The Guru NCAAW Report: Villanova and Temple Complete 2-0 Pod Sweeps to Gain First Women’s Big 5 Classic Championship Slot; Texas Edges West Virginia

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — Not exactly the way people might have forecasted the setup several months ago, but Temple played a closely-fought gritty game at La Salle to finish 2-0 in its pod Sunday afternoon while Villanova defensed Saint Joseph’s at Hagan Arena on Hawk Hill to each win and set up Friday’s inaugural women’s triple-header Big Five Classic at Finneran Pavilion on the Main Line.

The action will start at 3:30 p.m. with the fifth-place game in which Penn will face La Salle.

The third-place game at 5:45 p.m. will see Saint Joseph’s face Drexel and then at 8 p.m. Villanova and Temple will play for the championship.

NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus will televise all three games.

Partisans from both sides nearly filled the place here Sunday at Saint Joseph’s to see the annual women’s resumption of the Holy War and one in which Canadian freshman Jasmine Bascoe from Toronto displayed all her expertise from international play in scoring a season high 26 points, shooting 10-16 from the field and a perfect 3-3 from deep, to lead Villanova (5-3) to an 81-65 victory.

Maddie Webber was 5-for-12 with a pair of threes for 18 points, while newcomer Denae Carter was effective inside with eight points, six boards and three blocks.

Holy Cross transfer Bronagh Power-Cassidy from Ireland had nine points.

Villanova was coming from a rough trip playing in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas last weekend losing to No. 16 North Carolina and Baylor after beating Texas A&M in the opener.

The Hawks (5-2) had their troops reassembled after point guard Emma Boslet and Kaylie Griffin, injured in the recent overtime one-point loss at Utah, were back in uniform following their absence in Wednesday’s lopsided win here over Saint Francis, Pa.

Mackenzie Smith, helped by 11-11 on the line, scored 18 points, Laura Ziegler had 12 points and 11 boards, and Talya Brugler had 16 points.

However, while Villanova showed its long-honed skill shooting three-pointers, 9-17, Saint Joseph’s made just four from deep, two at the outset from Boslet.

“We’re a very good three-point shooting team,” said Saint Joseph’s veteran coach Cindy Griffin, who was honored pre-game for her recent 400th victory in games coaching at her Alma mater.

“When you're not knocking them down and you're not getting the opportunities that you are used to getting, you've got to find another way to score.

“If you look at the shot attempts, it's very similar. But we shoot 31% and they shoot 50%. Not good.”

The game was close early, but once separation began, the Hawks did not have the answers they had a year ago winning here in the City Series round-robin on the way to a sweep.

“We’ll, really proud of our group for bouncing back from a tough weekend in Atlantis last week and just got a great win over a really good, great St. Joe’s team,” said Villanova veteran coach Denise Dillon, of her Alma mater’s performance while also addressing the balanced attack.

“Just having multiple threats on the floor, everyone being a threat, everyone being an option,” she said. “You see it with our assist, we were willing to share the ball, 19 assists. Only 7 turnovers. We took care of the ball and were getting shots.

“With this group it doesn't matter, they really want to celebrate each other. It was great.”

Ironically, though they have met in recent seasons, Temple’s Diane Richardson and Dillon have a competitive history during Dillon’s long stint at Drexel going against Richardson’s Towson squad in the then-named Colonial (now Coastal) Athletic Association.

The Hawks learned quickly it was going to be a challenging afternoon, dealing with six blocks from the Wildcats in the first quarter.

“For us to be successful and to be competitive in games, we’ve got to play defense,” said Dillon, who soon will be involved in the Big East wars dealing with the powerful Connecticut program, among others. “If we stop doing that, then we don’t have a chance out there.

“And I think that’s generating some of our offense, just that intensity. So, yeah, disruption is a key when one-on-one action they can certainly take advantage in areas.”

Of her own day, Bascoe said, “It means a lot, but at the end of the day, this is a team sport, so I know I’m doing it for the other girls on the court, for Denise, for the rest of the coaches.

“So, numbers really don’t matter, as long as we’re getting the dub.”

Griffin bemoaned her team’s performance.

“We didn’t execute offensively. I think that was a lot to do with some of the looks that we were not usually getting. But on the flip side, I think defensively is something you always have control over, and I thought we just didn’t do a good job from that end.

“That’s just not like us. And we’re going to grow from it. We’re going to learn from it.”

From the other side, Dillon talked about the Wildcats’ long running effort to limit touches.

“We got a lot of new faces, but style of play remains the same, knowing how hard we had to work on the perimeter to limit some of those easy post passes. When they got them, they're scoring the ball.”

Meanwhile with both games occurring at the same time, the action at La Salle was interesting, considering when the new format and pod alignments were announced for the women in June, the Explorers with eight new faces joining the team were not given a shot to be battling for something other than the lower place.

And early on. last month, they looked to be a long work in progress.

But in recent weeks, coach Mountain MacGillivray’s squad has begun to find some chemistry and have been putting some wins together.

As it turned, LaSalle’s match with the Owls (4-3) was a close contest all the way until Temple emerged in the closing minutes with a 73-68 triumph.

Of the game, Temple’s Tarriyona Gary said, “It’s the championship before the championship so it’s a good test for us.”

The Owls’ Kaylah Turner off the bench had a personal best 17 points while Gary scored all 12 of hers in the final quarter to hit La Salle (4-4) with its first loss in the renovated and renamed John Glaser Arena on campus.

Aryss Macktoon scored 14 for the home team, while Ayisse Magassa and Ashleigh Connor each scored 12.

“We’re getting better,” said MacGillivray, whose team last month was run out of West Philadelphia in the Drexel women’s first official contest as a member of the Big 5.

Despite being the sixth team for years in local competition, the Dragons have had ongoing series with the Explorers and Hawks.

 Just when it seemed Temple could go on to lock things up, holding a 38-30 lead at the half, the Explorers flexed their muscle and took over 51-47 after the third period.

Gary, however, gave control back to the Owls, and to be in the title game is pleasing to Richardson who has been familiar with the history off her many trips here in the past playing Drexel.

“The history of the Big 5 championship was overwhelming for me when I first got here,” she said. “For us to be able to play in a championship game, it makes me feel good. Our team has worked really hard to get there.”

Before La Salle gets to the weekend the Explorers will dip their toes in the Atlantic 10 waters launching league play Tuesday at Loyola of Chicago.

Three other local teams wrapped up a busy week.

Lehigh won its own Christmas City Classic at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., for the first time since 2010, beating Valparaiso 77-59.

“We talk about wanting to be a team that plays for Championships, and this was an exciting opportunity to get to play for one on our home court,” said Lehigh coach Addie Micir. “I loved our focus, it was a quick turnaround, we needed to lock in, and we did that.”

Ella Stemmer scored 21 and averaged 16.5 in the two games for the Mountain Hawks (6-2) who visit Drexel 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. (FloSports).

Marist took third beating North Dakota 60-56.

In two single games, a Rider rally at Boston U. fell short, the Terriers (3-3) winning 64-59 as

Audrey Ericksen scored 29 points against the Broncs (1-5), who are at Monmouth Thursday at 7 p.m. on FloSports.Rider’s Kaylan Deveney scored 15 points and grabbed five boards.

The other game in the local mix saw Lafayette (2-5) fall 60-54 at Monmouth (2-6). Abby Antognoli had 16 points and five boards for the visiting Leopards.

The only game on Monday’s Radar list has Penn State (8-0) hosting St. John’s at 7 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

The National Scene

In a reunion from when both were in the Big 12, in the title game of the eight-team Gulf Coast Showcase in Fort Myers, Fla., No. 5 Texas, now in the SEC, edged No. 12 West Virginia 78-73 as Aaliyah Moore scored 20 points for the Longhorns (7-0).

Madison Booker added 19 points, Kyla Oldacre scored 13, and Justice Carlton scored 10.

The Mountaineers (8-1), suffering their first loss, got 29 points from JJ Quinerly, while Jordan Harrison scored 20, and Sydney Shaw scored 10.

Texas visits No. 3 Notre Dame Thursday, part of the ACC/SEC challenge but the Irish’s ranking will likely have a much lower number when the new AP Poll is out Monday after being upset twice on the weekend.

No. 1 UCLA, wearing the top number in program history, completed a three-day sweep of the Rainbow Wahine Tournament in Honolulu beating host Hawai’i 70-49 as Kiki Rice scored 21 points.

Lauren Betts added 18 points for the Bruins (8-0) and Gabriela Jaquez collected 11 points while host Hawaii (5-2) got 10 points from Lily Wahinekapu.

Both teams are in Conference openers this week, UCLA meets former PAC-12 rival Washington in Seattle Sunday, while Hawaii hosts Long Beach State in a Big West opebner Saturday.

No. 7 LSU (9-0) flattened North Carolina Central at home 131-44 as Flau’Jae Johnson scored 22 points and Aneesah Morrow had 17 points and 11 boards as Hall of Fame coach Kim Mulkey picked up her 100th victory with the Tigers.

According to the AP, although Eagles coach Terrance Baxter’s team is getting killed by the five power four opponents it’s facing, the budget is being raised through the guaranteed road checks being picked up at places such as Baton Rouge where eight LSU players scored in double figures.

LSU’s opposition picks up Thursday in the ACC/SEC Challenge when new ACC member Stanford visits.

No. 3 Duke continued to make a bid to the Top 10 by following up two ranked wins beating regular season Ivy co-champion Columbia completing a two-season home-and-home series in Durham, N.C. as Reigan Richardson scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Blue Devils (8-1), whose lone loss is to ranked Maryland.

The Terrapins (8-0), who went into the top 10 after beating Duke dispensed with ongoing Thanksgiving trips to MTE events in the tropics this season journeying closer to home in Annapolis at Navy’s event on the weekend sweeping two games including Sunday’s 92-70 win over Toledo as former Connecticut star Saylor Poffenberger had 19 points and 10 boards. Coach Brenda Frese’s group is back in College Park Friday hosting nearby Mount St. Mary’s.

In a true tournament hosted by Miami the Hurricanes in the title game were taken into overtime before beating Quinnipiac as Haley Cavinder scored 30 with six boards, and her twin sister Hanna had nine points and seven boards.

The Bobcats (6-1) who suffered their first loss were led by Israeli freshman point guard Gal Raviv with 25 points, 5 rebounds, and four assists.