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.