The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW Roundup: Penn Finishes a Perfect 5-0 December Winning the FDU Tournament While Rhode Island Upsets A-10 Favorite Richmond

 By Mel Greenberg

HACKENSACK, N.J. – Considering the close proximity here to New York City where the northern end of the New Jersey turnpike forks its way to the left becoming the start of I-80 heading West across the nation to the Pacific Ocean and meanders to the right to the George Washington Bridge continuing as I-95 up the Atlantic Coastline into New England, call Penn’s 59-54 victory Tuesday afternoon over Binghamton (N.Y.) here to win the FDU Christmas Classic, a successful conclusion to the Quakers’ Off-Broadway December performance tour which is now ready for the bright lights of the Ivy League when the big show opens Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) at The Palestra when nearby No. 25 and preseason favorite Princeton arrives for Act 1 of a two-month run to March Madness.

By nature of how home teams schedule these things, way back in early November the two-day stand expected to be a wrap-up test at 4 p.m. for Penn (10-3) against the reigning champions of the Northeast Conference.

But while the Quakers on Monday afternoon rolled over Md.-Eastern Shore (7-10), the first of the four-game event saw the Bearcats (8-5) rally from a lopsided first-quarter deficit to upset the Knights (9-4) and make Tuesday’s opener of the doubleheader the championship round.

“Not the matchups we were expecting either,” said FDU coach Stephanie Gaitley, the former Villanova star out of Ocean City, N.J., with a handful of credits at such places as Richmond, Saint Joseph’s, Long Island, Monmouth and Fordham. “But (Binghamton) are tough.”

Penn, however, completing a 5-0 December, was tougher, led by the star of the show reigning Ivy rookie of the year Katie Collins, the tournament MVP, who followed Monday’s 18-point, 11-rebound performance with 21 points, shooting 9-for-12 from the field with seven rebounds and four blocked shots.

Early in the game lasting into the front end of the third quarter the contest was a tug-of-war effort with several lead exchanges on the Bogota Savings Bank Center stage from both sides until the Quakers erupted with their main number, a 19-5 run through the period before the final 10 minutes became loaded with drama, Penn rebuffing several attempted rallies with answers until ultimately relying on a solid defense to the delight of the band of familiar faces managing to appear at many places whenever the Quakers hit the road.

“It was a good non-conference schedule, a balance of power schools, several schools at our level, we found a lot of ways to win. We just got better and better,” said Penn’s Mike McLaughlin who in the wake of recent retirements and other changes has become the veteran director of the Ancient Eight.

“Playing here back-to-back gives us a taste of the Ivy League. Any coach knows winning is a process. It doesn’t come because you want to do it. You have to have repeat, repeat, repeat. This group is learning that.”

The moment the outlook brightened was on the last day of last month when Penn visited now No. 2 Texas and unlike many decided underdogs who have been yielding triple digits to top ten teams, the Quakers took a long time for the Longhorns to separate them.

“That was the big break there. We were in that game for a long time. We battled and I think that gave us the confidence, they’re obviously a Final Four team and we competed at that level.”

Of Collins, his star performer here, McLaughlin praised, “Katie, today was as good as I’ve seen her here back-to-back. Her footwork in the lane was really special today. A workaholic. She’s put in a lot of hard work. She’s exactly what we’ve needed for the program to have success.”

“Yea, it’s been great, we started to connect and play together,” Collins said of December’s showing. “We’re really excited. We’re excited to start league play. We’re really prepared and we’re really playing well together so we’re looking forward to it.”

There were several supporting stars providing key spots, notably 2024 Ivy rookie of the year Mataya Gayle, who made the all-tournament team with five assists, and Tina Njike with seven points and a Penn high eight rebounds.

Penn was also helped with starters Simone Sawyer and Saniah Caldwell with bench support from Gabriella Kelly, Brooke Suttle, and Ashna Tambe.

Binghamton’s Kendall Bennett had 15 points and nine boards while Bella Pucci made three from deep, scoring 16 points with three assists.

Penn was the only local on Tuesday’s card but before 2025 retires to the history books, locally two Atlantic 10 games Wednesday afternoon have La Salle heading near here to Fordham in the Bronx across the Hudson River at 1 p.m. while Saint Joseph’s hosts VCU at 2 p.m. at Hagan Arena, both on ESPN+.

Patriot League action begins with defending champion Lehigh at 1 p.m. heading to Army while at 6 p.m., Lafayette travels to Colgate, both on ESPN+.

In the Big Ten at 2 p.m. on Peacock from Rec Hall, Penn State hosts No. 4 UCLA.

The first local action in 2026 comes right up on New Year’s Day Thursday when at noon Villanova hosts Creighton, the Wildcats trying to stay perfect in the Big East (ESPN+), while on ESPN+ at 2 p.m., Rider hosts Merrimack at Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J., and also at 2 p.m., Rutgers in the Big Ten hosts Wisconsin on B1G+ from Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J.

The National Scene

Just one game of note Tuesday occurred, and it was a huge one also from the Atlantic 10 in which Rhode Island (11-2, 2-0), which in an opener earlier this month won at Saint Joseph’s, the Rams upset preseason favorite Richmond 73-61 at home in the Ryan Center in Kingston as  Palmire Mbu from France was 7-for-11 from the field for 19 points, including three makes from deep, Brooklyn Gray and Sophia Vital each scored 14 points, Vital also with seven rebounds, and reserve Vanessa Harris scored 12 with six boards.

Richmond (11-4, 1-1) got 26 points from Cardinal O’Hara grad Maggie Doogan, the only Spider in double figures with 26 points connecting on 8-for-15 from the field, including 4-of-8 makes from distance.

On Wednesday, No. 1 UConn in the Big East visits Providence at 3 p.m. on Peacock; in the Big Ten, No. 19 is at Purdue at 12:30 p.m. on the conference network, and in the Big 12, at 2 p.m. No. 10 Iowa State is at Houston, No. 22 Baylor is at Oklahoma State, No. 21 Texas Tech  hosts UCF at 7 p.m., and at 9 p.m., No. 8 TCU is at BYU, all on ESPN+.

Elsewhere in the Big East at 1 p.m. Georgetown is at Seton Hall,, elsewhere in the A-10, Dayton at noon is at George Mason, while UMass gone from the A-10 opens in the Mid-American Conference at 3 p.m. on ESPN+ hosting Western Michigan.

The Southeastern Conference opens on New Year’s Day, highlighted at 8 p.m. by No. 5 LSU hosting No. 11 Kentucky at 8 p.m. on SECN+.

The Guru’s Local/National Roundup: Villanova Wins 9th Straight While Penn Cruises at FDU Tourney Where Binghamton Upsets Host Knights; No. 6 Michigan Survives in 2 OTs at Oregon

 By Mel Greenberg

Villanova and Penn produced dominate victories Monday among the four locals in action, the Wildcats (11-2, 4-0) still perfect in the Big East winning 81-48 over host DePaul (3-12, 0-4) at Wintrust Arena in Chicago while the Quakers (9-3) continued to look good, winning their opening game 78-57 over Md.-Eastern Shore (7-9) at Fairleigh Dickinson’s Christmas Classic  in Hackensack, N.J.

Penn, however, in the title round Tuesday at 1 p.m. will not be meeting the host Knights, the reigning Northeast Conference champions, who suffered their first home loss since February 2024, a 62-51 upset to Binghamton.

In the third-place game, FDU and MDES will play at 4 p.m.

In the two other games, Rider dropped a 72-53 game at Iona in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match in New Rochelle, N.Y., while Delaware finished its non-conference schedule losing 70-63 at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass.

Villanova bolted to a 13-0 lead and continued wire-to-wire the rest of the way with Brynn McCurry, the MVP in the the Wildcats’ home win to capture the Big Five Classic championship over Saint Joseph’s, scoring 18 points with seven boards, shooting 6-for-9 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 on the line.

Kelsey Joens scored 14 points, Kennedy Henry collected 11 with six rebounds, and Ryanne Allen scored 10 points.

The visitors sizzled shooting 50% (30-for-60) from the field and were 14-for-18 on the line.

 Making seven shots from distance was more than enough compared to the Blue Demons blanked at 0-for-16.

Kate Novik scored 14 for DePaul and Gina Davorija tallied 10 points.

The Wildcats, who have won nine straight, are home in Finneran Pavilion on New Year’s Day hosting Creighton at noon (ESPN+).

Penn’s Katie Collins scored 18 points and Saniah Caldwell collected 17 to combine for 35 points while Collins grabbed 11 boards and blocked five shots.

The Quakers from the field were almost as hot at Villanova shooting 47 percent.

After a cold start at the outset, Penn caught fire shooting 8-for-12 from the field besides picking up seven points from the line.

It took 16 shots from the field until the opposition finally connected.

Caldwell was 3-for-4 from deep, while Tina Njike was 5-for-9 from the field collecting 12 points and Simone Sawyer scored 11 helped by a perfect 5-for-5 from the line.

Mataya Gayle off her 4-for-7 shooting picked up eight points.

In the other game, FDU (8-4) at home in the Bogota Savings Bank Center and coached by former Villanova star Stephanie Gaitley, raced to a 20-8 lead through the first quarter before Binghamton (8-4) answered with a 22-7 attack in the next period for a three-point lead at the half and then outscored the Knights in each of the next two periods.

Kendall Bennett, the sole player for the visitors in double digits on both sides of the attack had 21 points, shooting 8-for-11 from the field, and grabbed 15 rebounds.

FDU’s Kailee McDonald scored 11 points while Leah Crosby and reserve Reese Downey each scored 10 while Rebecca Osei-Owusu grabbed 13 rebounds.

Depending on how the game goes Tuesday for Penn, which will be the only local in action, it could heighten anticipation for Saturday’s 2 p.m. game at The Palestra when the Quakers open Ivy play hosting No. 25 and preseason favorite Princeton, which will have been idle since winning against visiting Temple a week ago Monday.

In the Delaware game, the Blue Hens (6-6) fell quickly behind 11-0 to Harvard (7-6) but quickly got back into contention with a 9-0 run and trailed at the half by a mere point at 33-32.

It got tied with under a minute left in third, but the Crimson snapped it going into the final ten minutes.

Delaware went up a basket with 7:07 left in regulation and at the five-minute mark Harvard erupted from a 57-57 tie on an 8-2 run, enough to hang on for the win.

Ande’a Cherisier scored 18 points for Delaware with six boards, three steals, and a blocked shot. Safi Kolliegbo had 11 points, five rebounds, and two steals while Lay Fantroy scored 10 making all four attempts from the field and dealing four assists.

Harvard’s Saniyah Glenn scored 20 points, Katie Krupa collected 16, Karlee White scored 13, and Abigail Wright was 5-for-8 from the field to gain 11 points.

Delaware, no longer a longtime member of the Coastal Athletic Association, makes its Conference USA debut Friday night at 9 p.m. at UTEP.

Meanwhile Rider (2-10, 0-3 MAAC) fell behind late in the first quarter when Iona (8-5, 1-2) snapped an 8-8 tie and went on an 8-0 run to stay ahead the rest of the way.

“We got beat by a better team, who out-played us, out-toughed us, and out-worked us,” said Rider first-year coach Jackie Hartzell.

Ailya McIver scored 12 points while Deb Okechukwu scored 11 for the Broncs, who host Merrimack New Year’s Day at 2 p.m.

On Wednesday, New Year’s Eve, La Salle and Saint Joseph’s each with one Atlantic 10 game under their belts, return to league play the rest of the way, La Salle visiting Fordham in the Bronx (N.Y.) at 1 p.m. and Saint Joseph’s hosting VCU at 2 p.m., both airing on ESPN+.

Also, at 2 p.m., in the Big Ten, Penn State hosts No. 4 UCLA on Peacock, while Patriot League action begins with defending champion Lehigh visiting Army at 1 p.m. (ESPN+) while Lafayette at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) visits Colgate in Hamilton, N.Y.

On Thursday, besides the Rider and Villanova games, Rutgers in Big Ten action hosts Wisconsin at 2 p.m. (B1G+) at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J.

The National Scene

The last was the best when it came to the five ranked teams on Monday’s slate with No. 6 Michigan (11-1, 2-0) taken to double overtime before the Wolverines won 92-87 at Oregon (12-3, 0-2) in a Big Ten game in Eugene.

Syla Swords scored scored 18 points with seven boards for the winners, while Olivia Olson and Ashley Sofilkanich each scored 16 points while Te’Yala Delfosse scored 14 points with nine rebounds.

Michigan had to overcome a mediocre 16-for-38 at the line while committing 26 turnovers but the Wolverines owned the boards 60-34 against the Ducks, whose Kate Fisco scored 24 with seven rebounds.

Oregon’s Mia Jacobs scored 16 points in addition while Ari Long scored 14 but coach Kelly Graves’ group had their own ball handling problems with 23 miscues.

The Ducks had trailed by 18 in the first half but forced the first overtime tying the score at 69 all on Ehis Etute’s length-of-the court layup with 1:23 left in regulation.

The home team was ahead by three in the final minute of the first overtime when Olson tied it with 5.4 seconds left.

Michigan is at Washington Thursday while Oregon hosts Northwestern.

Three other ranked Big Ten teams, two against each other, played, No. 7 Maryland (14-0, 1-1) at home in the XFINITY Center in College Park routed Wisconsin 97-59 as Oluchi Okananwa had a career-high 28 points scoring on the Badgers (9-4, 1-1), while No. 17 Southern Cal (10-3, 2-0) benefitted from Londynn Jones scoring all 13 of her points in the third quarter on the way to a 74-66 win at No. 20 Nebraska (12-1, 1-1) in Lincoln, dropping the Cornhuskers from the dwindling list of unbeaten teams.

Down two at the half, Jones scored three straight from deep following freshman Jazzy Davidson’s score to launch the 11-0 run.

Davidson and Kennedy Smith each scored 17 while Davidson also had eight boards and five blocks while Smith grabbed nine rebounds with six assists.

Nebraska was led by Britt Prince with 18 points and seven assists.

In the Atlantic Coast Conference, No. 18 Notre Dame (10-2, 2-0) at home in South Bend, Ind., coasted to a 94-50 win over Pitt (7-8, 0-2) as South Jersey’s Hannah Hidalgo scored 30 for the second straight time for the Fighting Irish while Iyanna Moore had 23 points fueled by five makes from deep and Cassandra Prosper had 18 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and four steals.

Hidalgo has four 30-point games this season and a program-best 13 her three seasons. She also has the Notre Dame best with 78 straight games in double figures and is tied with Arike Ogunbowale of the WNBA Dallas Wings with 60 games of 20+ points.

Pitt’s Mikayla Johnson scored 22.

In the other ACC game involving a ranked team No.16 North Carolina (12-3, 1-1) coasted to a 90-37 win at Boston College (4-11, 1-2) in Chestnut Hill, Mass., in a game that had runs of 16-0 and 26-0 from the Tar Heels.

Nyla Brooks led the winners with 19 points and nine boards.

In other games of note Army (9-2) under first-year coach and former Saint Joseph’s star Katie Kuester won at home in West Point, N.Y., 64-56 over MEAC favorite Howard (10-6) as Kya Smith scored 27 points with 22 rebounds.

Columbia (9-4) got 24 points from Riley Weiss in a 63-44 win at Florida Gulf Coast (4-7), the defending Atlantic Sun champion.

The Lions open Ivy play hosting Cornell Saturday and after a week’s break head to Harvard which travels to Dartmouth Saturday for the Crimson’s Ivy opener.

On Tuesday Atlantic 10 favorite Richmond returns to league action visiting Rhode Island at 6 p.m. (ESPN+), while in the American, league favorite South Florida at home in Tampa hosts Rice.

        

 

 

 

 

 

The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW Roundup: Saint Joseph’s Shoots Hawk Best 17 3-Pointers in Rout of D3-Arcadia; No. 4 UCLA Edges No. 4 Ohio State in Big Ten Thriller; No.1 UConn Wins 29th Straight

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA – Saint Joseph’s tuned up on area D3 Arcadia Sunday afternoon here at Hagan Arena 108-38 as veteran coach Cindy Griffin after concluding non-conference play proclaimed her Hawks ready to tune in to the Atlantic 10 Conference wars the rest of the way beginning Wednesday when VCU visits at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).

Two other locals played Sunday, both in the Big Ten on the road with Rutgers showing a solid effort though still resulting in a narrow 70-64 loss at No. 24 Michigan State while Penn State was handled 99-76 at No. 14 Iowa.

Here on Hawk Hill the rust from the long week off across the nation over the Christmas holiday fell off quickly as the home team bolted from a 6-6 tie to finish the quarter on a 24-0 run and for all purposes decide the outcome.

“Very, very pleased with the way our team came out today,” Griffin said. “We knocked down a lot of shots, obviously scoring from as many places as we did.

“I thought we got great shots and our players gave up good shots for great shots.”

Arcadia (4-5) is coached by former Villanova standout Diane Decker, who was hired after Jackie Hatzell was chosen to fill the vacancy at Division I Rider in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).

Taylor Koenig scored 20 points for the visitors, the only Arcadia player reaching double figures.

Retired longtime Villanova coach Harry Perretta has been serving as a volunteer assistant to Decker, though he was not at Sunday’s game.

But a longtime trademark of his approach served Saint Joseph’s (9-3) well with the Hawks shooting 17-32 on 3-point attempts.

“Gabby’s (Casey) always good for a couple and it’s great to see Jill (Jekot) get out there and shoot really well and Emily (Knouse) off the bench was really fantastic.”

In a game in which all 13 Saint Joseph’s players scored, reserve Emily Knouse made four from deep and finished with 14 points, Rhian Stokes and Gabby Casey each connected three times from beyond the arc, Stokes scoring 13 points and Casey collecting 11, while Penn State transfer Jill Jekot made two and finished with a team high 16 points.

Reserve Cecilia Kay was 5-for-7 from the field scoring 11 points with three blocks and Stokes also had 10 assists, the 10th player to date in the nation this season with at least 10 points, 10 assists and no turnovers.

Reserve Meja Jagerskog grabbed nine boards for a personal best, while the bench also produced career scoring highs from Olivia Lutterodt (6), Kaylinn Bethea (8 with an added personal best three assists), and Lauren Greer (5).

The winning 108 points were the most in the 25 seasons Griffin has guided her alma mater.

The previous best in the Griffin era was 104 points against UMBC on Dec. 28, 2015, and combined with the recent 100-40 rout of LeMoyne in the Hawk Classic opener, the two 100-point games this is season mark the first time of occurrence since 1989-90.

The 70-point differential is the third most in program history, just a basket off last season’s record-setting 102-30 season opener against Goldey-Beacom.

“We’re definitely right where we want to be,” Griffin said going into the A-10 slate that had an opening loss last month to Rhode Island on a night that Casey was sidelined with a brief illness.

“As you look at it, you kind of have to say it’s a new season,” she continued. “We can take a lot of good (from the slate to date). The league is really strong. I like where we’re at going into it, but there are a lot of challenges ahead.”

In the Rutgers game, which was tight all the way with Michigan State (12-1, 1-1) holding narrow leads at home in East Lansing, the Scarlet Knights (8-5, 0-2) got 16 points from Nene Ndiaye, while Faith Blackstone scored 15 points, Imani scored 11, and Kaylah Ivey scored 10 along with dishing her 500th career assist.

The Spartans’ Rashunda Jones scored 14 points while Kennedy Blair and Ines Sotelo each scored 12 with Blair also grabbing 11 rebounds.

Michigan State, which had just upset nationally ranked Ole Miss in the Cherokee Invitational championship in North Carolina, next goes to Indiana on Thursday, the same night Rutgers hosts Wisconsin at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J.

Meanwhile, Iowa’s Ava Heiden had a career-high 27 points, ahead of five other Hawkeyes (11-2, 2-0) in the win over Penn State (7-6, 0-2) in Iowa City. She also grabbed nine boards and shot 13-19 from the field.

Chazadi Wright scored 16 points with six assists, Taylor Stremlow and Hannah Stuekle each scored 14 points with Stuelke also getting eight rebounds, Addison Deal off the bench had 13 points and reserve freshman Journey Houston had her first double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The Lady Lions got 21 points from freshman Tea Cleante while Rutgers transfer Kiyomi McMiller had 20 points. Gracie Merkle scored 18 points with 11 rebounds but also committed six of Penn State’s 20 turnovers.

It doesn’t get easier for the Lady Lions hosting No. 4 UCLA on Wednesday while Iowa on Thursday hosts No. 20 Nebraska.

Locally on Monday, Delaware before making its debut on Conference USA wraps up out of league play at 1 p.m. (ESPN+) at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., Rider in the MAAC is at Iona in New Rochelle, N.Y., at 4 p.m. (ESPN+) and red-hot Villanova is in Chicago visiting DePaul at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

Penn in first round play of the four-team Fairleigh Dickinson-hosted tournament in Hackensack, N.J., plays Md.-Eastern Shore at 4 p.m. after the hosts meet Binghamton at 2 p.m.

While winners and losers meet Tuesday in pure tournament format, Fairleigh Dickinson will play its game, either championship or consolation, at 4 p.m. while the first game will tip at 1 p.m.

The National Scene

With the exception of the Rutgers-Michigan State game and in another Big Ten game where No. 4 UCLA (12-1, 2-0) edged host and No. 19 Ohio State 82-75 in Columbus, other ranked teams playing Sunday all had easy contests.

In the Bruins win, Lauren Betts had 18 points and 16 boards while Kiki Rice added 16 points and Angela Dugalic scored 15.

The Buckeyes (11-2, 1-1), whose nine-game win streak ended, got a game-high 28 points from Jaloni Cambridge and Elsa Lemmila added 13 points with seven boards.

As mentioned, UCLA is next at Penn State while also Ohio State next goes to Purdue on Wednesday.

No. 5 LSU (14-0) continued to beset opponents with triple digits, winning 109-41 at home in Baton Rouge over Alabama State (3-8).

The Tigers, who lead the nation in scoring with a 108-point average, got 23 points and 11 rebounds from Notre Dame transfer Kate Koval.

LSU has reached 100 points in 11 of its 14 games including an NCAA-record season start eight straight but the challenge now grows heading into SEC play hosting No. 11 Kentucky in a league opener Thursday at 8 p.m.

The Wildcats (13-1) won their Sunday game 80-42 over Hofstra (2-9) as Clara Strack had 24 points and 11 rebounds for Kentucky.

No. 12 Vanderbilt (13-0) won at home in Nashville 109-50 over Stonehill (4-7) as sophomore Mikayla Blakes had 21 points and seven assists, while Aiyana Mitchell shot 7-for-8 from the field and scored 16 points.

The Commodores open SEC play Thursday at Arkansas.

The SEC also saw No. 15 Ole Miss (13-2) win at home in Oxford 64-44 over Alcorn State (3-7), which led at the half before the Rebels took control. Ohio State transfer Cotie McMahon led the winners with 21 points.

Next up is a league opener at Georgia Thursday.

No. 3 South Carolina (13-1), whose sole loss was a narrow non-conference one in Las Vegas to No. 2 Texas, also in the SEC, won 96-55 at home over Providence (8-6) as Madina Okot led the Gamecocks with 18 points.

Dawn Staley’s team on New Year’s Day hosts Alabama at 2 p.m.

Texas (15-0) finished non-league play Sunday routing SE Louisiana 120-38 as Kyla Oldacre scored a career-high 22 points to lead the Longhorns who visit Missouri Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.

Seven players were in double digits, including Madison Booker with 20 points, including her 1,500th.

No. 1 UConn (13-0, 4-0) won its 29th straight across two seasons, including its 12th NCAA title, beating host Butler 94-47 in a Big East game in Indianapolis as Sarah Strong scored 15 points and Azzi Fudd scored 13.

Strong also had seven assists, six rebounds and three steals while Blanca Quinonez had 12 points.

Butler (7-7, 1-3), which became UConn’s 51st straight Big East victim, was led by Caroline Dotsey and Addison Baxter each scoring 10 points.

The Huskies and Villanova are quickly the only two Big East teams without a loss in conference play.

UConn is at Providence Wednesday.

As good a day as Saint Joseph’s had shooting 17 3-pointers, Clemson (10-4, 1-1) was even better in a 97-44 win on the road at Chicago State (1-12) making 21 to set a school and ACC member record.

Tennessee last season connected with 30 against N.C. Central.

Syracuse had the previous ACC record in a league game at North Carolina on Feb. 22, 2018, and the previous Clemson mark was 15 at N.C. State on Dec. 29, 2024.

Taylor Johnston-Matthews led the Tigers with 23 points and a personal best six of the 21 triplets.

Washington State (2-12), which won only one non-conference game, got off to a winning start in the West Coast Conference 66-63 against visiting Pepperdine (9-4) as Eleonora Villa had 17 points, and Charlotte Abraham had 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Elsewhere in the WCC, Oregon State (9-5) won 74-65 at San Francisco (7-5) while Gonzaga (9-5) at home in double overtime won 87-80 over visiting Loyola Marymount (6-6).

Stanford (12-2) got 19 points from Nunu Agara and Lara Somfai had 18 rebounds in an 82-50 home win over Cornell (4-8).

The Cardinal head into ACC play at N.C. State Thursday at 2 p.m. on the ACC Network.

On Monday there are five games with teams holding rankings.

In the ACC No. 18 Notre Dame hosts Pitt at 6 p.m. on the ACC Network, which will also air No. 16 North Carolina at 8 p.m. visiting Boston College.

The other three are in the Big Ten featuring No. 6 Michigan at Oregon at 9 p.m. broadcast on FS1 while B1G+ will air No. 7 Maryland hosting Wisconsin at 4 p.m. in College Park and No. 17 Southern Cal at No. 20 Nebraska in Lincoln at 3 p.m.