The Guru’s Pro and Collegiate Women’s Report: UCLA Grad Betts Wins Honda Cup; 1st Place Jacksonville Goes 2-1 on Week in UPSHOT; Rutgers Sweeps South American Tourney; WNBA Resumes Season Tuesday

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

NEW YORK – With much going Monday night and the WNBA about to launch the stretch drive to the playoffs with the successful All-Star game in the rear-view mirror, wrapping last week’s UPSHOT League action, Rutgers winning a tournament in Peru, meant doing a multi-report.

We begin here in the broadcast center of CBS where the 50th anniversary of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA) presented by Honda saw UCLA center Lauren Betts, the Centennial, Colo. native of the reigning NCAA champion Bruins and fourth overall pick in the WNBA draft in April to the Washington Mystics, besides being the women’s basketball sport winner, rose above all the others to earn the prestigious Honda Cup.

The event became a two-hour broadcast on CBS Sports following a reception at CBS ahead of the production and an after party following.

Many past cup winners were present, including Villanova’s track sensation Vicky Huber, Tennessee’s Chamique Holdsclaw, who’s heading for induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Massachusetts next month, former UConn star Jennifer Rizzotti, UCLA’s Ann Meyers Drysdale, former Texas standout Kamie Ethridge, now coach of Washington State, Jackie Joyner Kersee.

There was an air of beauty pageant format winding the final steps as Betts, was among the top three that also included Pitt Volleyball star Olivia Babcock and Nebraska softball star Jordyn Frahm, who is now on the Huskers’ coaching staff following her eligibility.

The trio emerged from votes by nearly 1,000 NCAA member schools, and then the last vote to gaining the cup came from the CWSA Board of Directors, many of whom are SWAs ad the NCAA schools.

The award immediately began as the Broderick Cup, whose first stage is to have winners out of each NCAA women’s sport, as founded by retired UCLA women’s athletic director Judith Holland, who was then succeeded by Chris Voelz, the executive director who is retiring Sept. 1 being succeeded by Noreen Morris, who ending her longtime role as  commissioner of the Northeast Conference.

Betts is the 17th top honoree out of women’s basketball that saw the late Delta State great Luisia Harris of Delta State be the initial cup honoree. The complete list of hoopsters starting with Harris and then Ann Myers, Nancy Lieberman, Cheryl Miller, Kamie Ethridge, Teresa Weatherspoon, Dawn Staley, Rebecca Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotto, Chamique Holdsclaw, Jackie Stiles, Candice Partker, Maya Moore, Brittney Griner, Breanna Stewart, Aliyah Boston, and Citlin Clark, as two-time winner in 2023 and 2024.

WNBA Recharges

With the All-Star break over, the WNBA stretch drive to the playoffs begins Tuesday with five games.

Indiana is at last place Seattle at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN, Connecticut is at Washington at 7:30 p.m., on League Pass, which at 8 p.m. carries expansion Toronto at first-place Minnesota, where MVP runnerup plays her first home game and second in the season after being sideline rehabilitating from two offseason surgeries on her ankles.

At 10 p.m., expansion Portland is at defending champion Las Vegas on League Pass, the same time the New York Liberty tries to extend a two-game win streak visiting Los Angeles.

On Wednesday, Atlanta is at Dallas at 8 p.m. on USA, Golden State is at Phoenix at 10 p.m. on CNBC and USA.

Thursday will see Minnesota visit Toronto at 8 p.m. on Amazon Prime, which at 10 p.m. airs New York at Las Vegas, holding a two-game win streak over the Aces, though one doesn’t count being the title game in Brooklyn of the Commissioner’s Cup.

Connecticut is at Chicago at 8 p.m. on League Pass.

On Friday, the ION package has Seattle at Atlanta at 7:30 p.m., Dallas at Washington at 7:30 p.m., and Indiana at Portland in Oregon at 10 p.m.

The Stretch Drive is On in UPSHOT

With Commissioner and co-founder Donna Orender, the second WNBA president, announcing last week that with the top two teams at the end of the 40-game schedule close to the end of next month, the title game will be in Jacksonville, which has a wide lead in first at 19-5, followed by the Charlotte Crown at 13-10, 5.5 games behind, and then the Greensboro Groove at 9-17, trailing the second and last playoff spot by 5.5. games and Savannah Steel at 7-16 six games.

Jacksonville slowed down briefly, ending a win streak with a 94-90 loss at Greensboro on Thursday, before bouncing right back winning 66-48 over the Groove on Saturday and 81-75 on Sunday.

Charlotte briefly got a game closer to first winning 86-74 on Thursday at Savannah before the Wave then won its next two as noted.

On Thursday, Deja Kelly had 20 points for Charlotte, which then got 16 points from LeLe Grissett, and 11 from Reigan Richardson.

The winners trailed 19-9 after the first period but later exploded 29-15 in the third while also being ahead taking each of the other two periods.

Savannah got 27 points from Zee Spearman, Olivia Cochrane scored 18, Quanniecia “Que” Morrison scored 16 points, and Alisia Jenkins scored 11 points.

In the first of three games on Thursday involving the other two teams, Greensboro in winning by four narrowly the Wave, the Groove got 28 points and five steals from Diamond Johnson, a native of Philadelphia, Sahara Jones scored 19, Sacha Washington and Christyn Williams each scored 12, and Jessica Timmons scored 11 points.

Then on Saturday, after trailing by three at the end of the first period, the visiting Wave erupted for a 19-5 second quarters and captured the next two periods, also.

Khayla Pointer had 17 for Jacksonville, Ariel Hearn scored 13, while the Groove got 12 from Johnson and 11 from Jones.

On Sunday, in narrow outcome, Jacksonville had close differentials go its way on the first three periods and then tied Greensboro in the fourth.

Rennia Davis scored 19 points and Shyanne Sellers scored 18 for the visitors, while Greensboro got 27 from Timmons, while Jones had 17 and Williams scored 10.

Looking Ahead UPSHOT

There will be more shuffling on this week’s schedule beginning Thursday when Charlotte hosts Greensboro, in a bid to move closer to the second playoff spot, tipping at 7 p.m.

On Friday, Savannah hosts Jacksonville at 7 p.m., while on Saturday, Charlotte hosts Savannah, and on Sunday, Charlotte hosts Jacksonville at 2 p.m. on a 1-2 game.

Games are all available on YouTube to watch free on the UPSHOT league title game.

Rutgers Wins South of the Border

In a tourney title game Monday night Rutgers under new coach Gary Redus, the former assistant to Hall of Famer Kim Mulkey at LSU, led Team USA to an 80-38 rout of Argentina in Lima, Peru, going 5-0 on the trip in South America.

The Scarlet Knights went 5-0 with a lopsided 46.2 points differential and averaging 88.2 points in the win column.

“We’re just getting started,” said Redus, whose team under previous coach Coquese Washington won early in the non-conference portion of the schedule, playing weaker opponents, before getting plundered in Big Ten games.

“This is the first step in what we hope are many wins, many celebrations, any many championships. We’re really excited. We aren’t a finished product by any means, but we set out a goal this summer, and that goal was to come to this event and win.”

Mya Pauldo, part of the twin sister freshmen duo who were among Tennessee’s mass exodus after last season’s finishing losing streak, was named the MVP of the tournament.

Now back closer to her Paterson, N.J., home near Piscataway, had 16 points in the Gold Medal win Monday over Argentina.

In the entire Rutgers participation, Pauldo scored 11 3-pointers, and averaged 12.2 points per game in the FISU America Games competition.

And that’s the report.