The Guru NCAAW Report: Villanova Succumbs to Fairfield Rally; South Carolina Rolling; UCLA and Michigan Turn Aside Challenges; Richmond Tops Columbia

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Just 48 hours after Villanova spent a second half in its building Friday night being effectively dismantled by Temple in the title game of the first Big 5 Classic, the Wildcats suffered another slide – this one from a 13-point lead late in the second quarter over MAAC champion Fairfield to an eventual rapid meltdown in the closing minutes and resulting 74-71 setback.

For the Stags, 13 was the lucky number in the history of the series beating Villanova for the first time.

Wildcats coach Denise Dillon had no trouble naming the common denominator in the weekend’s two losses.

“We got a lot to work on,” she said. “Fairfield’s a talented team but a tough one (to lose).

“We got the right numbers; we’re playing a lot of people. We just need to find the right mesh for consistency on the defensive end. Try to get the most out of each individual moving forward.”

If Charles Dickens had been covering this game, he might have drawn on his Tale of Two Cities saying “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …”

Beginning last season, Fairfield (6-2) has become one of the national mid-major stories under coach Carly Thibault-Dudonis, the daughter of former WNBA GM Mike Thibault, who also coached before turning turning the reins to her brother Eric, who recently joined the staff of the Minnesota Lynx.

The Stags last year lost the opener narrowly to Vanderbilt on the road then went unbeaten into the first round of the NCAA tournament and had a national ranking in Th Associated Press women’s poll.

This season the Stags ramped up the non-conference schedule and Villanova (5-5) was seen as a nice addition, though at the time Lucy Olsen had yet to enter the portal and transfer to Iowa.

Until the last week the Wildcats still had plenty of value, which could still be true when resume time approaches in March.

“This was everything I thought the game was cracked up to be,” Thibauldt-Dudonis said. “I thought it was two evenly matched teams, both teams want to spread you out, play motion style.

‘That’s a great team. I was proud of how we responded in the second half to the physicality.”

Dillon’s team had plenty of support in Fairfield’s still relatively new Leo D. Mahoney Arena and upon seeing a slew of Wildcats gear and Maddy Siegrest greeting folks in the pre-game high rollers area one wondered whether the Stags offered a last supper as part of the enticement.

“Some donors have stakes in both places, so they worked out a deal,” said an athletic executive who previously worked at Drexel and several other Philly schools.

Even with the lead withering late in the third quarter, Villanova was thought capable of surviving when MAAC preseason player of the year Janelle Brown went out with an unknown injury the rest of the way.

But up seven, with seven minutes left in regulation, Villanova did not make another field goal until the final seconds while the Stags closed it out 5-of-6 on the line.

“The team definitely showed resiliency," Thibauldt-Dudonis said. "That's something we actually focused a lot on specifically the last few days on our physical and emotional toughness.

“I think that showed up in the second half particularly in the fourth quarter where we were playing better defense and was more physical in the paint to score. I think our physicality took a turn for the better in the second half and I'm really proud of our leadership down the stretch."

Megan Andersen, the freshman of the year in the MAAC, had a game-high 22 for Fairfield while Emina Selimovic and reserve Kendall McGruder each scored 14 points.

Villanova’s Denae Carter had 16 points and eight boards, Maddie Webber and Jasmine Bascoe each scored 13, and Lara Edmanson scored 12, shooting 6-8 from the field.

Fairfield hits another Big East foe traveling to St. John’s Sunday while Villanova takes a short trip Wednesday night to play Delaware, 6:30 p.m., (FloSports) in the Bob Carpenter Fieldhouse in Newark.

Local Wins and Losses

In a rare instant Sunday both Patriot League teams hit the win column, Lehigh bouncing back from the loss at Drexel to win at Cornell 73-51 in the Ivy League team’s Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y., while Lafayette at home in the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa., cruised over Wagner 74-45.

Lehigh (7-3) got 21 points from Ella Stemmer, and Gracyn Lovette had 17 against the Big Red (3-8).

Lafayette (3-6) got 14 points from Abby Antognoli, reserve Teresa Kiewiet scored 13, Halee Smith scored 11, and Kay Donahue scored 10 against Wagner (1-7).

The Leopards host Dartmouth a week from Wednesday at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) while Lehigh is off a longer stretch during finals next hosting Wofford Dec. 21 at noon (ESPN+).

Rutgers rallied but then a technical foul on Destiny Adams at the finish was costly and the Scarlet Knights (5-4) dropped their Big Ten opener 66-64 at Wisconsin (8-2) in Madison.

The visitors who trailed by 13 early in the third closed the gap to tie with 26 seconds left in regulation and then it fell apart.

Adams had a game-high 23 points and Kiyomi McMiller scored 20. Chyna Cornwell grabbed 11 boards.

Rutgers hosts Fairleigh Dickinson Wednesday – the opposition having just won down the road Sunday at Rider 62-54 in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Camryn Collins had 13 points for the host Broncs (1-7), while La Salle transfer Gabby Turco scored 12.

FDU (7-2), the NEC preseason favorites, had three players in double digits led by Teneisia Brown with 19 points and 10 boards.

Rider next hosts Stonehill on Saturday at 6 p.m. (ESPN+).

Princeton (5-4) made it a rare threesome of same-day losses for Jersey locals, completing being swept out west narrowly 79-76 at Utah (8-2) in Salt Lake City.

The Tigers wasted a performance by Skye Belker, who had 24 points, while Fadima Tall had 13 points, and Ashley Chea scored 13.

Princeton is back home Wednesday hosting Rhode Island at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) in Jadwyn Gym.

The National Scene

No. 3 South Carolina (9-1) continued to show its power after the upset loss that enabled UCLA to climb to No. 1, winning 85-52 over No. 9 TCU (9-1) in Fort Worth, Texas, as Ashley Watkins dunked for the third time in her career and MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 20. Te-Hina Paopao and Raven Johnson each scored 11 points and Chloe Kitts grabbed 12 rebounds.

TCU’s Hailey Van Lith had 21 points and six assists.

No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 16 North Carolina, and No. 8 Duke all grabbed sizable wins — ND and Duke in ACC openers.

The Irish (7-2) coming off beating No. 4 Texas pulled a thumping 93-62 win at Syracuse (4-6) as Sonia Citron had 25 points and 11 boards while Hannah Hidalgo from Merchantville had 24 points and 10 rebounds.

Duke (9-2) which lost to the Gamecocks earlier in the week beat Virginia Tech 81-59 at home in Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C. as freshman Toby Fournier scored 27 against the Hokies (7-3).

The Tar Heels (9-1), whose only loss is to No. 2 Uconn, downed Coppin State 72-46 home in Chapel Hill with Maria Gakdeng scoring 10 and 11 teammates providing a balanced attack behind her.

In Big Ten openers, the one game between ranked teams No. 12 Ohio State (8-0) at home in Columbus picked up an 83-74 win over Illinois (7-2) as Cotie McMahon scored 25 for the Buckeyes while Genesis Bryant scored 22 for the Illini.

The other ranked teams in the Big Ten all won but No. 23 Michigan (8-1) was challenged by Northwestern (4-4) at home in Ann Arbor before winning 60-54.

No. 1 UCLA (9-0) met former PAC-12 rival Washington in Seattle and fought a late challenge from the Huskies (7-3) for a 73-62 win as Lauren Betts scored 23 points.

Elle Ladine scored 19 for Washington.

No. 25 Nebraska (8-1) at home in Lincoln won 84-65 over Minnesota (10-1).

Defending Atlantic 10 champion Richmond (9-1) won at home 85-76 over Ivy power Columbia (7-4) as Maggie Doogan scored 21 for the winning Spiders and Kitty Henderson matched it for the Lions.