By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Here at Columbia’s Levien Gym off Broadway on the Upper West Side and down at Colombia, South Carolina, at the Gamecocks’ Colonial Life Arena, home was where the heart was Sunday afternoon with sellout crowds, but it was not the place for victories anticipated in both places in two national stunners.
Down South, the ghosts of visiting UConn past filled the talented bodies of the No. 7 Huskies present with an 87-58 rout of Dawn Staley’s defending NCAA champions that was comparable to the treatment dealt a week ago in the Super Bowl in New Orleans by Staley’s hometown Philadelphia Eagles to the Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Elsewhere, where a sellout home court did experience joy was a Top 10 battle in the Southeastern Conference won by new member No. 3 Texas 65-58 over No. 5 LSU in the Longhorns’ Moody Center in Austin.
It was Texas’ third straight win over a team in the Top 10 last achieved by Rutgers in 2004-05.
Another noteworthy achieved out of an SEC member was at Auburn where Vanderbilt in the conference game beat the Tigers 98-88 in overtime fueled by Mikayla Blakes, who set a Division I freshman scoring record with 55 points.
Back up here in the rainy north, the hot Ivy race here got even hotter as Harvard (19-3, 8-2) led by Harmoni Turner with 22 points, eight boards, seven assists, and four steals, ended a five-game run of frustration against the Lions with a 23-11 fourth quarter domination resulting in a 60-54 victory that also snapped Columbia’s program-tying 11-game win streak.
As a result, the Lions (18-5, 9-1) suffered their first Ivy loss of the season and enabled idle Princeton (18-5, 9-1) to move into a first-place deadlock while the Crimson is a game-behind and on the verge of officially joining the duo returning to next month’s four-team Ivy Madness, to be held at Brown’s Pizzitola Center in Providence, R.I.
The host Bears and Penn are tied for fourth two games behind third.
This Saturday the tie at the top will break with Columbia’s visit to Princeton’s Jadwin Gym at 5:30 p.m. while Harvard which held the Lions to a season low, travels to Brown and Penn hosts Cornell 2:30 p.m. at The Palestra.
A win over the Bears clinches a berth for the Crimson.
“You saw who we are in this game,” said Harvard coach Carrie Moore, like King of Prussia’s Meghan Griffith here at her alma mater, both former Princeton assistants when Courtney Banghart, now at North Carolina was building the Tigers into a national force. “And not just Harmoni. All our guys stepped up and made huge plays.”
Saniyah Glenn and Abigail White joined Turner in double figures with 12 points apiece.
Glenn was 4-for-5 from the field, including 3-for-4 makes from deep, while White was 6-for-7 from the field.
Columbia’s Kitty Henderson scored 15 points, Cecilia Collins scored 13, and Riley Weiss scored12.
“This time team able to take a punch and punch back showed maturity,” Moore said of the exchange of runs at various spots until taking control down the stretch.
Turner got a steal in the closing minute that helped hold off the Lions.
“We’re not just two deep or five deep, we’re eight deep, nine deep,” Moore said of her team’s ability.
“I think we’re really a good team. They’re a good team. Princeton’s a great team. This is a great league and I hope us playing each other, doesn’t kick one of us, two of us out of the (NCAA) tournament.
“I think our .Net is right where it needs to be (30s), we’ve played a tough non-conference for that reason, played some really good teams, this one included.”
Griffith was obviously disappointed with her team’s play.
“I thought we didn’t play well today, they were the better team today,” she said. “You can’t start a game with a tip and then turn the ball over. I don’t know where our heads were at – being home, expecting to win, mentality, we have all the tools to do what we need to win, as every team believes.
“We started playing iso-ball, just like them, we were playing with them, we don’t play one-on-one, it’s not our style,” Griffith said.
“We missed a lot of shots in the first half we normally make, layups and threes. This is a gift. If you don’t learn a lot from this with a lot of season left, I don’t know.
“If you play the game the way we did, you didn’t deserve to win. “In those moments, we’ve had a lot of uncertainty today — ball insecurity, ball indecisiveness.”
Ironically, the UConn win came on a day the NCAA committee before Sunday’s action across the country got under way did the first of the two 16-team reveals of what the opening round hosting spots would look like if the tournament began now.
The committee’s chair joked during the interview with the Associated Press that there was guessing who would be the first to break the bracket in that the date for inclosed closed out before Sunday.
It has happened in previous years.
UCLA was made the overall No. 1 seed on the top line, which included the Bruins’ upset loss Thursday to No. 6 Southern California, which knocked them from being the last unbeaten team in the country. But South Carolina was also up there, as was Texas and Notre Dame, the latter expected to be the new No. 1 in Monday’s AP Poll to be released at noon.
But South Carolina was also up there.
The Gamecocks were hoping to relegate the Huskies (24-3) to yesterday’s news with losses to Notre Dame, Southern Cal and for the first time since 2007 Tennessee in their resume.
But instead Connecticut became the latest streak breaker after UCLA earlier busted the overall win streak, a week ago Texas ended a 57-game SEC regular season run, and now the 71-game home streak is also in the history books.
“All of our streaks have been broken this year,” Staley said. “But it’s been a hell of a run.”
UConn played like the team thought to return to domination days after Azzi Budd enrolled to join Paige Bueckers but injuries to the two diminished their time on the court together.
Fudd scored 28, propelled by six 3-pointers, while Sarah Strong, the nation’s top incoming freshman, had 16 points and 13 boards.
Strong’s mother is Allison Feaster, a former Harvard star and native of South Carolina, who was a teammate of Staley on the former WNBA Charlotte Sting.
Fudd said her teammates weren’t anticipating the rout, “but we were ready for whatever they through at us.”
Saying she’d give her players an “F” if grading in college, “They had their way with us. There’s no trying to find a silver lining. We got beat and we got beat bad.
“I think we’re a little mentally and physically fatigued. Just the gauntlet of the season. But there comes a time when you can regroup and get it back.”
Joyce Edwards had 17 points for South Carolina (23-3).
Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma, whose NCAA all-time record win number for men or women extended to 1,237, said this team showed it can be elite when the national tournament begins.
While the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, and Big 12 are going to offer a rankings fiesta in their conference tournament fields, Connecticut won’t run into another ranked team until perhaps two with Creighton in the Big East if the Bluejays stay in the poll and then other teams later in the NCAA Sweet 16.
Meanwhile in the ACC, Vanderbilt, coached by former Huskies star Shea Ralph, is holding the eighth seed for the SEC off a head-to-head tie with ninth seed Tennessee.
Blakes had the previous true freshman record of 53 last month past former Delaware great Elena Delle Donne, who scored 54 as a redshirt freshman in 2009-10.
She’s the first freshman to score two 50 plus games as a newcomer in this century and the fourth since 1999-00.
Against Auburn, the Commodores trailed by 15 in the second half.
No. 3 Texas (26-2, 12-1), who split with South Carolina and lost at Notre Dame, held LSU 29 points below their season average.
Madison Booker had 16 points and 10 boards, while Taylor Jones had 12 points, including her 1,000th, the 50th for the Longhorns to do so, and Rori Harmon scored 10.
Mikaylah Williams scored 18 for LSU (25-2, 10-2), while Flau’Jae Johnson scored 16, and Aneesah Morrow had 15 points and 20 rebounds.
Elsewhere in the SEC, No. 15 Tennessee at home in Knoxville beat Ole Miss 80-71 as Jewel Spears scored 28 points, leading three others in double figures for the Lady Vols (19-6, 6-6).
Kirsten Deans scored 22 for the Rebels (17-8, 8-5).
Florida upset visiting Mississippi State 69-66 at home in Gainesville on a three from deep at the buzzer from Trey Sparks.
In the ACC, No. 12 North Carolina (23-4, 11-3) at home won 66-65 to upset No. 12 NC State (20-5, 12-2) as Grace Townsend hit two foul shots with 5.2 seconds remaining.
Reniya Kelly had a personal best 23 points for the winning Tar Heels and Aziaha James had all 16 of her points in the second half for the Wolfpack.
Tess Heal had 23 points to lead Stanford at home to an 80-75 win over Boston College at home in Palo Alto in Maples Pavilion
In the Big Ten, in the first game after No. 6 Southern Cal upset No. 1 UCLA, both teams struggled, Southern Cal (23-2, 13-1) ultimately rallied from a 12-point deficit for a 69-64 win at former PAC-12 rival Washington (14-12, 5-9) as Kiki Iriafen scored 19 points to go with the 17 from JuJu Watkins with seven boards and six assists.
Sayvia Sellers had 24 points for the host Huskies.
UCLA (24-1, 12-21) at home in Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles needed Oregon transfer Timea Gardiner to score with 44 seconds left to go on to a 75-69 victory over No. 22 Michigan State (19-6, 9-5), which got 19 points from Theryn Hallock and 18 from Julia Ayrault.
In the Big 12 Sedona Prince had 22 points and 12 boards as No. 11 TCU (24-3, 12-2) beat host Arizona 85-73. Skylar Jones had a personal best 30 points for the Wildcats (15-12, 6-8).
The Local Scene
Villanova (14-11, 8-5) had a big second half in the Big East to win at Xavier 57-42 in Cincinnati at the Cintas Center, Jasmine Bascoe and Lara Edmanson each scored 15 points against the Musketeers (6-19, 1-13).
Edmanson joined several others, who scored their 1,000th career point this weekend.
Maddie Webber added 13 points.
The Wildcats host Georgetown Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Finneran Pavillion on FloSports.
Delaware (9-14, 6-7) continued its surge with its fifth straight win in the Coastal Athletic Association beating William & Mary 82-59 in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark as Ande’a Cherisier scored a career-high 24 points.
The visiting Tribe (10-13, 7-5), who were challenging Drexel for second, have now fallen several games off the pace.
Delaware is at Elon on Friday in North Carolina at 7 p.m. on FloSports.
In the Big Ten, in a game involving two teams fighting to avoid the three-team cut elimination from next month’s tournament in Indianapolis at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Wisconsin won 75-68 at Penn State (10-16, 1-14) in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College.
Gracie Merkle had a game-high 28 points, shooting 13-17 from the field and adding 12 boards against the Badgers (12-14, 3-12).
Gabby Elliott added 12 points with five rebounds and four assists.
Penn State is off all week until traveling to play Michigan in Ann Arbor Saturday at noon on the Big Ten Network.
Looking Ahead
On Monday, the only local on the card has two more teams playing each other in danger of missing the cut as Rutgers hosts Northwestern at 8 p.m. on the Big Ten Network at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J.
At the moment, Wisconsin has a half-game lead on the Scarlet Knights, who are just above through a tie-break, but ahead of Purdue, followed by Northwestern and Penn State.
On the national slate, in the Big Ten, Michigan is at No. 17 Maryland at 6 p.m. on the Network at the Terrapins’ XFINITY Center in College Park.
Iowa at noon is at No. 9 Ohio State at noon on FOX for a President’s Day game in Columbus, while in the ACC, No. 2 Notre Dame is hosting No. 13 Duke at 6 p.m. on ESPN, but take note all these ranking numbers or many of them will change at noon when the new poll for the week is released.
In the SEC, No. 21 Alabama in Tuscaloosa hosts Texas A&M at 8 p.m. on the SEC Network, while in the Big 12 No. 18 West Virginia in Morgantown hosts st 2 p.m. hosts No. 14 Kansas State.
The Full Reveal
(Some teams moved to comply with principles and procedures)
(First Number Regional Seed; Second National Seed)
Spokane Regional 1
UCLA 1-1
LSU 2-6
Duke 3-10
Tennessee 4-16
Birmingham Regional 2
South Carolina 1-2
NC State 2-8
TCU 3-9
Oklahoma 4-15
Birmingham Regional 3
Texas 1-3
UConn 2-7
North Carolina 3-11
Ohio State 4-14
Sopkane Region 4
Notre Dame 1-4
Southern Cal 2-5
Kansas State 3-12
Kentucky 4-13
And that’s the report.
