By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurus
Just two locals played Tuesday night, and both won with Princeton rallying at home in Jadwin Gym taking the opener of the New Jersey trio series over Seton Hall 82-78 while Rider (2-5) snapped a five-game losing streak by winning 58-43 at Long Island U. (4-3).
Princeton (8-1) in wins against quality opponents this season trails early and then plays a terrific fourth quarter to appear on top.
The pattern continued against Seton (4-1), which suffered its first loss.
The visiting Pirates took a 22-15 lead after the first quarter; the Tigers moved within two at the half, but Seton Hall moved to plus five at 65-60 going into the final ten minutes when Princeton outscored the opposition 22-13.
A layup by Olivia Hutcherson put Princeton ahead 70-69 with 6:15 left in regulation.
Several lead exchanges followed until Skye Belker’s shot from deep put Princeton up to stay 77-75 with just under four minutes left clinging to a narrow over that final span.
Belker, shooting 10-14 and 5-8 from beyond the arc, scored 26 points, Madison St. Rose scored 19 points shooting 6-11 from the field with nine rebounds, Ashley Chea was 4-7 from deep and 5-10 overall collecting 15 points with six assists, and Fadima Tall scored 12 points with six rebounds.
The Pirates’ Savannah Catalon was 8-15 from the field with three makes from deep for 24 points while Jada Eads and Mariana Valenzuela each scored 13 points with Eads grabbing 10 boards and Valenzuela accepting seven.
Princeton next visits Belmont in Tennessee Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) while Seton Hall Thursday opens Big East play hosting Butler in Walsh Gym in South Orange, N.J., at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).
Rutgers, the third school in the in-state series, is not on the Pirates’ schedule this season but visits Princeton next Wednesday.
Rider got 19 points from Emmy Roach, while Deb Okechukwu scored 12 off the bench with six rebounds, Kristina Ekofo scored 11 with five boards, Aina Perez Mesquida from Spain had 12 boards and six assists, and Aliya McIver grabbed 10 boards.
The Broncs next host Yale Saturday at Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J., at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.
Locally Wednesday, Saint Joseph’s and La Salle get Atlantic 10 play under way, the Hawks host Rhode Island at 7 p.m. at Hagan Arena and the Explorers host VCU at their John E. Glaser Arena at 6:30 p.m. both on ESPN+.
Drexel hosts American at 6 p.m. (FloCollege) at the Daskalskis Athletic Center while Lehigh hosts Cornell at 3 p.m. (ESPN+) at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., and Lafayette visits Northeast Conference champion FDU in Teaneck, N.J., at 7 p.m. on NEC Front Row.
The National Scene
Top-ranked UConn (8-0) returned to Tampa, Fla., the city of the Huskies’ 12th NCAA title last April and easily dominated South Florida (5-4) with an 85-51 victory.
The Huskies got 14 points and 10 boards against the Bulls, a former annual rival when UConn was also in the American Conference.
The winners were 32-63 for 51% from the floor.
Blanca Quinonez had 13 points and three makes from deep, while Azzi Fudd and Ashlynn Shade each scored 10 points.
USF was forced into 20 turnovers.
The Huskies next host DePaul Sunday at 1 p.m. on FS1 at the campus Gampel Pavilion in Storrs to open Big East play.
In the other game with a ranked team, No. 16 Southern Cal (6-2) at home in the Galen Center in Los Angeles cruised 79-33 over St. Mary’s (5-4) as Londynn Jones scored 17 points and Kara Dunn scored 15 points.
USC next hosts No. 21 Washington Sunday at 8 p.m. in a Big Ten opener on the conference network.
Wednesday is the start of the annual two-night ACC/SEC challenge while the challenge between Big Sky and Summit teams also gets under way with a second round Saturday.
Key games in the ACC/SEC series Wednesday have No. 15 Vanderbilt hosting Virginia at 5 p.m. (SECN), while at the same time No. 17 is at Miami (ESPN2), No. 9 Oklahoma hosts N.C. State at 7:15 p.m. (ESPN2), No. 19 Tennessee is at Stanford at 9:15 p.m. (ESPN2).
On Thursday, No. 3 South Carolina is at No. 22 Louisville at 7 p.m. (ESPN), No. 11 North Carolina is at No. 2 Texas at 7 p.m. (ESPN2), No. 5 LSU is at Duke at 9 p.m. (ESPN) and No. 18 Notre Dame is at No. 13 Ole Miss at 9 p.m. (ESPN2).
Locally, on Thursday, Penn hosts Maine at The Palestra at 6 p.m. (ESPN) and Villanova heads to the nation’s capital at the same time visiting Georgetown at 7 p.m. (Peacock).
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