By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru
PHILADELPHIA – On an afternoon in which just two of the Guru’s local 11 were scheduled to play, the results came down as a split decision with Drexel losing here Saturday to Pacific 58-51 in a consolation round of the Preseason WNIT, while just up north Rider followed up last week’s win at Penn State with a 64-57 victory at home over Xavier in Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J.
Drexel (2-2) was back home in the Daskalakis Athletic Center after losing Monday’s second round at No. 18 DePaul in Chicago facing the Tigers (2-1), who had fallen at No. 7 Oregon State.
For a while it seemed coach Denise Dillon’s group might win despite themselves after fighting back from an early eight-point deficit in the second half to a 47-47 tie in the fourth quarter with 6 minutes, 36 seconds left in regulation.
But the physical Tigers grabbed the lead right back and never let go the rest of the way.
“You were concerned because of the amount of people who were looking gassed,” Dillon said. “It comes down to just trying to get these guys on the same page instead of picking and choosing who we might have one night, who we might have the next.
“Also, I didn’t feel we were on the same page on the defensive end.”
Bailey Greenberg was held to 10 points while teammates Aubree Brown and Keishana Washington went one better with each scoring 11 points. As a unit the Dragons shot 31.7 percent from the field, making 19 of 60 attempts.
Drexel is off until next Sunday when the Dragons will host Richmond of the Atlantic 10 at 2 p.m., though the Spiders were once a member of Drexel’s Colonial Athletic Association.
Meanwhile, Rider (2-1) turned Xavier’s Eastern swing into a lost cause though the Musketeers (1-2) of the Big East, who had lost at Temple, Thursday, stopped the Broncs from busting loose altogether.
Stella Johnson, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference preseason player of the year, was stellar again for Rider, scoring a season-high 27 points.
She also became the program’s all-time leader in steals with 255.
The Broncs jumped to an 11-0 lead from the outset though the Musketeers fought back to a 13-13 tie.
However, Rider was able to get the advantage back up to 11 later in the game while Amari Johnson also scored in double figures with 12 points.
“Our execution down the stretch was great,” said veteran Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “I’m more proud of our defensive effort for the whole game.
“Xavier is a really good team. For us to be able to defend them the way we did says something about the character of this team.”
This was the first-ever meeting between the Broncs and Xavier, which once was a member of the Atlantic 10.
Rider next goes to the MAAC/ASUN Challenge in Orlando, Fla., playing Lipscomb, Friday, at 2:30 p.m., and North Florida, Saturday, also 2:30 p.m.
Both games (ESPN+) will be at the HP Field House with Marist coming along as the other team representing the MAAC in the challenge.
Looking Ahead: On Sunday, the Guru will be across town from here at Temple for the 1 p.m. tip against No. 4 Connecticut in the Liacouras Center.
La Salle, coming off Friday’s comeback win at home over Harvard, heads to Penn State at 2 p.m. while Harvard will move on to Rutgers at 2 p.m.
Saint Joseph’s meets Seton Hall, coming out of the Pirates’ narrow Friday night loss at home to Princeton, as the Hawks meet the Pirates at Fordham at 2:30 p.m. before Villanova meets the host Rams at 5 at Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx.
Delaware, coming off its first loss, which was at home to in-state rival Delaware State, heads to Maryland at 1 p.m. in College Park, where the eighth-ranked Terrapins are coming off a narrow rallying road win at James Madison and previous home loss to South Carolina.
Princeton, coming out of Friday’s Seton Hall win, heads back home to Jadwin Gym, to host Florida Gulf Coast at 1 p.m.
Nationally, besides the Oregon State/Missouri State Preseason WNIT championship, revived Arizona is at Texas, while Northwestern is at Duke, and Texas A&M is at Rice.
A sneak peek into the new week actually has an open day game-wise for the Guru, who will still be busy updating the database from the next AP women’s poll, and doing the first USBWA national player of the week selections while also voting in some of the conference weekly polls.
And that’s your report.
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