The Guru’s NCAAW Local/National Roundup: Princeton Rallies in 4th Quarter to Down Rice; Drexel and Rider Suffer Loses; St. John’s Upsets No. 18 Oklahoma State

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PRINCETON, N.J. – The preseason Ivy favorites in their home opener here at Jadwin Gym Wednesday night was able to fry Rice, but the Tigers’ oven took three quarters to finally deliver the heat that got the job done in an explosive 20-8 fourth quarter leading to a 69-56 victory.

Madison St. Rose, who missed most of last season after suffering an ACL, is back fully recovered though admittedly a little rusty.

Though the preseason poll of Ivy media beat writers produced the same trio at the top that set a league representative record by making the NCAA tournament, there is some restructuring going on.

In the case of Princeton here, coach Carla Berube, the former UConn star who has had the Tigers stay in the annual hunt following the departure of Courtney Banghart for North Carolina, is reinventing the wheel with a four-guard offense and going with a short rotation leaving the starters all playing in the high number of minutes.

St. Rose scored 19 shooting 8-for-13 from the field, while Fadima Tall scored 16m with six rebounds and four dimes. Skye Belker was also in double figures, scoring 15 points, shooting 6-of 10 from the field.

Rice (2-2), one of two Owls Princeton will see from the American Conference before the Ivy wars resume, the other Temple next month.

“This is a difficult stretch of the schedule,” said Berube alluding next to playing Penn State, whose center Grace Merkle will be a challenge Saturday at noon, the first of two in the Battle4Atlantis in Paradise Island, the Bahamas, coming out of an 84-68 loss at No. 9 Maryland Sunday before meeting Rice, and then after playing UMES on Sunday in the tropics, traveling to Rhode Island next Wednesday.

The Owls, who got 10 points each from Hailey Adams, Shelby Hayes and Dominique Ennis, opened the game with a 10-3 burst, was up five after the first period ended.

The Tigers responded with a 10-0 burst in the next period and went ahead 26-20, only to see Rice regain momentum to lead 34-30 at the break.

Princeton came back with a 47-44 lead in the third only to trail by a point at 50-49 heading into the final ten minutes when the Tigers performed the way their fans have seen for quite a while.

“Something just clicks and we just don’t want to lose, and we know we’re better than what we displayed,” St. Rose said of Princeton ultimately getting control in the final quarter. “A lot of communicating and pushing the pace to make things easy.”

Drexel Falls at Lehigh While Rider Loses Fourth Straight Playing at Navy

The Dragons (4-1) suffered their first loss, a 71-57 setback to regional rival Lehigh (2-3) up at Bethlehem, though Amaris Baker scored 21 points, Laine McGurk scored 10, and Grace O’Neill had 10 rebounds with six assists.

Lehigh was able to withstand Drexel’s 14-point eruption in the third and went into the final period up 10 points.

Drexel is at NJIT Saturday in Newark, N.J., at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

The host Mountain Hawks were led by freshman Leia Edwards with 22 points, five boards and six assists, Belle Bramer scored 12, Jessie Ozzauto had 17 points, and Lily Fandre scored 14.

The defending Patriot League champions shot 52 percent from the field and now head to the Bay Area in Northern California visiting Stanford on Sunday at 4 p.m. on ACCNX and then San Francisco on Tuesday.

Rider (1-4) faced a Navy squad, the Patriot League preseason favorites, that was coming off a win over Florida, the Midshipmen’s first over an SEC squad since 1998.

“We lost to a very good team,” said Rider first year coach Jackie Hartzell. “We played really well at times, but the end of the second quarter and third quarter really hurt us. That’s something we need to figure out moving forward, but I was proud of how we kept fighting.

“We have players playing major minutes, and I think we really just run out of gas, so I’m hoping to get more contributions from the bench moving forward.”

The Broncs had three players in double figures, Kristina Ekofo scored 17 points, Deb Okechukwu scored 12 with a personal best 10 boards, and Aliya McIver scored 13 points.

Rider is off until visiting defending Atlantic 10 tourney champion George Mason Tuesday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

Navy’s Zanai Barnett-Gay, one of five USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale national players of the week, scored 23 with 10 rebounds, and five assists to keep the Mids unbeaten at 4-0.

Kate Samson scored 11 points, and Zoe Mesuch scored 10 points.

Looking ahead locally, Saint Joseph’s, coming off Sunday’s home loss to Penn State, is at Columbia Thursday morning at 11 a.m. in New York City, on ESPN+, while Rutgers is at Auburn in Alabama at 7 p.m. on SECN+ and Lafayette visits Wagner on Staten Island, N.Y., also at 7 p.m. on NEC Front Row.

In an oddity for this time of year, none of the Guru’s 13 locals plays Friday.

The National Scene

The story of the night belonged to St. John’s which upset No. 18 Oklahoma State 74-67 at home in Queens at the Lou Carneseca Arena, the highest ranked win for the Red Storm since winning a Big East road game against then-No. 4 UConn on Feb. 21, 2023, in Hartford.

Brooke Moore scored 13 points for St. John’s, while Kylie Lavelle, a former Drexel player, scored 12 points and Sa’Mya Wyatt scored 12 shooting 6-7 from the field with eight rebounds.

The Red Storm (4-1) had a 31-21 advantage on the boards and shot 26-44 for 59.1 percent from the field.

“Really proud of our guys,” said St. John’s coach Joe Tartamello. The way they played, I thought they played at the highest level in some time. “It’s always big when you beat a ranked opponent.”

It was the first loss for Oklahoma State in six games, averaging 105.6 points in the previous five wins.

The Cowgirls were led by Stailee Heard with 15 points, while Achol Akot scored 13.

The other seven ranked teams who played all won in double digits, No. 2 South Carolina reaching triple digits in a 106-56 home victory over Winthrop while No. 8 Oklahoma at home won 112-59 over East Texas A&M.

No. 4 Texas at home in Austin beat Sun Belt favorite James Madison, 95-56, and No. 21 Louisville at home routed Morehead State 96-49 as Anaya Hardy scored 12 points and grabbed 13 boards for the Cardinals, who also had former Saint Joseph’s star Laura Ziegler, Tajianna Roberts, Imari Berry and Reagan Bender all score 13 points.

No. 17 Vanderbilt, on the road at nearby Western Kentucky, won 87-49, No. 16 N.C. State at home in Raleigh won 71-58 over Coastal, and No. 25 Washington at home won 61-43 over Fresno State in Seattle.

In other games of note, Belmont at home won 80-60 over Lipscomb, Rhode Island at home beat Holy Cross 73-59, Harvard edged host Boston College 72-65 in overtime in Bean Town, Ohio State at home beat Kent State 88-68. High Point at home beat Vermont 71-65, and George Mason won 58-41 over Florida Gulf Coast.

In a game between former Pac-12 rivals, Oregon of the Big Ten won 86-59 over host Washington State of the West Coast Conference 86-59. Kansas beat visiting Minnesota 63-57, Central Arkansas topped Arkansas State 81-58, and BYU edged host Montana 70-69.

On Thursday, No. 9 Maryland hosts Bethune-Cookman at 7 p.m. on B1G+, No. 12 Iowa State in an in-state game is at Drake, No. 19 Iowa plays No. 7 Baylor in the WBCA Showcase at Disney Wide World of Sports in Florida at 9 p.m. on ESPN2 while earlier at the same event at 6 p.m. Miami plays Davidson on ESPNU.

Florida State is at Florida at 6 p.m. on the SEC Network, Duke at 8 p.m. is on ESPNU at South Florida in Tampa.