The Guru’s Weekend National NCAAW Roundup: No. 1 UConn Avoids No. 6 Michigan Upset; Rhode Island Wins at No. 16 N.C. State

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

On the weekend across the three days Friday through Sunday the top of The Associated Press showed itself with No. 1 UConn surviving Friday night fending off a second half challenge from No. 6 Michigan 72-69 in the marquee attraction of the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn.

Up 17 points midway through the third quarter, the Huskies were sliced to a slim 49-45 margin by a 13–0 Wolverine attack heading to final quarter.

Azzi Fudd, who scored 31 for the winners stopped the surge with a make from deep and added six straight more points only to be dueled by Michigan’s Syla Swords to bring the Wolverines back once more trailing 68-66 with 22.2 seconds left in regulation.

Fudd got fouled and hit both attempts from the line and Swords got three points right back with 12 seconds left before Fudd tacked two more points from the line with less than eight seconds left and Michigan was unable to launch a game-tying shot.

Sarah Strong added 16 points for the winning Huskies while Swords scored 29 and Olivia Olson scored 18.

On Sunday to conclude the event UConn (6-0) had an easier time blasting Utah 93-41 dropping the Utes to 3-3 as Fudd scored 24 and grabbed a personal best eight boards.

Freshman Blanca Quinonez from Ecuador off the bench scored 21 with five rebounds and Strong added 15 points with four rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocked shots while Allie Ziebel scored 10 points.

Utah’s Lani White scored nine points and BrookeWalker scored eight.

Michigan (5-1) easily won its game beating Syracuse 81-55 as Te-Yala Delfosse came off the bench and scored a career-high 21 points against the Orangewomen (5-1), who suffered their first loss of the season.

The Huskies are off a week until visiting Xavier Sunday in Cincinnati in a Big East opener.

Michigan next plays Detroit Mercy on Wednesday.

The Atlantic 10 showed strength with three of its teams leading with Rhode Island (6-1) pulling an upset Sunday winning 68-63 at No. 16 N.C. State 68-63 in Raleigh at Reynolds Coliseum for the Rams’ first win over a Power 4 team and second over a ranked opponent, the other occurring on Princeton Dec. 3, 2023.

Ironically, Rhode Island hosts the Tigers Wednesday.

It’s the Wolfpack’s first home loss to a mid-major since falling to in-state rival Elon in 2015.

Vanessa Harris scored 15 for Rhode Island and Zamareya Jones scored 17 for N.C. State (3-3).

Earlier on the weekend in the WBCA Showcase at Lake Buena Vista, Fla., at Disney, the A-10’s Davidson (4-3) took No. 7 Baylor into overtime Saturday before the Bears (5-1) were rescued by Yuting Deng’s scored on a driving layup with three seconds left in the extra period.

Deng and Darianna Littlepage-Buggs each scored 12 for Baylor, which had been upset Thursday by No. 19 Iowa in the event’s opener.

Davidson’s Charlise Dunn had 33 points and 11 boards.

A-10 favorite Richmond (5-1), ranked in the preseason poll the first time before falling out after losing at No. 4 Texas the first week, handed visiting Navy (4-1) its first loss 69-56 as Broomall’s Maggie Doogan scored 17 points with 14 rebounds for the Spiders in Sunday’s game.

All this happened several days after longtime A-10 commissioner Agnus McGlade announced her retirement effective next spring at the end of the school year.

Other than the N.C. State setback, the other 12 ranked teams playing Sunday all won easily at home, where No. 15 Tennessee (5-1) in an 88-35 victory over Coppin State (1-5) got a school record 10 3-pointers on the way to 32 points.

On Saturday, Iowa (6-0) in its second game in the WBCA event edged Miami 64-61 dropping the Hurricanes to 4-1 as Ava Heiden was 9-11 and scored 20 points while Hannah Stuelke had 17 points and 12 rebounds.

No. 20 Kentucky (7-0) stayed unbeaten traveling to in-state No. 21 Louisville (4-2) and winning 72-62 as Tonie Morgan scored 19 points, Teonni Key and Cara Strack each scored 17 and Penn transfer Jordan Obi scored 10.

The host Cardinals got 22 points from Tajianna Roberts and Saint Joseph’s transfer Laura Ziegler had 18 points and 11 boards.

Former Saint Joseph’s star and associate head coach Katie Kuester at Army (5-1) now guiding the Black Knights as head coach won Saturday 82-50 at Saint Francis, Pa.

On Friday, South Jersey’s All-American Hannah Hidalgo scored 22 points at home and hit the game-winner with 1.9 seconds left to lead No. 24 Notre Dame (4-1) to a 61-59 upset of visiting No. 11 Southern Cal (3-2), which got 21 points from Georgia Tech transfer Kara Dunn and 14 from freshman Jeezy Davidson.

The Irish Monday at 9 p.m. on the ACC Network host Central Michigan while No. 23 West Virginia (5-0) at 1:30 p.m. is playing in the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo – Goombay Division against McNeese, while at 11 a.m. Ohio State meets BelmontNo. 13 Ole Miss is hosting Longwood at 7 p.m. (SECN+) and No. 18 Oklahoma State hosts Texas A&M-CC at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+).

Be aware ranking numbers could change by noon Monday when the new AP poll is released.