The Guru’s NCAAW Report: Penn, Villanova and Rider Claim Victories; Tulsa Upsets No. 19 Oklahoma State for First-Ever Ranked Win

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

PHILADELPHIA – The locals went 3-0 Thursday night, here at The Palestra where host Penn (4-0) got a slow start and then started churning on the way to a 72-53 win over Longwood (2-2) which proved an excellent tuneup for Saturday afternoon’s 4 p.m. visit from No. 23 North Carolina (ESPN+) marking the return of Tar Heels coach Courtney Banghart from her days as a Dartmouth player in the Ivy wars and then coaching Princeton as a national force.

Out on the Main Line, Villanova (1-2) had its home opener at Finneran Pavilion and shook off two opening road losses to get the Wildcats’ first win of the season, a 97-55 rout of Merrimack.

Up north on the road Rider (1-1) picked up its first win, triumphing 56-45 at Central Connecticut (0-4), which is seeking its first victory of the season.

Nationally, it was a nice night for The American, the conference of which Temple is a member, as Tulsa (2-1) became the first unranked team to beat a ranked team this season, occuring on the 12th day by downing No. 19 Oklahoma State 64-62 in overtime.

It was also the first time in 56 games that Tulsa beat a ranked team and flipped the Cowgirls (3-1) , the last of such opponents faced, a year ago when Oklahoma State won 90-58 in Stillwater.

American favorite South Florida (3-1) under new coach Kristy Curry won 72-70 at Florida (3-1) of the SEC, while American member Memphis (4-0) at home upset Curry’s former team Alabama of the SEC 75-70 handing the Crimson Tide (4-1) their first loss of the season.

In the Penn game, center Tina Njike and freshman guard Rachel Thatcher of the Quakers each scored 16 points, with Thatcher going 3-for-3 from deep, pulling 10 boards, with three steals and five assists, playing all but 50 seconds.

Njike pulled seven boards, Brooke Suttle was 4-for-8 from beyond the arc and scored14 points and Mataya Gayle scored 11 points.

Longwood got 14 points from Kayla Washington, Shakira Gresham scored 12, and

Nal’La Bennett scored 11 drawing a nice crowd off her local roots of Sicklerville, N.J., and Friends Central High, whose collegiate career began at Stony Brook on Long Island.

“That may have been their intent give her a homecoming but we were just looking around for people to go home-and-home as part of our scheduling,” said veteran coach Mike McLaughlin.

A 13-0 run in the second quarter gave the Quakers control of the game the rest of the way, building a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter.

“They got a really nice team, well-coached, they’re going to give a lot of teams trouble,” McLaughlin said the Quakers’ opponent.

But he was generally pleased with his outfit.

“They controlled the tempo the first half but I thought the second half we controlled the tempo both sides of the ball,” McLaughlin said.

He had praise for Thatcher who is the latest in a long line of freshmen he has recruited who have stepped in and been a big factor from the moment they made their collegiate debutes.

“What are you going to say … she can score the ball, she’s tenacious on the glass, as a freshman to come out there and perform 39 minutes,” McLaughlin said, also praising Njike’s development to date.

“Tina’s worked real hard,” he acknowledged.

North Carolina (1-2) comes to town having lost the Tar Heels’ first two games, 91-79 to then-No. 21 Oklahoma in Paris, 84-39 Sunday to Dawn Staley’s No. 1 South Carolina squad, and finally got a win 109-40 at home over NC Central in UNC’s home opener as the Tar Heels set a program record with 18 shots connected from beyond the arc.

UNC features one of the top freshman in the nation in Kate Hapring, who had 16 points with five boards and five assists in Wednesday’s victory.

Villanova Sinks Merrimack

In the Wildcats’ win, Jasmine Bascoe continued to impress in her junior year to date, scoring a game-high 26 points against the winless opposition (0-4).

Tied 13-13, Villanova then ripped off an 11-0 run to close the opening period up 24-13.

The home folks continued to build on their advantage throughout the rest of the game reaching a 53-point lead.

Defensively, Villanova forced Merrimack into 15 turnovers in the first half.

For the game behind Bascoe’s performance, EJ Bender added 13 points, Kelsey Joens scored 12 and Kennedy Henry scored 10 while Simone Pelish grabbed 10 rebounds.

For the game, the Wildcats had 24 steals and forced 29 turnovers to mine 42 points.

 

Villanova returns to getting tested by bigger fish on Sunday, traveling to multi-Metro (formerly MAAC) champion Fairfield at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).

Fairfield Thursday took down a Wildcats’ Big East rival on the road, defeating Seton Hall 69-67  to stay unbeaten at 3-0 while the Pirates (2-1) suffered their first loss.

Preseason Metro player of the year Kaety L’Amoreaux had 26 points with five rebounds.

Hoddinott Leads Rider

Giana Hoddinott led the Broncs to their first win scoring a career-high 18 points while grabbing four rebounds and adding three assists.

Gabby Sweeney followed up her 11-rebound mark her previous game by equaling that total on the boards on Thursday.

“I am really proud of the resiliency our team showed tonight,” said second-year coach Jackie Hartzell. “We have plenty to improve on, but I am really happy to come out with our first win.”

Rider will stay in Connecticut to face Yale of the Ivy League on Saturday at 11 a.m. in Connecticut.

The National Scene: Huskies Handle Buckeyes

In the third straight game playing a ranked opponent, No. 4 UConn (3-1) after losing last week at Michigan, followed up Sunday’s home win over Iowa by claiming an 87-55 win over No. 17 Ohio State (3-1) to hand the Buckeyes their first loss.

Reigning national player of the year Anna Strong had 25 points for the Huskies fueled by a career-high seven 3-point shots and was 9-for-12 from the field in her game and missed just one 3-point shot in her eight attempts.

Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma’s record-breaking collegiate win total for men or women reached 1,291.

Ashlynn Shade added 15 points, freshman Olivia Vukosa had 12 rebounds.

The Buckeyes’ Jaloni Cambridge had 21 points on a mediocre 6-for-21 from the field and 1-for-7 from deep. Ava Watson had 13 points.

Defensively Uconn hampered an Ohio State squad that had been shooting nearly 50 percent their previous games to 19-for-55 from the field for 34.5 percent and 5-for-24 on shots beyond the arc.

Leading 38-35 at the half, UConn erupted for a 27-11 attack in the next period. The Huskies are 8-1 against the Buckeyes, though the one several years ago during their injury-riddled season came in the Sweet 16 ending a long consecutive run to the Women’s Final Four.

The visitors move on to No. 7 Louisville Sunday while Ohio State hosts Fairleigh Dickinson the same day.

No. 1 South Carolina Keeps Rolling

The unbeaten Gamecocks (3-0) won their 16th straight in-state triumph over host Clemson (3-1), this one 65-44, as Tessa Johnson had 13 points and Chloe Kitts had 12 points and 12 boards.

The Tigers failed to make a shot in seven attempts in the third period as S.C. outscored them 21-7.

Next up is the recently created annual Real S.C. game Sunday playing No. 3 Southern Cal in Greenville with 2025 national player of the year JuJu Watkins back in play following rehabbing a knee injury last season.

Wolverines Tame Lions

No. 2 Michigan joined the teams with dominant (3-0) third-quarters Thursday, the Wolverines outscoring host Columbia of the Ivy League 24-14 in taking an 81-58 victory.

Syla Swords led Michigan scoring 17 points while Kendall Dudley grabbed 10 boards.

Columbia’s Riley Weiss scored 23 points.

Olivia Olson had 15 points while Dudley scored 15 also.

The Columbia squad played their highest-ranked opponent ever besides hosting one. The only other ranked opponent to visit Levien Gym off Broadway on the Upper West Side in New York City was Ivy rival Princeton, though No. 5 Duke is on the schedule to visit later this month.

Megan Griffith was back on the sidelines for Columbia after a three-game suspension starting the season following a external review finding her coaching interactions with the team didn’t align with expectations for the program. The Lions also had a banner raising ceremony for winning the 2026 WBIT.

Michigan hosts Central Michigan on Monday while Columbia visits No. 19 Maryland in College Park on Sunday.

Tulsa Upsets Oklahoma State

In the first-ever win over a ranked team besides the first unranked team to beat a ranked team this season Mady Cartright had 17 points while Alisha Peavy had 12 points and 11 boards in the overtime triumph by the Golden Hurricane in overtime.

Oklahoma State kept Tulsa from connecting from the field the final 3:25 of the overtime but was unable to erase all of a 7-point deficit.

Jade Clark had 11 points for the home team and Dora Toman had 10, including five in the extra period.

Iowa State transfer Audi Crooks scored 17 points and Florida transfer Liv McGill had 13 points while Stailee Heard grabbed 15 boards to go with eight points.

Oklahoma State visits Summit contender South Dakota State Sunday.

Ranked Teams Still Dominate

The rest of the ranked teams all won their games against unranked opponents. Toby Fournier came back for her second game of the season following a lower leg injury and led No. 5 Duke (3-0) to an 85-23 win over Norfolk State (1-3) in Virginia before hosting Marshall Sunday at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C.

No. 15 TCU went to 5-0 winning 108-47 over visiting SE Louisiana (1-2) as Clara Silva led the way with 20 points, shooting 9-of-11 from the field. The TCU home-winning streak of 49 is the nation’s longest active one.

No. 7 Louisville (5-0) on the road easily won 94-73 at Ball State (1-2) as Imari Berry scored 22 points in Muncie, Ind. over the favorites in the Mid-American Conference ahead of No. 4 UConn’s Sunday visit to back home in Kentucky.

No. 10 Iowa (3-1) bounced back from Sunday’s loss at UConn winning 78-40 over Northern Iowa (3-1) back home in Iowa City as Dani Carnegie scored 22 points. Freshman McKenna Woliczko scored 14 points with nine rebounds for the Hawkeyes who next host No. 8 Vanderbilt Sunday in Sioux City, Iowa.

Elsewhere in the Big 10, No. 16 Washington at home in Seattle beat Bakersfield 85-51 while defending champion and No. 10 UCLA at home in Pauley Pavilion won 76-44 over Arizona, a rival when both were in the former makeup of the PAC-12. The Wildcats are now in the Big 12.

In key games and wins by mid-majors, in South Florida’s narrow 72-70 win at Florida Stefanie Ingram scored 25 points with 10 rebounds for the visiting Bulls while Memphis in its 75-70 win over Alabama got 17 points from Tamya Smith off the bench and got 12 rebounds to go with 11 points from Daejah Richmond.

Richmond of the Atlantic 10 got a big second half to down nearby Old Dominion of the Sun Belt 90-67, Holy Cross of the Patriot League won at the Ivy League’s Brown 77-64.

Tennessee (4-0) at home in Knoxville with a totally remade roster blasted Middle Tennessee 100-64 as Kaylene Smikle, a former Rutgers player who made several other stops, scored 30 points for the Lady Vols.

Next up Tuesday is a visit to Missouri Valley contender Belmont in Nashville, Tenn.

Looking Ahead

Locally in the first of two stops Friday Princeton visits Pepperdine at 9 p.m. in Malibu, Calif., on ESPN+.

Nationally, the Bank of Hawai’i Classic gets under way with Saint Mary’s playing the host Wahinies at 4 p.m. on the Mountain West Network MW+ and LMU playing SWAC contender Alabama A&M at 7:30 p.m. on YouTube TV.

In the Greenbrier Tip-Off Northwestern plays No. 24 West Virginia at 5:30 p.m. on CBSSN, in the 401 Invitational involving Baltimore area schools this weekend, Towson is at Loyola, Md., and UMBC hosts Morgan State.

Elsewhere, Oregon making a Northeast/New England swing visits Maine at 7 p.m. on ESPN+, PAC-12 favorite Gonzaga is at Grand Canyon of the Mountain West in Phoenix at 8 p.m. on the CW; Stanford is at West Coast favorite Santa Clara at 10 p.m. on ESPN+, and among ranked teams, No. 14 Oklahoma hosts Oral Roberts at 11:30 a.m. on SECN+, which also airs No. 9 LSU hosting Denver at 7 p.m. in Baton Rouge. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Guru’s NCAAW Report: Temple Defense Yields Big 5 Win at La Salle; Rutgers Nips Monmouth; Saint Joseph’s Wins at Cincinnati; Ranked Teams Dominate

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

PHILADELPHIA – For the second straight game, Temple’s defensive thrust yielded a motherlode of points from turnovers, this time 38 from 22 and the Owls (2-1) after fending several rallies closed with a flourish Wednesday night and took an 89-67 Big 5 road win at La Salle (1-2) away at the Explorers’ John E. Glaser Arena.

The triumph on Temple’s side of the Big 5 two-pod system sets up the showdown Dec. 1 back home in the Liacouras Center hosting Villanova for the Owls’ chance to make the title game for the second time in three years at the Big 5 Classic triple header which will be held at Penn’s Palestra as part of the fabled arena’s 100th anniversary.

“They’ve bought into the defense, they’ve bought into the defense,” said Temple coach Dianne Richardson of her players and also emphasized, “The Big 5 is very important to us.”

Temple had 21 steals and also had 30 offensive boards for 26 second-chance points and contributed to a 58-24 lopsided advantage scoring inside the paint.

Newcomer Shayla Smith, a transfer back to her hometown from Penn State was a two-way threat with 17 points and 14 rebounds, while Saniyah Craig had 17 point and 10 rebounds, Taliyah Logwood had 14 points and a career-high nine steals, while Kaylah Turner added 10 points.

Overall, the Owls had a 51-36 advantage on the boards, and a 22-5 edge in fast break points.

La Salle was able several times to keep Temple from enhancing double digit leads by delivering 12 blocked shots to none from the Owls, though the visitors’ deficiency in that area was made moot by everything else they did.

It may have been a road game on the schedule, but it was pseudo home game for Smith, who played at the arena many times in high school for Audenreid.

“Shayla Smith had a big night, and I don’t know what her numbers were, but she looked like she had been playing in our gym for a long time with Audernreid,” said La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray. “Shayla was comfortable.”

“Temple has good athletes who play really hard in as game that was allowed to be physical. They made some plays. I feel like Temple made a couple big shots, but I’m pretty sure it was turnovers after rebounds that got us. We didn’t protect the ball and were antsy with it,” he continued.

“It’s what they do. They do a great job of pressing off missed shots. It’s not normal. It is something I would love to do. And they do it really well. That esentially was a big deal to their success tonight. Temple has length and speed that we do not have.”

The Explorers do have a promising freshman in Tiana Thompson, who had a game-high 18 points.

Acknowledging his young roster, MacGillivray said, “we didn’t set out to be the best team in the Atlantic 10 the first week of the season. We played three different (styles) of teams and we’re better now from what we learned in those games.”

La Salle next travels to Virginia Tech, Sunday, at 6 p.m. in Blacksburg, on ACCNX.

Richardson was effusive over Smith’s performance.

“Shayla is starting to reach all the goals we set out for her,” she said. “We’ve known Shayla for a long, long time. We knew she was a scorer. She holds the (local area) record for scoring.

“But we also knew that she knew how to use her body. She knew how to use her body offensively and defensively. We saw her today rebound the ball, so she’s crashing the boards and we talked about playing offense and defense. To play at Temple, you have to be able to play defense. She has shown that shes doing that very well, especially with rebounding the ball.”

Temple next travels to the nation’s capital on Tuesday night at 6 (ESPN+) as the Owls head to the Smith Center to play George Washington, a former rival when Temple was in the Atlantic 10.

It’s a night of mixed feelings because GWU is going to retire the number of WNBA New York Liberty star Jonquel Jones, who is an adopted daughter of Richardson.

Rutgers Mammoth Rally Clips Monmouth on Pauldo’s Game Winner

Coastal Athletic Association favorite Monmouth was poised for a shocker making the trip in neighboring Central New Jersey to build a 17-point lead on Rutgers (4-0) at the Scarlet Knights’ Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway.

Rutgers eventually got in gear and began chipping away and then went up by two with several seconds remaining on a shot by Mia Pauldo, a Tennessee transfer with her twin sister Mya back near her stomping grounds of Paterson, N.J.

But the visiting Hawks (2-1) were not ready to let surrender as Gigi Gamble, the CAA preseason player of the year, who finished with 30 points, knotted the score, only to have Pauldo claim the heroine’s role with a jumper with three seconds left for her 17th point of the night to go with four assists and a steal.

On Monday, Pauldo was one of the five national players of the week cited by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).

Jaylah Lampley added 12 points for Rutgers, while Zachara Perkins scored 11 points with seven boards, four assists and four blocked shots. Zennia Thomas also had seven boards and had three steals.

Monmouth’s Divine Dibula was also in double figures with 16 points.

Rutgers next hosts Ualbany at 7 p.m. on Monday on B1G+.

Saint Joseph’s Survives Game of Runs Winning at Cincinnati

A 28-11 second quarter for the winning Hawks(2-0) was almost not nearly enough, but with a lead dwindling in the fourth quarter, the visitors reversed direction and went on to a 67-56 triumph over the Bearcats (2-1) at Fifth Third Arena in Ohio.

Rhian Stokes came off the bench to score a game-high 18 points with six rebounds, while Jill Jekot scored 13, Drexel transfer Deja Evans scored 12 with nine boards, and Gabby Casey also scored 12 points.

Cincinnati’s Caliyah DeVillasee had a team-high 12 points.

Saint Joseph’s begins Big 5 pod play Sunday at Drexel at 2 p.m.

Virginia Tops Drexel

The Dragons (1-2), after Friday’s buzzer-beating home loss to Penn, Friday, went on the road to Virginia (4-0) of the ACC and fell 81-39 to the Cavaliers in Charlottesville.

Breona Hurd had 18 points for the home team, Mary-Anna Asare had 15 points, and Kymora Johnson scored 10 points.

Drexel’s Molly Rullo scored 18 points and Laine McGurk scored 10. They now head to hosting Saint Joseph’s Sunday, trying to even their Big 5 record at 1-1.

Lehigh Wins and Lafayette Suffers Narrow Loss

It was a split night for the local duo in the Patriot League in their two non-conference games.

Lehigh (1-2) at home in Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., won 79-44 over winless Mount St. Mary’s (0-4) for the Mountain Hawk’s first season triumph as Leia Edwards scored 19 points with seven boards, off the bench, Keshia Vitalicio had 14 points, while Olivia Johnston scored 11, and another starter, Ryann Jennings, had 12 points and nine rebounds, a board total equal by teammate Olivia Flemming.

Lafayette (1-2), meanwhile at home in the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa., fell narowly 64-60 to unbeaten NJIT (4-0), Johari Hall leading the losing Leopards in points with 14 and rebounds with seven while Ava Locklear led the winning Highlanders both in points with 16 and completing a double double with 12 rebounds.

On Sunday, both tip times at 2 p.m. and on ESPN+ each, Lehigh visits Amerca East contender Vermont in Burlington while Lafayette goes to Poughkepsie, N.Y., to play Marist.

Winless Delaware Falls at Unbeaten Wisconsin

The Blue Hens (0-3) are still seeking their first victory after dropping a 90-48 visit at Wisconsin (4-0), though Delaware won the battle of the boards 35-31.

Safi Kolliegbo had 14 points, 11 in the first quarter for the visitors, while in the game at Madison the host Badgers were led by Teagan Mallegri with 24 points and Addison Deal scored 19.

Delaware is back in Newark Sunday for its home opener on ESPN+ hosting American U. at 4 p.m. at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Princeton Stays Pefect by Blunting Villanova Rally

PRINCETON, N.J. - On Tuesday in the only game involving local teams, two met each other with Ivy favorite Princeton (4-0) holding off a late rally by the Wildcats (0-2) to win 81-74 wasting on the losing side another strong effort by Jasmine Bascoe with 29 points.

Villanova has not beaten the Tigers since 2023, Maddy Siegrist’s senior season when she hit an incredible shot in a crowd seconds near the finish here at Jadwin Gym.

The home team got off to a hot start and by the third period had built a 16-point 47-31 lead.

The Wildcats then stirred and closed the deficit by the end of the third quarter and were down 57-48 after a 14-8 closing run. The rally continued to move with a few possessions, trailing 62-58 with 5:04 left in regulation when Princeton then blasted its way with an 8-0 run.

Villanova countered again to get within four 78-74 with 20 seconds left but the Tigers closed it out on a 3-1 finish on the foul line.

Kennedy Henry had a career high 23 points for Villanova while Fadima Tall continued her excellent start for the Tigers, who won two over conference contenders Belmont and Murray State and at Richmond, Tall scoring 28 in this one while while Skye Belker added 18 points.

Princeton heads to a West Coast trip visiting Pepperdine Friday and then defending NCAA champion and No. 10 UCLA Sunday.

Villanova heads for its home opener at Finneran Pavilion Thursday night hosting Merrimack at 7 p.m. on ESPN+, the same night the only other two local games, Penn hosts Longwood at 6 p.m. in The Palestra on ESPN+ while Rider visits Central Connecticut in New Britain at 7 p.m. on the NEC Front Row streaming network.

The National Scene

Since the start of the season, there have been upsets among games involving mid-majors beating each other, but ranked teams against unranked teams in games have been perfect.

The domination continued Thursday night, in five games: No. 12 Kentucky at home in Lexington routed Evansville 98-30 as Emily McDonald scored 27 with her points all accounted for setting a program record with nine shots on 12 attempts from deep.

No. 6 Texas at home in Austin blasted Summit contender South Dakota State 93-63 as Jayda Clark scored 24 shooting 10-for-15 from the field; No. 8 Vanderbilt at home in Nashville was a 101-59 winner over Western Kentucky as Mia Woolfolk scored 27 points.

No. 21 Ole Miss at home in Oxford romped 95-41 over Ualbany, Tennessee transfer Talaysia Cooper scoring 29 points, and at home in Chapel Hill, N.C., No. 23 North Carolina set a program record with 18 from deep in a 109-40 victory over North Carolina Central with Nyla Brooks scoring 17 points in the Tar Heels’ first win of the season.

Former Princeton coach Courtney Banghart returns to The Palestra Saturday at 4 p.m. bringing UNC to play Penn on ESPN+.

Looking Ahead

The lite local list was noted above but there are some worthy attractions nationally Thursday as No. 4 UConn (2-1) continues its rugged schedule start visiting No. 17 Ohio State in Columbus, the city of this season’s Women’s Final Four, at 6:30 p.m. on FS1; Columbia in New York City hosts No. 2 Michigan at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

Games in which ranked teams will be heavy favorites but are worth watching for their evaluation has No. 1 South Carolina paying an in-state visit to Clemson at 7 p.m. on ESPN2; No. 5 Duke visiting MEAC contender Norfolk State at 7 p.m. on the MEAC Network; No. 10 UCLA at 10:30 p.m. hosts former Pac-12 rival Arizona, now in the Big 12, on the Big Ten Network out of the conference the host Bruins are now a member.

Iowa, tied with UCLA for 10th in this week’s AP Poll on the same network hosts Northern Iowa at 8:30 p.m. in Iowa City.

Other ranked teams Thursday in action are No. 19 Oklahoma State at Tulsa at 6 p.m. on ESPNU; No. 15 TCU hosts SE Louisiana in Fort Worth, Texas, at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+; No. 7 Louisville visits Ball State, the MAC favorite, at 8 p.m. on CBSSN; and No. 16 Washington at home in Seattle hosts Bakersfield on B1G+.

Worthy in the unranked pile: Holy Cross visits Brown in Providence, R.I., at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN+; Fairfield is at Seton Hall at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ in South Orange, N.J.; Middle Tennessee is at Tennessee in Knoxville at 6:30 p.m. on SECN+; South Florida is at Florida at 6 p.m. on SECN+; Old Dominion is at Richmond at 6 p.m. on ESPN+; and Howard is at Iowa State at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+.