The Guru’s NCAAW Report: Villanova Avenges Loss to Marquette; Drexel Alone in Second in the CAA; Lucy Olsen Leads Iowa to Upset of No. 4 Southern Cal

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

In four local games, Villanova at home in Finneran Pavilion Sunday got to re-do an earlier setback from Marquette in the Big East, Drexel at home in the Daskalakis Athletic Center outlasted Towson and moved into sole possession of second place in the Coastal Athletic Association, Delaware up at Northeastern in Boston snapped a losing streak in the CAA, and La Salle couldn’t sustain its win earlier in the week and fell at home to Massachusetts in an Atlantic 10 game at the John E. Glaser Athletic Center.

Starting from the order just given, Villanova (12-10, 6-4) gained a 65-53 victory over Marquette (14-7, 6-4), moving into a tie for fourth with the Golden Eagles (14-7, 6-4), which is for the moment more good than bad, but still bad since the month has now arrived when seeding and bracketing projection in conference tournaments.

Good in that anytime you get upset on the front part of home-and-home pairings during the season, you get a chance to get the first game back and the fact that it’s later could be a sign of improvement.

“I feel we are playing better basketball,” Villanova coach Denise Dillon said afterwards. “That’s exactly what you want. You want to continue just to grow, to get better as a whole and we are.

“I want them to continue to have that effort and energy. It’s not negotiable. When you bring that every day and you continue to get better and more comfortable as a team, the results take care of themselves.”

Tied for fourth if next month’s tournament returning to the Mohegan Sun, home of the WNBA team in Uncasville, Conn., if the action got under way right now, both teams would get a first-day bye and then meet each other in the quarterfinals.

And that winner would likely meet sixth-ranked and probable top-seed Connecticut in the semifinals.

That’s two games short where one would like to meet the Huskies, in the title game.

Adding to the difficulty, the upset last second loss at home to Seton Hall is not redeemable since the Pirates and Wildcats will not meet twice, depriving a chance to get in play for the 2-3 grouping.

But at the moment, improvement is still important to at least get position for a potential return to the WBIT, begun last season with Villanova advancing to the title game in Indianapolis before losing to Illinois.

And right now, the game in front is still the one that matters most, which will be at Butler Wednesday night in Indianapolis for a little déjà vu action for scene setting.

Delving into details of the game just played, however, a strong second quarter sent Villanova to the break with a 38-26 lead.

“There were times in the second quarter, it felt like we were having fun,” said Holy Cross transfer Bronagh Power-Cassidy from the Patriot League champions. “It felt like we were getting good movement.

“Earlier in the first we were a little slower to reverse the ball. So, switching that up in the second gave us momentum on both ends of the floor. As a team we don’t want to take any moment for granted no matter how we are playing,” she continued.

“It’s always the next two minutes. When shots are dropping, it’s going to give you momentum and try to limit their runs as much as you want to increase yours.”

When the two teams met earlier in the Milwaukee for the first one, the Wildcats frittered away a nine-point lead to fall on the short end. This time, when the Golden Eagles struck again, Villanova was able to resist and move to the final quarter with a double-digit lead.

“It was huge,” Dillon said. “The win itself is big, but how we came about and learning from past games. We fell off the cliff a little bit. I was proud of this group, and I think they recognized it as opposed to it coming from me.

“They felt it was stagnant, stale in the third, and just relieving themselves of the pressure by just moving the ball and making plays.”

Freshman point guard Jasmine Boscoe from Toronto had another big game, scoring 17 points, while dealing six assists. Danae Carter scored 15 points with six boards, and Power-Cassidy had 14 points, propelled by shooting 4-of-5 from deep.

Marquette’s Halle Vice tied her season high with 20 points, shooting 9-of-10 from the field, with eight boards, while Olivia Porter gained her personal best with 11 boards, and Skylar Forbes scored 12, and Jaidynn Mason added 10 points.

Helpful was Marquette’s inability hit from beyond the arc, shooting 0-9 from deep.

Drexel (11-8, 7-2) held off Towson (5-15, 3-6) for a 53-49 win and move within a game of first-place North Carolina A&T, which was idle.

William & Mary, which was tied with the Dragons, lost and fell out of the deadlock.

Amaris Baker and Chloe Hodges each scored 16 points, Hodges shooting 6-for-11 from the field, with seven boards and six assists.

Grace O’Neill dealt 10 assists and grabbed six rebounds.

The statistic separating the two teams was in foul shooting, Drexel shooting 9-12 while Towson was 4-10.

Drexel travels to Monmouth in Central New Jersey on the coast to play at 7 p.m. and then on Sunday hosts UNCW prior to the start of the Super Bowl at 2 p.m., though a recent game ahead of the NFC championship involving the Eagles was moved ahead to 1 p.m.

Delaware (5-14, 2-7), meanwhile, stayed out of the CAA basement, beating Northeastern 62-54, holding the Huskies to their one seasonal win, as Rebecca Demeke and Chloe Wilson each had career days. Northeastern has yet to win in the conference, now 0-9.

Demeke scored 24 points with eight boards for the Blue Hens while Wilson went the other way with 10 points and a personal best 17 rebounds. Tara Cousins and Ella Wanzer each scored 10 points to help end a four-game losing streak.

Delaware, which will be in Conference USA in 2025-26, next on Friday hosts UNCW ahead of Drexel, playing at 6:30 p.m. at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark. Both Drexel and Delaware games next weekend air on FloSports.

La Salle (8-16, 2-9), in the other local action, was on the 60-50 losing end of Massachusetts’ final appearance at the Explorers’ John E. Glaser in the Atlantic 10 before moving on to the Mid-American Conference next season.

The home team did make a second-straight win look promising at the half leading 28-23.

Ashleigh Connor scored 13 for La Salle and Ivy Fox collected 12 points, her personal best with the Explorers and in Division I.

Massachusetts (12-10, 7-4) got 17 points from Villanova transfer Megan Olbrys, while Allie Palmiere scored 15, and Yahmani McKayle scored 12.

The Explorers next host defending A-10 champion Richmond at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+.

The National Scene

Iowa celebrated the retirement of Caitlyn Clark’s No. 22 jersey following the WNBA Indiana Fever’s move to a pro career after her graduation last season and then the unranked Hawkeyes’ roster replacement for her, Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen, scored 28 leading the way in a starting Big Ten upset of No. 4 Southern Cal 76-69 ahead of the ceremony Hawkeye-Carver Arena in Iowa City.

The home team (15-7, 5-6) jumped to a startling 18-1 run to open the game before USC (19-2, 9-1) later got back into it, responding with a 17-1 run in the second quarter.

Addison Grady had 13 points to add to Olsen’s effort while Southern Cal got 27 points from transfer sophomore sensation JuJu Watkins.Adding more Hawkeyes support, Sydney Affolter scored 11 with nine rebounds for Iowa while Hannah Stuelke scored 10.

The Trojans, parting from a 15-game winning streak, got 13 points, additionally from Kiki Iriafen, while Kennedy Smith scored 11 points.

A sellout crowd of 14,998, including comedian David Letterman, retired Iowa coach Lisa Bluder, and the WNBA Indiana new front-office trio of president Kelly Krauskopf, general manager Amber Fox, and coach Stephanie White, watched the game and Southern Cal, which hadn’t lost since Nov. 23 to nowe No. 3 Notre Dame, stayed around afterwards for the festivities involving Clark.

“I’m really impressed with the atmosphere here,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb told ESPN. “We had decided prior to the outcome of the game that we were goin to stay out there to honor her and women’s basketball.

“Congratulations to her. There’s nothing I could say that hasn’t been said. But the respect she has shown us, the humanity she has shown us, I’m definitely a fan.”

Meanwhile Merchantville’s Hannah Hidalgo keeps scoring and No. 3 Notre Dame keeps scoring.

The sophomore, in the hunt with Watkins, along with UCLA’s Lauren Betts and Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers among several others to succeed Clark as player of the year, scored 34 points, her season’s best after dealing 30 on Virginia Tech on Thursday, as the Fighting Irish (19-2, 10-0) won an ACC rivalry game at Louisville (15-7, 8-3).

   Hidalgo scored 12 in the third quarter.

Tajianna Roberts scored 17 for the host Cardinals, Olivia Cochran added 14, and Jayda Curry scored 12.

The Irish’s 10-0 start in the ACC is the program’s first since 2015-16, while the 10-0 start in conference play by a member is the first since N.C. State did similar in 20221.

Liatu King scored 16 with 12 rebounds for the visitors, while Olivia Miles had 17 points, four rebounds, and shot 5-8 from the floor.

Notre Dame hosts Stanford Thursday in the first meeting since of the two since the visiting Cardinal’s win in the 2019 Elite Eight, while Louisville hosts No. 19 California.

Another famed WNBA star underwent a jersey retirement, also, that of the Las Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson at No.2 South Carolina where a sellout in Colonial Life Arena in Columbia saw the defending NCAA champion Gamecocks (21-1, 9-0) defeated Auburn 83-66.

Wilson was on the first of three NCAA champions at S.C. in 2017.

It’s the 70th straight home win for Dawn Staley’s program and 56th straight wins in SEC games.

The winners’ freshman Joyce Edwards scored 18 points and Chloe Kitts had 13 with nine rebounds. MiLaysia Fulwiley had 17 points while Auburn (11-11, 2-7) got 31 points from DeYona Gaston.

Back in the upset department, in the Big Ten, visiting Illinois edged No. 14 Maryland 66-65 in Collge Park, the first victory over the Terrapins (17-5, 7-4) in 18 tries as Genesis Bryant made a pair of foul shots with 6.3 left in regulation.

Shyanne Sellers had put the home team ahead with 13.9 left on a layup.

Maryland coach Brenda Frese had reached 599 victories at the school prior to the game.

Bryant scored 20 for the Fighting Illini (17-5, 7-4).

Maryland’s Kaylene Smikle, a transfer from Rutgers, scored 15 points.

Illinois hosts Northwestern Thursday, while the Terps begin a Northwest swing, visiting Oregon Thursday and Washington, Sunday.

Geno Auriemma’s NCAA men’s/women’s record win total extended to 1,234 as No. 6 Connecticut won in the Big East 101-59 over Butler (12-12, 2-9) as Paige Bueckers scored 16 of her 18 points in the first half, while KK Arnold was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field for 12 points and four steals, Azzi Fudd and Ashlynn Shade each scored 13, and freshman Sarah Strong had 11 points, five boards, and four blocks for the Huskies (21-2, 12-0), who are out of conference at No. 18 Tennessee in Knoxville.

The Lady Vols (16-5, 4-5) won their SEC game at Missouri 76-71 as Taylasia Cooper had five makes and 27 points and Tennessee ended a three-game losing streak.

Also in the SEC, No. 12 Kentucky won at No. 13 Oklahoma 95-86 in Norman as Virginia Tech transfer Georgia Amoore, who followed new Wildcats coach Kenny Brooks to the Wildcats (19-2, 8-1), had a career-high 41 points, making seven 3-pointers, and eight assists against the Sooners (16-6, 4-5), who got a career-high 27 points from Sarah Williams.

No. 7 LSU (23-1, 8-1) topped visiting Mississippi State 81-67 in Baton Rouge as Mikaylah Williams scored 22 points, Flau’Jae Johnson had 20, and Annesah Morrow had 18 points and 20 rebounds. The Bulldogs (16-7, 3-6) got 13 points from Eniya Russell.

The Tigers are at Missouri on Thursday.

No. 5 Texas won easily 70-50 at Texas A&M (10-11, 3-6) in College Station as Madison Booker scored 17 and grabbed a career high 13 boards to go with 17 points.

The Longhorns (22-2, 8-1) host No. 2 South Carolina Sunday but ahead of that on Thursday No. 23 Vanderbilt (18-5, 5-4) visits, the Commodores trying to recover from a Sunday 76-61 loss at home in Nashville to Ole Miss (15-6, 6-3), who got a season-high 24 points from Starr Jacobs.

Khamil Pierrre had 24 points and three steals for Vandy, while freshman Mikayla Blakes had 16 points.

No. 22 Alabama (8-5, 5-4) at home in Tuscaloosa got got 22 points from Aaliyah Nye in a 72-57 win over visiting Georgia (9-14, 1-8). Alabama is at Florida Thursday, the same day Georgia hosts No. 2 South Carolina.

In the ACC, No. 15 North Carolina edged host Stanford 69-67 following Thursday’s 65-52 win at No. 19 California becoming the first making the trip West to sweep the two new members previously in the former PAC-12.

On Sunday, Reniya Kelly scored five of her 10 points over one minute in the fourth quarter to enable the Tar Heels (20-4, 8-3) to hold off by a basket the Cardinal (11-10, 3-7).

No. 1 UCLA (21-0, 9-0) in a Big Ten game home in Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles beat Minnesota 79-53 as the Bruins are still the last of the unbeaten Division I teams after Elina Aarnisalo scored 15 points and Kiki Rice scored 14, Londynn Jones collected 13 and Lauren Betts dealt 11 assists

Amaya Battle had 21 points for the Golden Gophers (18-5, 6-5).

Minnesota hosts Iowa Thursday, a day after UCLA hosts No. 8 Ohio State (20-1, 9-1), which Sunday at home in Columbus beat visiting Washington 66-56 as Cotie McMahon scored 19 with five rebounds for the Buckeyes, which clinched a berth for the Big Ten tourney next month.

Hannah Stines had 17 points for Washington (13-9, 4-6).

Other results involving ranked teams on Sunday had No. 19 California in Berkeley at home beating Pitt, 84-53, in the ACC; No. 20 Georgia Tech in the ACC beating host Miami 77-66; No. 11 Kansas State in the Big 12 winning 91-64 at Kansas while No. 9 TCU wins at 82-69 at Iowa State in the Big 12; and in the ACC, No. 25 Florida State winning at home 97-68 over Wake Forest.

Looking Ahead

A light schedule Monday highlights a rivalry in the ACC where No. 10 Duke in Durham makes the short trip to No. 17 N.C. State at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.

At the same time Florida is at Arkansas on the ACC Network.

On Tuesday in the American Athletic Conference UTSA hosts North Texas in a game between two top tier teams in the standings.

No locals are scheduled either day.

And that’s your report.