By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru
For the second straight night two Guru locals went at it in the only encounter Thursday from the group of 11 and as usually the case in many places this early in the season, one needs coaching assessments to translate exactly what was delivered.
Most times it’s going to go the way it went in Penn State’s home 83-69 victory over Rider in the Lady Lions’ Bryce Jordan Center in Happy Valley to make it 2-0 and spoiling the visiting Broncs’ season opener.
Penn State had a nice start a year ago in the second edition of the Carolyn Kieger era only to be swallowed up in the Big 10 wars that had extra lurches tossed in with the start/stop disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic which is still part of the landscape, even with fans allowed back in arenas.
Rider a year ago got a full schedule played but not enough practices in a season of rebuild following the graduation of Stella Johnson, the Broncs’ first draftee by the WNBA.
Despite the differential there were some things on both sides suggesting cores to reappear in the future.
For Penn State, it was the three-headed scoring explosion with Al Brigham getting a game-high 23 points following hitting the 20s in her debut in Tuesday’s opening win over Long Island, while Niya Beverly scored 20, and Makenna Marisa also delivered two score for a combined total of 63 points.
Brigham got hers shooting 11-of-13 from the field to go with six rebounds and six assists while Beverly was also deadly shooting 11-of-13 from the field.
It’s the first three set of 20s from the offense in seven seasons dating to a December 7 Pearl Harbor Day move on Wagner.
Combing with the win on Tuesday the Lady Lions haven’t topped 80 points back-to-back in their first two outings in 17 seasons.
Ball movement has also been fine with 21 assists on 33 field goals Thursday.
Leilani Kapinus grabbed eight rebonds spurring an overall 41-24 domination of Rider on the backboards.
On the bright side, Rider saw Raphaela Toussaint continue from last season setting a career best 21 points, and Amanda Mobley deliver eight assists, while the Broncs showed a fight rallying from an early 18-point deficit in the third to move within four in the third but that became the high point of the rally. Lenaejha Evans was also in double digits with 13 points, helping the bench top in scoring comparison 23-10.
“It’s definitely a sign of a more mature team when you can win when you’re not playing your best and win an ugly game,” Kieger said at the postgame press conference. “But a lot of credit to Rider.. I thought they were really gritty tonight. We showed toughness in that fourth quarter (24-15).”
Speaking of her threesome scoring outburst, Kieger said, “I think that’s going to be a story of our team this year. Tonight, each quarter someone else was stepping up, which is great. What we got to be better at is feeding the hot hand and recognizing where we have the mismatches. The 19 turnovers, obviously we need to fix./“
Meanwhile, veteran Rider coach Lynn Milligan went over the highs and lows of her team’s attack.
“I’m disappointed with the outcome, but I thought we played some good basketball and we played some bad basketball. Not happy defensively giving up 83 points, offensively I thought we had really good flow, especially with 25 assists on 19 field goals.”
The Broncs next are in Philadelphia on Saturday visiting La Salle at noon, the host Explorers looking to rally off their narrow loss on opening night. Penn State next on Tuesday will host Delaware State.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day Penn State reported the recent passing of Philadelphia area star and an all-time Lady Lions alum in Khadeejah Herbert, who was part of a fabulous inside-outside attack with all-American point guard Suzie McConnell-Serio. Pancreatic cancer also claimed Old Dominion great Medina Dixon, who led the Lady Monarchs to their third national title in 1985.
Stanford Title Defense Begins on Proper Footing
A year after a third-acquired NCAA title at the end of a season in which Stanford was banished from home for most of it due to coronavirus protocols in place for the county in Northern California, the Cardinal was back in front of their fans and roared to a 91-36 win over Morgan State of the MEAC Conference from Baltimore.
Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer extended her leading record of all-time Division I victories to 1,126, which is seven ahead of UConn Hall of Famer Geno Auriemma, who takes his 1,119 wins to Sunday’s season opener at home against visiting Arkansas, the only team to beat the No. 2 Huskies in the irregular season of 2021.
VanDerveer with Stanford will be back in action as the No. 3 Cardinal host No. 25 Texas at 3 p.m. in an ongoing national rivalry./
“What our returnees have to understand is not to be complacent,” VanDerveer said Thursday night. “I don’t think anyone is consciously.”
Frsancesca Belbi had 12 points, Lexi Hull scored 11, while Cameron Brink had 10. The game also saw the debut of senior graduate transfer Jordan Hamilton from Northwestern/
Morgan State’s Adia Brisker had 22 points as the Bears fell to 0-2.
No one in the preseason Top 25 of the Associated Press women’s poll lost.
This season, the Guru’s nightly tracker focuses on the big games of interest but also matchups when top conference picks play each other, likes from other conferences, major opposition when those picks play power opponents, and, of course, any time one of the Guru’s local 11 takes the floor.
That group includes the Big Five, Drexel, Delaware, Penn State, Rutgers, Rider and Princeton, with partial inclusion from the near local of Lehigh in the Patriot League.
On Thursday night, on the road, Ohio Valley pick Belmont on the road won at Ole Miss, 62-50, but Ohio Valley contender Murray State fell at Missouri of the Southeastern Conference 76-70.
No. 24 Virginia Tech had an easy time at George Washington, 75-38. No. 7 Baylor won at UT Arlington 81-54, while No. 9 Iowa at home beat Southern Conference contender Samford 91-54 as last year’s national co-freshman Caitlin Clark scored 19 points behind 20 from Monika Czinano.
No. 21 South Florida at home defeated SWAC contender Alabama State 72-37 while No. 23 Texas A&M early in Aggies veteran coach Gary Blair’s final season beat Southern U. of the SWAC 92-32.
Noted because of the return to the college coaching ranks from the NBA as an assistant Lindsay Gottlieb guided Southern Cal to a home opening 90-50 win in the Galen Center fueled by a 25-0 fourth quarter run.
Jordan Sanders was the best of five Trojans in double figures with 17 points.
At home, West Coast contender Gonzaga handled Big Sky contender Montana State at home 72-47, while Conference-USA contender North Texas thumped MEAC favorite Howard 94-56.
Texas Tech at home and in the Big 12 blasted Southland member SE Louisiana 67-45 at home, while Notre Dame of the ACC looking for a comeback season blasted Western Illinois 76-50.
Looking Ahead
After two relatively quiet nights following Tuesday’s busy national season openers. The action heats up Friday heading into the weekend.
With two playing each other seven of the Guru’s local 11 will be in action.
Playing each other, Ivy favorite Princeton fresh off winning the Tigers’ season opener at Villanova, takes its nation’s longest win streak of 23 to Delaware, the CAA co-favorite with Drexel, and tips off the match at 7 p.m. on Flohoops. Saint Joseph’s off a thunping win Tuesday heads to an 8 p.m. Drexel encounter on Flohoops, the visiting Hawks looking for a rocket-boosting stsart. The game will air on Flohoops following the Drexel men in the Daskalakis Athletic Center in West Philadelphia.
Rutgers with Tim Eaton at the helm as associate head coach hosts South Alabama at 7 on the Big Ten auiliary network that will also air the Maryland Villanova game.
Villanova gets right back into it visiting No. 4 Maryland at 7 p.m. in the XFinity Center in College Park, while Temple is at dangerous Florida Gulf Coast of the ASun at 6 on ESPN+.
Nationally, No. 1 South Carolina meets Horizon pick South Dakota at 7 on ESPN News after No. 6 Louisville plays No. 22 Arizona, the national runnerup, at 4:30 p.m. both games in Sioux Falls, S.D.
No. 15 Tennessee hosts UCF at 6 on ESPN+ while Duke looking to make a comeback meets host Dayton, the Atlantic 10 pick, at 7 on ESPN+.
In the reformatted preseason WNIT being played at Kansas State and No. 4 N.C. State, Towson of the CAA hosts Florida in Raleigh, N.C., at 5 p.m.on Youtube, on the same network in Manhattan, Kansas, North Carolina A&T plays Western Kentucky at 5 p.m., Kansas State of the Big !2 hosts UT Martin of the Ohio Valley on the Big 12 now on ESPN+ network at 7:30 p.m., and No. 4 NC State, the ACC pick and defending conference tournament champ, hosts Wofford at 7 p.m. on the auxiliary ACCNX network.
Western Athletic contender Stephen F. Austin will host AAC contender Houston in a single game at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+, the same network that will see Atlantic 10 defending champ VCU host C-USA contender Middle Tennessee at 6 p.m.
As for the locals the rest of the weekend, as mentioned La Salle hosts Rider at noon on Saturday, while on Sunday, Penn, hit with a bunch of player suspensions, ends its long Ivy League shutdown by the pendemic opening at Hartford at 2 p.m. on ESPN+, Princeton hosts Patriot contender Boston U. at 1 p.m. on ESPN+, and Rutgers hosts MAAC contender Fairfield at 2 p.m. on the Big Ten auxiliary B1G+ at 2 p.m.
And that’s the report.
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