The Guru NCAAW Report: Penn State Loss Costs Spot in Big Ten Tourney; Upsets Dealt No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 11 Tennessee, No. 8 UNC, Almost No. 1 Texas

By Mel Greenberg@womhoopsguru

Stunning upsets nationally, one local team dead, another hanging by a thread and another not far behind.

March Madness got more intense 48 hours before March’s actual arrival.

That was the story in both categories Thursday night in which Penn State was eliminated from the Big Ten tournament, Rider stayed alive in the race for the last MAAC spot, No. 3 Notre Dame got stunned at home by No. 24 Florida State, No. 15 Kentucky at home crushed No. 11 Tennessee, No. 1 Texas dodge at bullet at Mississippi State, but No. 7 LSU also was a stunner victim upset at No. 20 Alabama, No. 16 Duke ambushed visiting No. 8 North Carolina, but No. 5 Connecticut made it a sweep of No. 22 Creighton and added another Big East regular season title to its massive collection.

Let’s get started.

Penn State took the floor on senior night at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College hosting Purdue, both teams needing a win to stay alive in the race for the final spot in next week’s Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis.

The visiting Boilermakers prevailed 92-85 and the Lady Lions, who have been in last place for several weeks, fell to 10-18 overall and 1-16 in the conference and reduced to a final regular season game at Rutgers Sunday at 2 p.m. at Jersey Mike’sArena in Piscataway, N.J.

The one win was a surprising upset at home over nationally ranked Ohio State.

Realignment and expansion has affected the Big Ten, Atlantic Coast and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conferences, resulting in the last three teams in each league sliced from chances at long shot runs for NCAA automatic bids.

“You have to do your part and we didn’t,” said coach Carolyn Kleiger.

Gabby Elliott matched a career high with 32 points while Grace Hall scored 16 points, and Gracie Merkle scored 11. Alli Campbell dealt seven assists against Purdue (10-18, 3-14).

The sole achievement left would be revenge on Rutgers (10-18, 2-15), which in an earlier meeting rallied to down the Lady Lions.

In the only other Big Ten game Thursday No. 19 Maryland (22-6, 12-5) won 74-60 at Indiana (17-11, 9-8) in Bloomington as Shyanne Sellers scored 21 of her 25 points in the fourth quarter by making three from deep, shooting 5-7 overall from the field, and shooting 7-7 from the line to equal the Hoosiers’ team total.

Rutgers transfer Kaylene Smikle scored 16 points and Villanova transfer Christine Dalce scored 11.Allie Jubek grabbed 11 rebounds for the Terps, who are in fourth place and Sunday at 4:30 p.m. host No. 12 Ohio State at the XFINITY Center in College Park on FOX.

First place and top seed will be decided Saturday night when No. 4 Southern Cal looks for a sweep traveling across town to Pauley Pavilion to play No. 2 UCLA at 9 p.m. on FOX.

Both teams were on the top line Thursday night on the NCAA Committee’s second and final 16-team reveal before the whole 68-team field is announced at 8 p.m. on ESPN on March 16.

Meanwhile, Rider (7-20, 5-13) stayed alive in the MAAC race for the last spot with a 64-61 win over Merrimack (12-15, 88-10) at home in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

In the closing minutes Camryn Collins’  three-ball snapped a tie and La Salle transfer Gabby Turcol went 4-4 from the line before the Warriors cut the deficit to 64-61 and then forced a turnover but failed to make a game-tying shot as time expired.

“It was a gut check game,’” said veteran coach Lynn Milligan. “It was a game we had to win. It's no secret, we knew that situation we put ourselves in. We still have some control over that.

“I was really happy with the way we prepared this week. This team wasn't afraid of the challenge before them. I saw veterans out there. I saw maturity.”

Winner Bartholomew scored 15 points while Turcol and Collins each scored 14 points.

Rider finishes next week at Canisius, which is holding the 10th and last berth for the MAAC tourney at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The Broncs go last to Niagara.

If Canisius loses to Iona, Saturday, Rider and St. Peter’s next week and the Broncs also win at Niagara they will grab the last spot.

The frontrunners continued to dominate, first-place Fairfield (23-3, 17-0) won 81-61 at Mount St. Mary’s while Quinnipiac (23-3, 15-2) won 74-65 at St. Peter’s.

In the Fairfield game Meghan Andersen scored 25 points for the Stags while Riana Brown scored 13 off the bench, Emina Selimovic scored 17 points with nine boards and Kaety L’Amoreux scored 11 with six rebounds.

The Stags, who ran the MAAC table last season, have won 40 straight in the conference and can clinch a tie for the regular season crown when they host Sacred Heart at Leo D. Mahoney Arena Saturday at 7 p.m. (ESPN+)

In Quinnipiac’s win, freshman Gal Raviv tied her personal best with 32 points shooting 12-for-24 from the field, and made six from deep, besides grabbing nine boards and dealing six assists.

Looking Ahead Local

Penn at 8 p.m. has a must-win game Friday (ESPN+) at Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., which could result in getting the fourth and final spot in next month’s Ivy Madness at Brown in Providence, R.I.

If the results in the remaining schedule play out with first-place Columbia winning at home this afternoon against Brown, the Quakers and Brown will tie and the third tie break will be needed which is the .Net which Penn has a large advantage.

Princeton in second a game back tied with Harvard can knock the Crimson into third when they meet at 8 p.m. (ESPN+) Friday night in Cambridge, Mass., though either way they are likely to meet in the semifinals.

Drexel can move closer to gaining at least the second seed in next month’s Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) when the Dragons host Monmouth at 6 p.m. (FloSports) in the Daskalakis Athletic Center followed Sunday at at 2 p.m. hosting Campbell on senior day.

Delaware is at Stony Brook at 7 p.m. (FloSports) Friday on Long Island.

Temple can look up the fourth seed in next month’s American Athletic Conference tournament in Fort Worth, Texas when the Owls at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) Friday night host Rice in the Liacouras Center on senior night.

The National Scene – The Upsets

A week removed from a seven-day run at No. 1, third-ranked Notre Dame (24-4, 15-2) is likely to drop further after a stunning 86-81 home loss featuring a blown 15-point lead in South Bend, Ind., to No. 24 Florida State (23-6, 13-4) in an ACC matchup that likely cost the Irish a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tourney as well as next week’s conference tourney in Greensboro, N.C.

It’s only the second time since Niele Ivey became coach (2020-21) Notre Dame has squandered that advantage, the first at Syracuse on Jan. 31, 2021.

That’s two straight losses the second time this season after dropping a pair in a Thanksgiving weekend tourney in the tropics.

No other team in the current top ten has lost two straight, according to ESPN.

Ta’Niya Latson, the nation’s leading scorer, collected 23 points for the Seminoles while Makayla Timpson scored 22.

The Irish were led by Sonia Citron with 21 points while Pitt transfer Liatu King scored 17 and Hannah Hidalgo scored 16 but struggled shooting 4-18 from the field.

Meanwhile No. 16 Duke at home in Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C., took down nearby No. 8 North Carolina 68-53 as Reigan Richardson scored 13 of her 23 points for the Blue Devils (22-7, 13-4) in the third period.

Freshman Toby Fournier had 19 points and 10 boards.

UNC (25-3, 13-4) got 17 points from Lanie Grant.

Though neither are now ranked California, which was lower, at home in Berkeley beat Georgia Tech 79-65, the winning Bears one of three ACC newbies along with SMU, not likely to make the ACC tourney, and Stanford, which beat visiting Miami 86-69.

The Hurricanes are also in danger of not making the ACC cut.

In the SEC, No. 15 Kentucky (22-5, 11-4) thrashed visiting No. 11 Tennessee 82-58, the largest winning margin over the Lady Vols (21-7, 8-7) ever by the Wildcats in Lexington as Clara Strack made all 11 of her shots, a program record, while she also set a season record with 67 blocked shots after getting three more. She also had 15 rebounds.

Tennessee’s Talaysia Cooper had 25 points, though no other Lady Vol scored in double figures.

No. 20 Alabama at home in Tuscaloosa, brought down No. 7 LSU 88-85 in overtime as Aaliyah Nye scored 28 and Sarah Ashlee Barker had 21 for the Crimson Tide (23-6, 10-5), while Essence Cody blocked Mikaylah Williams’ attempted game-winner, her fifth rejection, to go with 17 points.

The Tigers (27-3, 12-3) got 22 points from Williams and 16 from Aneesah Morrow.

Texas (28-2, 14-1) nearly went the same way as other marquee teams but held on for a 68-64 win over Mississippi State (19-10, 6-9) in Starkville marking Longhorns coach Vic Schaefer’s return to the place he built into a national power between 2012-20.

Shay Holle got all 16 of her points in the second half for the winners, who stayed on course for a coin flip needed between them and No. 6 South Carolina Sunday if tied for the top seed in next week’s SEC tourney in Greenville, S.C.

The Gamecocks (26-3, 14-1) easily won their contest 75-59 at Ole Miss (18-9, 9-6) in Oxford as Sania Feagin scored 22 points and Chloe Kitts triple doubled her way to 16 points, 13 boards, and 10 assists.

Coach Dawn Staley’s team hosts Kentucky Sunday while Texas hosts Florida.

No. 5 Connecticut (27-3) won its fifth straight regular season Big East crown since returning to the league, completing a season sweep of No. 22 Creighton 72-53 with the home half in Hartford.

Freshman Sarah Strong had 22 points and nine boards against the Bluejays (23-5, 15-2), who’s only league losses are to the Huskies and are back home in Omaha, Neb., Sunday night hosting Villanova ahead of next weekend’s tournament in Uncasville, Conn., at the Mohegan Sun.

Paige Bueckers had 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, while Princeton transfer Kaitlyn Chen had 11 points and Azzi Fudd scored nine as Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma’s all-time NCAA collegiate coaching record reached 1,243 wins.

Creighton’s Morgan Maly had 11 points.

And that’s the roundup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Guru NCAAW Report: Villanova Does It To Butler With Putback As Time Expires; Saint Joseph’s and Lehigh Suffer Upsets; Northwestern Assessed Forfeits by Big Ten

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

VILLANOVA – Standing out at the finish enabled Villanova to stand out among the five local D-1 teams in action Wednesday night.

The roller-coaster season that has been the ride by the Wildcats, went that way with eight ties and six lead changes in a Big East game here against Butler (15-16, 5-13) in Finneran Pavilion that was decided with .01 seconds left in regulation when Vanderbilt transfer and former  Archbishop Wood star Ryanne Howard put back freshman Jasmine Bascoe’s  missed shot through the net for a 56-54 victory.

Win or lose, Villanova (17-12, 11-16) with just a visit to No.  22 Creighton  in Omaha, Neb., at 8:30 p.m. (FS1) on Sunday night left on the regular season schedule seems headed for the fifth seed in the Big East tournament next weekend returning to the Mohegan Sun in  Uncasville, Conn.

But after being an upset once again at  Providence three days ago, stringing together a  winning finish can boost the confidence level potentially playing either Marquette or Seton Hall in next Saturday’s  quarterfinals.

The game here was also senior night and in the different world that has evolved  through the portal coach Denise Dillon noted  the bit of strange in that some are players honored were grads who came for various various reasons to  play a single season on the Main Line.

“The impact that (the seniors) have made on and off the court has been extremely special,” she said. “We have great love and appreciation for everything they’ve done, whether they’ve been here for a year or four years.

For Allen, though, a junior, it has been homecoming and  a chance to reunite with former teammate  senior Kaitlyn Orihel, also a Wood graduate.

“Coming  into the game, you always want to play for  something bigger than yourself,” Allen said.  “Today I was playing for the seniors. Playing  with meaning gives  you that much more energy to give everything you have.”

Villanova began the final period down five to the Bulldogs but opened on a 10-0 run to get on the high side and while it stayed there, the ‘Cats couldn’t get much separation resulting in Lily Zeinstra nailing a 3-pointer to tie it up 54-54 with 11 seconds left.

Dillon then called  time to advance the ball and  set a play for her Canadian freshman from  Toronto, which was completed by Allen.

“The biggest part was that  last possession,” Dillon said. “Knowing Jas, the mentality was to score and go to the foul line. Ryanne cleaned it up, so it was just having the whereewithal to stay in the last possession.

Bascoe finished with 15 points and three boards, while Denae Carter and Maddie Webber each scored 12 points, and Allen had 10.

Villanova in the contest for the second straight game was beset by shooting woes connecting on 35.3 percent from the field and 21.7 percent from  deep.

The Bulldogs also owned  the boards 43-29 but the Wildcats countered by forcing 176 turnovers while committing just 2 to gain a 25-4 scoring advantage in transition.

The defense got the home team a decided more number of shots “even if we didn’t shoot well,” Dillon referenced the 24-68 for ‘Nova opposed Butler’s 19-44.

“Especially since  I’m a senior, I  was like ‘we’re not losing this  game,” Orihel said.

Saint Joseph’s Stunned by Dayton

Following  the Hawks’ key Atlantic 10 win Sunday over George Mason to sweep the Patriots, in a conversation with an athletics officials looking to final two games  visiting the Flyers Wednesday and then hosting defending and regular-season champion Richmond on senior day Saturday, the official  said of  the Dayton game, “that could be a trap.”

Sure enough, the improving Flyers under former UConn star Tamika  Williams-Jeter,  who played with the newly-retired Diana Taurasi on the Huskies,  rallied from an opening 20-2 deficit and downed Saint Joseph’s 74-65.

Fortunately for the visitors, who were the best team on the road last season in the NCAA, Rhode Island was taken down at Saint Louis, creating a massive logjam behind Richmond.

“They could finish anywhere from  two to five,”  a league official replied  of Cindy Griffin’s team (21-7, 12-5) when asked what tie breakers existed.

Since this is  like NFL existing scenarios late in the season, we’ll be back with that info  prior to  Saturday’s tipoff.

As for the basketball part, Dayton found a way to handle the Hawks ‘ three—headed monster, resulting in Gabby Casey, not Talya Bruglar, Laura Ziegler, or Mackenzie Smith being the leader, scoring 15 points, while Aleah Snead scored 14, though Bruglar  had nine points, six boards, and five assists.

Bruglar also passed Katie Curry, who played 1988-93 into fourth on all-time program scoring list with 1,663 points,  behind Teresa Carmichael at 1,681.

For  the second time this  season, Ziegler  was held under 10 points, scoring six in this one, while her two blocks moved her to sixth.

Dayton (16-12, 10-7) got 16 points from  Rikki Harris, while Jayda  Johnson scored 14, Arianna Smith grabbed 11 rebounds besides scoring 13 points, and Nicole  Smith scored 10.

The Flyers’ win over Saint Joseph’s is another breakthrough for  Dayton, which once was one of the A-10 heavyweights and if progress  continues, it won’t  be long before Williams-Jeter’s name joins Princeton coach Carla Berube and Vanderbilt  coach Shea Ralph on the speculation list of potential successors at their alma mater whenever Hall of Fame  coach Geno Auriemma decides to call it a career just as his former superstar Diana Taurasi did on Tuesday, though her announcement was anticipated.

Meanwhile, in the other local action in the Atlantic 10, La Salle (8-22, 2-15) fell at Fordham 72-51 in the Bronx at the Rams’ Rose Hill Gym.

No one scored in double figures with Ayisse Magassa the closest with nine points.

Fordham (15-13, 9-8) got 23 points from Irene Murua on 9-13 from the field, Emma Wilson-Saltos scored 16, Chae Harris scored 10 and Taya Davis dealt 11 assists.

La  Salle  finishes Saturday on senior day at home at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) in John E. Glaser arena.

Lehigh Win Streak Snapped

Flying along with a 12-game win streak and closing in on the top seed in the Patriot League tournament, Lehigh (23-5, 14-2) was  brought to an 80-68 dead stop at Boston U. (11-16, 5-11) in Case Gym, the Terriers (11-16, 5-11) overcoming the Mountain Hawks’ attack with Maddie Albrecht and Belle Brammer each scoring 14 points for the visitors, while Lily Fandre scored 11 and Ellan Stemmer scored 10.

Meanwhile, Lafayette lost 75-48 to Army at West Point in an afternoon game at the United States Military Academy, though Teresa Kiewiet scored 14 points, Sauda Ntaconayigize scored 11 and Abby Antognoli scored 10 for the Leopards (7-20, 4-12).

Army (21-5, 13-3) got 14 each from Trinity Hardy and Sam Tillson, while Reese Ericson scored 12, and  Kya Smith scored 10.

As a result the Black Knights pulled within a game of first-place Lehigh and head to the Mountain Hawks Saturday in Stabler Arena at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) on Lehigh’s senior day in Bethlehem, Pa.

A  home team win clinches top seed with one-game remaining for the Patriot League tourney, which will exist on all rounds on higher seed home courts.

Lafayette on its senior day Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+)  hosts Boston U. at the Kirby Sports  Center in Easton, Pa.

The National Scene

The Big Ten has declared the UCLA and Southern Cal visits by Northwestern the Wildcats put off during the wildfires in Los Angeles will not be re-scheduled with Northwestern assessed two defeats in the standings and No. 2 UCLA and No. 4 Southern Cal each granted a victory.

UCLA and Southern Cal are tied for first and on the final weekend of conference play meet in the second of their two meetings, this one at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion Saturday night at 9 p.m. on FOX with the visiting Trojans looking to  complete a sweep.

Northwestern, though,  at the bottom is in a four-way fight with Purdue, Rutgers and Penn State for the 15th and last spot in next week’s conference tournament in Indianapolis.

Penn State plays Purdue at home Thursday 6 p.m. at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College and then travels to Rutgers at Jersey Mike’s  Arena Sunday in Piscataway, N.J. Northwestern hosts Nebraska Sunday at Welsh-Ryan Arena at 3 p.m.

Of note Wednesday night, beginning in the conference, UCLA (27-1, 16-1) won at Wisconsin 91-61 in Madison as Lauren Betts scored 26 points with 10 rebounds, to pull even with USC at  the top of the standings.

No. 12 Ohio State beat visiting No. 23 Michigan State 89-78 at home in Columbus as freshman Jaloni Cambridge set a career-high with 33 points for the Buckeyes (24-4, 13-4) while Ajae Petty scored 23 points.

The Spartans (20-8, 10-7) got a career-high 29 points from Theryn Hallock.

The Buckeyes Sunday finish at No. 19 Maryland at the XFINITY Center in College Park, both teams chasing the third seed for the tournament.

Iowa won at Michigan 79-66 in Ann Arbor as Sydney Affolter scored 24 for the Hawkeyes and Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen scored 20 helped by getting 4-of-6 makes from deep.

Wolverines freshman Syla Swords had 22 points and 10 boards.

Michigan is in sixth place in a three—way tie at the moment with Oregon and Michigan State.

Iowa is 10th a half-game behind Indiana and a full game behind the three-way group.

Michigan is at Illinois Sunday while Iowa hosts Wisconsin.

In the Big 12 No. 10 TCU at home in Fort Worth, Texas, beat Houston 91-56 as LSU transfer Hailey Van Lith scored 26 point for the Horned Frogs (27-3, 5-2) who will play Sunday at No. 17 Baylor in Waco, Texas, for the top seed in next  week’s tournament.

Elsewhere in the Big 12, No. 21 Oklahoma State at home in Stillwater, beat  Cincinnati 74-64 while No. 18 West Virginia in Morgantown at home beat Utah 75-46. The Mountaineers’ JJ  Quinerly had a career-high 38 points.

In Richmond’s 59-46 home win over Davidson, Addie Budnik scored 15 for the Spiders.

Looking Ahead

On Thursday, locally besides the Purdue-Penn State game mentioned, Merrrimack is at Rider in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference at 6 p.m. (ESPN+)  in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

On Friday, in the Ivy League Penn will be at Dartmouth, looking for a split and gaining a strong position to land the fourth and final seed in next month’s  Ivy Madness tournament at Brown in Providence, R.I.

Princeton, now in second, is at third-place Harvard at 8 p.m. while Columbia,  alone in first by a game, hosts Brown.  All  games are on ESPN+.

Drexel, looking to hold second and possibly catch North Carolina A&T in the Coastal Athletic Association, hosts Monmouth at the Daskalakis Athletic Center at 6 p.m.  (FloSports), while  Delaware, heading next year for Conference USA, is at Stony Brook at 7 p.m. on Long  Island,  also on FloSports.

Temple,  looking to clinch the fourth seed and double bye in the American Athletic Conference, hosts Rice at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) in the Liacouras Center.

Nationally, Thursday, Maryland is at Indiana at 7 p.m. on Peacock in the Big  Ten.

In the SEC, No. 11 Tennessee at 7 p.m.  is at No. 15 Kentucky in Lexington on the SEC Network, while No. 6 South Carolina is at Ole Miss at 9 p.m. trying to stay tied with Texas, now No. 1 nationally for the firstt time in 21 years, and No. 1 in the conference.

The Longhorns will be at Mississippi State.

In the Big East where the regular season crown could be decided No. 5 Connecticut hosts No. 22 Creighton in Hartford at 7 p.m. on CBSSN.

In the Atlantic Coast  Conference, No. 24 Florida State at 8 p.m. is at No. 3 Notre Dame on the ACC Network, while No. 8 North Carolina at 7 p.m. is at No. 16 Duke on ESPN.

And that’s the report.