The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW Roundup: Ineffective Offense Costs Temple; No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Vanderbilt Win Ahead of Thursday Showdown

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

In a lite schedule Monday and Tuesday, one local game on Tuesday saw Temple (10-13, 4-7) drop its American Conference road trip meeting 52-43 at UTSA (12-11, 7-5) in San Antonio.

For the visiting Owls it was a mix devoid of offense, shooting 29.6% from the field, but solid defense that took then into final period trailing the Roadrunners by just two points.

However, unlike several recent games in which Temple’s best work was in the final period, that was not to be on this short trip.

The Owls also had to play without one of their better scorers Jaleesa Molina, sidelined with an undisclosed injury.

Saniyah Craig had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds while Kaylah Turner scored 12 points.

Temple next is back home in the Liacouras Center hosting East Carolina Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).

On Wednesday, Saint Joseph’s looking to get back on the winning side in the Atlantic 10 will host George Washington at Hagan Arena in a school day game at 11 a.m. (ESPN+) while Villanova in the Big East with a two-game lead on Marquette in second place will be in Cincinnati playing Xavier at 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+) at the Cintas Center going for a series 2-0 sweep and the program’s 1,000th victory.

In the Patriot League Lehigh will be in the nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., at Bender Arena at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) visiting American U., while Lafayette will be visiting Loyola, Md., in Baltimore at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).

The National Scene

On Monday, two major games in the Southeastern Conference saw No. 4 Texas at home in Austin down No. 18 Kentucky 64-53 while Vanderbilt, which moved back up to 5th several hours earlier in the latest Associated Press women’s poll, now in its 50th season, at home in Nashville, Tenn., handled No. 10 Oklahoma 102-86.

In the win by Texas (23-2, 8-2), Justice Carlton had 17 points in a game that was still undecided late until the Longhorns extended the nation’s longest home victory streak to 40 straight at the Moody Center.

Kentucky (18-7, 5-6) was down by 14 points just ahead of the mid-mark of the third quarter before rallying within a point with 6:23 left in regulation. But the Longhorns thrived at the foul line the rest of the way.

Asia Boone had 16 points and Clara Strack 14 for the Wildcats who committed a season-high 23 turnovers.

Kentucky hosts Texas A&M Thursday the same night Texas visits Vanderbilt (23-2, 9-2), which had an explosive night Monday in the win over Oklahoma (17-6, 5-5) as Mikayla Blakes out of Somerville, N.J., scored 34 points.

Aubrey Galvan, whose previous high was 20 points last month in a win over No. 7 Michigan in New Brunswick, N.J., scored 30 against the Sooners, while Justine Pissott had 16 points and Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda scored 13 with nine rebounds.

The Commodores mined 26 points off 21 Sooner turnovers.

Raegan Beers, who previously played at Oregon State, had her 62nd career double-double with 19 points and 11 boards for Oklahoma, which hosts Florida Thursday.

On Tuesday, the sole ranked game was in the Big 12 where No. 16 Texas Tech (23-3, 10-3) at home in Lubbock edged Kansas 70-65 as Bailey Maupin scored 23 points and reserve Snudda Collins scored 17 while Krista Gerlich picked up her 100th victory coaching her alma mater.

A steal and two foul shots by Maupin put the Raiders up 65-60 with 24.2 left in regulation on the Jayhawks (15-11,5-9), who then answered from deep by from Brittany Harshaw followed by Maupin with going 1-2 at the line with 19.7 left.

Kansas then turned it over on an illegal screen and Maupin claimed two more points on the line to seal the win.

S’Mya Nichols scored 15 for the visitors and Jaliya Davis had 12 of her 14 points in the first half.

Both teams next play Saturday, Kansas hosting Houston in Lawrence while Texas Tech visits Oklahoma in Stillwater.

On Wednesday, No. 1 UConn in the Big East hosts Creighton at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs at 7 p.m. on Peacock, while Marquette hosts Seton Hall at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+ in a game between the two teams trailing Villanova.

In the Big 12 No. 19 West Virginia hosts UCF in Morgantown at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) while in the Big Ten No. 2 UCLA is at No. 13 Michigan State at 8 p.m. on Peacock and No. 25 Washington is at No. 15 Iowa at 7:30 p.m. (B1G+).