The Guru’s National/Local NCAAW Roundup: Tennessee Drops Third Straight While Duke’s Win Streak Reaches 17; Rider Edges Canisius on 3-Pointer in Overtime
By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru
Potentially in a world of trouble not seen in program history since the start of the legendary Pat Summitt era, No. 21 Tennessee (16-9, 8-5) is in a three-game slide that could get much worse considering who’s left to play .
The Lady Vols, Thursday night, fell behind 10-0 at the outset and though somewhat recovered went on to lose a wire-to-wire deficit Southeastern Conference encounter 82-74 at home in Knoxville to unranked Texas A&M (11-11, 4-9).
Behind in the rear-view mirror is a 2-6 stretch that includes a pair of blowout losses at No. 1 UConn and No. 3 South Carolina.
Ahead is a three-game regular season finish with two road stops at No. 9 Oklahoma, and No 7 LSU and a grand finale hosting No. 5 Vanderbilt at Food City Center followed by the daunting SEC tourney which Tennessee is likely to open at an unusually low level unless the squad can apply the defensive breaks under second-year coach Kim Caldwell.
The home team finished against the Aggies on a 23-13 kick in the final period coming after a decimating 22-9 third quarter attack by the visitors.
“We didn’t have it tonight,” said Caldwell in her opening statement at the postgame press conference. “We got in too big a hole to start the game, we clawed our way back to start the second, didn’t really come out of the locker room at halftime, found ourselves in a hole again and once again ran out of time down the stretch fighting our way back.”
Caldwell was hired prior to the start of last season from a strong Marshall program in the Sunbelt Conference but an untraditional selection in the family alumni picks of Holly Warlick and Kellie Harper that followed Summitt stepping down in her fight against dementia that ultimately claimed her life.
At the point of Harper’s ouster, who is in her first year at Missouri, the only viable alum pick that existed was Duke’s Kara Lawson, whose Blue Devils (20-6, 15-0) started ranked No. 7 in The Associated Press women’s poll a spot above Tennessee, went on a quick slide and was banished but is now No. 10 on a 17-game win streak and unbeaten in the Atlantic Coast Conference after Thursday’s 83-65 home win in Durham, N.C., against N.C. State (17-9, 10-5) led by Toby Fournier with 26 points and 12 rebounds.
If Tennessee’s recent woes may still be short of getting the Lady Vols tossed in Monday’s next poll, a loss Sunday at Oklahoma may be the final straw needed by the nationwide media panel.
With Caldwell’s arrival came a new hockey-style system that in her first season found many opponents unable to succeed against it and an ensuing excellent recruiting class but now brings local media asking her what the answer is to fans questioning its deployment.
Texas A&M’s Ny’Ceara Pryor scored 22 points with 10 assists in the win, Fatmata Janneh had 17 points and Lemyah Hylton scored 12.
Janniah Parker, a former Aggies player, scored 29 points with 10 boards for Tennessee, Zee Spearman scored 14, and Talaysia Cooper added 11.
The fourth quarter brought the home team within a bucket 76-74 with just over two minutes left and then the opposition answered with a 6-0 finish for its first road win over a ranked team in five years since defeating then-No. 13 Arkansas.
Elsewhere in the SEC, No. 3 South Carolina (26-2, 12-1) won 76-57 at No. 25 Alabama (20-7, 6-7) in Tuscaloosa as Joyce Edwards had 23 points with 12 boards and Madina Okot delivered a pair of 16s in points and rebounds.
Ta ‘Mia Scott was the only player for the Crimson Tide in double figures, scoring 14 points.
Dawn Staley’s group next is at No. 17 Ole Miss Sunday the same day Alabama is at Florida.
Ole Miss (21-7, 8-5) fell short Thursday night at home, losing 78-70 to No. 7 Ole LSU (23-4, 9-4) as former South Carolina star MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 26 points as the Tigers in the final eight minutes rallied from an 11-point deficit.
Flau’jae Johnson added 18 points.
Ohio State transfer Cotie McMahon scored 25 points.
LSU hosts Missouri Sunday in Baton Rouge.
In another SEC game with two ranked teams, No. 11 Oklahoma (20-6, 8-5) on the road took a 71-67 win in Athens over No. 24 Georgia (20-7, 6-7), which was coming off Sunday’s upset of No. 5 Vanderbilt.
Freshman Aaliyah Chavez scored 27 points with five assists and four rebounds for the winning Sooners who host Tennessee Sunday while Georgia, led by Mia Woolfolk’s 29 points in the loss, is at Auburn on Monday.
No. 4 Texas (25-3, 10-3) won easily 93-62 at Arkansas (11-17, 0-13) in Fayetteville as Madison Booker scored 21 to lead four other teammates in double figures.
The Longhorns next host Mississippi State Sunday.
In the only other ACC game with a ranked team, No. 22 North Carolina (22-6, 12-4) edged host Virginia Tech 66-63 in overtime in Blacksburg as Nyla Harris scored 15 points with nine boards for the winning Tar Heels and Elina Aarnisalo had 13 points and five assists.
The duo with Lanie Grant scored all nine points in the extra period against the Hokies (20-8, 10-6).
UNC hosts Pitt Sunday in Chapel Hill while Virginia Tech hosts Georgia Tech.
In two other ACC games of note, Notre Dame (17-9, 9-6) got 26 points from South Jersey’s Hannah Hidalgo in a 78-54 win at Wake Forest (13-14, 3-12) in Winston-Salem while Miami (14-12, 6-9) got 19 points from Fairfield transfer Gal Raviv in a 66-51 win over visiting Stanford (16-12, 5-10).
On Sunday, Miami hosts California in the ACC, Stanford is at Florida State, Notre Dame is at SMU and No. 8 Louisville hosts Virginia.
Two ranked teams in the Big Ten played Thursday, No. 13 Iowa won 83-74 at Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind., and No. 2 UCLA at home in Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles beat former PAC-12 rival Washington 82-67.
In the win by Iowa (21-5, 12-3), Ava Heiden had 21 points and 13 rebounds against the Boilermakers (12-14, 4-11), while in the win by the Bruins (24-1, 14-0), who clinched a conference tie, Lauren Betts had 23 points and eight boards against the Huskies (19-8, 9-7), who were led by freshman reserve Brynn McGaughy with 19 points.
UCLA can claim the top seed beating visiting Wisconsin on Sunday while Iowa hosts No. 6 Michigan the same day.
The Local Scene
Just two local teams played with Rider (7-19, 5-12) winning its second straight in the Metro Atlantic Conference 55-53 in overtime at Canisius (4-22, 2-15) in Buffalo as Kaylan Deveney nailed a 3-pointer with 5.9 seconds left in the extra period.
“I’m really proud of our effort tonight,” said first-year coach Jackie Hartzell. “We didn't make it easy on ourselves.
“Credit to Canisius, they kept fighting, but I'm happy with our fight and to be able to come out of that game with a win tonight it's huge for us. We were not good at the free throw line tonight, but we'll take any win we can get at this point in the season.”
Aliya McIver scored 16 points for the Broncs while Alena Cofield scored 11 of her 13 points after the half and grabbed nine rebounds.
Rider stays in Western New York visiting Niagara (2 p.m., ESPN+) at 2 p.m.
In Thursday’s other local game, Delaware (12-14, 6-8) dropped a Conference USA game in Miami 62-36 at FIU (16-9, 9-5) with Lay Fontroy scoring 11 points with six boards and three assists besides three blocks while Trinity Vance had 10 points and matched a personal best with five boards.
The Fighting Blue Hens next visit Missouri State Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).
In just one local game as well as overall on the tracker Friday Drexel in the Colonial Athletic Association visiting Hampton in Virginia at 7 p.m. on FloCollege.
In other Saturday local action not mentioned previously, in the Atlantic 10, Saint Joseph’s is at Saint Louis at 3 p.m. (ESPN+), in the Ivy League, Penn hosts a must-win game at The Palestra at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) while Princeton can help the Quakers by beating Brown in Jadwin Gym (5:30 p.m., ESPN+), a game the Tigers need to stay locked in a first-place tie or alone pending Columbia’s outcome.
In the Big Ten, Rutgers will be seeking a series sweep hosting Penn State at 4 p.m. on the Big Ten Network at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J.
In the Patriot League, both at 2 p.m., Lehigh visits Boston U., while Lafayette visits American U. at Bender Arena in Washington, D.C., both on ESPN+.
Elsewhere in the Patriot League, Army under first-year coach Katie Kuester, a former Saint Joseph’s star and assistant, can move into a first-place tie and split the season series by beating visiting Navy, the preseason favorite in the 11 a.m. game at West Point, N.Y., on CBSSN.