The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW Roundup: Saint Joseph’s Tops Delaware Winning Its Hawk Classic; Unbeaten Texas Tech Upsets Baylor in Big 12 Opener

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru (temporarily go to poll416 on threads)

PHILADELPHIA – After opening its annual Hawk Classic on Saturday here at Hagan Arena experiencing a holiday cupcake equivalent result by blasting Le Moyne, less than 24 hours later Saint Joseph’s, not surprisingly, Sunday afternoon dealt with much tougher resistance in its championship game from nearby Delaware that had advanced by battling Akron.

It was the kind of game that a year ago, even with a much more fortified lineup, still got away from the Hawks in several key tilts costing an at-large placement in the NCAA tournament.

But as has happened in several earlier triumphs this season, defense produced differential moments, with some luck also involved, and though a 12-point lead early in the second quarter evaporated to a two-point deficit to the Blue Hens (6-5) with 4:25 left in regulation, the Hawks (8-3) pushed back and inched their way to a 73-66 win and the trophy.

It’s the team’s 14th win in 31 annual appearance participations of its own event, now presented by Jersey Mike’s.

“Really proud of our team today, playing back-to-back games, we knew this game was going to be a little bit different than the previous day, we beat a very good Delaware team,” said Saint Joseph’s coach Cindy Griffin.

“They answered every time we went for a run. Just really proud of our team, we stayed together, we stayed relentless, some really big plays down the stretch. Gabby (Casey) played terrific … and (Jill) came through with the three-point play,” she continued.

“A lot of contributions from starters but also the guys coming off the bench. We’re learning to find a way to win in close games, this is what this team is going to be, we’re going to be better together, this is a team that’s going to thrive off each other’s energy.”

Akron (3-9) earlier in the day took third place winning 94-68 over Le Moyne (1-11) with Monique Mitchell and Keiryn McGuff, the daughter of Ohio State women’s coach Kevin McGuff, each scoring 20 points for the Zips.

Asked whether her father told her much about the fieldhouse, where he had major moments coaching Xavier, the younger McGuff said, “He didn’t tell me much about it. He just told me good luck with my game. Excited to watch.

“It was definitely a team effort,” she said of the win over Le Moyne. “Every game a chance to learn and grow. Going into (Mid-American) conference, we’re happy with a win.”

This is her first year with Akron having transferred from MAC member Bowling Green.

Sierra Linnin was a silver lining for the future for Le Moyne, scoring 24 points off 9-13 from the field and 5-8 on 3-point shot attempts.

Only two other locals played Sunday, Penn State (7-5) in the 4 Tha Culture Holiday Classic in Henrico, Va., fell 70-54 to nearby Richmond (11-3), the Atlantic 10 preseason favorite, while Georgia (13-0) won 82-55 in the other game over Coppin State (2-12) that lost at Temple on Friday night.

Rider (2-9, 0-2) lost a chance to get out of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) opening weekend with a split when host Sacred Heart (4-7, 2-0) which won at Iona in overtime Friday, edged the Broncos 61-59 on Nalyce Dudley’s layup with three seconds left after teammate Amelia Wood tied it with 17 seconds with a pair of foul shots.

Just two locals play Monday: Temple, which has won two straight games, travels up to Ivy favorite and No. 25 Princeton in the host Tigers’ Jadwin Gym at 11:30 a.m. and Villanova hosts St. John’s at noon in a Big East contest at Finneran Pavilion, both games on ESPN+.

The entire country, excepting one game this Saturday, will then be idle from Tuesday through the Christmas break until next Sunday.

Back here, after Delaware went in front, Aleah Snead tied it and put Saint Joseph’s ahead on an ensuing old fashioned 3-point play,

Gabby Snead, the tournament Most Outstanding Player, then stole the ball and Rhian Stokes made two foul shots that were quickly diminished on Safi Kolliegbo’s score to make it 64-63.

Snead, however, answered but missed a chance to add one more when she failed to convert from the line.

Faith Stinson then took an offensive charge and then scored inside off a turnover to put the home team up by five with 2:35 left on an assist from Casey.

The Blue Hens, however, refused to die and got three points back on Kolliegbo’s score, followed on the next possession by Lay Fantroy shooting 1-2 from the line with 1:36 left.

Delaware’s Ella Wanzer, who on Saturday predicted the team with the greater willpower in a close game would prevail, then stole a ball forcing Casey into a turnover with 1:14 left.

The Blue Hens, however, were unable to score and tie with Snead grabbing the missed shot for the Hawks.

Saint Joseph’s then produced a defining moment when Casey missed a three-point attempt, but Stinson grabbed the failed effort on the offensive board and Penn State transfer Jill Jekot went inside and scored, drawing a foul which she converted for a five-point lead with 28 seconds left.

Delaware took a full time out, down five, but the Blue Hens then stepped out of bounds and Stokes cashed in on the turnover making two foul shots for the final points of the game.

Turnovers were nearly even in the tight contest, but the Hawks had a 25-16 scoring advantage from them and also went 20-7 on fast break points and 9-0 on second chance points.

Casey had 19 points with three makes from deep, three steals, six rebounds and five assists, while Stokes scored 17 points with five boards, and Snead had 14 points, six boards, five assists, and three blocks.

Delaware’s Ande’a Cherisier scored 16 points, shooting 8-16 from the field, Fantroy was 6-8 and scored 13 points with seven boards and five steals, Kailah Correa scored 11 with six boards, and Kolliegbo scored 10.

Casey, Snead, and Stokes, along with Akron’s Mitchell, Delaware’s Wanzer, and Le Moyne’s Linnin made the all-tournament team.

Saint Joseph’s is off until hosting area Division 3 Arcadia next Sunday to get the rust off before heading into Atlantic 10 play the rest of the way.

Delaware next plays a week from Monday visiting Ivy contender Harvard at 1 p.m. on ESPN+ and then heads for its debut season in Conference USA that means a schedule, for now, without the longtime home-and-home rivalry with Drexel that existed in the CAA and several leagues before both schools moved in that direction.

In the Penn State game, Gracie Merkle scored 15 points shooting 7-10 from the field for the visiting Lady Lions while freshman Tea Cleante scored 11.

The co-host host Spiders, by location, got 30 points from Cardinal O’Hara’s Maggie Doogan, and Ally Sweeney scored 20.

Penn State next Sunday returns to Big Ten play by visiting No. 11 Iowa at 4 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

In Rider’s game, Perez Mesquida scored a team-high 13 points for the Broncos, while Aliya McIver and Deb Okechukwu each scored 11 points.

The team next plays, following the holiday break, at Iona in New Rochelle, N.Y. a week from Monday at 4 p.m. (ESPN+).

The National Scene

No. 10 Iowa State (13-0) at home in Ames got a buzzer-beating 3-pointer as time expired from Kenzie Hare to take a Big 12 opening 79-76 win over visiting Kansas (10-3), Hare’s only points of the game.

Audi Crooks, who missed her previous game with the Cyclones, picked right up where she had been, scoring 41 points, shooting 19-28 from the field as the nation’s scoring leader reached 40 for the third time this season.

S’Mya Nichols had 29 points for the Jayhawks and had tied the score with with 5.12 seconds left.

Kansas had trailed by 11 in the final period.

The Jayhawks next host West Virginia New Year’s Day while the day before Iowa State travels to Houston.

In another Big 12 opener, Texas Tech (14-0) upset No. 15 Baylor 61-60 on the road in Waco, Texas, snapping a 31-game series losing streak dating to 2011.

Snudda Collins scored 21 for the Lady Raiders while Bailey Maupin had 11 points and the winning foul shots.

Yutin Deng scored 22 for the host Bears and hit a shot from deep to snap a tie with 53.7 seconds left.

Collins then hit two foul shots for Texas Tech with 39.7 left, Baylor missed on its next possession, and Maupin drove the baseline and was fouled with 3.4 left, sinking the winning attempts from the line.

Texas Tech had lost 11 straight games to ranked teams.

Deng missed a final attempt to try to win it for the Bears.

The Lady Raiders host UCF New Year’s Eve while Baylor the same day visits Oklahoma State.

In yet another Big 12 opener, Arizona State (14-0) beat visiting Colorado 79-63, extending the Sun Devils’ record season-opening win streak and moving into a second-place tie, one behind the frontrunner, with the longest in program history.

Reserve McKinna Brackens scored 18 points, while starters Heloisa Carrera and Gabby Elliott each scored 14 points, and Marley Washenitz collected 13 points.

Zyanna Walker had a team-high 15 points for Colorado (9-4).

The Sun Devils next visit Utah on New Year’s Eve.

In a string of ranked teams elsewhere winning games, No. 24 Michigan State (10-1) in the Cherokee Invitational opening round in North Carolina routed Indiana 115-66 as Emma Shumate led six other teammates in double figures, scoring 22 points and matching her career high while she topped another personal best from deep with seven 3-pointers.

Kennedy Blair was just short of a triple double against the Sycamores (4-6) with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists.

In the other game, No. 14 Ole Miss (12-1) won 86-57 over Old Dominion (7-5) as Christeen Iwuala had 23 points and 10 boards for for the winning Rebels.

On Monday, Indiana State and ODU will play for third before Ole Miss and Michigan State contest for the championship.

No. 6 Michigan (10-1), home in Ann Arbor, easily won 97-54 over nearby Oakland (3-9) as Olivia Olson scored 23 points. The Wolverines next Monday head to a Big Ten matchup visiting Oregon.

No. 2 Texas (14-0) returned the home-and-home set up from last year by visiting Summit League power South Dakota State (10-4) in Brookings and breaking away from a slim eight-point lead midway in the third quarter for a 70-51 victory as Jordan Lee had 17 points and four steals.

Brooklyn Meyer scored 20 for the host Jackrabbits.

Texas hosts Southeastern Louisiana Louisiana Sunday in Austin.

No. 5 LSU (13-0) poured another triple digit attack on a lesser non-conference opponent at home in Baton Rouge, La., beating UT Arlington 110-45, Grace Knox leading the winning Tigers with 25 points while the opposition dropped to 6-6.

No. 18 North Carolina (11-3) at home in Chapel Hill got 19 points from reserve Nyla Brooks as the Tar Heels won 83-74 over Charleston Southern (2-10).

UNC next Monday is on the ACC trail visiting Boston College.

No. 23 Nebraska (12-0) at home in Lincoln won 87-56 over Cal Baptist (6-7) as Jessica Petrie scored 17 points and Amiah Hargrove scored 15, the Huskers tying the second longest winning streak in program history, also the best-ever 12-0 start of the 2021-22 edition.

Next up is a Big Ten visit next Monday from nationally ranked Southern Cal.

No. 22 Washington (10-2) bounced off its narrow loss at Stanford to win 90-50 at Pacific (5-6) in Stockton, Calif., as Sienna Harvey had a career high of 22 points.

No. 20 Notre Dame at home in South Bend smashed visiting Bellarmine 110-38 as South Jersey’s Hannah Hidalgo made headlines again scoring 30 points against the opposition (2-11) in her second career triple double that had 13 steals and ten assists.

She also snapped a tie with Arike Ogunbowale of the WNBA Dallas Wings, scoring her 12th game of 30 points for the most in program history.

 The Irish next play next Monday at home hosting Pitt in an ACC contest.

Out West, in the Bay Area Women’s Classic, Stanford (11-2) completed a weekend to bid for a return to the next AP Poll on Monday by beating former Pac-12 rival Oregon 64-53 at the Chase Center in San Francisco as Courtney Ogden scored 20 points for the Cardinal,  who last season joined the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Oregon (12-2), which at the same time went to the Big Ten, got 14 points from Ehis Elute.

In the other game, No. 19 Southern Cal (9-3), now part of the Big Ten, foiled an upset bid from California (8-5), now with the ACC, winning 61-57.

The Trojans were led by star freshman Jazzy Davidson with 24 points, while Sakima Walker led the Golden Bears with 13 points.

In two MAAC games of note, two-time defending champion and preseason favorite Fairfield (8-3, 2-0) completed a perfect conference start with an 84-65 win over visiting Merrimack (3-7, 0-1) as Kaety L’Amoreaux had 23 points for the winning Stags.

Quinnipiac (7-4, 2-0), also with a perfect MAAC start, won 76-67 at Marist (3-9, 0-2) in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., as the Bobcats got 19 points from Sydney Ryan.

America East contender Maine (5-8) pulled an upset winning 59-57 at Ivy contender Harvard (6-6) as the Black Bears were led by Adrianna Smith with 21 points and the host Crimson got 22 from Abigail Wright.

Penn fans take note since the Quakers recently plundered Maine at home in The Palestra.

In the Maui Classic, Oregon State (8-5) was led by Kennedie Shuler, who scored 21 points in the Beavers’ 64-57 win over Liberty (6-5), which got 14 points from Avery Mills.

In Monday games not already mentioned, with rankings to change in the AP Poll released at noon, Oklahoma hosts NC Central at 1 p.m. in Norman; Tennessee hosts Southern Indiana at 6:30 p.m., which is the same time that Ohio State hosts Western Michigan.