The Guru NCAAW Report: Berube’s 500th Win and Chea’s 25 Points Highlight Princeton’s Romp of Penn as Tigers Match Ivy Blowouts Dealt by Columbia and Harvard

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PRINCETON, N.J. – When the Penn band is in the house, 40 minutes of basketball is followed by going right into the alma mater from the top with words “Drink a highball … “

For the Quaker faithful who made the short trip to Jadwin Gym here Saturday afternoon to support their women’s squad against their arch Ivy rival Tigers the libation was in need much quicker.

How quick?

Let’s put it this way.  The Berube 500 career win of former UConn star Carla Berube’s combined coaching record at D-III Tufts and Princeton was assured with the speed of the Indy 500 courtesy of Ashley Chea in the driver’s seat steering the Tigers to a 37-10 lead and finishing with a career-high 25 points.

When quipped to Berube following UConn’s upset loss at Tennessee Thursday temporarily halting Geno Auriemma’s extending NCAA overall record win total (1234), she just needs 734 to catch her former coach, she shot back, “I’m not chasing Geno.”

Technically, since a share of hers came at the D-III level, she would need more to match him at D-I, all at UConn., which on Monday will achieve its 600th straight AP women’s ranking.

To Penn’s credit, with a rally the Quakers launched in the second quarter, mercy killing replaced slaughter as the descriptive matching word of the contest whose final score read 74-60.

Despite the outcome, as the second half of the pursuit of the top seed for next month’s four-team Ivy Madness tournament at Brown in Providence, R.I., got under way, Penn’s situation to stay in the hunt for the fourth seed did not get any worse thanks to destruction by Princeton/Berube’s other two bash sisters at the high end of the standings.

Columbia (17-4, 8-0) under alum Megan Griffith reached 8-0 for the first time in the program’s history as the Lions made quick work with a 78-40 win over Brown (10-11, 4-4).

In that one, Riley Weiss followed her multiple national players of the week performances scoring 20 points, shooting 9-17 from the field, Cecilia Collins scored 16 with nine boards, Serbian Marija Avlijas scored 12, and freshman Mia Broom scored 10.

From the outset, Griffith offered the Bears a challange to play beat the press and Isabella Mauricio was the only one with some success scoring 15 points.

Columbia, once the Ivy doormat until Griffith, a native of King of Prussia, returned from a long stint on the Ivy powerhouse Courtney Banghart, now at North Carolina, built at Princeton, has now won 18 straight regular season Ivy games.

“I think we’re a tough team to beat, a tough team to beat, but we’ve got to keep getting better every single day,” Collins said.

Princeton (16-5, 7-1), the three-time defending tourney champs, remains a game behind after beating Penn (11-10, 2-6).

Harvard (17-3, 6-2), two behind first with the last-second loss at Princeton and the setback at home to Columbia is still two ahead of fourth-place Brown after Saturday’s 66-31 shellacking of Dartmouth (8-13, 2-6) at home at Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge next to Boston.

Dartmouth suffered the same fate as Brown, one reserve player in double figures; Nina Minicozzi with 15 points.

The Crimson got 21 from Harmoni Turner, while Elena Rodriguez scored 10, and Saniyah Glenn- Bello scored 11.

Back here, Skye Belker backed up Chea, who was 5-8 from deep and 10-15 overall, with 15 points shooting 7-11 from the field and reserve Tabitha Amanze from Nigeria was 5-10 scoring 12 points.

Penn multi Ivy freshman of the week Katie Collins was 7-13 from the field, 4-9 from deep, scoring 18 points, Mataya Gayle scored 13, and Simone Sawyer scored 10.

“We came out strong and set the tone the  entire game,” Chea said and then noted of her performance, “that came from my teammates. They had a lot of confidence in me and my shot.”

Of the Penn rally, “I think we knew to play our game and slow ourselves down. ‘Coach got mad at us. So we know, when ‘Coach is mad, we got to play better.”

In reaching 500, Berube said, “I’ve been doing this quit a while and at two really great universities with a lot of great athletes and coaches.”

As for the game, “The start was really great. The defense was awesome. We did a great job breaking their press. Made some shots. Ashley was phenomenal. When she’s feeling it, she’s feeling it. She’s got the green light.”

That Penn did not come in at closer to equal level as in past years was not a reason to take the Quakers lightly, considering the race at the top.

“This was the next game on the schedule. They know about the Penn-Princeton rivalry. Penn is Penn. Mike (McLaughlin) does a great job so you never count them out.”

From the Penn side, the Quakers coach said, “We came out of the gate pretty slow. We struggled, that’s why the gap got so wide. But I thought as the game went on, we settled down into a bit of a flow.

“I thought we were better, defensively. But it’s difficult to start like that and win but I did think there were some pieces there that showed some progress that I hope can carry on to next weekend.

“I still think we have to play better basketball. We have a lot of work ahead but I thought Katie was terrific.”

Next weekend, Penn hosts Yale at 6 p.m. on Friday at The Palestra and Brown at 4 p.m. while Princeton reverses it hosting Brown here at 6 p.m. Friday and Yale at 5 p.m. Saturday so a sweep by the two home locals enables the Quakers to catch Brown.

 Columbia hosts Dartmouth on Friday at 7 p.m. and moved to noon Sunday the Lions host Harvard at noon on ESPNU in Levien Gym off Broadway on New York’s Upper West Side.

Harvard is at Cornell on Friday at 6 p.m. while Dartmouth is at Cornell a 5 p.m. Saturday.

A Lehigh/Lafayette Sweep in the Patriot League on the Road

First place Lehigh (19-4, 8-1) stayed hot with its eighth straight win – a 67-52 triumph at American U.(1-21, 1-10) at Bender Arena in the nation’s capital.

It’s the Mountain Hawks’ longest streak since a matching one in 2009-10.

“We have a lot of offensive weapons,” said Lehigh coach Addie Micir, a former Princeton Star out of Lower Bucks County. “We have a lot of tools in the toolbox we need to use.”

Ella Stemmer scored 16 points while Meghan O’Brien shot 6-11 from the field for 14 points, and Maddie Albrecht scored 12.

The Mountain Hawks broke open the game with a 20-7 advantage to carry a 50-33 cushion into the final period.

Colleen McQuillen had nine boards.

Next up Lehigh hosts Navy Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa.

Lafayette (6-16, 3-8) dealt Navy (15-7, 7-4) a stunning 61-60 loss at the Academy in Alumni Baal in Annapolis, Md.

The Midshipmen had a chance to tie down three but scored inside the arc and the Leopards grabbed the ball and ran out the.

Chudy Tasha had a double-double 15 points and 10 boards, while Abby Antognoli scored 14, and Sauda Ntaconayigize scored 10 giving the visitors 39 points off the combination.

Navy’s Zanai Barnett-Gay scored 29 points with 13 boards.

The Leopards host American at the Kirby Sports Center Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Easton, Pa. (ESPN+).

Setbacks For Temple, Villanova, Rider and La Salle

It was not a good day for the remaining four local teams.

Temple (13-10, 7-5) at home in the Liacouras Center fell to American Athletic Conference preseason favorite South Florida 64-57 though the Bulls (16-8, 9-2) were in second before sweeping the series.

The fourth quarter returned as the Owls’ demise, a Temple triangle where the team’s consistent disappearance has contributed to a recent 1-4 run and winless at 0-5 against the top four leaders of which by all means the locals could have easily be in the mix.

“It was a tough game,” said Temple coach Diane Richardson. “We did some really good things and then some things that weren’t good enough to get the win.”

On the good was fighting from an early 13-point deficit in the third quarter to within two at the end. The bad was letting it get away the remainder of regulation.

Tiarra East, the MVP of the first Big 5 Classic won by the Owls, scored 15 points, while Tarriyonna Gary scored11 which just three turnovers, and Kaylah Turner scored10.

Sammie Puisis off four from deep scored 15 points for USF, L’or Mputu scored 14, and Carla Brito had 11 points and nine boards.

Temple is back home Tuesday at 6 p.m. hosting UAB on ESPN+.

Villanova (13-11, 7-5) had a chance to make some progress in the  Big East at home in Finneran Pavilion but returned to its earlier fourth quarter fade act and fell behind to lose 70-57 to second place Creighton (20-4, 2-1).

Wildcats freshman Jasmin Bascoe scored 21 points with seven boards, four assists and a pair of steals. Danae Carter had 13 points and eight boards.

The Bluejays got 25 points from Lauren Jansen, whileMorgan Maly had 23 points and ten boards, and Molly Mohensen scored 12.

On Wednesday the ‘Cats look for victory at DePaul in Chicago.

La Salle (8-18, 2-11) had another career effort from Jolene Amendariz with 20 points and 6-9 made 3-pointers but the Explorers’ road stop in the Atlantic 10 at Saint Louis (10-15, 4-8) ran into a Billikens team wanting to punish their next opponent for the scoring treatment they just suffered at Saint Joseph’s and got beaten in all four quarters in a 73-51 defeat at Chaifetz Arena.

Joan Quinn added 10 points while Brooklyn Gray on Saint Louis was 5-6 with 7-10 at the line collecting 18 points and Hannah Wallace and Mya Glanton each scored 12points.

La Salle is home Wednesday night for the first of two with Fordham at 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+) at John E. Glaser Arena.

Rider (6-16, 4-9) had its three-game win streak run into an abrupt halt in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) falling at  Sienna 68-49 though the Broncs could still escape elimination status in the final standings for next months’ tournament in Atlantic City at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall.

Winner Bartholomew scored 12 for the visitors and Mariona Cos-Morales collected 11 points but the Saints (12-10, 9-4) held La Salle transfer Gabby Turco to nine points while Ahniysha Jackson topped two other teammates in double figures with 16 points.

Rider next hosts Iona at 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+) at Alumni Gym Thursday in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Elsewhere in the MAAC involving the two frontrunners, defending champion Fairfield (19-3, 13-0) was challenged into the fourth quarter at crosstown rival Sacred Heart (6-15, 2-10) but the Stags’ two-year win streak reached 36 in the conference on the shoulders of Raiana Brown with a program record perfect night shooting 11-11from the field with 8-9 from the line for 31 points while Kaety L’Amoreaux scored 15 points and Emina Selimovic scored 14.

Second-place Quinnipiac (19-3, 11-2) had a far easier time winning 70-38 at Niagara (1-19, 0-12), which is winless in the conference.

Karson Martin scored 19 for the visiting Bobcats and Anna Foley scored 10.

The National Scene

No. 7 Southern Cal (21-2, 11-1) at home in the Galen Center in Los Angeles on a night JuJu Watkins struggled offensively still prevailed with Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen scoring 24 points and grabbing13 rebounds to finish ruining the Big Ten west coast trip of No. 8 Ohio State (20-3, 9-3) with an 84-63 victory over the Buckeyes who fell at No. 1 UCLA earlier in the week.

Watkins was 0-11 before her first basket in the third quarter and finished the night 5-21 from the field though the Big Ten scoring leader (24.2) still double-doubled with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Taylor Thierry scored 14 for Ohio State and Codie McMahon tallied 13 points.

Ohio State welcomes Minnesota Thursday while the season-long awaited showdown occurs the same night with a sellout as USC hosts UCLA continuing the full arena battles of last season when they met in the PAC-12’s final season.

In the Big 12 where the other three ranked games occurred Saturday, No. 25 Oklahoma State (19-4, 9-3) at home in Stillwater upset No. 12 Kansas State 85-55 as Anna Gret had a personal best eight from deep for all of her 24 points while Stailee Heard had 21 points and 11 boards as the Cowgirls matched their largest win over a ranked team.

Micah Gray scored 19 against the Wildcats (22-3, 10-2), who were led by Jaelyn Glenn with 13 points.

No. 9 TCU (22-3, 10-2) moved back into a tie for the Big 12 lead with the Horned Frogs’ 19th straight home win in Fort Worth, a 63-42 win over Texas Tech as Aaliyah Roberson scored 14 points and Madison Conner had 13.

No. 18 West Virginia (19-4, 9-3) opened at Houston 20-0 with JJ Quinerly scoring 16 of her 20 points in the first quarter on the way to a 79-51 victory.

In the West Coast Conference, a sellout crowd at McCarthy Athletic Center in Spokane, Wash., saw hometown Gonzaga top new member Washington State 73-69 in overtime as Yvonne Ejim score 16 points with 17 boards, Allie Turner collect 15 points, and Bree Salenbien have 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Zags (17-8, 12-2), who have won 11 straight and swept the Cougars (15-11, 10-5).

Looking Ahead

Super Bowl Sunday has arrived but before the (Philadelphia) Eagles play the two-time defending (Kansas City) Chiefs in New Orleans tonight, there are some local and national basketball matchups, the locals moving their games up from the original scheduled times to make room for the green and white.

On Sunday, locally, at 1 p.m. in the A-10 Saint Joseph’s hosts Loyola Chicago (ESPN+), in the CAA, Drexel hosts UNCW at the Daskalakis Athletic Center at 1 p.m.  while Delaware is at Hofstra at 2 p.m., both on FloSports, and in the Big Ten it’s a basement double header involving the four teams looking to escape the three-team cut from next month’s tournament.

Penn State (1-11 Big Ten) hosts Northwestern (0-10) at 2 p.m. at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College while Rutgers (1-11), which lost at Indiana Thursday, hosts Purdue (1-10) at 1 p.m., both on B1G+.

Nationally, in the SEC, No.2 South Carolina, the defending NCAA champs, visit No. 4 Texas at 2 p.m. on ESPN, looking to sweep the Longhorns while No. 19 Tennessee fresh off the non-conference upset of the No. 5 Connecticut Huskies, visit No. 6 LSU at 4 p.m. on ESPN in Baton Rouge looking to split the series and pay back for the last second loss in Knoxville.

No. 23 Alabama is at Mississippi State at 2 p.m. on the SEC Network.

The Huskies return to the Big East at Providence at noon on CBSSN in the first of two conference games ahead of visiting South Carolina next Sunday when the first of two NCAA reveals of 16 teams will occur.

In the Big Ten beyond the locals already mentioned No. UCLA visits Oregon at 4 p.m. in a meeting of former PAC-12 rivals; No. 16 Maryland is at Washington at 4 p.m. while No. 16 Michigan State hosts Michigan at 2 p,m. on FS1.

In the A-10 Duquesne hosts defending champion at Richmond at 2 p.m.. on CBSSN.

In the ACC, at noon Stanford is at Louisville on ESPN2, the same time No. 14 N.C. State visits No. 22 Florida State on CW; and also same time No. 21 California is at No. 3 Notre Dame on the ACC Network; and No. 10 Duke hosts Miami, while No. 17 Georgia Tech is at Boston College; and No. 13 North Carolina is at Clemson, all those on ACCNX.

And that’s the report.