The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW Roundup: Temple Handles Wichita State for First Road Win; D2-Holy Family 4th Quarter Surge at Jefferson Keeps Tigers Perfect in CACC; Oregon 14-0 Finish Carries Ducks Over No. 21 USC

 By Mel Greenberg

Maybe Saturday’s loss to open American Conference play was just rust from a long holiday layoff, time will tell, but Temple righted the ship in a hurry Tuesday night winning 70-50 at Wichita State forcing the Shockers (3-13, 0-3) into 21 turnovers and grabbing 14 steals.

The Owls (7-7, 1-1) were the only local playing Tuesday night, and none were in action Monday.

A 9-0 run in the second period put Temple ahead to stay the rest of the way.

The Shocker record leaves it to still be decided if the Owls will be an upper echelon conference team but step one at least called for that kind of performance and Temple delivered.

The win was the first on the road this season.

Kaylah Turner, Jaleesa Turner, and Saniyah Craig each scored 13 points.

The Owls stay on the road in the Midwest Friday heading to Tulsa at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+).

D2 Holy Family Wins Big at Jefferson

The empty D-1 home schedule allowed a Tuesday visit nearby to a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) game with Holy Family at Jefferson, two teams which also compete in the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s Basketball Summer League.

A 21-6 fourth quarter allowed Holy Family (10-3, 5-0) from Northeast Philadelphia to pull away to a 69-50 victory over Jefferson (9-5, 3-3).

Kara Meredith had six makes from deep and scored 31 points for the Tigers while Claire Dougherty was 5-10 from the field for 10 points and Taylor Hinkle grabbed 10 rebounds.

The Rams’ Emily Spratt scored 16 points.

Four locals are on the road Wednesday night: In the Atlantic 10 Saint Joseph’s is at Davidson in North Carolina at 6 p.m. while La Salle with the best league start at 3-0 since 2013-14 is at defending league tournament champion George Mason in Fairfax, Va., at 7 p.m., both games airing on ESPN+.

The two meet Saturday at Saint Joseph’s at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) in the first of two in their annual home-and-home series.

In the Patriot League, defending champion Lehigh is at Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., at 6 p.m. while Lafayette has a morning 11 a.m. visit to Boston U., both games also airing on ESPN+.

The National Scene

On Monday Notre Dame ended a long run in the Associated Press women’s poll following two upset losses in the Atlantic Coast Conference and now No. 21 Southern Cal may be headed likewise following Tuesday night’s 71-66 Big Ten home loss at the Galen Center in Los Angeles to Oregon.

On Saturday night USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb termed her team’s wipeout at crosstown No. 4 UCLA “an embarrassment.”

The Trojans are without reigning national player of the year JuJu Watkins, who suffered an ACL tear in her right knee in the NCAA tournament ruining what had been a Top 5 season.

Oregon (14-3, 2-2), which last season was part of a mass defection with Southern Cal among others from the PAC-12 to the Big Ten, ACC and Big-12, used a 14-0 finish to gain Tuesday’s win.

Ehis Etute had a career-high 17 points for the winning Ducks, while Katie Fiso scored 14, and Ari Long and Mia Jacobs each scored 11 with Long hitting three straight 3-pointers in the closing surge.

USC (14-3, 2-2) got 21 points from Kara Dunn and freshman standout Jazzy Davidson had 14 points, 13 boards and five assists.

The Trojans had an early 23-9 lead and were still up big at 37-21 at halftime.

On Sunday, Oregon hosts No. 15 Michigan State and USC visits Minnesota.

The Big Ten was involved in the only two ranked games Monday night: Michigan (12-2, 3-1), which fell from sixth to ninth in the new AP Poll earlier in the day, won 70-60 at home in Ann Arbor over Minnesota (10-4, 1-2) as Olivia Olson scored 21 points, and goes to Penn State Thursday.

No. 14 Iowa (13-2, 4-1) won 67-58 at Northwestern (6-9, 0-4) handing the Wildcats their ninth straight loss.

Ava Heiden was 9-11 and scored 23 for the Hawkeyes who next are at Indiana Sunday.

 Northwestern longtime coach and Father Judge grad Joe McKeown announced his impending retirement heading into this season.

The PAC-12 returns next season with new members except the return of Washington State and Oregon State, which are playing the second of two seasons in the West Coast Conference.

On Wednesday’s national slate, in the Big East, No. 1 UConn hosts St. John’s at 7:30 p.m. on truTV; No. 19 Ohio State is at Illinois in the Big Ten at 7 p.m. on B1G+; while in the Big 12, No. 11 Iowa State at 6:30 p.m. is at Cincinnati, No. 17 Texas Tech at 7 p.m. is at West Virginia, and No. 13 TCU at 7:30 p.m. hosts Oklahoma State, all on ESPN+.