 7:15 p.m. (SEC Network).

“It’s a very big measuring stick for us,” said Caldwell, whose team next plays Iowa in Brooklyn. “It’s definitely something we need right about now to see where we stand, and so we can get back to work.

“The faster it is, the better for us, to be honest. It needs to be a track meet where we’re going up and down, but we’re getting stops.”

And that’s the report.