The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW Weekend Roundup - Part 1: Saint Joseph’s Nips Drexel to Reach Big 5 Classic Championship Against Villanova

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – When it became a matter of the six pod games to decide this coming Sunday’s second annual Big 5 Women’s Classic championship and two undercard pairings returning to Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion, the best of the half dozen games became the last, occurring Saturday afternoon here at Saint Joseph’s Hagan Arena where the host Hawks rallied from an early double digit deficit to engage in a tight contest in the second half and nip the Dragons 57-55 in the final minutes.

The outcome sends Saint Joseph’s (6-1) into the championship at 4:30 p.m. against Villanova (5-2), setting up perhaps the archrival of opponents out of all the pairings in the City Series history.

Temple, which won it last season, beating the host Wildcats, will play Drexel (4-3) at 2:15 p.m., for third place while Penn and La Salle will get the triple-header under way playing at noon for 5th place.

The outcome here flipped one last time by moving in the winners’ direction with a steal followed by Faith Stinson’s layup for a 55-53 lead with two minutes remaining in regulation.

Stinson stopped a potential tie with a steal with 1:13 left but Rhian Stokes missed a layup with 43 seconds left.

Aleah Snead, however, got the ball back with a steal at the 0:38 mark.

Stokes missed a shot from deep at :07 but Snead grabbed a huge rebound, and Drexel was forced to foul.

Stokes canned both from the lane at :04 for what became the final score, but drama continued when Casey fouled Drexel’s Laine McGurk on a three-point attempt.

She made the first two, but Mariah Watkins committed a lane violation thus depriving McGurk of attempting a missed shot/offensive rebound, score, to send the game into overtime.

“We talked about about how we were doing great defensively but we needed to finish what we started,” said coach Cindy Griffin, now in her 25th season coaching her alma mater. “That was getting those 50-50 balls and creating those other opportunities for us on the offensive end.

“We knew possessions were going to be limited.”

Casey led the Hawks with 16 points and three assists, Stokes had 14, and Snead and Stinson each scored 11 points.

“These games mean a lot, especially because I'm from Philadelphia and grew up going to games like this,” Snead said. “This game meant a lot to me, and I'm excited I get the opportunity to do it at Hawk Hill with St. Joe's and my teammates.”

Saint Joseph’s won the last round-robin format two seasons ago beating Villanova but the ‘Cats got revenge near the end of the season winning the elite eight round of the inaugural WBIT at home.

A year ago, in the first two-game pod alignment in the new tournament format, the Hawks lost here to Villanova sending the Wildcats to the title game where they fell to Temple.

Drexel, on the women’s side, followed the Dragons’ male counterparts one year later last season as official Big 5 participants, though they’ve played many city teams in their history.

The Dragons blew out their nearby neighbors, Penn in their other Big 5 contest, part of a 4-0 start before getting upset at Lehigh and NJIT coming into this game.

But those setbacks were quickly tossed aside as Drexel jumped to a 16-6 lead in the first quarter before the Hawks sliced the lead to four at 29-25 at the half.

Amaris Baker had a game-high 22 points and McGurk, playing her best this season, scored 20.

“Today's game is understanding when we're locked in and when we're dialed in, then we do the things defensively we need to do,” Drexel coach Amy Mallon said. “Then the possessions where we didn't take care of things we needed to, we will learn and we will get better.

“That's what our teams do, and I have no doubt that with Amaris and Grace (O'Neill) and our seniors leading the way, they know how important those things are and they will learn from them.”

From a fans’ viewpoint here, it’s payback week with Saint Joseph’s, ahead of the ‘Nova game, launching Atlantic 10 play by hosting Rhode Island Wednesday at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).

 The Rams, under former Virginia star Tammi Reiss, have been a bothersome opponent recently and have already pulled off an upset at nationally ranked N.C. State.

Griffin has a different view.

 “We have got to focus on us. We have to focus on us; How we can continue to grow and get better as a team. The buy-in and the culture has been great and I'm just really proud the way this team is playing together and for each other.”

Drexel, which hasn’t been in the Daskalakis Athletic Center for almost two weeks, is back home Wednesday at 6 p.m. (FloCollege) hosting American, the second homecoming in less than a month for first-year Eagles coach Kelly Killion, the former Holy Family star who followed her coach Mike McLaughlin to Penn as his associate aide.

The game here was the only local on Saturday’s card while on Friday, Penn, coming off Monday’s home loss to Saint Joseph’s and before Sunday’s visit to No. 4 and likely climbing Texas, made a stop in the Lone Star State to Division III St. Thomas, easily winning 78-44 as Katie Collins scored 18 points off a perfect 6-6 from deep.

Mataya Gayle had 14 points and six assists.

Rutgers (6-2) cruised at home at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., with a 79-56 victory over Northeastern (3-5) as Nene Ndiaye had her first double double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Imani Lester scored 16 points, Zachara Perkins scored 13 and Faith Blackstone collected 11 points.

The Scarlet Knights were to come back 48 hours later Sunday afternoon hosting neighboring Saint Peter’s.

In the other local Friday attraction Temple (3-4) opened play in the Baha Mar Nassau Championship - Junkanoo Division in the Bahamas and fell 85-50 to No. 20 Michigan State (7-0) the third straight setback for the Owls, who Sunday at 4 p.m. in the third place game were to meet Western Carolina (2-6) which lost 77-44 to Clemson (5-2).

Saniya Craig had 11 points and six boards for Temple, while Kaylah Turner had 10 points with six boards.

Michigan State got 18 points while Grace VanSlooten and Marah Dykstra each scored 11 with VanSlooten completing a double double with 10 rebounds.

The National Scene

No. 5 LSU (8-0) swept to the Paradise Jam – Reef Division title tacking on two more non-stop triple digit totals for an NCAA record that busted the consecutive game mark set when Tigers coach Kim Mulkey played as a starting point guard for Louisiana Tech, the previous mark set in the NCAA inaugural season 1982 when the Lady Techsters beat Cheyney for the national title.

In Saturday’s 112-35 win over Washington State (1-7) in St. Thomas, V.I., Flau’Jae Johnson scored 16 points for LSU, which claimed the new record Friday winning 113-53 over Marist.

The competition gets tougher Thursday when LSU visits Duke as part of the two-night ACC/SEC Challenge.

No. 17 Vanderbilt (8-0) swept to the Island Division title with Saturday’s 84-71 win over BYU (7-1) as Mikayla Blakes scored 27 points and Justine Pissott had 18 points and 10 boards following Thursday’s 88-66 win over Oregon State.

The Commodores host Virginia Wednesday in the ACC/SEC Challenge.

No.12 North Carolina (8-1) completed a 3-0 sweep Friday and Saturday to win the Cancun Challenge Mayan title winning 80-63 Saturday over Columbia (4-4) as Lanie Grant scored 19 points and Ciera Toomey scored 18.

The Lions had 21 points from Riley Weiss.

The game reunited Tar Heels coach Courtney Banghart and Columbia coach Meghan Griffith from their days when Banghart was winning Ivy titles at Princeton and Griffith was on her staff before moving on to coach the Lions, her alma mater.

UNC visits No. 4 Texas Thursday as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge.

The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW Roundup: No. 4 Texas Completes Top 5 2-0 Sweep; Penn Routes St. Thomas Ahead of Visiting Longhorns

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

To preface before getting underway, this is the actual 50th anniversary birthdate of The Associated Press women’s poll launched 889 ranking weeks ago in 1976 appearing just in The Philadelphia Inquirer the first two seasons before the AP came aboard.

There’s a story in the paper in the Friday section with links on the Guru’s facebook and X accounts with lots more celebratory events coming across this season.

  Meanwhile, Feast Week hits the buffet portion Friday and Saturday, but no one had a better meal in the front end of appetizers and salad than No. 4 Texas (7-0) which swept to the first Players Era event for women in Las Vegas taking a big lead on No.3 UCLA (7-1) and then holding on to beat the Bruins 76-65 on Wednesday.

A day later the Longhorns followed Thursday night on Rori Harmon’s game-winning shot with a second left to beat Southeastern Conference rival and No. 2 South Carolina 66-64 in the championship.

Texas will only see the Gamecocks (7-1) once in SEC play, traveling later to Columbia, though the two could also meet in the conference tournament and once more in NCAA play pending on bracket placements and mutual success so while the duo have the potential to be stuffed with each meeting as many as four times on the road to a national title they will be one short of becoming absolutely gorged.

If the Longhorns had a delightful week in Vegas, the home of the WNBA champion ACES, no one had a more miserable time than Duke (3-5), who lost to South Carolina 83-66 in the opener and then in the third place game went down 89-59 to UCLA, whose potential high lottery pick center Lauren Betts was sidelined with a left arm injury suffered in the loss to Texas.

When the power field was assembled, someone was going to go 0-2 suffering the fate of those losing shirts in the casinos, but the Blue Devils under former Tennessee star and Olympic coach Kara Lawson began the season ranked seventh and arrived West already suffering upsets to then-No. 16 Baylor on opening day in Paris, then at unranked West Virginia to a Mountaineers team reduced to five players after the half in the wake of a slew of ejections – a result that sent Duke out of the rankings and then losing at unranked South Florida in Tampa.

In the Texas win over UCLA, Harmon scored 26 points in a game UCLA fell short in a rally from a 23-point deficit late in the third quarter.

Madison Booker added 16 points for the Longhorns with seven boards and five assists while Jordan Lee scored 13 points and Justice Carlton scored 10.

After UCLA on a 24-7 run drew within four points, the Bruins had three failed possessions, a missed shot from deep and a pair of turnovers as the rally died.

Kiki Rice and Utah transfer Gianna Kneepkens each scored 17 points for UCLA while Washington State transfer Charlisse Leger-Walker shot 50% from the field for 13 points.

In Wednesday’s other game, South Carolina’s Madina Okot scored 23 points in the win over Duke while Joyce Edwards scored 22 points, Ta’Niya Latson scored 12 and Raven Johnson scored 10.

The Blue Devils’ Toby Fournier scored 16 points, Riley Wilson collected 14 points, and Ashlon Jackson scored 11.

Dawn Staley’s winners outscored Duke 58-28 in the paint.

On Thursday, in the championship Jordan Lee scored 19 for Texas, which beat South Carolina in Austin in their debut SEC season but lost in Columbia, the conference championship and the national championship semifinal.

Harmon had nine assists to pass now Washington State coach Kamie Etheridge as the career leader at Texas and was the event’s MVP.

“When it came time for the last shot, it’s always gonna be her,” Texas coach Vic Schaefer said.

Booker scored 16 with nine boards while Carlton had 13 and eight boards.

South Carolina’s Latson and Edwards each scored 16 points, Tessa Johnson scored 13 and Okot, who has double doubled in six games had 12 points and11 rebounds.

In the UCLA game, Leger- Walker was 5-9 from deep on the way to 20 points, three less than Gabriela Jackson at 23, Rice scored 17, Kneepkins had 13, and Angela Dugalic completed all five Bruins starters in double figures with 12 points.

The Blue Devils’ Jackson scored 18, Fournier double doubled with 17 points and 10 boards while Delaney Thomas had 10 points and eight boards.

UCLA next hosts No. 14 Tennessee Sunday in Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles at 4:30 p.m. on FS1.

It doesn’t get easier either for Duke which hosts No. 5 LSU Thursday at 9 p.m. on ESPN as part of the ACC-SEC Challenge.

South Carolina in the same event next goes to No. 23 Louisville the same night at 7 p.m. on ESPN. Texas is also in the same event the same night at 7 p.m. hosting No. 12 North Carolina on ESPN but first the Longhorns host Penn Sunday at at 2 p.m. on SECN+.

The Quakers (5-2), one of three locals playing Friday, got their two-step Texas trip started winning 78-44 at St. Thomas as Katie Collins had 18 points and eight boards and was a perfect 6-6 from deep while Mataya Gayle scored 14 points.

The other local games coming at night had Rutgers hosting Northeastern at 7 p.m. on B1G+ at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., while Temple looked to snap a two-game losing streak meeting No. 20 Michigan State at 6:30 p.m. in the second game of the Baha Mar Hoops Junkanoo Division opener in Nassau, Bahamas, following the Clemson-Western Carolina game at 4 p.m.

Winners and Losers meet Sunday.

Down in the Tropics

Locales in the Caribbean is where many teams enjoy Feast Week at multiple team events tied to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Also dining well so far is No. 7 Maryland (9-0) which consumed its main course Wednesday with a 74-66 win over No. 16 Kentucky (7-1) in the Discover Puerto Rican Classic as Rutgers transfer Kaylene Smikle scored 22 and Yarden Garzon scored 17 while Addie Mack scored 15 points and Saylor Poffenbarger scored 12.

Tonie Morgan scored 22 with eight assists for Kentucky which in the non-tournament event was off until meeting Morgan State late Friday afternoon.

The Terrapins continued Thursday with a lopsided 95-38 win over Hofstra (1-4) as Smikle scored 13 leading three teammates who each scored 10 points in a game they crushed the boards with a 40-17 advantage.

Maryland next hosts Mt. St. Mary’s Wednesday.

Elsewhere in the same event, UCF beat East Carolina 75-61 on Wednesday and lost to Wake Forest 65-60 in overtime Thursday – the Deacons on Wednesday and beat Morgan State 93-35 while East Carolina romped 72-53 over Hofstra Friday.

Rice edged Illinois State 75-72 in overtime on Wednesday and then had it easier beating Morgan State 75-44 Thursday. The Owls also met UCF Friday while Wake Forest went 3-0 with a 57-44 win over Illinois State on Friday.

The other notable outcome involving a ranked team Wednesday came in the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo championship in which Ohio State (5-1) bounced off Sunday’s loss at No. 1 Connecticut to upset No. 21 West Virginia 83-81 as Jaloni Cambridge scored 22 points and Elsa Lemmila pushed the Buckeyes in front of the Mountaineers (6-1) with 24.9 seconds left.

Gia Cooke scored 24 for West Virginia, which hosts Villanova Monday while Ohio State hosts Niagara Sunday.

The Guru’s Local/National Roundup: Villanova Fends Off La Salle to Reach Big 5 Classic Title Game; Princeton Wins at Rhode Island

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – One more pod contest in the Big 5 schedule remains and is just ahead on Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) when Saint Joseph’s hosts Drexel on Hawk Hill at Hagan Arena.

But following Villanova’s 66-54 victory at La Salle in the Explorer’s John E. Glaser Arena, Tuesday night everything is clearcut with just an either-or resolved between the Hawks and Dragons to determine the triple-header matchups for the second annual classic back in the Wildcats’ Finneran Pavilion on Sunday, Dec. 7.

The opener at noon will be Penn and LaSalle, which both failed to get a victory in their two respective games, the semifinal game at 2:15 p.m. will be Temple meeting the loser of the Drexel-Saint Joseph’s contest, both 1-1, and the championship will be decided in the 4:30 p.m. contest by Villanova and Saturday’s winner, who will both be 2-0.

Asked whether she’d like return of the Holy War, which would otherwise be missed under the new tournament format begun last year, thus avoid having to go against Amy Mallon who sat alongside her for nearly two decades before leaving Drexel and returning to her alma mater, Dillon smiled and said, “we’re long past that.”

However, the messy question of how does 1-1 ties get broken to set the pecking order, nearly came to life because for the first time in the five games this season, thanks to La Salle’s perseverance the outcome remained undecided into the final quarter though Villanova held the upper hand most of the night.

“I knew it would be a battle here at La Salle,’” said Dillon. “All those Big 5 games are.

“Credit La Salle. They played really aggressive basketball. They certainly stuck with their game plan. We got a little out of sorts and away from ours,” she continued.

“That’s going to happen with youth; them not understanding how intense these games are, I’ll keep saying it.”

Brynn McCurry scored 18 with seven rebounds for Villanova (5-2), while Jasmine Bascoe shot 4-8 from deep and collected 16 points, Kennedy Henry scored nine with six boards, and Denae Carter had nine points and six boards.

The Explorers (5-2), who didn’t help themselves shooting 10-17 on the line to the Wildcats at 18-24, got 17 points from Ashleigh Connor while Kiara Williams scored 14 shooting 6-11 from the field.

La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray bemoaned how close his team came to disrupting the order of things.

“If we got rid of the first quarter, I would have felt a little bit better about the game,” he said. “It would have made things a little different down the stretch.

“Pleased with the fact that we responded after that. Our primary defensive game plan was not to let them shoot the three. “We gave up four threes in the first quarter, and we were down by 12 and it's not a coincidence. I thought we adjusted. I thought we defended much better the rest of the game,” he continued.

“We also executed the game plan of trying to go at Bascoe. We wanted to put her in foul trouble and put her in jeopardy. We executed that as well. Those are steps for a young team that need you to see.”

Villanova only made two more threes following the initial salvo but that’s how many La Salle made the entire game.

Following the opening period the game ebbed and flowed the rest of the way. It looked like another blowout would be tacked onto the preceding local matchups when Villanova went up 36-21 at the half.

But the Explorers started reducing the differential each time under single digits, once as low as five but the Wildcats answered every time danger lurked to their cause.

The series at La Salle has always been a bit funky away from the Main Line even when superior ‘Nova teams knocked like the night the sensational Maggie Siegrist set the Big Five freshman scoring record in City Series clashes.

Villanova next is at nationally ranked West Virginia Monday night while La Salle hosts VCU Wednesday night in an Atlantic 10 opener.

Elsewhere, locally, Lafayette (4-3) made it four straight by winning 76-59 at Pittsburgh, the Leopards’ first win over an ACC opponent since 2013 after outscoring the Panthers 15-5 in the final period in the Petersen Events Center to drop the opposition to 4-3.

Teresa Kiewiet and Haylie Adamski each scored 19 points in the win with the former grabbing eight boards and the latter shooting 4-8 from deep, while Talia Zurinskas scored 18 points.

Lafayette next is at NJIT in Newark, N.J., Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.

Lehigh (2-5), the Leopards’ nearby Patriot League rival, fell short 89-84 at San Francisco (4-2), the Mountain Hawks completed their two-game swing West getting 27 points from Lily Fandre, while Leia Edwards had 15 points and nine boards, and Gracyn Lovette scored 13 points.

The Mountain Hawks next host Brown Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

The other local action on Tuesday saw Rider (1-5) drop their fifth straight since opening night, losing at Atlantic 10 tournament defending champion George Mason 72-54 in Fairfax, Va., as Emmy Roach had 14 points with eight rebounds and Aliya McIver scored 13 points against the Patriots (5-2).

Rider next is at Long Island Tuesday at 2 p.m.

Since we’re filing late and the two locals playing Wednesday afternoon are finished, Princeton (6-1) bagged another big one, winning 67-59 at Rhode Island (6-2), which had come home to Kingston following Sunday’s huge upset at then-No. 16 N.C. State.

Tigers drove from a 43-43 tie into the final period outscoring the Rams 24-16.

Madison St. Rose double doubled with 21 points and 13 boards for the winners while Fadima Tall did likewise, statically, with 19 points and 12 rebounds.

The Tigers also got 11 points from Skye Belker.

Brooklyn Gray scored 19 for URI which next plays at Saint Joseph’s Wednesday night at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) while Princeton hosts DePaul Sunday at 1 p.m. (ESPN+).

Delaware (3-2) won 67-55 at Loyola Md. (1-7) outside Baltimore as Ande’A Cherisier scored 17 points with six rebounds for the Blue Hens, Lay Fantroy had 12 points and eight rebounds, Kailah Correa scored 11 points, and Trinity Vance came off the bench to score 14 points.

The Hens next host Towson at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, Sunday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).

The National Scene

Just two games among this week’s ranked group played Tuesday, both producing lopsided wins out west as No. 18 Southern Cal at home in the Galen Center in Los Angeles blasted Tennessee Tech 85-44 while No. 22 Washington handled SWAC contender Southern 66-40 in Seattle.

Both victors are former PAC-12 rivals with USC (4-2) and Washington (6-0) still rivals but now in the Big Ten.

In the Southern Cal victory over Tennessee Tech (4-2) freshman Jazzy Davidson had 20 points and a personal best 16 boards while Londynn Jones scored 20 in a game the Trojans blocked 15 shots.

Next up is a Friday visit from Pepperdine at 5 p.m. (B1G+).

Up at Washington, Avery Howell scored 18 for the Huskies shooting 6-10 from the field while Brynn McGaughy collected 14 points against Southern (1-5).

The winners next host UC San Diego Friday at 10 p.m. (B1G+).

The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW Roundup: Saint Joseph’s Wins at Penn; Hosts Drexel Saturday Sending Winner to Big 5 Classic Championship; Rutgers and Penn State Gain Wins

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – For the second time in two games Saint Joseph’s went through one of the upper pieces of the Ivy League Monday night following Thursday’s win at Columbia by keeping it local with a 74-53 Big 5 win over Penn at The Palestra.

Two other locals in action took wins, Rutgers at home in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J. edging Siena 67-61 while Penn State finished play in the Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas beating San Diego State 83-67.

The win here by the Hawks relegated the Quakers to the fifth-place game at Villanova when the Big 5 Classic returns to the Main Line December 7.

The Wildcats after avenging Temple Saturday night for last season’s loss at Villanova in the championship can regain the title round by beating La Salle Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+) at the Explorers’ John E. Glaser Arena.

The championship slot from the other side can be set Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) by the winner of Drexel’s visit to Saint Joseph’s at Hagan Arena.

In three other local in action Tuesday night, Rider tries to snap a four-game losing streak when the Broncs visit defending Atlantic 10 tournament champion George Mason at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) in Fairfax, Va., while the two local Patriot League members are Lafayette at 6 p.m. visiting Pittsburgh at 6 p.m. on ACCNX while Lehigh finishes its trip west to the Bay Area looking to bounce back from Sunday’s thrashing by Stanford when the Mountain Hawks visit San Francisco, the school and city, at 9 p.m. on ESPN+.

In Saint Joseph’s (5-1) win over Penn (4-2) the Hawks featured a balanced attack led by Aleah Snead with a near triple double scoring 18 points shooting 8-for-10 from the field while grabbing 11 boards and dealing eight assists.

Gabby Casey scored 12 points with six rebounds, Jill Jekot scored 13 shooting 5-for-10 and Faith Stinson shot 5-for-9also scoring 13 points.

Penn’s Simone Sawyer scored 14 points with seven rebounds and Tina Njiike scored 10 points.

The Quakers will be bringing Ruke Ogbevire and Ese Ogbevire to their home state this weekend when Penn plays St. Thomas on Friday and visits No. 4 Texas on Sunday.

Snead had a career night for Saint Joseph’s and was aware as the game was closing down that the triple double was attainable and made teammates Casey and Jekot were aware.

“I just look up (at The Palestra scoreboard) myself,” she related. “The last minutes it’s like ‘Gabby, Jill, I’m going to pass you the ball, just shoot it.’”

On still picking up a double double Snead said, “You’ve got to let the game come to you, and that’s my first double double, so that’s what I’m proud of. The past couple games I haven’t really been rebounding as much, and my position coach (Ashley Prim) has been on me about that and getting in there and stop watching, and I think I did that tonight.”

Penn coach Mike McLaughlin said of defending the Penn Charter graduate, “She's a tough matchup because you have to put a four on her, we had to put one of our posts on her,” he said. “She’s really grown. She got better poise than she's ever had, credit to her, but she's a tough match up if we   didn't have to go against her, I'd say it's pretty cool watching her get better and better and better.”

Added Hawks coach Cindy Griffin, “She was always a really smart player, passing and moving.  Sometimes you take advantage of guys that move, she moves without the ball really really well and she moves into space really really well, she's stepping up for us big-time.”

While Penn has struggled early, McLaughlin praised Sawyer.

“This is the best basketball Mo has played since she’s been at Penn. She’s rebounding the ball at a level she never has, she defends, plays hard.  When you talk about progress she’s taken a big step forward.”

In Rutgers game the Scarlet Knights (5-2) used a 22-16 fourth quarter to keep Siena (0-6) out of the win column as Nene Ndiaye reached a new high with 26 points, Zachara Perkins matched her best with 17 points and Imani Lester scored 10.

Lester also matched her career mark with nine boards, Ndiaye grabbed eight and Perkins got seven caroms.

“Typically, it has become down to being better on the floor, and rebounding, and we get stops,” Rutgers coach Coquese Washington said of her team’s domination at the end of games.

The Knights this weekend host Northeastern Friday and Saint Peter’s Sunday.

Down in the tropics Penn State (5-1) got another big game from Gracie Merkle scoring 26 points and 12 rebounds in the win over San Diego State (4-3) while Rutgers transfer Kiyomi Miller scored 19 and reserve Nyla McFadden scored 10 points.

The Lady Lions next host Yale Sunday in Rec Hall at 1 p.m. (B1G+).

The National Scene

This is the week on the calendar that’s the next best thing to March Madness with the number of events in the tropics and around the country for Thanksgiving.

The highlight comes Wednesday and Friday in the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas in which three of last season’s Final Four will compete as Duke, the one team replacing national champion and top ranked UConn in the Tampa reunion, meets No. 2 South Carolina at 4:30 p.m. on TruTV following the 2 p.m. meeting on the same network when No. 4 Texas plays No. 3 UCLA

Winners and losers meet Friday.

On Monday No. 21 West Virginia took the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo – Goombay Division championship beating McNeese 83-63 while in single games all at home No. 13 Ole Miss cruised 102-50 over Longwood; No. 24 Oklahoma State thumped Texas A&M-CC 98-45; and South Jersey’s all-American Hannah Hidalgo scored 25 points with seven assists, six steals, and five boards to lead No. 19 Notre Dame to an 83-51 win over Central Michigan.

On Tuesday, out West No. 22 Washington hosts SWAC contender Southern at 9 p.m. while No. 18 Southern Cal hosts Tennessee Tech at 10 p.m., both on B1G+.

Another marquee Wednesday attraction has No.16 Kentucky and No. 7 Maryland meeting a 5:30 p.m. in the Puerto Rico Shootout.