City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Snow blanketed much of the Northeast on Saturday, but somehow it didn’t cause too many issues for the City 6, as all eight games went on as scheduled — though it didn’t hurt that five of them were on the road.

Here’s a brief recap of of the weekend’s action on the women’s side, which saw three teams play Saturday and two play Friday night:

Drexel 72, Elon 60

Make it a Drexel Dozen.

The Dragons’ 12th straight win was another impressive effort as they stayed unbeaten in CAA play. Hannah Nihill had 21 points and five assists with just one turnover in 37 minutes; Tessa Brugler had 20 points, 13 rebounds and four assists. 

Drexel (15-2, 7-0) trailed by eight at the half but turned it around with a 28-14 third quarter, winning the second half 45-25 overall. The Dragons out-rebounded Elon (10-6, 2-4) by 38-26 and shot 26-of-50 (52%) overall — 18-of-29 (62%) in the second half — plus 18-of-23 from the foul line.

It was Drexel’s first road game in 19 days after a four-game home stand, with another one coming Sunday afternoon at William & Mary (6-11, 1-5) before returning home next weekend against UNC-Wilmington (3-12, 0-5) and Charleston (10-8, 2-5). 

CoBL will have a feature on Drexel senior Mariah Leonard running Monday from senior contributor Mitchell Norham.

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Villanova 59, Butler 45

While Amy Mallon and Drexel remain the hottest team in the city, right behind them are Mallon’s former mentor Denise Dillon, now in her second year at Villanova. The Wildcats have now won four in a row and nine of their last 10 after locking down a battered Bulldogs squad.

Villanova (12-6, 6-3) still has some work to do in the Big East after a couple early losses in the season without star forward Maddie Siegrist, but she continues to be unstoppable now that she’s back on the court. The junior from Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) had 23 points, five rebounds, three blocks and three steals, her ninth game with 20-plus in her last 10 games; she’s up to averaging 24.1 ppg, which would be third in the country amongst Division I women if she had played enough games to qualify. Freshman guard Lucy Olsen (Spring-Ford) joined Siegrist in double-figures with 10 points, her third double-digit scoring outing of her rookie campaign. Four other Wildcats added between five to eight points.

Villanova’s lead was only six points after one quarter, but a 17-4 second quarter blew things open and allowed the hosts to coast to the win. The Wildcats forced Butler (1-16, 0-8) into 23 turnovers, which led to a 28-9 advantage in points off turnovers, helping them overcome a 45-32 rebounding edge for the Bulldogs. 

Villanova gets back in action on Sunday at 2 PM against Xavier (7-11, 2-7).

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Memphis 64, Temple 61
The Owls had their chances to keep up with the top of the American Athletic Conference, but couldn’t quite make enough plays on either end of the court as the Tigers defended their home court.

Temple (9-8, 4-2 AAC) took a five-point lead with 8:21 remaining but then Madison Griggs got hot. The Memphis junior and 3-point specialist, who finished with a team-high 18 points, knocked down four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, the last one putting the Tigers (12-6, 3-4) up four with 2:19 to play. 

With 24 points, Temple fifth-year forward Mia Davis moved within 24 points of the program scoring record (2,194), set by Marilyn Stephens from 1980-84; she also added 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Freshman guard Aniya Gourdine added 10 points and six assists as the only other member of the Owls in double figures, while Tiarra East added nine points and 10 rebounds.

Temple won the rebounding battle 42-28 but shot 39% overall (23-of-59) and just 2-of-13 from 3-point range.

The Owls will stay on the road and head to Orlando to play Central Florida (14-3, 6-1) on Monday night, in a game that was postponed from Jan. 2.

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Massachusetts 74, Saint Joseph’s 48

This young St. Joe’s squad usually does alright when it can win the rebounding battle and limit paint damage; when it doesn’t, well, this can be the result. 

UMass (16-5, 4-3) dominated to the tune of a 46-26 rebounding advantage, including 20 offensive boards, which led to a 42-22 advantage on points in the paint. Forward Sam Breen (18 points, 10 rebounds) was a major factor, but guards Destiny Philoxy (13 points, 7 rebounds) and Ber’Nyah Mayo (8 points, 8 rebounds) were a factor on the glass, too.

St. Joe’s (6-12, 2-4), which lost for the third time in four games, got 11 points apiece from freshman forward Talya Brugler and senior forward Gabby Smalls. The Hawks were 18-of-48 (37.5%) from the field and 5-of-20 (25%) from 3-point range.

Next up for the Hawks is the second game of the winter against La Salle, on Wednesday night at 6 PM; the Explorers took the first matchup, 69-65 at Hagan Arena on MLK Day.
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Harvard 70, Penn 63

A season that seemed to hold quite a bit of promise for Penn isn’t turning out how the Quakers had hoped. The loss to Harvard was the fourth in a row for Mike McLaughlin’s squad, which now sits at 7-11 (2-4) and in a tie for fifth place in the Ancient Eight with eight league games to play.

Penn led by seven entering the fourth quarter against Harvard (10-9, 4-3), then pushed its lead to nine before the Crimson embarked on a 23-6 run that spanned the next seven minutes. Nine Quaker turnovers were the biggest issue, Penn giving it up every time it needed a bucket.

A balanced Harvard attack that saw McKenzie Forbes score 18 while five others added between nine and 12 points (and nobody else score) took turns picking apart the Quaker defense, shooting 10-of-17 in the final quarter.

The Quakers’ scoring was similarly top-heavy; Kayla Padilla had 20, Jordan Obi 17, Kennedy Suttle 13, Mia Lakstigala 13, and everybody else zero. 

Penn’s only one game behind Harvard in the loss column and there’s time to go in the Ivy, so a spot in the top four of the league and berth in the league playoffs isn’t out of the question. But there’s no doubt that McLaughlin’s group needs to turn it around sooner rather than later, but that’s easier said than done, with a home game against Columbia (15-3, 6-0) on Friday.