The Guru NCAAW Report: Temple, Saint Joseph’s, Villanova, Penn, Princeton, Lehigh hit the Winner’s Circle; Rutgers Still Winless in the Big Ten.

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – Temple here in the Owls’ Liacouras Center continued its hot start in the American Athletic Conference and unlike the previous two games did not need to assure victory in the closing minutes in downing Charlotte 80-62 Saturday afternoon to move into sole possession of third place.

Five other locals in various ways of the ten games in the category found their way to the victory column: Saint Joseph’s, Penn, Princeton, Villanova, and Lehigh, while Rutgers, Lafayette, La Salle, and Rider, continued to struggle.

For a brief while here it looked like it might be more of the same for coach Diane Richardson’s group (11-6, 5-1 AAC), which saw their 17-point halftime lead shrivel to eight but then the Owls applied the defensive breaks and continued to be among the American frontrunners.

The visiting 49ers (5-12, 0-6), who back in time were Temple rivals in the Atlantic 10, left town still devoid of a league victory.

“It felt good to get a win,” Richardson said. “I think our defense dictated the game, that’s what we planned.

“Our students followed the scouts, and we came out with a win.”

Temple applied the pressure from the opening tip, forcing nine turnovers worth 12 points in transition and unlike earlier in the season were on target from the field with a 65 percent shooting average.

Jaleesa Molina had a double-double for the game with 15 points and 11 boards, shooting a perfect 5-5 from the field.

The Owls went into a brief slump in the second quarter, but Charlotte failed to capitalize, and Temple regained its opening touch to go up by 16 points.

Describing the flow of the game afterwards, Tristen Taylor said, “Even if our offense isn’t working, our defense is what’s going to start our offense and help give us confidence.

“If Charlotte’s confidence is down, it just boosts our more and more throughout the whole game.”

Both teams struggled from deep, but Temple guard Tarriyonna Gary made good from outside connecting on three, the only player from the home team to find the basket from distance.

Gary finished with 18 points.

“We are striving to be at the top and trying to focus on that, we’ve got to focus each game,” said Richardson. “As a head coach I’m just really pleased and I think as long as we play together, we’re going to be alright.”

Temple goes for a sweep of East Carolina, having beaten the Pirates here on New Year’s Day, on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) in Greenville, N.C.

Saint Joseph’s, which had a two-game slide prior to Wednesday, continued back in theAtlantic Ten hunt winning at UMass 67-55 in Amherst on the strength of 11 threes in the host Minutewomen’s Mullins Center.

The game marked the last in-season visit as a conference foe with UMass heading this summer to join the Mid-American Conference.

Laura Ziegler had another double-double with 23 points and 14 boards for the Hawks (14-4, 5-2), while Gabby Casey scored 12, and Mackenzie Smith and Rhian Stokes each collecting 11 points.

The Minutewomen (9-9, 4-3) had a familiar individual opponent to toss at Saint Joseph’s in Villanova transfer Megan Olbrys, who was 10-11 from the field with 21 points while Yahmani McKayle scored 11.

Saint Joseph’s returns home to Hagan Arena on Hawk Hill for two games this week, hosting St. Bonaventure Wednesday night at 7 p.m. (ESPN+), and then going for a sweep hosting La Salle Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).

Neither game for the first time doubles as a Big Five contest, the teams were in opposite pods leading up to the first Big Five Classic triple header last month at Villanova.

The Explorers on Saturday at their new John Glaser Arena couldn’t sustain their first half in an Atlantic Ten contest hosting George Mason, and fell 57-40 to the Patriots (15-3, 5-2) matching their lowest scoring total of the season.

La Salle (7-13, 1-6), which has lost seven straight, was held to eight points apiece in every quarter but the first and coach Mountain MacGillivray was subtle in ascribing the defense applied by the visitors.

“I think their press gave us a little trouble, the physical play was hard for us to deal with,” he said. “The rules are supposed to take care of that but didn’t.

“That was a challenge,” he continued. “We turned the ball over too much and didn’t get enough scores, and they were able to get separation.”

The Explorers had 20 miscues, giving the Patriots an 18-7 advantage in transition.

Freshman Joan Quinn scored 15 points for La Salle, two off her personal best, and Ashleigh Connor scored nine.

Zahirah Wilson scored 17 for the visitors, Kennedy Harris had 11, as did Ta’Viyanna Habib, while Paula Suarez scored 10, with six assists, and three steals for GMU.

MacGillivray remains upbeat dealing with a team that has eight newcomers.

“This team, despite the losing streak, some of the margins, they’re hungry and they’re competing and battling every day,” he said.

Villanova completed a sweep of St. John’s in the Big East series with the Red Storm, but the Wildcats barely survived 66-64 in the game in Queens, N.Y., at Carnesecca Arena.

Down 25-24 at the half, for only the fifth time in 19 games the visitors outscored the opposition in the second half, 42-39 in this one.

St. John’s (11-7, 1-6) got off to a hot start in non-conference play, but the Red Storm got routed at Villanova (10-9, 4-3) in the Big East opener last month and has continued to struggle throughout league play.

A deep three from Maddie Webber put the Wildcats ahead 58-49 late in the fourth quarter and the differential grew to 10 at 61-51 with 2:51 left in regulation and managed to stay ahead just enough the rest of the way shooting 5-8 from the line in the final 49 seconds.

Webber finished with a game-high 17 points, Danae Carter scored 10, and freshman Jasmine Boscoe had nine points and a personal best eight assists.

Kylie Lavelle, a transfer from Drexel, had and Skye Owen each scored 13 for the Red Storm.

Villanova’s offense was improved, shooting 24-50 from the field and 11-22 from deep.

The Wildcats next on Wednesday return the visit to No. 6 Connecticut Wednesday at 7 p.m. on the Huskies’ campus in Storrs (SNY) at Gampel Pavilion.

Penn (10-6, 1-2) got its first Ivy win, going wire-to-wire on the road to best host Cornell 57-51 in Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y., as Mataya Gayle, last season’s top Ivy freshman, scored 17, while Stina Almqvist scored 17 points with 10 boards playing all 40 minutes, and freshman Katie Collins had 10 points with 10 boards with three helpers, two blocks and a steal.

It’s the Quakers’ 15th straight win in the series with Cornell (4-12, 0-3), tied with 1974-1986 for the longest win streak against an opponent.

They next host Harvard Monday at The Palestra at 2 p.m. on NBC Sports Philadelphia+ and ESPN+.

Princeton (12-4, 3-0), the other local, stayed unbeaten in the league, beating Dartmouth 63-39 at home in Jadwin Gym in central New Jersey, as Skye Belker had a game-high 16 points for the Tigers, while Taylor Charles matched her career-high with nine points and set personal marks with seven rebounds and five blocked shots.

Tabitha Amanze had eight points and 11 boards.

Dartmouth (8-8, 2-1) got 10 points from Nina Minicozzi.

Princeton, one week removed from a preseason top four buzzer-beating win over Harvard, on Monday night visit Columbia at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) at Levien Gym off Broadway on New York City’s Upper West Side.

The two teams are the last unbeaten in league play.

Harvard (13-2, 2-1) beat visiting Brown 83-53 at Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Mass., as Harmoni Turner scored 33 over the Bears (7-9, 1-2), who will host this year’s four-team Ivy tournament, same total for each for the men and women, at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, R.I.

Columbia (12-4, 3-0) also did the wire-to-wire domination winning 84-64 at Yale (1-15, 0-3) at the John Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn., as Riley Weiss had a game-high 22 points while Cecilia Collins scored 21.

“I think our first group is really in sync with each other,” said Columbia coach Megan Griffith. “It’s fun when you have people on the same page that are understanding our greater mission. For us, we knew the ways we wanted to attack Yale and I think we definitely executed that early on.”

Lehigh in the Patriot League won 54-43 at Loyola, Md., in Baltimore at Reitz Arena as the visiting Mountain Hawks (14-4, 5-1) claimed a season sweep.

Lehigh trailed the Greyhounds (7-10, 1-5) at 34-30 going into the final quarter when the team erupted ending the game on an 11-0 run.

Lily Fandre had 15 points and nine boards, while Maddie Albrecht had 12 points, and Colleen McQuillen scored nine for Lehigh.

Lehigh hosts American U. Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa.

Lafayette (4-13, 2-5) fell 72-56 at Colgate (14-5, 4-2) in Hamilton, N.Y., wasting a bunch of double-digit performances from reserve Kay Donahue, who scored 15, shooting 5-8 from the field; Abby Antognoli scored 12, and Sauda Ntaconayigize had 11, and Teresa Kiewiet had 10 points.

On Wednesday, Lafayette in the Leopards’ Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa., hosts Loyola, Md.

Rutgers (8-11, 0-8) got a career-day from JoJo Lacey with 27 points helped by six threes, and Destiny Adams had 18 points and 11 boards, while Lisa Thompson scored 13 but the Scarlet Knights are still winless in the Big Ten, losing Saturday 87-71 at Michigan (13-3, 4-3) in Ann Arbor.

On Thursday, Rutgers hosts No. 1 UCLA at Jersey Mike’s Arena at 7 p.m. on FS1 in Piscataway, N.J.

The Scarlet Knights’ longtime rival dating back to shared time in the Atlantic 10, Penn State (9-9, 0-7), hasn’t yet met the Rutgers this season, but it’s coming next Sunday after the Lady Lions this Sunday hosts No. 9 Ohio State (17-0, 6-0), one of three teams nationally still yet to lose alongside UCLA and No. 5 LSU.

Rider (3-13, 1-6) lost at home in Alumni Gym to Marist (9-8, 4-3) in Lawrenceville, N.J., by a score of 67-55, in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).

“Our preparation was good yesterday, we did a lot of things we need to do,” said veteran Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “We struggled putting the ball in the basket, especially in the second and third quarter. We have to give ourselves more opportunities by taking away some of our turnovers.”

La Salle transfer Gabby Turco had 13 for the host Broncs, who Thursday visit Iona at 11 a.m. in New Rochelle, N.Y. (ESPN+).

Elsewhere in the MAAC, defending champion Fairfield (13-3, 7-0) has now won 30-straight conference games over 678 calendar days after cruising over Canisius 97-51 as sophomore Meghan Andersen in the road win in Buffalo had a career-high 34 points with a personal best five assists and now has reached 100-career makes from deep, the 17th in the Stags to attain the milestone and just the second sophomore.

She hit seven from beyond the arc in this one.

“Apparently she loves playing in Buffalo,” said Fairfield coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis. “She’s shooting the ball great and shooting with confidence, but I think where she’s added elements to her game had gone off the bounce.

“It’s allowed her to get more open looks because you have to respect both inside asndf outside.”

Izabela Nicoletti Leite added 15 with three from beyond the arc. Emina Selimovic scored 12 shooting 6-for-12 from the field.

Fairfield is now alone in first heading home to host Manhattan Thursday at 11 a.m. (ESPN+) at the Leo D. Mahoney Arena, some of the luster gone from the Jan. 30 showdown with Quinnipiac (15-2, 7-1), which took its first conference loss 69-64 in overtime to Mount St. Mary’s (6-10, 4-3) at home in Hamden, Conn.

Jackie Grisdale scored 19 for the host Bobcats, while freshman Gal Raviv scored 14, and Anna Foley had 10 points. Ella O’Donnell grabbed 14 boards to go with eight points.

Quinnipiac in the third period went up by seven off a 22-9 run. But the Bobcats’ season-long run was put in harm’s way courtesy of a game-tying three from Jo Raflo as regulation time near its end.

The Bobcats are off all week until traveling to Rider 2 p.m. Saturday.

The National Scene

The one game, excluding the ones paired with local teams from local leagues, of note had No. 24 Oklahoma State win at UCF 72-58 in a Big 12 game in Orlando, Fa.

Staile Heard had 23 points, 10 boards and four steals with three assists for the wining Cowgirls (115-3, 5-2).

The game was Cowgirls coach Jacie Hoyt’s 50th win with the program.

Adeang Ring scored 12 but UCF (7-10, 0-7) lost their eighth straight.

Looking Ahead

Just three games involving locals: Penn State as mentioned hosts No. 9 Ohio State, while in the Coastal Athletic Association Drexel is at Hampton in Virginia while Delaware is at Campbell, both at 2 p.m. on FloHoops.

Nationally, in the Big Ten, No. 4 Southern Cal is at Indiana at at noon; No. 22 Michigan State is at Illinois at 3 p.m.; No. 24 Minnesota is at Northwestern at 3 p.m.

In the ACC, No. 16 Duke hosts Stanford at 1 p.m.; No. 21 N.C. State hosts Virginia at 2 p.m.; Virginia Tech hosts Louisville at 4 p.m.; No. 3 Notre Dame hosts SMU at 6 p.m.; No. 14 North Carolina is at Pitt at 2 p.m.; No. 17 Georgia Tech hosts Clemson at 2 p.m.; No. 18 California at 2 p.m. is at Wake Forest; Syracuse at noon is at Boston College.

In the SEC, No. 15 Tennessee is at Vanderbilt at 3 p.m.; No. 13 Oklahoma is at Georgia at 3 p.m.; No. 12 Kentucky is at Georgia at 2 p.m.; No. 19 Alabama is at Arkansas 5 p.m.; No. 5 LSU is at Florida at 1 p.m.

In the Big East, No. 6 Connecticut is hosting Seton Hall at 1 p.m. while in the Atlantic Ten Rhode Island is at Duquesne at noon; VCU is at Richmond at 2 p.m.

In the Big 12, No. 20 West Virginia is hosting Iowa State at 1 p.m.; No. 11 Kansas State is hosting Arizona State at 2 p.m.

And that is the report.