The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW Roundup: Penn Blasts Maine; Villanova Goes 1-0 in the Big East at Georgetown; SEC in a Landslide Over the ACC in the Annual Challenge

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – Coming out of a respectful showing Sunday in an 81-63 loss at now No. 2 Texas, Penn followed up here Thursday night at home in The Palestra dominating America East contender Maine 58-35.

Meanwhile a few hours south, Villanova, on the heels of Monday night’s equally ownership at No. 25 West Virginia, opened Big East play winning 76-69 in the nation’s capital at Georgetown.

Neither winner allowed this Sunday’s second annual Big 5 Classic on the women’s side, returning to Villanova, distract from dealing the teams directly in front of them.

The host Wildcats (7-2) will meet arch-rival Saint Joseph’s at 4:30 p.m. at Finneran Pavilion for the championship hoping to revert last season’s title game when a strong second-half performance by Temple gave the Owls the title.

Completing a three-game sweep on the week’s schedule has the potential to land Villanova, when the next Associated Press women’s poll is released Monday at noon, back in the national rankings for the first time since being in the Top 10 at the close of the Maddy Siegrist era three seasons ago.

Penn (6-3) will get the triple header under way at noon playing La Salle for fifth place followed by Temple and Drexel meeting at 2:15 p.m. for third.

NBC Sports Philadelphia will telecast the entire afternoon’s action.

Here at Penn, it was more the defensive side feeding the offense against the Black Bears (3-6) as the Quakers produced a lopsided 19-5 differential on points off turnovers besides an equal one-sided 30-14 comparison on points in the paint.

Simone Sawyer in the backcourt had another outstanding performance scoring a season-high 21 points, dealing three assists and grabbing three steals, while center Tina Njike scored 12 points with nine boards and Katie Collins had eight points with 13 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Maine’s Adrianna Smith was the only player in double figures with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Penn was in front most of the way soaring to an 18-8 lead in the first quarter and winning the next two periods before cooling off in a 6-5 claim of the fourth by the opposition.

“We just try to keep our energy,” Sawyer said of her night. “I mean, my teammates did a good job trying to find me, keeping our energy throughout.”

Penn coach Mike McLaughlin continued his season-long praise of Sawyer’s play.

“She wants to be good,” he said. “She wants to finish her career the right way.

“Defensively, she’s always been very good, but now she’s finding the basket. Offensively, she’s got a high-level confidence. She’s come a long way in her game, and I want to celebrate every minute with it.”

McLaughlin also reflected on his team’s respectful showing against a Power 4 Longhorns squad on the road in Austin, playing a Texas team coming off back-to-back wins over then-No. 3 UCLA and then No. 2 South Carolina in the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas.

“I was so proud. We were up four (15-11) after the first period and then after trailing by a lot at the half (41-27) we closed it to nine early in the third period, kept it there for a long while.”

Meanwhile, in the win over the Hoyas (5-3) Jasmine Bascoe followed up for Villanova from her 24 points in the win at West Virginia with 26 points at Georgetown shooting 10-23 from the field while Brynn McCurry, who collected a career-best 21 against the Mountaineers, just missed matching it, scoring 20 shooting 6-11 from the field.

McCurry grabbed seven boards, and Kennedy Henry had six rebounds with eight points.

In the only other local action, Lafayette (4-5), following a 22-10 second quarter for a 38-30 lead at the half on the road, was outscored 39-23 the rest of the way at Northeast Conference defending champion FDU (6-3), which won 69-61.

The Leopards, who host Marist Sunday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa., got 24 points on 10-15 from the field from Teresa Kiewiet, while Talia Zurinskas was 3-4 from deep and scored 13 points, and Haylie Adamski scored 10 points.

Sauda Ntaconayigize from Quebec City grabbed eight boards.

FDU, coached by former Villanova star Stephanie Gaitley, was led by Kailee McDonald, who was 7-13 from deep and scored 23 points with seven boards while Rebecca Osei-Owusu grabbed 12 boards.

Delaware was the only local playing Friday visiting Colgate of the Patriot League in Hamilton, N.Y.

On Saturday, Princeton is at Belmont in Tennessee at 2 p.m. (ESPN+), Rider hosts Yale at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) at Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J., Rutgers opens Big Ten play at 6 p.m. hosting No. 12 Iowa at 6 p.m. (FS1) at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., while Penn State also opens Big Ten play hosting Nebraska at 1 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center.

The only other local Sunday has Lehigh at Mount St. Mary’s at 2 p.m.

The National Scene

A lot of games were close, but like elections in which contests are similar but most going to one party, the Southeastern Conference completed a 13-3 landslide in the two-night annual challenge with the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In addition, two ACC teams not playing in the event on Wednesday fell to mid-majors, MAAC runnerup Quinnipiac beat Boston College while Coastal Athletic Association tournament champion William & Mary beat Wake Forest.

On Thursday in the challenge, No. 5 LSU (9-0) for the first time this season didn’t reach 100 points, but the Tigers still came close winning 93-77 at Duke (3-6) at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Raleigh, N.C.

The Blue Devils took an early 14-1 before the Tigers rallied with six players scoring in double figures.

Flau’jae Johnson led the way with 18 points and South Carolina transfer MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 16.

The eight-game 100 point each streak at season’s outset broke the NCAA record set in 1981-82 when LSU coach Kim Mulkey played with Louisiana Tech in 1981-82. The Lady Techsters went on to win the first NCAA title.

Ashlon Johnson scored 16 for Duke, the ACC preseason favorite which was No. 7 in the first AP women’s poll, launching the rankings’ 50th season, and two weeks later was cast out by the nationwide media panel.

If the SEC picked up a wide win from LSU, No. 3 South Carolina (8-1), the NCAA national runnerup to UConn, barely escaped at No. 22 Louisville (7-3) winning 79-77 to add to SEC collection when Tajianna Roberts missed a three-pointer of an inbound pass when time expired.

Madina Okot, whose 23 points and 13 rebounds for the winning Gamecocks were completed with 13 points and 10 boards in the second half, put S.C. up two with a foul shot with eight seconds left.

Tessa Johnson added 20 points for Dawn Staley’s group while Raven Johnson had 11 points and eight assists.

Roberts scored 20 for Louisville.

No. 2 Texas (9-0), which had two top 5 wins at the Players Era tourney last week in Las Vegas, in a battle of ranked teams at home in Austin, put a W in the SEC column winning 79-64 over No. 11 North Carolina (8-2) as Jordan Lee set a career-high with 22 points and Madison Booker scored 18.

The Tar Heels, whose 20 turnovers led to 24 Texas points, got 17 points from Elina Aarnisalo and 16 from Indya Nivar.

In another game with a pair of ranked teams, No. 13 Ole Miss (8-0) at home in Oxford beat No. 18 Notre Dame 69-62.

South Jersey’s Hannah Hidalgo had 28 points for the losing Irish (5-2) and was tossed in tbe final seconds for taunting.

Ohio State transfer Cotie McMahon led the Rebels with 22 points, including her 1,500th, and Christeen Iwuala had 18 points and 13 boards. The two combined for 13 of the 19 points by Ole Miss in the fourth quarter.

The SEC’s other wins came by a narrow 68-67 Missouri home triumph on Shannon Dowell’s layup with one second left over California along with Mississippi State’s easy 79-44 home win over Pitt, and Alabama’s likewise 72-48 easy triumph over visiting Clemson.

The ACC picked up a narrow 68-64 outcome by Virginia Tech and 78-63 result by SMU over visiting Arkansas.