The Guru’s NCAAW Report: Rutgers Falls in Overtime; Rider Rallies to Win; Fairfield Takes MAAC Showdown; Stretch Time to Madness Arrives With Key Performances

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Back in the day when Hall of Fame coach Theresa Grentz was in charge at Rutgers and we got to this period we are in this week, she would say that January was a necessary evil to get to February.

In other words, with conference play getting under way inside the first week of the new year when league sizes didn’t necessitate beginning beforehand the first half of league play was the shakedown cruise in the drive to get ready to finish strong in February to chase NCAA automatic bids or still perform well enough to be considered a lock for at-large invites if the former objective fell just short.

Thursday night across the landscape had that NCAA tournament feel the way high profile games went which is to not disregard the action from last November’s tipoff to this point.

Locally, there were just two games on the slate and both Rutgers in the expanded Big Ten and Rider in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) are in must-win situations the rest of the way to avoid missing the cuts being installed this season along with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in which the bottom teams in the final standings are going to be sliced from their respective NCAA qualifying tournaments.

Rutgers at home at Jersey Mike’s Arena was hosting Illinois in Piscataway, N.J., and had just won its first Big Ten game on Sunday rallying from a 17-point deficit to win at long time rival Penn State.

Unfortunately, the momentum did not sustain itself for the Scarlet Knights in a tough 69-65 overtime loss to the Illini (16-5, 6-4).

The outcome dimmed the performance of freshman Kiyomi McMiller who led Rutgers (9-13, 1-10) with 22 points, seven boards, and four assists, while Destiny Adams had 19 points, 17 in the second half, with six boards and five steals.

Awa Sidibe had a career-high four blacks and reserve Mya Petticord had nine points off the bench.

During regulation the home team made several rallies in regulation to stay in contention including an 8-0 run for a 49-42 lead going into the final quarter where the two teams kept exchanging leads.

“When you look at it a lot of factors went into it,” Rutgers coach Coquese Washington noted several factors: good runs, late-game execution needing improvement, tough calls down the stretch.

“I thought we were competitive against a good Illinois team,” she said.

The contest had 13 changes and eight ties.

An Illinois foul shot near the end sent the game into overtime where the visitors took control with an 8-2 run to gain the victory.

Genesis Bryant had five makes from deep and led three other teammates in double figures with 28 points, including 10 points and 11 boards for the Illini from Kendall Bostic.

Rutgers, in the last Big Ten tourney spot tied with PSU but holding a head-to-head win, is now off until visiting Indiana next Thursday.

Northwestern (7-12, 0-8) and Purdue (7-14, 0-10), which lost at home 74-68 to Nebraska are still winless in conference play.

Rider meanwhile in a tightly contested game at Saint Peter’s in Jersey City outdueled the home team 32-22 in the second half for a 57-52 victory.

“We did a great job with our scout,” said veteran Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “We certainly had our breakdowns, but we were really keyed in on what we wanted to do defensively and for the most part we were able to do that.

“We're going into February, we're on the road, and you have to step up and make some shots, and everybody did that.”

La Salle transfer Gabby Turco had 16 points for the Broncs (4-15, 2-8) while Camryn Collins had 13 points.

Fatmata Janneh, the MAAC’s leading scorer at 18.7 ppg., was held to seven on 3-10 for the Peahens (6-12, 4-5).

Rider plays new member Merrimack Saturday at 3 p.m. in Andover, Mass.

The National Scene

Once at this stage deep in conference schedules long awaited showdowns at the top of the standings yet to occur take place and the MAAC had a dandy in which defending champion Fairfield (16-3, 10-0) hosted nearby Quinnipiac and won 72-63 at home in Leoo D. Mahoney Arena staying perfect while the Bobcats (16-3, 8-2) fell two games off the pace.

The two meet in the last game of the regular season at Quinnipiac in Hamden, Conn., and likely for the MAAC title and NCAA bid in March at Atlantic City’s Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall.

The Stags are now 33-0 over the last two seasons in the MAAC, second longest streak in conference history.

Freshman standout Gal Raviv from Israel had 21 points, 6 assists, and 6 boards for Quinnipiac, while Grace LaBarge scored ten.

Kendall McGruder had three makes from deep and 13 points off the Fairfield bench, while Coe Cyanne also tallied 13 and Izabela Nicoletti Leite and Kaety L’Amoreaux each scored 11 points.

Fairfield pulled away in the fourth quarter from a tie with 8:50 left in regulation holding the visitors to a pair of field goals and winning the period 20-11.

The Bobcats are home Saturday hosting Siena at 2 p.m. while Fairfield hosts Iona the same time, both airing on ESPN+.

The lone upset of the night had new Big Ten member Oregon winning 63-59 at No. 16 Michigan State dealing the Spartans (17-4, 7-3) their first home loss this season.

The former PAC-12 member Ducks (16-5, 7-3) survived a cold fourth quarter continuing their recent four-game win streak and seven of their last eight.

Peyton Scott scored 12 points for Oregon, while Phillipina Kyei had nine points and 10 boards, including two late fouls shots to preserve the win.

UNC transfer Deja Kelly scored 10 with seven rebounds and five assists for the visitors, who also got 10 from reserve Nani Falatea.

Michigan State’s Julia Ayrault and Grace VanSlooten, a two-season veteran of Oregon, each scored 14 points while Theryn Hallock scored 12.

Oregon is at Michigan Sunday and the Spartans are at Northwestern.

In the other Big Ten game, No. 4 Southern Cal (19-1, 9-0), winners of 16 straight since a sole non-conference loss at home to then No. 6 Notre Dame in November, topped Minnesota 82-69 at home in the Galen Center in Los Angeles as Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen scored 23 points, shooting 9-11, and grabbed 11 boards while JuJu Watkins had 20 points and 11 boards against the Golden Gophers (18-4, 6-4), who fell out of the rankings this week.

The Trojans next play at Iowa Sunday at 1:30 p.m. on FOX.

The performance of the night went to Mikayla Blakes of No. 23 Vanderbilt who set an SEC freshman record with 53 points in a 99-86 victory by the Commodores (18-4, 5-3) at Florida (11-11, 2-6).

She’s the only NCAA male or female to reach 50 this season.

The NCAA record for women newcomers is 54 set by Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne, who also was a redshirt in a CAA loss at James Madison in 2010.

Vandy hosts Ole Miss Sunday.

No. 7 LSU (22-1, 7-1) outscored No. 13 and former Big 12 member Oklahoma (16-5, 4-4) at home in Baton Rouge 107-100 in a SEC shootout.

Mikaylah Williams scored 37 for the Tigers, while Flau’Jae Johnson scored 25, and Aneesah Morrow had 21 points.

The Sooners rallied from a 24-point deficit to within a point twice in the last 1:35.

Payton Verhulst scored 26 for Oklahoma and Oregon State transfer Raegan Beers scored 20.

LSU hosts Mississippi State Sunday while Oklahoma host No. 12 Kentucky (18-2, 7-1) which won at home in Lexington 65-56 over No. 22 Alabama (17-5, 4-4) as Georgia Amoore had 16 points with nine assists and Clara Strack had 14 points and 14 rebounds.

Sarah Ashlee Barker had 22 for the Crimson Tide, which hosts Georgia Sunday.

No. 5 Texas (21-2, 7-1), which moved with Oklahoma to the SEC from thr Big 12, beat Missouri 70-61 for the Longhorns’ 18th straight home win in Austin as Taylor Jones scored 17 and Madison Booker scored 16,

Texas is at former Big 12 member Texas A&M Sunday. The Aggies made their change a while back.

Still in the Big 12, No. 11 Kansas State (20-2, 8-1) in overtime at home in Manhattan beat Iowa State 87-79 as Serena Sundell scored 23 with eight assists against the Cyclones (15-8, 6-4), who got 28 points from Audi Crooks.

On Sunday Kansas State hosts Kansas while Iowa State hosts No. 9 TCU.

In the ACC, Hannah Hidalgo scored 30 for No. 3 Notre Dame (18-2, 9-0) in a 77-61 win at Virginia Tech (14-7, 5-5) in Blacksburg.

Carys Baker scored 17 with 11 boards for the Hokies (14-7, 5-5), who host new member SMU Sunday while Notre Dame is at Louisvillethe same day.

In a meeting of ranked ACC teams No. 15 North Carolina (19-4, 7-3) pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 65-52 win at Berkeley over No. 19 California (18-4, 6-3), which came from the PAC-12 with Stanford this season, while SMU joined from the American Athletic Conference.

Reniya Kelly scored 16 for the Tar Heels, while in a lost cause San Francisco transfer Ioanna Krimili, who scored 20, made four from deep setting a program season record for 3-pointers with 66. She also reached a career total 403, the 16th highest NCAA woman to reach 400.

On Sunday, Cal hosts Pitt, while UNC goes to Stanford (11-9, 3-6), which beat Pitt 58-46 as Elena Bosgana from Greece and  Chloe Clardy top four Cardinal players in double figures with 14 points each.

Ta’Niyah Latson, the nation’s leading scorer, and Makayla Timpson scored 21 each, Latson with eight boards and seven assists, while Timpson was 9-10 from the field as No. 25 Florida State (17-4, 7-2) won 104-80 at Boston College (12-11, 3-7) in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Teya Sidberry had 28 points and 10 rebounds for the host Eagles, who host Clemson Sunday, while the Seminoles greet Wake Forest, which lost at home 90-83 in Winston-Salem to No. 17 N.C, State (17-4, 9-1).

Zoe Brooks scored 18 for the Wolfpack and reserve Zamareya Jones had 17.

N.C. State, which is on a 13-of-14 win streak, including six straight, hosts No. 10 Duke, Monday. The nearby Blue Devils are 8-1 in the ACC.

Looking Ahead

Two locals in the CAA and two in the Ivy League mark Friday’s action, while in the Big 12 Arizona is at Utah in Salt Lake City at 8:30 on FS1 and an Ivy showdown in New England could create headway at the top or a logjam.

In the CAA, Drexel is at Northeastern in Boston at 3 p.m., while Delaware is at Towson in suburban Baltimore at 6:30 p.m., both on FloSports.

With Drexel at the top of a three-way tie for second, to get to first the needs are North Carolina A&T Friday needs to lose to Hampton; Elon is hosting William & Mary, so Elon is the preferred winner. Of course this assumes a Dragons win Friday afternoon.

Once results are known, the next implications will post with the CAA Sunday look ahead.

This weekend the Ivy old-time back-to-back Friday/Saturday slates are in play as the first half of the race to the four-team Ivy Madness this year at Brown concludes.

Penn (10-8, 1-4) is at Brown (9-9, 3-2) Friday at 7 p.m. in Providence, R.I., and at Yale (2-16, 1-4) Saturday at 6 p.m. in New Haven, Conn.

Princeton (13-5, 4-1) is at Yale at 6 p.m., Friday, and at Brown at 5 p.m. Saturday.

The showdown Friday has Columbia (14-4, 5-0) at Harvard (15-2, 4-1) Friday at 7 p.m. in Boston, Mass., and at Dartmouth (8-10, 2-3) Saturday at 5 p.m. in Hanover, N.H.

The Friday Harvard game is on ESPNU, the rest mentioned are all on ESPN+.

For now, the discussion is just on Friday results.

A Columbia win puts the Lions up one or two games on Princeton pending Friday’s result.

A Harvard win puts the Crimson in a tie with Columbia and a three-way if Princeton wins or two way and one up on Princeton with a Tigers loss.

Penn trying to move from a two-way with Yale in sixth place to fourth needs to sweep the weekend and Princeton to sweep.

In the next report look ahead section tomorrow with Friday’s results known the new implications will be discussed.

That’s it for now. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Guru NCAAW Report: Saint Joseph’s; La Salle; Lehigh Gain Win; Temple Endures 19-Point Meltdown; No. 6 UConn Wins at DePaul; MAAC Showdown - Quinnipiac at Fairfield

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Six local teams played Wednesday night and came out a 50-50 split.

In the Atlantic 10 where two of the three were on the high side, Saint Joseph’s got one of its two injured back and won at Davidson 60-46 in North Carolina while La Salle playing a lower tier team ended a nine-game losing streak winning 67-58 at St. Bonaventure in Olean, N.Y.

In the Patriot League, Lehigh looking like a title contender won 87-66 at Navy in Alumni Hall in Annapolis, Md., but not far away Lafayette was clipped 54-52 by American U. in Bender Arena in the nation’s capital.

In the Big Ten in a throw back game in Rec Hall, Penn State’s former home before the building of the Bryce Jordan Center, the Lady Lion’s rally fell short enabling No. 14 Maryland to prevail 82-73 in State College to end a three-game losing streak.

And in the tough one of the six where a week ago Temple was making headway near the top of the American Athletic Conference, the Owls lost more ground blowing a 19-point lead and losing 70-67 at North Texas in Denton while preseason favorite South Florida at home in the Yuengling Center in Tampa took down league-leading UTSA 75-63.

Nationally, No. 6 Connecticut in the Big East on the road won at DePaul in Wintrust Arena where the host Blue Demons set an attendance record at the game in Chicago.

In the Big 12, No. 24 Oklahoma State at home in Stillwater won 83-71 over Arizona State.

The Local Recap

Saint Joseph’s (17-4, 8-2) stayed on the tie-breaking side of a second-place deadlock with George Mason (18-3, 8-2) by virtue of a win over the Patriots earlier this month, both a half-game behind defending champion Richmond (17-5, 8-1).

On a night high-scoring Mackenzie Smith rolled her ankle and scored one point from the line but missed the other and was 0-5 from the field, Aleah Snead picked up the slack with a career-high 22 points, shooting 9-12 from the field.

Laura Ziegler registered another double-double with 14 points and 14 boards while point guard Emma Boslet, who missed two games with a foot injury was back and scored seven points with six boards, but Talya Bruglar missed her third game with a hand injury.

The Hawks dominated the boards 43-25 over the Wildcats (10-11, 5-4), whose Tomisin Adenupe was the only opponent in double figures, scoring 14 points.

The visitors broke the game open with a 17-0 run in the second quarter and were up by 16 early in the fourth to withstand Davidson trimming it to 10 before the brakes were applied.

Saint Joseph’s next visits George Washington Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) in the nation’s capital and will be back in Hagan Arena Wednesday hosting Saint Louis.

La Salle (8-15, 2-8) got another 20 plus effort from freshman Joan Quinn who was 8-12 from the field and a perfect 4-4 from the line for 21 points, while Ayisse Magassa had 13 points and 10 boards, Ashleigh Connor scored 10 and Anna Przyszlak had eight points and 10 boards against the Bonnies (5-16, 1-9), who rode four makes from deep for 22 points, Zoe Shaw scored 13, and Caitlin Frost scored 12.

The Explorers Sunday are back in the John E. Glaser Arena at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) hosting UMass.

Lehigh (17-4, 8-1) got a career-high 31 points from Maddie Albrecht, shooting 11-15 from the field, and 6-of-7 from deep, against the Midshipmen (14-6, 6-3) to move into first in the Patriot League on the strength of a six-game winning streak, longest since the 2019-20 season, one game ahead of Army and defending champion Holy Cross.

“Navy is a really good team,” said Lehigh coach Addie Micir. “They can score in bunches … Our defensive effort is what got it done.”

Ella Stemmer scored 15 and Lily Fondre scored 10.

Tied 46-46 at the half, Lehigh owned the last two quarters 41-20.

Navy’s Zanai Barnett-Gay scored 19 points.

Lehigh will host Holy Cross at Stabler Arena Saturday at 5 p.m. (ESPN+) in Bethlehem, Pa.

Meanwhile Lafayette (5-16, 2-7) committed a turnover in the last ten seconds allowing American (1-19, 1-8) to pick up the Eagles’ first overall win of the season led by Grace Koepke with 18 points and eight boards, while Cecillia Kay had 13 points and nine rebounds.

The Leopards got 10 points from Teresa Kiewiet, while Abby Antognoli and Sauda Ntaconayigize each scored nine.

Lafayette will host Colgate Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa.

Both schools will celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day.

Penn State (10-12, 1-10) forced 23 turnovers on the Terrapins (17-4, 7-3), good for 27 points but after a 21-point deficit from the second quarter was reduced to a basket late in the game, Maryland ended the threat.

Gracie Merkle scored 21 for the Lady Lions and Gabby Elliott scored 23 points.

The Terrapins, who had lost three straight to top-15 teams, got 20 points from Sarah Te-Biasu, while Rutgers transfer Kaylene Smikle scored 14.

There was 5:06 left in regulation when Penn State got it down to 66-64.

Maryland then nailed seven straight baskets.

Shyanne Sellers, who missed two games with a knee sprain, was back in action for the Terps and scored 10 points.

Penn State is off until next Wednesday when new member Washington visits.

Temple’s demise was going 0-10 from the field at the finish after Anissa Rivera, who scored 16 points, scored her fourth three from beyond the arc at the five-minute mark.

The Owls (12-8, 6-3) held North Texas (16-5, 8-1) scoreless the last two minutes until a free throw put the home team up three.

The Owls move on to the Alamo Saturday at 3 p.m. (ESPN+) to play UTSA (17-3, 8-1), which would have been for first place had not Temple lost the last two.

The National Scene

Princeton transfer Kaitlyn Chen matched her previous season high with 17 points, the same total Azzi Fudd scored, and Connecticut (20-2, 11-0) stayed perfect in the Big East a game ahead of the loss it recently dealt Creighton.

Sarah Strong, the nation’s top recruit, had 11 points and eight boards for the Huskies, who extended Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma’s NCAA men’s/women’s record win total to1,233.

DePaul (11-12, 6-4) got 19 points each from Jorie Allen and Taylor Johnson-Matthews.

A DePaul record crowd of 10,387 watched the game in the same building the WNBA Chicago Sky call home.

The Huskies have won 26 straight in the series with the Demons, whose only ein came in the first one in December 1983.

UConn hosts Butler Sunday and then steps out of the Big East Thursday visiting No. 18 Tennessee of the SEC in Knoxville ahead of returning to the South the following Thursday to play at No. 2 South Carolina.

In the win by No. 24 Oklahoma State against one of the four arrivals to the Big 12 from the former Pac-12, Stailee Heard scored 28 points with 10 rebounds for the Cowgirls (18-3, 8-2), off to their best start in 11 seasons.

Ty Skinner, who followed coach Natasha Adair from Delaware to the desert, scored 23 for the Sun Devils (8-14, 2-8). Jalyn Brown added 20 points and 11boards.

Looking Ahead

Locally, in the Big Ten, Rutgers hosts Illinois at 7 p.m. Thursday at Jersey Mike’s Arena, and Rider at the same time is at St. Peter’s for a MAAC game on ESPN+.

The major MAAC game is 7 p.m. at defending champion Fairfield, which hasn’t lost a conference game since 2003. The Stags are hosting Quinnipiac, which has one MAAC loss in overtime to Mount St. Mary’s at home.

In the ACC, No. 3 Notre Dame is at Virginia Tech, at 6 p.m.; No. 25 Florida State at 6 p.m. is at Boston College; No. 15 North Carolina is at No. 19 California at 10 p.m.; No. 17 N.C. State is at Wake Forest at 6 p.m.

In the SEC, No. 22 Alabama is at No. 12 Kentucky at 7 p.m.; No. 13 Oklahoma is at No. 7 LSU at 7 p.m. on ESPN2; Missouri is at No. 5 Texas at 9 p.m; No. 23 Vanderbilt is at Florida at 7 p.m.

In the Big Ten, Oregon is at No. 6 Michigan State at 6 p.m. on BTN; Minnesota is at No. 4 Southern Cal at 10 p.m. On Peacock.

In the Big 12 Iowa State is at No. 11 Kansas State at 8:30 p.m.

And that’s the Report.