The Guru’s Local/National NCAW Roundup: Penn Flames Out on Harvard After Hot Start While No. 22 Princeton Still Rolls; Texas Tech Falls From the Unbeatens

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – Penn’s Mataya Gayle opened the Quakers’ Ivy contest against Harvard here in in The Palestra Saturday afternoon firing a couple of threes and the home team’s Tina Njike and Katie Collins followed scoring a layup and off a Crimson turnover in the paint for a quick 10-0 lead on the defending Ivy Madness tourney champions.

At the end of the quarter a 14-7 lead still offered the prospect of maintaining the look Penn showed in non-conference play and considering Harvard’s next stop Monday afternoon is at No. 22 Princeton up the road in Jadwin Gym in Central New Jersey, the five-for-four race for this season’s tourney at Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., might be a wide-open hunt behind the league-leading Tigers who have won 13 straight overall suffering just a loss at Big Ten heavyweight Maryland.

Unfortunately, the beancounters were able to smile over a budget savings on highlight video the rest of the way courtesy of a series of scoring dry spells enabling Harvard to consecutively dominate the next two quarters 12-2 and 22-12 on the way to 53-42 victory.

“How cold was it?” quoting a common response made by the audience when the late comedian Johny Carson would comment during his opening monologue on the after hours Tonight show on NBC.

Cold enough that after tough but competitively losses here to Princeton and on the road in double overtime to Brown, the Quakers (10-6, 0-3) are now winless in the Ivies the first three games for the first time since 2010, the year Mike McLaughlin arrived in West Philly from coaching Division II powerhouse Father Judge in the city’s Northeast and turned the program into one consistently housed in the upper portion of standings in the Ancient Eight.

“Anytime you win in The Palestra it’s a good day,” said Harvard coach Carrie Moore echoing Princeton coach Carla Berube escaping a fourth quarter challenge here two weeks ago.

While one can say a lot of basketball remains, the Ivies are not an equal opportunity situation for everyone unlike the Coastal Athletic Association that several years ago saw nearby Drexel take the league tourney as a seventh seed.

An Ivy education is not necessary to count to four – the number that allows a shot at the NCAA tourney or two which gets one to the title game and a shot at consolation play in the newer WBIT given that access to the WNIT, a place Penn would have been the previous two seasons, is a persona non participationa  ruling by the league presidents.

Given Penn’s chance to get to the number one seed is no longer a sports book betting item, it’s going to take a little help from the Quaker’s friends in the bottom half of the league and a lot of self-help that begins here Monday afternoon (2 p.m., ESPN+) when Dartmouth (9-7, 0-3) arrives also winless and in the wake of a 69-41 blowout at Princeton (15-1, 3-0) which the same time as here will entertain a potential upset threat from Harvard (9-7, 2-1).

“Our mentality is every game is basically your championship, your playoff game,” said Gayle, who had a game-high 16 points and Collins finished with 12 points and 9 boards. “This is very disappointing. We wanted this win.

“All I can do is look to the next game. With a quick turn around, so just recovering and getting ready for that, going in with a fresh mentality and ready to win.”

Harvard’s Abigail Wright had a double double 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Karlee White and Saniyah Glenn each scored 11.

“Defensively, we are good enough to win,” McLaughlin said. ‘“Offensively, you can't finish around the rim. We didn't get to the foul line. Just these two big valleys on the offensive side. Peaks and valleys are a part of the sport, but you can't go that dial.”

In the Princeton game, Ashley Chea scored 16 points for the Tigers while Fadima Tall scored 15 points and Skye Belker scored 14.

Defensively, Dartmouth was held to 14-of-51 for 27.5 percent from the field and forced into 17 turnovers.

 Beyond the two Ivy locals, Columbia (11-5, 2-1), which was part of an Ivy record three particpants with Harvard and Princeton in the NCAA tournament, slammed Yale (4-12, 0-3) with an 85-58 home rout off Broadway in New York City’s upper west side as Riley Weiss scored 22 points with eight boards, Perri Page scored 18, Hilke Feldrappe, in place of the injured Susie Rafiu, had a career-high 13 points, but the big highlight was was Nasi Simmons with a school record 10 steals with 10 points.

It’s the first time since 2019 an Ivy player against a Division I opponent had a double double that included steals.

Brown (11-4, 3-0) won on the road 64-48 at Cornell (7-9, 2-1), but Monday goes to Columbia.

In the Patriot League Lehigh for “health and safety” forfeited its game at preseason favorite Navy which counts as a non-game on overall record but in the conference standings the Midshipmen get a win, and the defending champion Mountain Hawks get a loss.

Lehigh next on Wednesday is at Loyola, Md., in Baltimore at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).

Lafayette (7-10, 3-3) also suffered from cold shooting and fell 70-48 at Holy Cross (10-7, 4-2) as Teresa Kiewet scored 11, the only Leopard in double figures.

Kendall Eddy led three teammates in double figures with 15 points for the Crusaders.

Lafayette on Wednesday at 11 a.m. (ESPN+) in a school day game hosts Boston U. at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa.

Army (14-3, 5-1), picked second under first year coach Katie Kuester, a former Saint Joseph’s star and assistant, won 63-56 in the nation’s capital in Bender Arena at American (4-13, 2-4) under first year coach Kelly Killion, a long-time Penn associate head coach.

Camryn Tade had 20 points for the visiting Black Knights who are tied with Navy for first, unprecedented the two military academies lead the Patriot at this stage of the season.

Their first meeting is Saturday at Navy in Annapolis, Md., at 11 a.m. (CBSSN).

Temple (7-10, 1-4) leading 42-38 at East Carolina (13-6, 5-1) at the half, imploded 24-10 in the fourth quarter and fell 81-65 to the Pirates in the American Conference game.

Four visiting Owls scored in double figures led by Kaylah Turner with 17 points while Tristen Taylor scored 16, Sanniyah Craig scored 14, and Jaleesa Molina scored 11.

The Owls return home to the Liacouras Center Tuesday hosting conference preseason favorite South Florida at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).

There was one game of note Friday among both the locals and nationals in action and Drexel (8-7, 1-3) in the CAA fell short 74-64 at Charleston (13-3, 5-0).

Amaris Baker scored 17 for the visiting Dragons while Laine McGurk scored 15 points and Deja Evans scored 14 points with 12 rebounds.

Drexel finishes its road trip Sunday at UNC Wilmington in North Carolina at 1 p.m. (FloCollege).

There were two other bright spots besides Princeton of the teams among the 13 locals Saturday who played.

Delaware (7-10, 1-4) in its debut season in Conference USA took its first league victory winning 76-69 over visiting Liberty (8-8, 2-3) at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark as Kailah Correa scored 21 points, Lay Fantroy scored 16 with 10 boards, Ande’a Cherisier scored 19 points with nine rebounds and Trinity Vance was 6-for-9 from the field for 14 points.

The Blue Hens next on Thursday travel to Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+).

Rider (4-12, 2-6), which has struggled under first-year coach Jackie Hartzell but was never going to be rebuilt in a day, gained a 64-54 win over Sacred Heart (7-11, 5-3) at home in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J. in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).

“We got contributions from a lot of different people, our bench scored 27 points, and that's going to help with a lot of games,” Hartzell said. “I'm really proud of our effort from start to finish.”

Emmy Roach scored 18 points, Perez Mesquida scored 15, and Aliya McIver scored 10 for the Broncs who next visit Manhattan Monday at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).

The two unbeaten MAAC leaders Quinnipiac and two-time defending champion Fairfield are still perfect in league play after wins on Saturday.

On Sunday beyond the Drexel game, in the Atlantic 10 both LaSalle and Saint Joseph’s coming off losses will be back home.

La Salle hosts Davidson at 1 p.m. (ESPN+) at the John E. Glaser Arena while Saint Joseph’s at 2 p.m. (CBSSN) in Hagan Arena hosts George Mason, the first meeting since the Hawks fell to the Patriots in last season’s A-10 title game.

Villanova coming off the losing rout at No. 1 UConn can enhance its second-place hold in the Big East when the Wildcats host Butler at Finneran Pavilion at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).

For the second time in two years at this stage of the season in what can be termed the Big Ten Basement Bowl, longtime rivals Rutgers and host Penn State meet at 1 p.m. (B1G+) in Rec Hall, each looking for its first conference win.

The visiting Scarlet Knights are 0-6 in the league, and the Lady Lions are 0-7.

The National Scene

The national unbeaten trio is now a duo in No. 1 Connecticut and No. 5 Vanderbilt after No. 17 Texas Tech (19-1, 6-1) dropped its Big 12 game at home in Lubbock, Texas, 65-59 to Kansas State (10-9, 3-3).

Tess Heal scored 12 points with four boards and three steals for the winning Wildcats while Gina Garcia, Jordan Speiser and Taryn Sides each scored 11 in a balanced attack that included a dominating 46-20 advantage on the boards translating to 28-14 in the paint and 14-3 on second chance points.

Bailey Maupin had 18 points for the host Red Raiders who next are at BYU in Provo, Utah, Wednesday the same day Kansas State hosts Houston.

The other two ranked games Saturday were also Big 12 affairs as No. 18 Baylor (17-3, 6-1) got 25 points from Taliah Scott to win 69-58 at BYU (14-4, 3-3) and next hosts UCF Wednesday, while No. 10 TCU (18-1, 6-1) won 78-62 at home in Fort Worth, Texas, over Arizona (10-7, 1-5) as Olivia Miles scored 16 for the Horned Frogs and Clara Silva had 15 points and 11 boards.

TCU is at the Coretta Scott King Classic in Newark, N.J., Monday with Ohio State, Vanderbilt and Michigan.

On Sunday, highlight games have No. 20 Tennessee at No. 21 Alabama at 2 p.m. (SEC Network), No. 6 LSU at No. 13 Oklahoma at 3 p.m. (ESPN2), in the Big 12 No. 19 Iowa State will try to snap a four-game losing streak playing at Oklahoma State at 1 p.m. on FOX, and in ghe Big Ten, No. 12 Maryland is at No. 3 UCLA at 4 p.m. (NBC) while No. 11 Iowa hosts No. 16 Michigan State at 8 p.m. (BTN).