The Guru NCAW Report: St. Joe’s Routs Bonnies With Two Starters Sidelines; Wins by Temple, Lehigh and Lafayette; Losses to La Salle, ‘Nova and Penn State

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – Despite two starters down, Saint Joseph’s got off to quick start here Wednesday night on Hawk Hill and soared to an 83-56 over St. Bonaventure in an Atlantic 10 victory in Hagan Hall.

Earlier in the day however things in the conference continued to not go so well for La Salle, dropping a 67-57 Education Day game across town in the John E. Glaser Arena, giving the Dukes a sweep of their Philly visits after upsetting the Hawks here two weeks ago.

Down South, Temple in a day game in the American Athletic Conference continued the Owls’ best league start in three years under Diane Richardson beating East Carolina 69-52 in Greenville, N.C., completing a sweep of the Pirates on the season and staying in second on the heels of South Florida, whose game at Tulane in New Orleans was postponed dueto the rare snow storm to hit the city.

Sweep is what the two locals in the Patriot League did at home near each other, Lehigh winning 61-55 over American U. at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., while Lafayette nipped Loyola, Md., 60-59 at Kirby Sports Center in Bethlehem.

Swept with a landmark plunder in the series is what happened to Villanova in a Big East visit to No. 6 UConn, losing 100-57 to the Huskies in their campus Gampel Pavilion in Storrs after recently losing on the Main Line at Finneran Pavilion.

And finally on the local agenda Penn State’s recent upset of then-No. 9 Ohio State Sunday at home for the first Big Ten victory of the year was decisively negated at No. 21 Michigan State 82-61 in East Lansing.

Nationally, besides the work of the ranked teams just mentioned, in the Big 12, Oklahoma State, whose recent return to the Associated Press women’s poll for the first time since 2018 lasted a week, turned around and upset No. 9 TCU 60-59, ending the visiting Horned Frogs’ ten-game win streak in the game at Stillwater causing the Cowgirls fanbase to storm the court in Stillwater.

No. 16 West Virgina, also on the road, easily turned aside new Big 12 member Arizona State 89-59, while back in the Big Ten, No. 4 Southern Cal trailed host Purdue10-5 early in West Lafayette but quickly doused the Boilermakers 79-37, while No. 24 Michigan, back in the poll this week after a brief absence, won at No. 23 Minnesota 70-65 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

In two other games not involving ranked teams Iowa back on the winning side in the Big Ten, beating host Washington 85-61 in Seattle and Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen, held to four points in the Hawkeyes’ 50-49 loss at Oregon Sunday, scored 20 with a perfect 8-8 from the field with a perfect 4-4 from deep.

Back in the Patriot League, Ashley Sofilkanich of South Amboy, N.J., shot 50 percent from the field scoring 44 points without attempting a 3-pointer to lead host Bucknell (9-9, 4-3) to a 71-67 triumph in overtime against Colgate (14-6, 4-3) at the Bisons’ Sojka Pavilion in Lewisburg, Pa.

The Local Rundown

Playing recently with her injured shooting hand, Talya Bruglar was out of the lineup at Saint Joseph’s (15-4, 6-2 A-10) as was starting point guard Emma Boslet with an injured foot, but the Hawks shrugged off the absences leaping to a 22-2 first quarter on the Bonnies (5-14, 1-7), and extending the margin two more quarters to a 37-point lead before the visitors were able to trim off five points for the final score.

Mackenzie Smith shot 7-12 and 3-5 from deep with a perfect 3-3 from the line for 20 points, Laura Ziegler, who leads the nation in defensive rebounds, had 14 of her 15 boards go that way with 15 points and six assists, fill-in Rhian Stokes and Gabby Casey each scored 13, and Aleah Snead was 4-6 for nine points.

With George Mason (16-3, 6-2) beating visiting Davidson 81-73, the Hawks are tied with GMU and Dayton a half-game behind Richmond and a half ahead of Fordham and Davidson and in decent shape schedule-wise if they get healthy in time on paper to still be very much in the hunt for a top four seed for the A-10 tourney in March and the top still reachable.

“At the very start of the game I thought we were connecting on all cylinders,” said Saint Joseph’s veteran coach Cindy Griffin. “Just telling you about our first quarter tells you about instilling our will early, and be able to score as well on the offensive end.

“It’s the next man up mentality,” Griffin said of the roster situation. “Rian’s been in this situation before, and when you’re playing with Lara, she makes things easier, she settles the storm.

“You could put anybody out there and she’s going to make things easier for them, she’s going to make sure we’re running offense and doing all the little things.”

Saturday is Alumni Day as the Hawks go for a sweep of La Salle in the game at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

For those who haven’t been around, neither game counts in the City Series, the women in the Big 5 this year joining their male counterparts going to two three-game pods, followed by the tripleheader Big Five Classic tournament, which for the women was held at Villanova.

In the La Salle (dgame Wednesday, in the ten-point loss, the Explorers outrebounded Duquesne 58-38 within three of the Explorers single game record.

Grad student Mackenzie Daleba with 11 points and 18 boards, and Joan Quinn with 13 points and 12 boards, they became the first La Salle duo with a double double since since Shaquana Edwards and Amy Griffin against UMass in 2018.

Duquense (13-6, 4-4) got 20 points from Megan McConnell, though, leading four others in double figures while the home team’s Ashleigh Connor scored 16 but the the outcome made it the Explorers’ eighth straight loss since beating Northern Kentucky 70-67in San Diego on December 20th.

Temple (12-6, 6-1) led all the way in beating the Pirates (10-8, 2-4), though it took an Explosive third quarter with 27 points, a 13-0 run, and dominating defense to turn the outcome at Williams Arena in Mingles Coliseum into a rout.

Tiarra East, the MVP in the Big Five Classic championship, scored 19, with 15 of the Owls’ 17 points in the final period.

The pressure yielded 28 turnovers and Kaylah Turner (14) and Tarriyonna Gary (13) also scored in double figures.

Temple is back home in the Liacouras Center Saturday hosting Tulane at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).

Up in Storrs, Paige Bueckers had 21 points, eight boards and nine assists while freshman Sarah Strong scored 22 and Princeton transfer Kaitlyn Chen scored 17, her best since coming from the Tigers, with the 100 points for the Huskies (18-2, 9-0) topping the 93 on Jan. 19,2002, as the most against the Wildcats (10-10, 4-4) in the 64-game series.

Jasmine Boscoe had 15 points for the Wildcats while Maddie Burke and Maddie Webber each scored 11, with Penn State transfer Burke passing 200 combined three-pointers at both schools.

Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma’s NCAA combined men’s/women’s record win total extended to 1231 ahead of Saturday’s visit Creighton, the other team yet lose in the Big East.

Villanova is back home Saturday in Finneran Pavillion hosting Xavier at 2 p.m. (FloHoops) celebrating both Alumni Day and Girl Dad Day.

Upstate, Lehigh (15-4, 6-1) used a 14-7 fourth quarter run to beat American (0-18, 0-8) still looking for a first overall victory this season.

“American plays really hard,” said Mountain Hawks coach Addie Micir. (They’re inching closer to a win and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. They made it really tough.”

Lehigh rallied from a six-point deficit in the fourth period.

Maddie Albrecht had 18 points and eight boards for the home tram, while Gracyn Lovette scored 12.

Next up is the rivalry game Saturday hosting Lafayette (5-13, 2-5) at 4:30 p.m. (ESPN+).

The Leopards used a 22-13 fourth quarter to nip the Greyhounds (7-11, 1-6).

Abby Antognoli had 21 points with seven assists while Teresa Kiewiet had 15 with 11 rebounds, her first double-double in the victory which came when the duo hit a jumper and two from the line breaking a three-minute combined scoreless period with 31 seconds left in regulation.

Still, it took a missed foul shot on Meliah Van-Otoo’s second attempt with four seconds left to avoid overtime.

It never got that close to help Penn State (10-10, 1-8) in its loss at No. 21 Michigan State (16-3, 6-2).

Moriah Murray was 8-13 from the field, all from deep, for 24 points for the Lady Lions, the only visitor in double figures in the Breslin Center.

Theryn Hallock had 17 points for the Spartans, Julia Ayrault scored 16, Joycelyn Tate scored 15, and Grace VanSlooten had 10 for MSU.

Penn State next hosts long-time rival Rutgers Sunday.

The National Scene

In Oklahoma State’s upset, Stailee Heard scored 17 while Jadyn Wooten had 10 of her 14 in ghe final period for the Cowgirls (16-3, 6-2) in their Big 12 win that came after deficits of 15 at the half and eight after three to TCU (19-2, 7-1), who got 22 points from Sedona Prince but were outscored 20-11 in the final period.

Oklahoma State’s last win against a top-10 opponent was over UCLA on Dec. 8, 2017.

Anna Gret Asi added 10 for the winners, while TCU also got 12 points and eight boards from Hailey Van Lith.

No.25 Baylor visits the Horned Frogs Sunday and the Cowgirls are at Texas Tech Saturday.

West Virginia (16-3, 6-2) got 29 points from JJ Quinerly while Kylee Blackstrn scored 24 as the Mountaineers became the latest to win 900 games. They next are at Arizona Saturday.

Southern Cal (18-1, 8-0) used a 31-0 run to subdue Purdue (7-12, 0-8) as freshman Avery Howell scored 18 and JuJu Watkins had 16 points and seven boards.

The Trojans next are off until hosting Minnesota in the Galen Center, Jan. 30 in Los Angeles.

The Golden Gophers (17-3, 5-3), who host Wisconsin Sunday, got 25 points from Amaya Battle in the first home loss of the season after an 11-0 start.

Michigan (14-4, 4-3) heading for an in-instate top-25 showdown Saturday at home in Ann Arbor with Michigan State, got 23 points from 23 points from freshman Syla Swords, eight in the decisive final period.

Freshman Olivia Olson playing in her home state added 19 for the Wolverines.

Looking Ahead

On Thursday just two local games, Rider visits Iona in an 11 a.m. game  (ESPN+) in the MAAC in New Rochelle, N.Y.

At night, Rutgers will be hosting No. 1 UCLA at 7 p.m. on FS1 at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J. On Sunday the Scarlet Knights visit Penn State, which ahead of the match with the Bruins have one win in the conference between the lobgtime rivals.

On Friday, Drexel is hosting Charlotte at 6 p.m. in the Daskalakis Athletic Center while Delaware hosts Elon at 6:30 p.m. in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.Both CAA games are streamed on FloHoops.

Nationally, the snowstorm in the South has caused some shuffling so the SEC No. 5 LSU showdown at No. 2 South Carolina has bern moved to Friday night at 5 p.m. on ESPN while the other SEC showdown on Thursday with No. 17 Tennessee at No. 7 Texas has been moved up to 8 p.m. and will now air on ESPN.

Elsewhere, in the Big Ten, No. 8 Msryland is at No. 12 Ohio State at 6 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

In the ACC, No. 3 Notre Dame is at Boston College at 7; No. 20 N.C. State is at Syracuse at 6 on ACCN; No. 13 North Carolina hosts Wake Forest at 7; at the same time No. 18 Georgia Tech is at Virginia; No. 14 Duke is at SMU at 8 on ACCN; and No. 22 California looks to make it a season sweep at Stanford at 10 p.m.

Elsewhere in the SEC, No.11 Kentucky is at Texas A&M at 7 on the SEC Network.