The Guru’s Local/National NCAAW Weekend Roundup: Villanova Claims Big 5 Crown With Win Over Saint Joseph’s; Penn and Drexel Take the Under Card

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

VILLANOVA – Completing one of the best weeks since the end of the Maddy Siegrest era three seasons ago, Villanova (8-2) in a tightly contested game Sunday afternoon at home in Finneran Pavilion claimed the second annual Big 5 Classic beating arch rival Saint Joseph’s 76-70, the final contest in a triple-header format that was entertaining across the board.

“Three games in seven days, with everyone having great momentum and great results behind them,” said Villanova coach Denise Dillon. “I’m just super proud of this young group.

“These Big 5 games are always gritty, they’re tough. The coaches know each other so well, so they understand what the system and style is.”

Penn (7-3) got the day’s activity started taking 5th place with a 65-52 win over La Salle (6-3) building a big lead, then sustaining a 15-0 run from the Explorers, and then after the differential shrunk to five points re-fired the engines to finish out rebuilding the advantage to double digits.

Next up Temple (4-5) took an early 11-6 lead into the second quarter, but Drexel (6-3), which lost to the Owls in pod-play last season and last weekend just missed upsetting Saint Joseph’s (6-3) on Hawk Hill in the game sending the winner to the title round, controlled the second half to take third place with a 59-52 victory.

Villanova, which had a sweeps weekend – the men won Saturday’s companion event at the Xfinity Mobile Center in South Philadelphia and the football team advanced to the third round of the NCAA playoffs – came into the game here after pulling a huge lopsided upset at No. 25 West Virginia followed by a win at Georgetown to open Big East play.

The Hawks took a narrow 19-16 lead in the first period, but the game stayed close and the Wildcats midway in the third period moved from a 44-43 advantage to score seven of the next nine points and maintain the upper hand the rest of the way.

Villanova thrived on its trademark three-point attack, doing so with an efficient 13-of-24 for 54.2% and also fired a near-perfect 13-of-16 from the line.

Brynn McCurry, named the MVP and who missed last season with an injury, tied her career-best with 21 points, shooting 6-11from the field and perfect 3-3 from deep and 6-6 from the line.

“I wouldn’t be able to do that without ny team.” McCurry said. “I think everyone else talking with me and being able to create for others is what makes us so successful.”

On Monday, McCurry was named Big East player of the week.

Jasmine Bascoe scored 13 with five boards and five assists, Kelsey Joens had 13 points with three makes from beyond the arc, and Denae Carter scored 10 with eight boards.

Saint Joseph’s Rhian Stokes scored a game and career-high 23 points and Gabby Casey, who missed the Rhode Island game Wednesday with an illness, scored 19 points. Aleah Snead had 14 points, seven rebounds, and four assists, and Faith Stinson scored nine with five rebounds and she matched a personal best with five blocks, last reached by the program for an individual two seasons ago.

“Villanova, they just hit a lot of threes today,” said Saint Joseph’s coach Cindy Griffin, whose own team was 8-16 from beyond the perimeter. “They’ve been doing, but not as much.

“They’ve always been shooting threes, but not as well recently at a high percentage. That’s something we need to look at because it seems everyone is having good days (shooting threes) against us.”

Villanova is off until Dec. 19 hosting Seton Hall at 7 p.m. while Saint Joseph’s next plays Dec. 20 opening its Hawk Classic against Le Moyne at noon.

Everyone is heading into finals the next two weeks and Penn coach Mike McLaughlin almost regrets the pause off the way the Quakers have played the last four games, going 3-1 with the loss a respectful defeat at now No. 2 Texas.

“I’ve seen a lot of growth,” he said. “I don’t know if I would have said the same thing the end of August.”

Katie Collins off her Ivy rookie of the year success continues to excel, scoring a game-high 20 points, shooting 9-15 from the field and grabbing nine rebounds, while sophomore Ashna Tambe had a career-best 11 points.

“This game had crazy ebbs and flows to it,” McLaughlin said. “I think we finished the game the right way it's not an easy response when you have a big lead and kind of give it back a little bit, and that push and that response tells you about the character.”

Penn basically won it with a 16-2 run to close out the first half and then Tambe’s play after the break put the Quakers ahead by enough points to survive the Explorers’ eruption.

La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray agreed that while his team’s zone forced the Quakers into mistakes, the amount needed to close the deficit took its toll before being able to finish the attempted comeback.

Tina Njike was an additional force for the winners, scoring 14 points with 13 boards.

Njike also made both attempts from deep, an area she worked on over the summer to add to her game.

La Salle’s Aryss Macktoon had 15 points and seven rebounds while also grabbing five steals and dealing three assists.

Penn’s next game is at The Palestra 11 a.m. December 19 hosting Washington State while in that same period La Salle will be at Md.-Eastern Shore Sunday and at Delaware next Wednesday.

In the middle game, Drexel was paced by Molly Rullo’s career best 22 points, besides doing likewise with five assists in her first season with the Dragons. She also matched her best rebounding total of four while shooting 8-9 from the field and 5-6 from beyond the arc.

Deja Evans added 18 points and seven boards with three assists and three steals.

The first win ever against Temple returned Drexel to the style of play the Dragons showed in a 4-0 season start while the Owls displayed the quirks that have bedeviled them after the 2-0 opening week.

The winners used a 17-8 attack on the boards to stymy Temple in the second half.

“It was a tough game for us,” said Owls coach Diane Richardson. “Drexel did a great job defensively against us, doing things that we didn't want to do. I thought that we sat back too long and trying to battle back in the fourth quarter, you just can't do those kinds of things, especially against a good team like that.”

The absence of guard Tristen Taylor, who sprained her left ankle in the consolation win over Western Carolina in the tropics last weekend created a handicap.

“We Miss her,” Richardson said. “She’s definitely a floor general. Has a great IQ and so, forcing Kaylah Turner to be the number one the entire game and to check the best player, it hurt us a little bit. And it's my fault for not having a couple backup point guards like Tristen.

“We thought coming in that we would have some advantages rebounding wise, because we have such great post players,” Richardson continued. “But we turned the ball over a lot. I think they got down a little bit and just didn't have that sense of urgency. And Drexel did.”

Temple is off until Saturday when the Owls dip back into the Atlantic 10 for an opponent hosting VCU at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) at the Liacouras Center.

Drexel returns to action next Tuesday on the second part of a doubleheader with the men at 3:30 p.m. (FloCollege) hosting Division III Chestnut Hill at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

It was a family affair at the event. Dragons coach Amy Mallon, who spent time as an assistant to Harry Perretta here before later joining Dillon as an assistant at Drexel.

Now both his sons Mike and Stephen are on Mallon’s staff – Stephen recently married Siegrist, who was here and plays for WNBA Dallas and will play in the winter Unrivaled league next month.

The WNBA New York Liberty star Jonquel Jones, rehabbing from surgery and the adopted daughter of Richardson was also in the house while Harry Perretta was a studio analyst on the day-long coverage on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Speculation has continued with no official announcement whether this event will move next year to Penn’s Palestra, which will be the fabled venue’s 100th anniversary season.

Princeton Keeps Rolling; Penn State and Rutgers Drop Big Ten Openers

It was another narrow outing but continuing with another positive result against a quality opponent Saturday as Princeton (9-1) travelled to Nashville, Tenn., and returned with a 70-58 win over Missouri Valley Conference contender Belmont.

Credit Olivia Hutcherson for moving from a Dr. Jekyll no points and one rebound performance in the first half to a Ms. Hyde act in the second half for the Tigers against the Bruins (4-5) with 19 points and 10 more boards to reach a career-high with 11.

Madison St. Rose added 15 points and Fadima Tall double doubled her way to 14 points and 11 boards.

Next up is hosting a visit in Jadwin Gym Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+) from nearby Rutgers (7-3) which several hours later Saturday night in a game personally witnessed got woman-handled by Iowa 79-36 at home in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., enabling the Hawkeyes (9-0) to move up a spot to 11th Monday in the most recent Associated Press women’s poll.

There was more visible red apparel in the building than two years ago when Caitlin Clark was still a collegian for the Hawkeyes.

This one was over faster than the brief trip from an earlier stop at nearby Rider.

Iowa’s Ava Heiden scored 17 points, Taylor McCabe was 4-6 from deep for 14 points, a total equaled by teammate Journey Houston while Hannah Stuelke grabbed eight rebounds.

Rutgers’ Zachara Perkins was the sole Scarlet Knight in double figures with 11 points while Yacine Ndiaye grabbed eight boards.

Earlier Saturday, Penn State (6-2), unlike Rutgers, scored a lot of points in the Lady Lions’ Big Ten opener at home in the Bryce Jordan Center but Nebraska (9-0) scored a lot more winning 101-83 to stay unbeaten and replace West Virginia in the latest poll at 24th enabling the conference to tie its record set on the fifth poll last season with nine representatives.

Realignment was a factor with four quality teams added off the breakup of the Pac-12 which will reactivate next season with a mostly whole new roster including Washington State and Oregon State, now spending the second of two seasons in the West Coast Conference.

The Cornhuskers got 26 points off the bench from Amiah Hargrove, who was 10-14 from the field and 4-5 from deep. Britt Prince scored 20, Petra Bozan collected 17 and reserve Logan Nissley scored 14.

Four Penn State starters reached double figures led by Gracie Merkle with 23 points shooting 11-13 from the field, Rutgers transfer Kiyomi McMiller scored 22, Moriah Murray was 4-9 from deep, finishing with 16 points, and French freshman Tea Cleante scored 12.

No locals played Monday night, and Penn State has the only game Tuesday hosting the Big 12’s Arizona State (10-0), experiencing a remarkable turnaround to date under first year coach Molly Miller.

Rider is also under a first-year coach with the program in Jackie Hartzell, who guided the former Division II University of the Sciences into a national power joining the CACC lineup of Jefferson andHoly Family.

On Saturday at home in Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville, N.J., the Broncs (2-6) staged a second half comeback falling in the last seconds on two free throws giving Yale (3-7) of the Ivy League a 53-52 victory.

Though only there a short time and a number of positives in the contest, Hartzell has already moved beyond settling for moral victories.

“Credit to Yale, they made more plays than we did down the stretch,” she said. " We are moving beyond the point of moral victories. We played well at Navy and George Mason, and now we want to win these games.

“We don't just want to just play well, we want to get the win, and as a team we're definitely disappointed that we didn't come out with the win.”

This was the first meeting of the two schools.

Yale’s Marisa Chapman scored 16 points and Luisa Vydrova scored 10 while Rider got 18 points from Kristina Ekofo with nine boards and Deb Okechukwu scored 14.

Rider is off until hosting Wagner Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).

The Patriot League duo of Lafayette and Lehigh both suffered non-conference losses Sunday, Lafayette (4-6) at home in the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa., falling 79-76 in overtime to Marist (3-6), while Lehigh (4-6) fell on the road 75-64 to Mount St. Mary’s (3-5) in Emmitsburg, Md.

In the Lafayette game the Leopards had all five starters scoring in double figures in the loss led by Teresa Kiewet with a season-high 25 points, which on Monday got her a second straight conference player of the week award.

The Red Foxes dominated the boards 50-30, 22 off the offensive glass for 20 second-chance points.

In the Lehigh game, the host Mountaineers owned the second quarter 30-18 to gain rnough advantage.

Jessie Ozzatu scored 23 for the Mountain Hawks, who next play on Dec. 20, the same day Lafayette travels to Rutgers.

The National Scene

There were no games of notation Monday but with the new poll, week 891, Tennessee, which went up one to 18, became the first with 800 appearances in what is now the 50th anniversary season since it was launched in November, 1976, in The Philadelphia Inquirer, with the AP joining distribution two years later.

“The consistency of this program over such a long period of time is incredible,” Lady Vol head coach Kim Caldwell said. "It’s a testament to Pat Summitt and the standard of excellence she established, and to the coaches and players from that point on who have contributed to that legacy.

 

“This year’s team is grateful to play a small part in that, and our job is to keep working hard and building on to that history.”

 

Holly Warlick and Kellie Harper succeeded Summitt followed by Caldwell’s hire last season.

 

Tennessee had held the longest appearance streak at 565 before it was snapped and since broken by No. 1 UConn, now at 612 over 32 seasons dating to the 1993-94 preseason poll.

 

In two notable games Sunday involving ranked teams, the first - UConn (9-0, 2-0) for its pre-game retiring Sue Bird’s jersey before winning 102-35 over DePaul (2-8, 0-2) at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs to run its regular season Big East win streak to 40.

 

The Huskies had 23 steals. Sarah Strong scored 20 with five boards, five steals and four assists while Azzi Fudd had all 16 of her points in the first half.

 

The differential was the largest in the series with the Blue Demons eclipsing a 47-point win in 2013.

 

Since passing retired Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer’s total early last season, UConn coach Geno Auriemma’s all-time record win total has reached 1259 without regard to gender or NCAA divisions.

 

The Huskies are off all week until Saturday’s visit Saturday to No. 16 Southern Cal in Los Angeles.

 

No. 7 Maryland (11-0) rallied in double overtime scoring 10 points in less than the final minute to win a Big Ten high-scoring 100-99 contest at Minnesota (6-3) in Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

 

Saylor Poffenbarger had 30 points and 10 boards for the Terrapins while Oluchi Okananwa scored 25 with eight rebounds.

 

Minnesota’s Grace Grocholski hit nine from deep and scored 31 points.

 

It’s Maryland’s first overtime road win since 2012 and first-ever road win in double-overtime bringing the Terrapins to 18-4 in extra period wins under Brenda Frese, including the comeback against then-ACC rival Duke to win the program’s sole NCAA title in 2006 in Boston.

 

“This game felt like March,” Frese said. “That’s what you’re going to see playing in the best conference in the country. We’re going to have these battles every single night. “

 

In other games, Wisconsin (7-3) in an upset at home in Madison in a Big Ten game beat then-No. 20 Michigan State, a loss that dropped the visitors to 8-1.

 

Kansas State (6-5) pulled the other upset winning 61-60 over then-No. 13 Ole Miss (8-1) as Brandie Harrod scored on a layup with a second left in the annual Dan Snyder Classic in St. Joseph’s, Mo.

 

 No. 5 LSU (10-0) after a one-game drop to the 90s last week in beating Duke returned to triple digits blasting host New Orleans 126-62 as Notre Dame transfer Kate Koval had a career-high 22 points.

 

Penn transfer Jordan Obi, who sat out last season with an injury after leaving the Quakers, was 7-10 from the field for 14 points as part of then-No. 17 Kentucky (10-1) winning at home 82-55 over Central Michigan (5-4).