The Guru NCAAW Report: Ivy Meltdown As Penn Loses to Harvard While Princeton Fade Sends Columbia to the Top Alone; No. 1 UCLA and No. 7 Texas Win Coretta Scott King Classic

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – Once upon a time in the early days of the Mike McLaughlin Penn coach era, Princeton was the most feared threat in the Ivy League.

But while his Quakers have entered a period of recent retooling, the top has grown three-fold with Columbia joining the mix and Harvard rejoining the days before him when the Crimson and Dartmouth dominated the Ancient Eight.

Coincidentally, both coaches are spinoff assistants of the building of Princeton under Courtney Banghart, who starred at Dartmouth and is now at nationally ranked North Carolina.

Megan Griffith returned to her alma mater at Columbia, where she dispensed of the Lions’ doormat identity going toe-to-toe with the Tigers, who have stayed at the top under former UConn star Carla Berube.

Carrie Moore has brought Harvard back to challenge the other two.

Penn dropped its league opener here earlier this month at The Palestra to Columbia, but the Quakers have had success with Harvard dating to a late win in late February that got them back in the four-team Ivy tournament last season.

But that was last season and this was Monday, the annual league-wide event on Martin Luther King Day.

And what it was here was a 73-44 Harvard win shaking off last weekend’s buzzer-beating loss at Princeton as well as several frustrations for the Crimson in Philly.

“We needed that,” Moore said, “I hadn’t won here, and part of our roster hadn’t won here.”

This is Moore’s third season at the helm, succeeding long-time Ivy legend Kathy Delaney-Smith.

Harvard served notice early this season, the time had come to bloom with a win at Indiana and until last weekend the only loss was a woman-handling at Quinnipiac, which did likewise to Princeton in non-conference competition.

“They’re a Top 35 in the country for a reason,” McLaughlin said after a heart-to-heart with his squad.

‘’They are super talented. Tonight, the first quarter was where we need to gain, and it’s a long game. That’s why they play 40.”

Elena Rodriguez shot 9-12 and tied her season best with 22 points for the visitors (14-2, 3-1), who also got 19 points and eight boards from Harmoni Turner, while Saniyah Glenn-Bello was 5-8 and a perfect connect on three from deep for 14 points.

Penn (10-7,1-3) got 14 points from Stina Almqvist and 11 from freshman Katie Collins, both also grabbing six boards, but the longer it went, the worse it got, especially on the inside where the Quakers were outscored 38-24 besides the losing 11-3 battle in transition.

Mataya Gayle scored eight, being defended tight.

“When we switched, they went down low,” McLaughlin said. “When you collapse on them, they kick it out for a three. It's a tough matchup for anyone. We tried to pick our poison, and i don't think we did a good job picking it.”

Basically, some needed depth enhancement might help improve the situation.

“We need a few wings to step up and relieve the pressure on Stina and Mataya,” McLaughlin said. “That's what we are going to get back at this week, and hopefully i can get one of these to start pulling away from everyone else, because there is a lot of pressure on both of them.”

Penn’s total was a season low, committing 16 turnovers to yield a 17-8 disadvantage.

“They picked us up full court, which we expected,” the Penn coach said. “That’s what they do with everyone. We just never got into an offensive flow. They were challenging us in the full court, then the half court. I don't think we had a whole lot of rhythm.”

The situation Penn now finds itself is losing to equal or less Ivies will be deadly in terms of the Ivy tourney at Brown in March in Providence, R.I. There are enough prizes left with Columbia, two Princeton games, and another Harvard to pull an ambush or two for differentiation but three of those will be on the road.

Harvard goes to Yale Saturday, while Penn goes to Columbia to complete the series and will find the Lions alone in first place after rallying to down Princeton 58-50 at home in Levien Gym and placing the Tigers (12-5, 3-1) in chasing mode until they meet again in Jadwin.

A 38-20 second half did the trick for Columbia (13-4, 4-0), which forced the opposition into 24 turnovers for a 16-2 advantage over the final two quarters.

The Lions hadn’t been home in 47 days since Dec. 4.

“We were a little amped up in the first half,” Griffith said. “We haven't been home in 47 days and it was a lot.

“We just had to let the game happen. Once they did that, and we stuck to the game plan, they were great. We really capitalized in the second half.”

Cecilia Collins had a game-high 18 points with three boards and three assists. Susie Rafiu had nine of her 13 points in the final two periods while overall grabbing three boards and swiping a career-high four steals.

Princeton got 16 points from Ashley Chea while Parker Hill scored 12 and Fadima Tall grabbed seven boards as did Columbia’s Kitty Henderson.

The Tigers next visit Cornell Saturday at 1 p.m.

The National Scene

It was all in one place for radar purposes up at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., at the inaugural Coretta Scott King Classic, where No. 1 UCLA, claiming the top of the AP women’s poll for the ninth straight week, beat No. 25 Baylor 72-57 before No. 7 Texas slammed No. 8 Maryland 89-51.

The Bruins (18-0), who with LSU (20-0) are the remaining Division I unbeaten teams, got 24 points, nine rebounds and a school-record nine blocks from Lauren Betts, a former Stanford star.

The Bears (16-4), whose Yaya Felder got a team-high 10 points, earlier in the day returned to the poll for the first time since November. They next face a trip Sunday to N0. 9 TCU back in the Big 12 in Fort Worth, Texas.

UCLA will stay East visiting Rutgers Thursday and then Maryland later in the week on Sunday back in the Big Ten.

In the second game Madison Booker had 28 points for Texas (18-2), while Maryland (16-2) got 15 points from Rutgers transfer Kaylene Smikle, who was 11-12 on the line.

The losing Terrapins are hurting, announcing pre-game a season-ending ACL injury to reserve guard Bri McDaniel suffered last week at Minnesota while standout starter Shyanne Sellers in the second quarter was sidelined with a right knee injury whose extent was to be determined.

Texas back in the SEC will host No. 17 Tennessee Thursday while Maryland ahead of UCLA is at No. 12 Ohio State the same night.