The Guru’s Local/National NCAA Roundup: Lehigh and Lafayette Grab Patriot Wins While Scoring Droughts Cost La Salle and Saint Joseph’s in the A-10; Cincinnati Upsets No. 11 Iowa State

 By Mel Greenberg

La Salle and Saint Joseph’s both suffered scoring famines in their games Wednesday in the Atlantic 10, La Salle’s 3-0 start ending with a 62-47 loss at defending tournament George Mason (9-6, 4-0) in Fairfax, Va., and Saint Joseph’s falling 48-36 at Davidson (12-5, 4-0) in North Carolina.

La Salle and Saint Joseph’s meet Saturday at the Hawks’ Hagan Arena, the first of two in the home-and-home series at 2 p.m. (ESPN+), neither game counts in the Big Five since play was completed last month in the revised Classic tournament format begun last season.

In the Patriot League, however, defending champion Lehigh won 60-57 at Holy Cross, taking the host Crusaders in Worcester, Mass., out of the conference unbeaten column.

Lafayette was a winner also with a narrow 65-64 triumph at Boston University.

In the La Salle game, the Explorers (10-5, 3-1) trailed wire-to-wire, though at the half were behind 29-23 with Aryss Macktoon scoring 14 of her 17 points.

Ashleigh Connor had 10 points and seven boards.

George Mason’s Kennedy Harris scored 18 points, shooting 7-for-14 from the field, including 3-of-4 from deep, while Zahirah Walton and reserve Page Greenburg each scored 10 points and Hawa Komara grabbed eight boards while also being scoreless.

Davidson snapped Saint Joseph’s overall win streak with Gabby Casey the only player in double figures for the Hawks (11-4, 4-2), scoring 19 points and grabbing eight rebounds.

The Wildcats didn’t exactly light the scoreboard either, Charlise Dunn and reserve Kyra Bruyndoncx each scored 10 points, and Dunn grabbed 13 rebounds.

Lehigh (7-7, 3-0) got a strong night from Lily Fandre up at Holy Cross (8-6, 2-1) who scored 17 of her 23 points in the first half including becoming the Mountain Hawks’ 25th player to reach1,000 points.

“Those 1,000 points were hard-earned, and Lily did it the right way, unselfishly and within the flow of our system” said Lehigh coach Addie Micir. “Every point mattered, and we’re looking forward to many more.”

Jessie Ozzauto added 17 points to the winning attack.

“It was a really solid team win with different players stepping up at different moments,” Micir said.

Kendall Eddie led Holy Cross with 17 points, 11 in the fourth quarter to keep it close.

Lehigh, quickly the only team without a Patriot League loss, hosts Colgate Saturday at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).

In Boston, the start by Lafayette (6-8, 2-1) is the Leopards’ best league start in four seasons.

Teresa Kiewiet scored 23 points shooting 9-for-18, including 3-for-6 from the deep, while Haylie Adamski sizzled even more from outside with 5-for-8 beyond the arc on the way to 20 points, and Talia Zurinskas scored 11 points.

Boston U. (4-10, 0-3) got 14 points from Anete Adlier, while Hildur Gunnsteinsdottir and Anastasiia Semenova each scored 13 points.

On Saturday, Lafayette hosts preseason favorite Navy at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) at the Kirby Sports Arena in Easton, Pa.

On Wednesday, Villanova has an 11:30 a.m. morning Education Day game hosting Xavier (ESPN+, Rider also has a morning tilt at Siena (ESPN+), looking for a first win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference while at night in the Big Ten, Rutgers hosts No. 8 Maryland at 7 p.m. (B1G+) at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., Penn State hosts No. 9 Michigan at 6 p.m., and in Conference USA Delaware hosts Louisiana Tech at the Bob Carpenter Center at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark as the  Blue Hens seek their first win in their new league following last weekend’s 0-2 debut on the road.

The National Scene

The schedule was light but the stunners occurring since New Year’s Day continued with No. 11 Iowa State (14-2, 2-2) in the Big 12 falling 71-63 at Cincinnati, the visitors’ second straight loss in league play after a 14-0 start tied a program record.

It’s the first Bearcats win over a ranked opponent since the 2011 season when they were in the Big East.

Cincinnati (6-10, 1-3) was led by Mya Perry, scoring 26 points on 10-of-14 from the field, including 4-of-6 from 3-point distance, in getting the Bearcats’ first win over the visiting Cylones in five meetings since joining the conference.

They also dominated the boards 44-30.

Caliyah DeVillasee scored 13 points for Cincinnati and Joya Crawford scored 10.

Iowa State’s Audi Crooks didn’t reach 30 points but still scored a bunch at 23 with 10 re bounds, her 54th game reaching 20 and she maintains the nation lead with 82 straight games.

Cincinnati gets a chance to beat two straight ranked teams Saturday hosting No. 17 Texas Tech, while on Sunday, Iowa State hosts West Virginia.

The two other ranked Big 12 teams did not have an easy night either, Texas Tech (17-0, 4-0) winning 71-66 at West Virginia (13-3, 3-1) while No. 13 TCU (15-1, 3-1) bounced back from its first loss, winning 69-61 over visiting Oklahoma State (13-4, 2-2).

In the Texas Tech win, Bailey Maupin scored 27 points and Snudda Collins scored 19 as the Red Raiders going 4-0 in league play is their best since a 5-0 start in 2004-05.

West Virginia’s Jordan Harrison scored 22 points with five assists.

In the win by TCU, the Horned Frogs scored the last nine points to edge the Cowgirls.

Notre Dame transfer Olivia Miles scored 20 points for the home team, which held Oklahoma State scoreless the final seven minutes.

In the Big East it was business as usual, No. 1 and defending NCAA champion UConn (16-0, 7-0) in Hartford routed visiting St. John’s 88-43, the two-season win streak running to 32 straight games and Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma’s record win total climbing to 1,266.

Sarah Strong had 19 of her 24 points in the first half, while Azzi Fudd scored 16 and has now made 34 straight free throws.

The Huskies have also won 45 straight regular season Big East games, last losing on Feb. 21, 2023, to St. John’s, which fell to 12-4 overall and 3-3 in the conference.

UConn visits Creighton in Omaha, Neb., on Sunday, and St. John’s host Butler on Saturday.

No. 19 Ohio State (14-2, 2-1) in the Big Ten was the other ranked team in action, winning 78-69 at Illinois (13-3, 3-2) in Champaign as Jaloni Cambridge scored a career-high 41 points, 29 in the first half.

The Buckeyes are at Maryland Sunday while the same day Illinois is at Penn State.

In other games of note, Army, under first-year coach Katie Kuester, won 71-66 at Loyola, Md., Miami, Ohio in the Mid-American Conference beat new member UMass 72-60, and Georgia Southern beat Sun Belt favorite James Madison 78-70.

A big slate Thursday has a bunch of ranked teams in the Southeastern Conference playing but only one game against each other, all airing on the subscription SECN+.

No. 3 South Carolina is at Arkansas (7:30 p.m.), No. 12 LSU still looking for its first conference win after two losses is at Georgia (6:30 p.m.), No. 15 Ole Miss is at No. 5 Oklahoma (7 p.m.), No. 6 Kentucky is at Alabama (7 p.m.), No. 7 Vanderbilt, one of four remaining unbeaten teams, hosts Missouri (7:30 p.m.), No. 20 Tennessee is at Mississippi State (7:30 p.m.), and No. 2 Texas, another of the unbeatens, hosts Auburn (8 p.m.).

In the Atlantic Coast Conference, No. 10 Louisville is at Miami at 3 p.m. on the ACCNX, while in the Big Ten besides those playing the locals No. 25 Nebraska hosts Indiana at 8 p.m. and No. 23 Washington hosts No. 15 Michigan State at 9 p.m., both on the B1G+.

In the Big 12 Colorado is at No. 16 Baylor at 8 p.m. (ESPN+).