The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW RoundUp: Saint Joseph’s Completes A-10 Sweep of La Salle; No. 25 Washington Wins Double OT Thriller at No. 16 Maryland

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

PHILADELPHIA – Not a Big Five game, per se, the second local hookup in the Atlantic 10 of the season Wednesday night at La Salle in the John E. Glaser against Saint Joseph’s had all the tenacity in City Series play of the earlier one on Hawk Hill but ultimately the visitors prevailed with a 69-65 win to sweep the series with the potential of meeting once more in March at the conference tournament  in suburban Richmond.

Just like their first meeting, both teams came into the contest wins that followed losses, with Saint Joseph’s (14-6, 5-4) controlling most of the finish after falling behind the Explorers (11-10, 4-6) at the outset.

“We came out and it didn’t go our way, but in the second half we showed our grit and our toughness, stayed composed, stayed together,” said Hawks guard Gabby Casey. “And taking a force in the first three minutes that was really great and gave us momentum.”

She finished with a team-leading 14 points, while Rhian Stokes and Emily Knause each scored 11 points.

Joan Quinn had a game-high 18 points for the Explorers, while Kiara Williams scored 17, Ashleigh Connor had 13 points, and Aryss Macktoon scored 11.

La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray bemoaned the wasted outcome out of the performance by the quartet.

“There’s not a lot of games where we put four players in double figures and lose the game,” he said. “When we get scoring balance like that, we usually find a way to win.”

Why they didn’t, he conceded, was the Hawks getting more 50-50 balls, and making several other big plays.

Though La Salle closed the gap in the closing minutes, the bigger problem was “trailing by 10 points before that,” MacGillivray said.

“The bottom line is that we gave up 14 offensive rebounds. That’s a team that doesn’t have a lot of size on us. You can’t give up 14 offensive boards,” he continued.

“When we make defensive stops and end up yielding offensive rebounds, and some of those are rebounds we got our hands on, we have to get tougher and better at those things. That’s what St. Joe’s does elite. We’ve got to respond and match it.”

Another factor was the 26-3 advantage in bench points by Saint Joseph’s.

The depth has gotten more wholesome with the recent return of Penn State transfer Jill Jekot, who was sidelined two weeks with a sprained ankle.

“We had some players pick up more experience when some players were out and with them back, we are really good when we are deeper,” said Saint Joseph’s veteran coach Cindy Griffin, now in her 25th season at her alma mater.

The Hawks next are at home in Hagan Arena Sunday hosting Davidson at 1 p.m. (ESPN+), while La Salle on Saturday is at Duquesne in Pittsburgh at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).

The two local Big Ten teams continued their slide with Rutgers falling 74-53 to Oregon at home in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., the Scarlet Knights having beaten only Penn State narrowly on the road in the conference.

The Lady Lions, who have yet to win in the league, fell 87-66 at home in Rec Hall to Minnesota.

Temple’s two-game win streak came to an end at Rice in the American Conference, the Owls losing 65-56, while in the Patriot League, Lehigh at home in Stabler Arena in Bethelehem, Pa., fell to Army 64-55, while Lafayette, in a game moved from Monday due to snowstorm Fern, won 65-56 to Bucknell.

In the game at Rutgers (9-12, 1-9), Lauryn Swann scored 13 points and Zachara Perkins scored 11 in the loss.

Oregon’s Ehis Etute was 8-for-11 from the field, scoring 12 points, and total matched by Ari Long, who also pulled down 12 rebounds.

Mia Jacobs added 10 points.

Rutgers next heads across the country Sunday to play at Southern Cal at 5 p.m. (B1G+) at the Galen Center.

In the game at Penn State (7-15, 0-11), as season-matching high of 12 made shots from deep went to waste in the loss to Minnesota (15-6, 6-4).

Rutgers transfer Kiyomi Miller had 23 points for the host Lady Lions, while Moriah Murray was 4-for-8 from beyond the arc, finishing with 16 points, and Tea Cleante scored 11.

The visitors’ Tori McKinney scored 23 points, one more than Mara Braun, while Sophie Hart and Amaya Battle each scored 12 with Battle also collecting 10 rebounds.

Penn State, which was again without Gracie Merkle, next Wednesday visits Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind., at 7 p.m. (B1G+).

Temple (9-11, 3-5), in a game that Rice (18-3, 8-0) faded in the closing minutes in Houston, was too far behind to launch another miracle finish this time.

Kaylah Turner scored 16 points for the Owls, Saniyah Craig scored 14, and Jaleesa Molina had 13 points and eight rebounds.

The home team had nine blocked shots while Temple did not reject any.

The Owls next are in New Orleans on Saturday to visit Tulane at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+.

In the two Patriot League games involving the locals, freshman guard Emma Heaney had career highs of nine points and 13 rebounds for Lafayette (8-12, 4-5), which completed a season-sweep of Bucknell (6-14, 2-7) for the first time since the 2004-05 season.

Talia Zurinskas had 19 points for the winning Leopards while Teresa Kiewiet had 17 points and Haylie Adamski scored 10.

Lafayette next hosts American Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).

Nearby, Lehigh (10-9, 6-3) had to settle for a season-split with visiting Army (16-4, 7-2), which was led by Camryn Tade with 21 points, while Kya Smith scored 17 with 16 rebounds, and Brooke Wilson scored 11.

The Black Knights are under first year coach Katie Kuester, and former Saint Joseph’s star and assistant coach.

Lehigh’s Lily Fandre scored 21 points, while Gracyn Lovette and Whitney Lind each scored 10 points.

The Mountain Hawks next are at Colgate in Hamilton, N.Y., on Saturday, at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).

Delaware had to move its weekend home series in CUSA one day each at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, now hosting Missouri State Friday night at 7 p.m. and FIU on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m., both on ESPN+.

That left just Rider on Thursday’s card of locals, in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game hosting Mount St. Mary’s at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

The National Scene

Five AP ranked teams played Wednesday night, two against each other in a thriller.

That was down in College Park, Md., where No. 25 Washington (17-4, 7-3) in the Big Ten coming off Monday’s win at Rutgers, downed No. 16 Maryland 83-80 in double overtime as the Huskies got a career-high 38 points from Sayvia Sellers while Avery Howell got 17 points and 11 rebounds.

The Terrapins (17-5, 5-5) scored moving within a point with 3.30 left in the second overtime and that became the last made connect from the field by either team.

Maryland’s Yarden Garzon, a transfer from Indiana, scored 24 points, Addi Mack added 20 points, and Saylor Poffenbarger, who played at UConn and several other schools, scored 16 points with 10 boards.

Washington next hosts Illinois in Seattle on Sunday while Maryland Saturday hosts Oregon.

In another Big Ten contest, played in the midwest at Illinois (15-6. 65-5), No. 2 UCLA (20-1, 10-0) won 80-67 in Champaign to head home in Los Angeles at Pauley Pavilion for Sunday’s first-place showdown with No. 8 Iowa, which Thursday night will first visit Southern Cal at 9 p.m. (Peacock) in the Galen Center on Peacock trying to keep its conference slate still devoid of losses.

In UCLA’s win, all-American Lauren Betts shook off early foul trouble with a strong second half scoring 23 points on the night with nine rebounds, while Angel Dugalic scored 12 points, Gabriela Jaquez scored 11, while Kiki Rice, Utah transfer Gianna Kneepkins, and Sienna Betts, Lauren’s younger sister, each scored 10 points.

Cearah Parchment, shooting 10-for-13 from the field, had a career-high 26 points with seven boards for the Illini.

The Bruins’ only loss before launching a 14-game win streak was 76-65 to No. 4 Texas in Las Vegas on Nov. 26.

Iowa State, which had been in the Top 10 until a string of upset losses sent the Cyclones out of the Associated Press women’s poll, now in its 50th season, pulled the upset button on No. 21 Texas Tech on the road in the Big 12, winning 84-80 in Lubbock.

Addie Crooks scored 33 points with 12 rebounds for Iowa State (17-5, 5-1) in the victory that made veteran Bill Fennelly with his 297th triumph the winningest coach in Big 12 history.

Crooks was 13-of-19 from the field and 7-for-7 on the line while Jada Williams had 15 points and nine assists.

The Red Raiders (20-3, 7-3) got 17 points from Sidney Love while Bailey Maupin and Snudda Collins each scored 16 points.

Iowa State is home in Ames Saturday while hosting UCF while Texas Tech hosts No. 12 TCU on Sunday in Lubbock.

In the Big East, defending NCAA champion and No. 1 UConn (22-0, 12-0) preserved its perfect record as the nation’s last unbeaten team beating Xavier 97-39 at home ahead of Sunday’s out-of-conference visit from No. 15 Tennessee in Hartford.

The Musketeers fell to 10-11 overall and 3-9 in the conference.

The winning Huskies had six players sidelined for the contest, including a pair of regulars.

Allie Ziebell off the bench had a career night with 34 points, shooting 11-for-15 from the field and 10-for-14 on 3-point attempts, while Sarah Strong had 25 points, shooting 10-for-14 from the field.

Geno Auriemma increased his NCAA-record victory total in either the men’s or women’s game to 1,273.

Thursday’s schedule is loaded with ranked games but a mid-major standout in the MAAC has Quinnipiac visiting two-time defending champion Fairfield.

In the Big Ten, No. 13 Michigan State is at Purdue at 6 p.m. (BTN), the Southern Cal has already been mentioned, No. 9 Michigan at 7 p.m. on Peacock is at Indiana in Bloomington, the host Hoosiers, like Penn State, has yet to win the league this season; and No. 11 Ohio State hosts Wisconsin at 8 p.m. (BTN) in Columbus.

In the Big 12, No. 12 TCU hosts Kansas at 6 p.m. (ESPN).

In the Southeastern Conference, which has a record 10 teams in this week’s AP women’s poll, most ever for any conference, No. 3 South Carolina is at Auburn at 9 p.m. (SECN), No. 15 Tennessee, ahead of its non-conference visit to UConn, hosts Mississippi State in Knoxville at 6:30 p.m. (SECN+), No. 24 Alabama is at No. 23 Georgia at 6:30 p.m. (SECN) in Athens, No. 4 Texas is at Florida in Gainesville at 7 p.m. (SECN+), No. 10 Oklahoma at home in Norman hosts Texas A&M at 7 p.m. (SECN+), and No. 6 LSU hosts Arkansas at 8 p.m. (SECN+).

In the Atlantic Coast Conference, No. 7 Louisville is at Stanford at 8 p.m. (ESPN) in Palo Alto while No. 20 Duke is at Miami at 8 p.m. (ESPN).