The Guru’s Local NCAAW Weekend Roundup: Villanova Alone in 2nd in Big East After Win Over DePaul; Penn Surprises Columbia in Ivy Palestra Win

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

PHILADELPHIA/VILLANOVA – Lots of travel through the weekend enabled reporting out of the several locations attended but deterred from filing the roundup of games, — however, with none local scheduled Monday and Tuesday we can catch up here and then a separate national considering Saturday was lite, Sunday was heavy and then Monday and Tuesday this week were also lite.

Of 11 games, scheduled, eight went into the victory column, the three losses coming Saturday in the Patriot League where Lehigh was nipped at Colgate 68-66 in Hamilton, N.Y., and Lafayette at home in the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa., fell 70-60 to American U.

On Sunday out west, Rutgers was routed in the Big Ten at Southern Cal, 71-39, at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.

On Saturday, the schedule was as such that we double dipped, spending the early afternoon at Villanova, where the Wildcats downed DePaul 69-56 at Finneran Pavilion and are now a game up in second place on Seton Hall, which lost later on the weekend.

That followed with a trip to The Palestra where Penn, which suffered a devastating win loss at home Friday night to Cornell, bounced back in its Ivy weekend stunning Columbia 64-55 after the Lions had handed Princeton its first league loss Friday night and with the then-No. 19 Tigers winning at home in Jadwin Gym over Cornell 72-61 they were back in sole possession of first.

In the win by Villanova (16-5, 9-3), Jasmine Bascoe scored 27 points while reserve Ryanne Allen continued to fortify a productive bench with 17 points.

“Our bench has been tremendous,” said Villanova coach Denise Dillon. “I think any of them are capable of being in that starting lineup, with Ryanne, Dani (Ceseretti), and Brooke Bender.

“They generate a lot of offense for us. It’s so nice to have that spark coming off the bench.”

Allen, who has been hot all season beyond the arc with a 48.7% shooting average, was 5-for-6 from the field and 3-for-4 from deep against the Blue Demons (5-18, 2-10) from Chicago.

Allen also had seven rebounds on a board battle won by Villanova 38-34.

“The big challenge today was rebounding,” according to Dillon. “It’s been a challenge for us as a team. So, we crowned a rebounding leader today, and Ryanne was awarded the crown today.

“I think we’ve got to compete against each other. If we’re doing that, then we’re getting better.”

Said Allen, “When I come in, I just want to make an immediate impact and bring energy to those who have already been out there.

“Being on the bench, you’re able to see things, see what’s happening out there. So I want to to bring that energy and see what I can do to help the team in any way.”

On Wednesday, Villanova is at Butler at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) in Indianapolis launching the stretch drive of February to the Big East tournament next month at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn.

“In February, you’ve already played everyone, so everyone knows what you can do,” Allen said. “And they see your strengths and weaknesses. So, it’s important to be able to find different ways to win, continue to put our foot on the gas and push forward when everyone’s trying to get as many wins as possible.”

Penn Bounces Back to Stay Alive in Pursuit of a Return to Ivy Madness

Basically, with nothing left to lose, the Quakers (13-7, 3-4) took on Columbia (14-6, 5-2) nice and loose in a toe-to-toe contest in which Penn was able outscore the Lions 17-15 in the third quarter and 22-15 in the fourth.

“We competed,” said Mataya Gayle, who led with 16 points and seven assists. “Everyone on the court doing what they needed to do, the little things. I really think we took yesterday’s loss and learned from it, and that translated today.”

The Quakers started the Ivy race for the four-team field in the conference tourney next month at Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., 0-3, the tough one in double overtime at Brown.

But then Penn won two straight only to fall to in a game favored to win over Cornell and then having to face Columbia and Princeton (Friday, 7 p.m., at Jadwin Gym) back-to-back.

To achieve the first step meant dealing a quick turnaround in less than 24 hours, though at least it was at home where Penn tossed a balanced attack at Columbia.

Tina Njike double-doubled with 10 points and 10 boards while dealing four assists. Simone Sawyer added 10 points and Brooke Suttle added 11 points with seven boards. Katie Collins had nine points, while Saniah Caldwell had eight points and four assists, and Sawyer grabbed three steals.

“That’s huge for us,” Gayle said. “We got a talking to where a coach told us we needed to do all the little things if we want to be a better team. We have to have a more balanced spread of scoring if we want to be successful. Today, we just showed when we do that, we’re pretty unstoppable.”

The downer felt by Penn Friday was now the mood of Columbia, whose Riley Weiss scored 23 points shooting 12-for-20 from the floor and 5-of-15 from distance besides grabbing seven boards.

“She is such a prolific scorer and she can shoot it,” Penn coach Mike McLaughlin said. “Try to make every shot at least challenging. For the most part, we did it.”

For the veteran Penn mentor, for the moment, hope to be in the four-team field has returned, though the Quakers would have to win the league to get to the NCAA tournament through the automatic qualifier route, and would likely have to be in the title game to gain a shot at the WBIT.

“You start looking at scores and records and all that never gets you where you want to be,” McLaughlin said. “This team just got to get better. And I really do believe if we play that hard every night, we’re going to have a chance.”

The game was attached by alumni night for promotion.

“And I think it’s all that. It was a great building tonight that was about as fun as I think these kids can play in this environment, and I want them to experience that, too. All this came together tonight.”

Temple Nips Tulane in OT After Attending Unrivaled

Coach Diane Richardson, linked to the pro world through her adopted daughter Jonquel Jones on the WNBA New York Liberty, wanted her team to experience the energy of Friday night’s record attendance 21,000+ for the Unrivaled Doubleheader at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in South Philly also attended by Saint Joseph’s and Villanova.

The three other Big Five teams were in game situations playing home or traveling.

After the 11 p.m. ending, the Owls headed straight to the airport to zip to New Orleans where Richardson had gotten the needed parties to delay the American Conference tip time to later in the evening.

But after a gritty contest against the Green Wave (8-12, 3-5) all was well that ended beyond well, Temple (10-11, 4-5) winning 67-65 in overtime as Jaleesa Molina, who missed a chance to win it at the end of regulation, still become the heroine at the end of the extra period after Kaylah Turner stole CC Mays’ pass and was found for the layup and victory.

Turner had a game-high 27 points and reached her 1,000th career tally.

The Owls are off all week until Saturday, hosting North Texas at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) at home in the Liacouras Center.

Princeton Tops Cornell

After bounced from the top of the Ivy race on Friday night, Princeton (18-2, 6-1) made Cornell’s joy over beating Penn short-lived, the Tigers on Saturday at home in Jadwin Gym winning 72-61 over the Big Red (8-12, 3-4).

A 24-15 fourth quarter was the magic potion as Princeton shot 64.3% from the field.

Skye Belker and Olivia Hutcherson each scored 20 points with Belker adding five assists and Hutcherson grabbing seven boards and swiping three steals.

Princeton awaits its second Penn meeting Friday night looking to sweep the Quakers.

La Salle Wins at Duquesne

Ashleigh Connor’s hometown visit to Pittsburgh was a joyous one Saturday scoring a career-high 26 points in the Explorers’ 77-61 victory at Duquesne (7-15, 0-11) in the Atlantic 10.

La Salle (12-10, 5-6) dominated the fourth quarter 32-21 to gain the win.

Connor was 7-for-13 from the field and a perfect 11-for-11 on the line, while Aryss Macktoon had 23 points and seven boards, Joan Quinn scored 12 points, and reserve Ivona Miljanic scored 10 points.

La Salle on Wednesday hosts Dayton at 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+) at its John E. Glaser Arena.

Saint Joseph’s Gets Split with Davidson

On Sunday, the Hawks (15-6, 6-4) picked up their third straight victory in the Atlantic 10, winning 59-51 over Davidson (15-9, 7-4) at Hagan Arena.

Gabby Casey, who earned her second straight A-10 player of the week on Monday, had 22 points with five rebounds and a pair of assists, while Aleah Snead scored 10 points with three steals, five rebounds and two assists, and Rhian Stokes and Jill Jekot each scored nine points.

On Wednesday, Saint Joseph’s goes for a split visiting Rhode Island at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) at the Ryan Arena in Kingston, the host Rams on a program-tying 13-game winning streak and at 10-0 tied for first with George Mason in the conference.

Casey was sidelined with an illness when the teams met last month in Philadelphia.

Drexel Wins 5th Straight

The Dragons (13-7, 6-3) are on a tear in the Coastal Athletic Association, sweeping their weekend road trip by winning Sunday 65-56 at Northeastern (6-13, 2-7).

Laine McGurk shot 9-for-15 from the field for 24 points, her second best this season, against the Huskies.

Amaris Baker, named CAA co-player of the week on Monday, scored 21 points, her 11th 20+ game this season.

On Friday Drexel hosts Hampton at 6 p.m. (FloCollege) to start a weekend home stand.

Delaware Tops FIU

In a game moved on day later from Saturday due to weather travel issues from the visitors the Blue Hens (10-11, 4-5) at home in the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark won its fourth of last five games, beating FIU 51-48 in a CUSA contest.

Ella Wanzer had a game-high 13 points against the Panthers (12-8, 5-4) while Lay Fontroy had 12 points and 10 boards for her fifth double double of the season.

Safi Koliegbo score 11 points, seven coming in the final quarter.

Delaware coach Sarah Jenkins picked up her 50th victory and Ande’a Cherisier dealt a personal best six assists.

For the second time at home, Cherisier in the CUSA rallied after trailing at the half.

The Blue Hens on Thursday will travel to Atlanta to play at Kennesaw State at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

Setbacks for Lehigh, Lafayette and Rutgers

The Rutgers (9-13,1-10) slide in the Big Ten continued on Sunday, losing 71-39 at Southern Cal (13-9, 5-6), which got 18 points from Kara Dunn, 16 points and nine rebounds for Jazzy Davidson, and 11 points from Kennedy Smith.

Davidson earned freshman of the week honors Monday from the Big Ten and the national award Tuesday from the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).

Zachara Perkins had 12 points and Imani Lester scored 11 for the Scarlet Knights.

On Wednesday, still out West, Rutgers is at No. 2 UCLA at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles at 10 p.m. (B1G+).

In the Patriot League, on Saturday, Lehigh (10-10, 6-4) lost 68-66 at Colgate (6-15, 2-8) when Abby Ferguson scored on a last-second layup taking a pass from Ella Meabon, who had a team-high 17 points.

Lily Fandre scored a game-high 23 points, shooting 9-for-16 from the field for the Mountain Hawks who next host Loyola, Md., at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) on Wednesday at Stabler Arena.

Teresa Kiewiet with 16 points and Haylie Adamski with 15 led Lafayette (8-13, 4-6) but the Leopards fell 70-60 to American (6-15, 4-6) at home.

Lafayette next on Wednesday goes to league-leader and preseason favorite Navy at the academy in Annapolis, Md., at 6 p.m. (ESPN+).

Schedules for teams who did not play in the weekend roundup period Saturday or Sunday show in the Big Ten Penn State on Wednesday at Purdue at 7 p.m. (B1G+) while on Thursday in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Rider hosts Manhattan at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) at Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW Roundup: Unrivaled Sets Pro Women’s Basketball Attendance Record Here While in College Ball Drexel Wins and Princeton and Penn Suffer Losses

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

PHILADELPHIA — A gut feeling several months ago by Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell, the husband of WNBA Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier, a former UConn great, was proven the right feeling here Friday night at the Xfinity Mobile Center about where to take the 3-x3 winter league out of Miami to a one-stop tour to play a regular season doubleheader.

An energized and packed sellout arena of 21,490 became the highest attended pro women’s basketball event, eclipsing the 20,711 set in the WNBA on Sept. 19, 2024, between the Caitlin Clark-led Indiana Fever and Washington Mystics.

The building, then known as the First Union Center, drew a then record 20,060 at the women’s collegiate level both nights when the city hosted the NCAA Women’s Final Four, won by Connecticut over Tennessee with area schools Rutgers and Penn State, as upset eighth winners, also in the semifinals.

The number shattered the building record for any event, including the pro men’s or women’s basketball record 21,305 when Michael Jordan came to town for the last time as a Chicago Bull for an NBA visit to the 76ers.

The arena’s best number was for a rock concert when 21,424 came for the Backstreet Boys ‘Into the Millennium’ Tour on September 29, 1999.

The Friday night twin bill pitted Breeze BC at Phantom BC, which featured on the latter hometown star and Saint Joseph’s alum Natasha Cloud, and in the nightcap, Rose BC, featuring locally-produced Kahleah Copper, who went on to star at Rutgers, in the WNBA and on the record eighth gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic Team, playing the Lunar Owls BC.

The crowd was not limited to people in the Delaware Valley with several attendees introduced during timeout portions coming from Michigan and Arkansas.

The games, that began at 7:30 p.m. and ended at 11 p.m. with the building still full, were aired on TNT, truTV, and HBO Max, though all the national broadcast networks had representatives to chronicle the scene.

The local news stations all had reporters here and the Philadelphia Inquirer assigned five staffers, the most for a women’s basketball event since going all-in when times were better when the Final Four came to town.

“I’d never thought I’d see this,” said Saint Joseph’s veteran coach Cindy Griffin, who had expectations of growth to a decent level, but never the mega energy that was in the building.

Temple coach Diane Richardson, who wanted her team here, got some shuffling done on the Owls’ slate, which had her players head right for the airport to New Orleans to play Tulane tomorrow, with the Green Wave and American Conference cooperating and moving the tip time from the afternoon to 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

Most of the national outlets covering women’s basketball had staffers here, who got some news of the stalemated WNBA labor negotiations resuming Monday in a face-to-face meeting.

It was also a taste of the future with an expansion WNBA team, that won a bidding war with a price of $250 million, coming here in 2030.

The crowd included Robin Roberts, anchor of Good Morning America; comedian Leslie Jones, retired NFL Eagles star Jason Kelce and his wife, Kylie, 76ers guard Kyle Lowry, comedian Wanda Sykes, who was a force leading the push to land a WNBA team, while  having an ongoing season with her No. 3 South Carolina squad in the Southeastern Conference didn’t stop North Philly’s and Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley from showing up and dancing in her seat with a big smile when the cameras homed in on her.

Cloud and Copper drew the loudest cheers until the cameras targeted Staley. It would not be surprising to see her down the road becoming the franchise’s top executive once it gets organized.

“I was shocked when someone said, ‘coach is here,” said Alaiyah Boston, a former Gamecocks great who plays with Clark on Indiana. I went over and gave her a hug.”

The evening was billed as Philly Is Unrivaled 2026 with Xfinity as the sponsor.

“It was unbelievable,” Collier, a league co-founder with WNBA and former UConn great Breanna Stewart, told ESPN’s Alexa Phillippou of the scene. “You could feel the love tonight. I’m so glad we came here. I just can’t explain it more than I was just so filled with joy. It was amazing.”

Next season one of the two NCAA Women’s regional semifinals and finals will be here in the arena.

Phantom beat Breeze 71-68 in a competitive first game while Lunar Owls handled Rose 85-75 in the nightcap.

“It was just what women’s basketball deserves,” said Rose coach Nola Henry.

The last women’s pro basketball event in the city was when the Rage under the now defunct ABL was a franchise moved from Richmond and played a season and two months lasting till 1998 when the league went bankrupt.

The Collegiate Local/National Scene

The success of the stop by the two-year-old Unrivaled pro women’s basketball league was the perfect antidote to overcome a dour night on an overall lite schedule, especially on the local side.

Penn, poised to continue to make up for an 0-3 start in the Ivy League, had a dreadful first half in The Palestra against Cornell, which is the host in Ithaca, N.Y., in March of this season’s four-team each, men and women, Ivy Madness sending the winners to the NCAA tournament.

The Quakers (12-7, 2-4) rallied but fell short to the Big Red (8-11, 3-3), who ended a 16-game losing streak in the series with a 62-58 victory, the first over Penn since February 6, 2015.

Cornell also has a win over Columbia giving the visitors two key potential tiebreaks if needed by the end of the regular season.

Additionally, there’s no easy road just ahead for Penn, which hosts Columbia Saturday at 5 p.m. and then next weekend goes to Princeton.

The Lions will be coming to The Palestra with Friday night’s upset on the road at Princeton to move with the Tigers in a tie for first.

Penn is now sixth with its back against the proverbial wall.

This is one, a team right with us on our court, that we needed to find a way to get it,” said Penn longtime coach Mike McLaughlin. “And now we have a difficult task, Columbia coming in, and Princeton again. It’s going to put us against the wall, and now we have to find a way.”

Penn almost rallied successfully finishing the third quarter from a 16-point deficit on a 12-0 run.

“It was 6:50, I wrote it on the board,” McLaughlin said. “I told them the time, 6:50 left in the third and we’re down sixteen. Let’s try to get this to a mangeable number in the next five minutes. And we finished the quarter on a 12-zero run.”

In the fourth quarter, Simone Sawyer’s shot got Penn within a point, 55-54, but the visitors struck back with a make from deep and a foul shot to lead 59-54.

“I thought when they got their lead, our pressure did affect them,” McLaughlin said. “It helped us. We just couldn’t get it out of the gate. We just didn’t defend well enough.”

Mataya Gayle tied a game-high with 20 points for the home team, while Katie Collins had 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Saniah Caldwell dealt six assists.

Cornell’s Emily Pape matched Gayle with 20 points, while Rachael Knaus scored 18 points.

Meanwhile, Princeton, which had been leading a charmed life with strong fourth quarters failed to continue the string and fell to a team that has bedeviled the Tigers in recent seasons, the most recent now Columbia’s 73-67 win in Jadwin Gym on the road in Central New Jersey.

Perri Page led the Lions (14-5, 5-1) with 23 points, 14 claimed in the second half. Columbia now has two wins against AP ranked teams, both over Princeton, the earlier when the Tigers were 25th in 2023-24.

The home team (17-2, 5-1) had the third longest win streak at 15 when the game got under way.

Riley Weiss, who set the Columbia record with 40 points last week, scored just 12 and fouled out with 8:46 left in regulation.

Princeton’s Madison St. Rose and Olivia Hutcherson each scored 17 points and Skye Belker scored 16.

St. Rose left in the third quarter with an injury and stayed sidelined.

On a switch in opponents Saturday, Penn hosting Columbia at 5 p.m. (ESPN+) and Princeton hosting Cornell at the same time on ESPN+.

Drexel (12-7, 5-3) had the lone local victory, a 56-53 Coastal Athletic Association triumph at Monmouth (13-6, 6-2) in West Long Branch, N.J.

It was a narrow differential at the finish, the Dragons connecting on four foul shots in the final minute.

Amaris Baker led the visitors with a game-high 18 points, shooting 6-for-12 from the field. Laine McGurk scored 15 on six made shots from the field, three being from beyond the arc.

Drexel last won at Monmouth in 2020 before the host Hawks became a CAA member.

The Dragons next move to Northeastern at 1 p.m. (FloCollege) in Boston on Sunday.

Delaware (9-11, 3-5), in a CUSA contest moved from Thursday due to snow conditions, fell 79-54 to Missouri State (13-7, 5-2), ending a three-game win streak.

Safi Kolliegbo had 20 points, 14 in the third period, while Ande’a Cherisier had 16 points and nine board while getting two of the six team blocks.

The visitors thrived in the final quarter outscoring the hens 26-12.

The Blue Hens next host Florida International on Sunday at 4 p.m. on ESPN+, moving from Saturday due to weather-related travel conditions.

There was one lone national game of note, two ranked teams in the SEC going at it, moved to a neutral site in Birmingham, Ala., because of the weather and No. 17 Ole Miss, which was the home team in icy Oxford in the original schedule, topped No. 5 Vanderbilt 83-75 as Cotie McMahon scored 27 points for the Rebels (18-4, 5-2) while Christeen Iwuala scored 18 points with 14 boards.

It was the second straight loss for Vanderbilt (20-2, 6-2), which had its best start until losing Sunday to No. 3 South Carolina.

The visiting Commodores got 29 points from Mikayla Blakes while Aubrey Galvan scored 18.

Vanderbilt hosts Florida Sunday and Ole Miss will play Auburn in Birmingham on Monday.

Looking Ahead Locally and Nationally

On Saturday, besides the Temple game at Tulane already mentioned and the two Ivy games, the local list has La Salle is at Duquesne at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) in the Atlantic 10, while DePaul in the Big East visits Villanova at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) in Finneran Pavilion.

In the Patriot League, Lehigh is at Colgate in Hamilion, N.Y.  2 p.m. (ESPN+) and Lafayette hosts American at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) in the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa.

Nationally, among ranked teams for Saturday, besides Princeton hosting Cornell, Oregon in the Big Ten visits No. 16 Maryland at 5 p.m. (BTN) in College Park at the XFINITY Center.

In the Patriot League Army is at Holy Cross at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) in Worcester, Mass.

In the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Quinnipiac, having won the first-place showdown with Fairfield, hosts Merrimack at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ in Hamden, Conn., while Fairfield is at Sacred Heart in a crosstown game at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).

Iowa State in the Big 12 is at home in Ames, hosting UCF at 3 p.m. (ESPN+).