The Guru NCAAW Report: UConn Coach Geno Auriemma Poised for History; Delaware Wins First While Temple and Rutgers Streaks Ended

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Delaware got it’s first win of the season Tuesday afternoon beating Colgate 88-82 at home in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, while Temple and Rutgers suffered road losses later at night at Georgetown and Virginia Tech, respectfully, on a light local schedule.

The Blue Hens (1-3) featured a balanced attack in front of an Education Day sellout crowd of 4,631, shooting a prolific 58.33 percent from the field paced by Ande’A Cherisier with 17 points off 8-11 from the field, while Tara Cousins was 7-9 reaching 16 points.

Adding to the parade of Blue Hens in double figures against the Raiders (3-2), reserve Jiya Perry was 6-8 and 2-2 from deep to collect a personal best 14 points and match a career-high with seven boards, while Ella Wanzer gained all 12 of her points shooting 4-7 from beyond the arc.

 Rounding out the attack Michelle Ojo had 11 points, and five rebounds and Rebecca Demeke scored 10 points.

The Hens were in danger of dropping this one, also, until late in the game when they rallied with a 12-1 run.

Delaware now hits an 18-day road swing, beginning at Providence Sunday at 2 p,m, (FloHoops) in the Friars’ Alumni Hall in Rhode Island.

Temple, meanwhile, took a two-game win streak achieved on the road but the Owls (2-2) couldn’t finish off the last stop, shooting a mediocre 28 percent in a 65-51 loss at Georgetown (2-1) in the nation’s capital at McDonough Arena.

Coach Diane Richardson’s squad was beset by missing the target at the outset forcing to play catch-up all night.

Anissa Rivera had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the visitors, while Savannah Curry off the bench scored 12.

The Hoyas’ top player Kelsey Ransom scored 28 points with five assists and five steals while Victoria Rivera scored 19 points, and Ariel Jenkins off the bench double doubled her way with 11 points and 11 boards.

Temple plays its first Big 5 pod game Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) in the Liacouras Center, hosting Drexel, which already picked up a win beating La Salle at home in their debut appearance as an official member.

Rutgers (4-1) took its perfect record on its first road trip and challenged Virginia Tech through three quarters playing the Atlantic Coast Conference member in Blacksburg, but the Hokies (4-1) prevailed in the fourth quarter going on to a 91-80 victory.

The Scarlet Knights had three players in double figures led by Kiyomi McMiller with 24 points, Destiny Adams collected 18, and Chyna Cornwell scored 12.

Rutgers returns home to play its first of two in the three-team New Jersey rivalry when defending Ivy tourney champion Princeton makes the short trip north to Jersey Mike’s Arena Sunday at 2 p.m. (B1G+) in Piscataway, N.J.

The Tigers first visit Seton Hall in the annual series Thursday at the Pirates’ Walsh Gym.

Looking ahead to Wednesday on the local card, Saint Joseph’s is at Southern Utah (8:30 p.m., ESPN+), the Hawks running into national news on their two-game swing with the announcement that Lynne Roberts resigned as coach at Utah, their next stop Friday, to become head of the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks.

Penn travels to Villanova at 7 p.m. (FloHoops) attempting to even its Big 5 record in its pod, having lost Friday to Saint Joseph’s, while the Wildcats play their first ahead of the annual showdown with the Hawks, which will be at Hagan Arena, Dec. 1.

Drexel hosts Big West tourney champ U.C. Irvine at 6 p.m. (FloHoops) in the Daskalakis AthleticCenter, then the visiting Anteaters will head down 33rd Street Thursday to The Palestra to play Penn, resulting in a back-to-back for both teams.

The arena was unavailable Friday needing to be held for a volleyball match.

Rider Wednesday will be at La Salle at 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+) in the John E. Glaser Arena in which the visiting Broncs will be bringing Gabby Turco, who transferred from the Explorers after last season.

The National Scene: Uconn’s Geno Auriemma Poised for the Mountain Top

A match of two coaches, each in their 40th year, both with Philly local ties, will occur Wednesday at 7 p.m. when Northeast Conference favorite Fairleigh Dickinson visits No. 2 UConn (3-0) at 7 p.m. at the Huskies’ Gampel Arena on the campus in Storrs.

Geno Auriemma, who grew up in Norristown, and his associate head coach Chris Dailey, who played at Rutgers under Immaculata star Theresa Grentz, are being honored in a pre-game ceremony for their 40th year in building the Huskies to a national powerhouse with a record 11 national NCAA championships.

 The game is on SNY but available on the FOX app. The ceremony will be streamed on the school’s Facebook page, information is available on the program’s website.

On hand will be 63 confirmed alumnae including some of the all-time greats of the sport, many such as Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, and Maya Moore who went on to win WNBA titles and Olympic Gold Medals.

FDU (4-1), which lost at Syracuse Sunday, is coached by former Villanova star Stephanie Gaitley, who recently won her 700th career game with stops at Richmond, Saint Joseph’s, Long Island, Monmouth, Fordham, and her current school.

With the visitors a prohibitive underdog, the bigger moment of the night will likely be at the final buzzer.

A win for Auriemma will break a tie for the past five days held with retired Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer (last April) following a road victory over nationally ranked North Carolina for the most Division I men’s or women’s triumphs at 1,216, long past the men’s mark held by retired Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski (2022).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Guru NCAAW Report: Ranked Teams Cruise to Six Home Wins; Brugler of Saint Joseph’s, Collins of Penn, Baker of Drexel Pick Up Weekly Conference Awards

By Mel Greenberg @wimhoopsguru

Monday was a night of perfection for those ranked teams that played in a short overall schedule that did not contain any local teams in action.

Some individuals did get to receive weekly awards – Talya Brugler from Saint Joseph’s earned the A-10 award, this time all along, while Drexel’s amaris Baker shared the Coastal Athletic Association honor, and Penn’s Katie Collins earned her second Ivy freshman citation.

If you want to look ahead first, locally, three games feature local teams – Temple is going for its third straight victory, all on the road, when the Owls visit Georgetown in Washington at 7 p.m. (FloHoops) at the Hoyas’ McDonough Arena.

Delaware holds its field trip day at 11 a.m. at the Bob Carpenter Arena in Bewsrk, hosting Colgate, and Rutgers’ schedule picks up with the Scarlet Knight’s first road trip, visiting Virginia Tech (ACCNX) at 6 p.m.

The National Scene

As for the six games with ranked teams in the season’s third Associated Press poll, week 867 in season 49, all of the outcomes were by double digits.

No. 7 LSU in Baton Rouge beat Troy 98-59 to go 5-0 as Flau’Jae Johnson had 27 points and nine rebounds while Aneesah Morrow had 23 points and 13 rebounds for the host Tigers.

Ole Miss downed visiting Jackson State of the Southwestern Athletic Conference 76-44 in Oxford as Sira Thienou had a career-high 16 points for the Rebels (3-1) who won their third straight after the opening day loss to No. 3 Southern Cal in Paris.

No. 23 Oregon (5-0) is still unbeaten after topping Western Athletic favorite Grand Canyon 70-54 as Peyton Scott scored 17 points.

No. 22 Illinois (4-0) also hosting a field trip day crushed Le Moyne 94-25 as Kendall Bostic had 25 points and 12 boards.

The closest outcome saw No. 15 Kentucky (5-0) beat visiting Purdue Fort Wayne 79-67, Virginia Tech transfer Georgia Amoore, who followed coach Kenny Brooks to the Wildcats, had 23 points and Dazia Lawrence was 8-15 from the field, five from deep, for 21 points.

No. 10 Kansas State cruised to a 73-43 victory over Little Rock of the Ohio Valley Conference as Ayoka Lee and Zyanna Walker each scored 16 points.

 

The Guru NCAAW Report: Notre Dame Enjoys Homecoming Trip Beating Lafayette; Penn State and Lehigh Win.; Upsets Delivered to Stanford and NC State by Indiana and TCU

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

EASTON, Pa. – Last season Rutgers got visitored in a manner of speaking when Iowa’s appearance on the Big Ten schedule spawned a rare sellout at Jersey Mike’s Arena which was decidedly awash in gold rather than scarlet, fans wearing jerseys with the number 22 belonging to one Caitlin Clark.

“Was your daughter wearing one of those?” Rutgers coach Coquese Washington was asked.

“Yes, and she’s walking home,” Washington quipped to a round of laughter.

On Sunday afternoon here at a near sellout crowd of 2,329 in the Kirby Sports Center, Lafayette’s maroon gave way to green, the result of the Leopards hosting No. 6 Notre Dame, the ACC-favorite Irish bringing home Olivia Miles, who hails a mere short distance away across the Delaware River in Phillipsburg, N.J.

It was also a near homecoming for sophomore sensation Hannah Hidalgo, the ACC preseason player of the year, from Merchantville, as well as Sonia Citron from outside New York City, and Kylee Watson from outside Atlantic City.

If Notre Dame (4-0) made quick work of Lafayette given the comparisons of rosters and riding a program record afternoon of 15 three-pointers to a 91-55 victory, the team did not make a quick get-away, being mobbed for autographs by the bus parked just outside the arena.

The Irish air attack connecting 11 of those 15 in the first half, was a near perfect 6-8 in the second quarter.

Miles, who missed last season with an ACL injury, was not distracted by her well-wishers, scoring 20 points, with 11 rebounds and seven assists.

“I thought we had a great team win,” said ND coach Niele Ivey, who has been running the show at her alma mater in South Bend (Ind.) now in her fifth season since the retirement of Big 5 Hall of Famer and Saint Joseph’s grad Muffet McGraw, whose coaching career began down the road in Bethlehem at Leopards’ Patriot League arch-rival Lehigh.

“Really fun to watch. We’ve had a lot of (lineup) changes, so our rhythm has just been what we have available. We’re constantly pivoting and adjusting, but that’s a credit to the character of the group.”

Hidalgo continued to shine after being the top freshman in the country last season not named JuJu Watkins at Southern Cal. She led the winners with 29 points, and had five steals and five assists, while freshman Kate Koval lived up to being the new rookie flavor on campus with 11 points and 19 rebounds and seven blocks, the most Irish rejections since Brianna Turner in 2017 and the boards were just three short of another program record.

“That was an amazing performance for anyone, let alone a freshman,” Ivey said. “She stepped up and did what needed to be done. She’s bringing it every game.”

Sonia Citron was also in double figures with 10 points.

Though the matchup could be akin to a mid-major hosting a WNBA all-star team, the Leopards (1-3) competed as best they could, not being intimidated by the jerseys worn by the opposition.

In doing so, they held Notre Dame to its lowest differential (36) of the young season.

“They competed, and that’s one of the things we talked about, we understood their personnel and what the challenges presented for us, but at the same time we thought there were some opportunities for us,” said Lafayette coach Kia Damon-Olson.

“For us, it’s never about our opponent, it’s always about can we get better with the things we’ve been working on for the last couple of days and I thought that we needed to be super attentive coming off the Marist game where I thought we weren’t as attentive as we needed to be.

 “The girls tried to slow down the Notre Dame attack and as you can see in transition, they’re a handful for anyone to deal with and then battling against some of their size on the interior, that was a problem as well.”

Kay Donahue had 18 points for Lafayette, while Sauda Ntaconayigize scored 17 with eight rebounds, career highs for both through the nets, and Abby Antognoli scored nine.

The Leopards next have another nationally ranked opponent, traveling to No. 15 West Virginia on Friday in Morgantown at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).

Of course, this one, being unavoidable out of the way, sets up a national highlight just ahead for the Irish.

“Yes, now we can talk about it,” Ivey smiled.

“It,” being Saturday’s trip to No. 3 Southern Cal in Los Angeles (4 p.m., NBC), matching Watkins and Hidalgo for the first time.

“I think it’s a great matchup for women’s basketball, and we’re looking forward to going there,” Ivey said.

That comes a day before another showdown out west in L.A. with No. 5 UCLA hosting No. 1 South Carolina, the defending national champions.

Next month for the Irish comes games at home against No. 4 Texas and then the ongoing rivalry with No. 2 Connecticut, which means a visit from Paige Bueckers, who learned early Sunday evening she’s likely heading to WNBA Dallas, which won the No. 1 draft lottery pick. Villanova alum Maddy Siegrist represented the Wings on the ESPN telecast.

Three other locals played Sunday, Lehigh rallied from an eight-point deficit going into the fourth quarter and dominated the period 23-8 going on to a 62-55 victory at Brown of the Ivy League at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, R.I.

“I love how our kids responded in the fourth quarter,” said Lehigh coach Addie Micir, who competed against the Bears (1-3) playing for Princeton. “It took a little bit, but we took a deep breath after the third quarter, we took care of the ball, rebounded defensively, and we made shots.”

Maddie Albrecht, the Patriot League player of the week, had 16 points and 13 rebounds for Lehigh (3-1), while Ella Stemmer scored 15, and Lily Fondre scored 13.

The Mountain Hawks next hosts Hofstra of the CAA Friday in Stabler Arena at 6 p.m. (ESPN+).

Penn State reached triple digits for the second straight game, beating Monmouth of the CAA 100-55 to finish the season-opening home stand in the Bryce Jordan Center at 5-0.

Gracie Markle had 24 points and seven rebounds with three blocks, while Moriah Murray scored 17, Gabby Elliott collected 11 and reserve Taliyah Walker scored 18, shooting 7-8 to keep the Hawks (0-5) winless.

The Nittany Lions now head to the new WBCA Showcase in Orlando, Fla., playing Marshall, Thursday (7:30 p.m., Peacock), and Georgia, Saturday (2:30 p.m.).

La Salle (1-3) was competitive in the first half at Virginia (3-1), trailing the Cavaliers 29-25 at the half, but got outscored 47-23 the rest of the way for a 76-47 loss in Charlottesville at the John Paul Jones Arena.

Reserve Joan Quinn had 16 points for the Explorers, while Aryss Macktoon scored 13.

Kymora Johnson had 20 points for Virginia, leading four other teammates in double figures, including Latasha Lattimore, who had 12 points and 12 boards.

The Explorers host Rider at the John E. Glaser Arena, Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. iESPN+).

No locals are on Monday’s NCAA slate, but three teams are on the road Tuesday: Temple, going for three straight, visits Georgetown at 7 p.m. (FloHoops) in Washington, D.C.; Delaware hosts Colgate at 11 a.m. (FloHoops) in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark; Rutgers (5-0) takes its first road trip, the Scarlet Knights visit Virginia Tech in Blacksburg at 6 p.m. (ACCNX).

The National Scene

Two more weekend upsets highlighted the schedule of ranked teams, Indiana downed No. 24 Stanford 79-66 at home in Bloomington as Chloe Moore-McNeil scored 21 and Yarden Garzon scored 18 to help the Hoosiers (2-2) avenge last year’s rout by the Cardinal (4-1), who got 15 points from Nunu Agara to lead the visitors.

TCU (4-0) at home in Fort Worth, Texas, rode Sedona Prince’s 31 points and 16 rebounds to a 76-73 upset of No. 13 N.C. State (2-2), holding off a Wolfpack rally.

Taylor Bigby’s shot with 8.4 seconds remaining in overtime sealed it for the Horned Frogs.

Elsewhere, No. 16 Duke avoided the peril many teams have succumbed playing at South Dakota State in Brookins and pulled out a 75-71 victory as Jadyn Donovan had 23 points and 15 rebounds for the Blue Devils.

The Jackrabbits (3-1) were led by Brooklyn Meyer, who had 25 points off 9-13 from the field.

Rutgers transfer Kaylene Smikle had 21 points for No. 11 Maryland (5-0) in a 98-63 win over nearby Towson (0-4), coached by former Terrapins star Laura Harper, a Cheltenham grad who played in the WNBA.

Villanova transfer Christina Dalce had 13 points and 10 boards for Maryland, while Shyanne Sellers had 10 points and 10 assists.

Harmony Turner followed up her 41 points in a win over Boston College to lead Harvard (4-1) to an 83-41 win at Maine (2-2).

Iowa (4-0) stayed unbeaten winning 86-73 at Drake (2-2) as Addison O’Grady had 27 points and 10 rebounds while Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen continued to score in double figures, collecting 18 points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Guru NCAAW Report: Villanova Edges Columbia on Carter Foul Shot and Two Lions Misses; Quinnipiac Upsets Princeton; Lafayette Hosts No. 6 Notre Dame

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

VILLANOVA – Nearly a year after Villanova suffered a costly 77-75 loss at Columbia on now-graduated Abbey Hsu’s three-point play with 8.3 remaining in regulation, the Wildcats flipped the script on the regular season Ivy co-champs here Saturday afternoon on what they got done and the Lions didn’t in a narrow 68-67 victory at Finneran Pavilion on the Main Line.

“Just a really good win against a well-coached Columbia team playing some good basketball,” Villanova coach DeniseDillon said after the game. “Proud of our girls for finishing it off.

‘We weren’t pleased with how we played at Princeton. You can’t get it back but you can make up for it the next time out. I think this group learned a lot in a short period of time, we only had a day and a half to prepare.

“Our new ones and young ones were aware of the intensity these Ivy teams bring. I think our defense in the second half was really good, just our offense went stale a little bit. This is a great learning experience for us.”

In the middle of a three-game slate against Ivy schools that began Wednesday losing down the stretch at conference tourney champion Princeton and continuing next Wednesday hosting Penn in a Big 5 pod match, coach Denise Dillon’s youthful troops built a 13-point lead with 3:36 left in the third period.

Columbia than began to rally cutting the margin to eight at the end of the period.

The sides exchanged baskets several times as the final quarter got under way and Villanova (2-1) was still up double digits 65-55 on Lara Edmanson’s layup with 7:08 to play.

Both sides then went cold nearly four minutes before the Lions cut it to seven on Perri Page’s three-point play with 3:24 on the clock.

Maddie Webber missed a shot from deep and Columbia’s Kitty Henderson went 1-2 on the line a minute later.

Susie Rafiu off an offensive board scored for the visitors and now the margin was four until Denae Carter, a 6-0 forward who missed last season with an injury after transferring from Mississippi State and coming home, scored inside for a safer lead 67-61 with 1:18 left.

But Henderson scored again and when freshman Jasmine Bascoe from Ontario, Canada, lost the ball on the next possession, the Australian made it a one possession game 67-65 with 50 seconds left.

Webber then gave it up through a travel and Rafiu tied it on an assist from Bucknell transfer Cecelia Collins with 12 seconds left.

Dillon called time, creating a play that resulted in a jump ball, the Wildcats still in possession, with four seconds to go.

Carter then drew a foul with one second left, went to the line, made the first, missed the second and Columbia coach Megan Griffith, a native of nearby King of Prussia, called time to advance the ball.

Riley Weiss, the heir apparent to Hsu, drew a foul on Holy Cross transfer Bronagh Power-Cassidy of Ireland, sending Columbia’s best free throw shooter to the line with a chance to win it or minimally tie it.

The first attempt missed, but still a chance to force overtime, and then that one also failed, giving Villanova the win and ending the 13-game win streak across regular seasons by Columbia (3-1).

“Denae (on the winning play), she understood you gotta score or get to the foul line,” Dillon said. “She got to the foul line. And sometimes you gotta get lucky, those two missed free throws, we’ll credit the fans for that one.”

Each team made eight free throws, but the telling statistic was ‘Nova only missing three attempts, while Columbia missed 11.

Last season, Columbia became only the second Ivy team besides Princeton to land an NCAA at-large bid but fell to Vanderbilt in a First Four game.

Burke, a 6-0 graduate guard from Penn State in her third season back here near her Doylestown home, sizzled off the bench, shooting 6-9 from the field and 5-7 from deep while completing the double double for game highs of 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Bascoe, who has been placed in charge of running the offense considering her Canadian national team experience, was 7-15 from the field collecting 15 points and dealing five  assists, while Carter scored 11.

“It’s obvious her impact,” Dillon said of Bascoe joining a team that lost high-scoring Lucy Olsen to Iowa and post player Christina Dalce to Maryland through the portal. “She wanted to come in and make an impact and we talked to her and told her you’re going to be coming into the fire right away.

“She’s a basketball player. She has the mind of the game. She has a high IQ, she has the determination and the will to lead her team whatever she can do. It doesn’t matter how old.”

Bascoe said of her recruiting process, “I had a couple schools but Villanova was so open with me, the coaches were so transparent. They never glamorized everything, always kept everything honest, I knew I could come in and trust them. They told me what it was early, so I knew what to expect.”

Columbia’s Rafiu, a native of England, had 16 points, Weiss scored 13, Collins had 12 points and five assists, while Henderson scored 11 with six assists.

“Do I think Riley makes those free throws 95 percent of the time? I do, but this was a new experience for her,” said Griffith, now in her ninth year at her alma mater after being an assistant at Princeton. “I said to her, ‘when was the last time you had 3,000 people screaming in your face when you're on the free throw line?’ It's never happened to her... I told her that she didn't lose that game for us. We lost it by putting ourselves in that position.

 “Again, was it hard to lose this game, 100 percent, especially when you don't play well and put yourself in this position, but the Denise did a great job, and I thought Villanova played very confident basketball.”

The Lions and Wildcats could quickly meet again a week from Monday in a consolation or championship final of the Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas, which begins Saturday with an eight-team field.

The two teams are on opposite sides of the bracket, Villanova meeting Texas A&M, then North Carolina or Ball State.

Columbia meets Indiana and then either Southern Miss or Baylor.

Princeton Upset at Quinnipiac

In the only other local game, Princeton joined Harvard as the second Ivy power to fall on the road to Quinnipiac of the MAAC at M&T Arena in Hamden, Conn., the Tigers (2-2) losing 74-66 to the Bobcats (3-0), who last won their first three games eight seasons ago (2016-17).

Israeli freshman Gal Ravi scored 21 points, shooting 6-7 from the field, for Quinnipiac, while Caranda Perea tallied 17 with 11 rebounds. Karson Martin added 15 points, Jackie Grisdale scored 10, while Anna Foley just missd double digits with nine points.

The Tigers got 15 points from Skye Belker, Ashley Chea scored 14, including 4-11 from deep, and Fadima Tall scored a career-high 13 points.

Like Villanova, the Bobcats will play a third straight Ivy team when Cornell visits Thursday and on the same night Princeton travels an hour north to play at Seton Hall in a New Jersey rivalry game in South Orange.

The National Scene

Fairfield, the MAAC defending champion, feel just short of claiming another Power Four victim, losing at the Big 12’s Oklahoma State 64-62 at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.

The Stags (1-2) got 13 points from Kaety L’Amoreaux while Meghan Anderson and Janelle Brown each scored 10, and reserve Isabela Nicolette-Leite scored 13 points.

The Cowgirls (4-0) stayed unbeaten as Anna Gret Asi and Stailee Heard each scored 14 points and Tenin Magassa scored 10 points. Heard also grabbed 12 rebounds.

Oklahoma State had control early running up a 19-10 lead through the first quarter.

The Cowgirl lead grew to 13 but Fairfield fought back within six before the home team went to the break ahead 35-26.

Magassa ‘s personal 6-0 run out of the third quarter grew it to 15 and it extended one more to 16 before the Stags ran off a quick 9-0 run to slice the differential to seven but OSU got it back to 10 and settled at nine heading into the final 10 minutes.

Fairfield kept answering and moved within five at the three-minute mark on a foul shot.

A layup with 36 seconds got the Stags within a basket but after getting an ensuing stop they were unable to get a shot off in the final five seconds.

Only two ranked games occurred – one an easy 113-70 win at South Dakota (0-4) in Sioux Falls by No. 21 Nebraska (4-0) as Britt Prince scored 23 and Natalie Potts scored 22 points.

The other, a thriller however, as new coach Kenny Brooks made some early headway, leading No. 20 Kentucky (4-0) at home in Lexington to a 71-61 upset in overtime of No. 18 Louisville (2-2), ending a 7-0 series losing streak dating to 2015 since the last Wildcats triumph.

Georgia Amoore, who came over with Brooks from Virginia Tech, had 19 points while Teonni Key had a career-high 17 points.

The Cardinals got 14 points from Imari Berry.

Tennessee (4-0) got a 109-93 win over visiting Liberty (2-2) at home in Food City Center in Knoxville though new coach Kim Caldwell might not be happy that all the work by the Lady Vols lived off a 34-15 first quarter before being outscored in the second half and being just one basket better (30-28) in the second period.

Talaysia Cooper had 33 points and nine boards for Tennessee, while Ruby Whitehorn scored 1, and Sara Puckett scored 12.

Liberty’s Bella Smuda collected 27 points with five rebounds.

“I’ll leave it between us and them, but it was long, and it wasn’t nice, “ Caldwell answered a reporter’s question that her team looked grim and what was the message.

Here’s a link to photos in that game shot by William Ewart https://williamewartphoto.photoshelter.com/gallery/Liberty-vs-Tennessee/G0000xa9sSR1irCA/C0000MaY6lefGuNI.

Elsewhere, some other results from the radar section of the Guru’s schedule showed in the Arizona State Briann January Classic, the host Sun Devils beat SMU 80-73, while Minnesota slammed Oregon State 73-38.

Looking Ahead

Four local games are on tap Sunday highlighted by Lafayette hosting No. 6 Notre Dame, the first time the leopards will host a rank team in their era in the Patriot League.

The 2 p.m. tip airing on NBC Sports Philadelphia plus from the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, P.A., serves as a true homecoming for the Irish’s, Olivia Miles from nearby, Phillipsburg, N.J., while also fueling a potential sell out from  regional homecomings for Hana Hidalgo from Haddonfield, N.U.; Sonia Citron from outside New York City, and Kylee Watson from Lynnwood, N.J., outside Atlantic City

La Salle at Virginia in Charlottesville at 2 p.m. on ACCNX; Penn State is hosting Monmouth at 1 p.m. on B1G+ in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College and Lehigh is at Brown in Providence, R.I., at 1 p.m. (ESPN+).

Nationally, No. 24 Stanford is at Indiana at 2 p.m. (FS1); No. 4 Texas iis at DePaul in Chicago at 7:30 p.m. (FS1); Towson is at nearby No. 11 Maryland; and Harvard is at Maine at noon in Orono on ESPN+.