The Guru’s NCAAW Report: Columbia Wins Ivy Showdown at Harvard while Princeton Stays Close and Penn Plunges; Drexel Wins at Northeastern in CAA

By Mel Greenberg @ womhoopsguru

Though not many games were played Friday, three of the four locals factored into the looming mid-points in the Coastal Athletic Association and Ivy races.

In the CAA Drexel got things going in Boston in the afternoon and beat Northeastern 53-47 while the fourth way down the line, Delaware lost at Towson 62-48 in suburban Baltimore.

First-place North Carolina A&T (12-8, 8-1) won easily 74-51 over visiting Hampton (5-15, 1-8) and has a bye Sunday before entering a competitive game with Charleston (14-5, 6-3).

Drexel (10-8, 6-2) kept the Huskies (1-18, 0-8) winless in the league as Amaris Baker shot 7-16 from the field and finished with 16 points and 8 boards with three assists, Deja Evans was an efficient 6-9 scoring 12 while Cara McCormack and Laine McGurk each scored 10 points.

Northeastern’s Abby Jegede was the only threat scoring 19 points.

The day started with a three-way tie for second which got reduced to two after William & Mary (9-10, 6-2) won 64-59 at Elon (11-8, 5-3) in North Carolina.

The local Dragons are back home Sunday hosting Towson in the Daskalakis Athletic Center at 2 p.m. on FloSports while William & Mary will host Campbell (11-9, 4-4) at 1 p.m. in Williamsburg, Va.

As for Delaware (4-14, 1-7), which is 12th in the 14-team conference, two games below Towson (5-14, 3-5), Ande’aCherisier scored 15 points while Rebecca Demeke scored 11 for the Blue Hens against the Tigers who got 23 from India Johnston in the win.

On Sunday, Delaware travels to Northeastern for a tip at 1p.m.

That brings us to the Ivy League where three of the four – two being locals – Friday set the stage for Saturday’s weekend back-to-back finish.

No locals were involved in the showdown game but visiting Columbia (15-4, 6-0) is alone at the top knocking Harvard (15-3, 4-2) down to third, two games back, with an 80-71 victory at the Crimson’s Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Mass.

Riley Weiss had a career-high 26 points for the Lions shooting 5-9 from deep with six boards, two assists and two steals.

“I thought she was pretty great,” Columbia coach Megan Griffith said on the post-game interview of the ESPNU national telecast. “Riley is a star in the making.”

Harvard had the nation’s top defense at 50.9 but was pulverized by Columbia’s attack for a season worst allowance.

The Lions also forced 18 turnovers while committing just nine.

“That’s how we play,” Griffith said. “We’ve been really battle-tested this year. November prepared us for this moment.”

Kitty Henderson had 22 points and ten boards while Cecelia Collins had 17 points with seven assists.

Harmoni Turner scored 21 for Harvard and Saniyah Glenn-Bello scored 16 with eight rebounds.

But the race for the No. 1 seed in the four-team Ivy Madness at Brown in March is not in the bag.

Though perennial tournament champ Princeton lost the first toe-to-toe, the Tigers will be hosting the Lions in the second half.

Princeton (14-5, 5-1) got its weekend road trip off to a dominating start winning 74-38 at Yale (2-17, 1-5) in the John J. Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn., as Skye Belker scored 15 points, Ashley Chea scored 12, Fadima Tall had 11 points and eight boards, and Parker Hill scored 10.

Mackenzie Egger scored 16 with 12 boards for the Bulldogs.

Which brings us to Penn (10-9, 1-5) where the visit to Brown (10-9, 4-2) ultimately went south 65-57 putting the Quakers in a three-way tie for last place, three games from the fourth spot held by Brown.

Alyssa Moreland and Grace Arnolie each scored 25 for the Bears and Moreland had 18 boards.

Simone Sawyer had 14 points and eight boards for Penn while Stina Almqvist.

There was an upset in the other game as Cornell beat Dartmouth.

We’ll analyze after Saturday’s Ivy games in which Columbia goes to Dartmouth, Princeton goes to Brown, Harvard hosts Cornell, all at 5 p.m., and Penn goes to Yale at 5:30 p.m., the games all airing on ESPN+.

Looking Ahead

Locally, in the MAAC Rider is at Merrimack in Andover, Mass.  at 3 p.m. (ESPN), the Ivies were addressed above, Temple will look to break a two-game meltdown in the American Athletic Conference visiting UTSA in San Antonio, Texas, at 3 p.m. (ESPN+), in the Patriot League, Lehigh holding first hosts defending champion Holy Cross at noon in Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, while Lafayette hosts Colgate at 2 p.m. in the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, both on ESPN+, and in the Atlantic 10 Saint Joseph’s visits George Washington at the Smith Center in the nation’s capital at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

Nationally, in the Big 12, No. 21 West Virginia hosts No. 24 Oklahoma State at noon on ESPNU, while in the MAAC after their 1-2 matchup Thursday night won by defending champion Fairfield for the Stags’ 30th straight in regular season conference, they host Iona, while Quinnipiac hosts Siena, both at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

And that’s the report.