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+).