City of Basketball Love

By Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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PHILADELPHIA — Mackenzie Smith couldn’t, or maybe didn’t want to, rehash the verbiage word-for-word, but whatever Saint Joseph’s women’s basketball coach Cindy Griffin said to her clearly got through.

It was during a timeout in the third quarter that Griffin essentially asked the junior guard, who wears No. 21, to do something for them. Smith did something and then some more, scoring 19 of her team-high 21 after halftime to spark one of the Hawks’ biggest wins in recent years.

St. Joe’s rallied from a double-digit deficit to knock off Villanova 73-67 Saturday night on Hawk Hill, its first win over the Wildcats since 2014 securing no less than a share of the Big 5 title.

“Coach looked at me in a timeout and said ‘stop being emotional and start playing basketball’ and that’s exactly what I tried to do,” Smith said with a laugh. “Quote-unquote on that.”

The Hawks will have a chance to take the outright Big 5 title on Jan. 15 when they host La Salle in A-10 play. Regardless, Saturday’s win secured the program’s first city title since sharing the Big 5 crown in 2014-15 after claiming it outright the season prior.

When Villanova’s Lucy Olsen scored to make it 44-34 Wildcats with 4:49 left in the third quarter, it seemed like the Hawks’ seven-game losing streak in the rivalry was in danger of extending to eight. Olsen led all scorers with 32 points, the junior guard and Spring-Ford alum turning in another high-output effort in what’s becoming the norm for her in a breakout season.

Christina Dalce had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds while freshman Maddie Webber tallied 10 off the bench, also keeping the Wildcats stable while Olsen sat the last 5:08 in foul trouble, but Villanova didn’t get much more with just 10 collective points from the rest of the roster.

“It was a combination. We certainly did have some, I think cold spells is a good term, and we’re trying to figure out who else we can get the ball to besides Lucy,” Wildcats coach Denise Dillon said. “I thought we got some clean, open looks but couldn’t knock them down then those defensive lapses came into play after not knocking down some shots.”

Smith, a native of Shelburne, Nova-Scotia, scored the team’s second basket but by halftime she was stuck on two points and had only taken three shots. The 5-foot-10 guard scored St. Joe’s first basket of the third quarter and followed with a three assisted by Chloe Welch a couple possessions later but her most vital impact came in the final three minutes of the quarter.

“Mack pretty much put us on her back during that stretch,” Griffin said.

After Olsen built the 10-point lead, Villanova’s second of the game, Welch converted a traditional three-point play and sophomore Tayla Brugler finished inside to cut the lead in half. Dalce split a pair at the line then the following possession ended with Smith draining a three off an assist from forward Lauren Ziegler with 3:10 on the clock to kick off the game-changing 12-4 run.

“We knew today the ball needed to move and we needed to make shots,” Griffin said. “When we were down 10, we weren’t making many shots and they were making shots. You put yourself in a little bit of a hole, you start making shots, you become a little more confident and that helps both ends of the floor then it becomes a game.”

Smith drilled a three from the top of the arc with 1:39 to play in the third, leveling the score 47-47 and tying the game for the first time since she had made it 4-4 with 8:25 to go in the first quarter.

Getting the ball unstuck after halftime not only required moving it, but also the Hawks moving themselves around the floor. Smith’s tying look was wide-open thanks to some help from her teammates clearing the space for her to get it.

“I’ll give all the credit to our post players, they are phenomenal screeners,” Smith said. “They know where the open spots are and they’ll do all they can to get us there.”

Brugler, who tallied 16 points to echo her post partner Lauren Ziegler, added that screening is a point of pride for them and the program.

“We say as a team that setting a good screen is just like having an assist,” Brugler said. “If Mack was coming off my screen, that would make me feel good knowing I helped her score. We do ball-screen offense and ball-screen defense every day in practice.”

From the opening possession to the waning seconds of the third quarter, the Hawks either only spent a brief time tied with or trailing the Wildcats. Griffin was almost surprised to see the game only featured one lead change, which came when Smith found Ziegler under the basket with 2.3 left in the third for a 51-49 advantage to cap the run and a 28-point Hawks quarter.

Villanova would tie the score twice early in the fourth but St. Joe’s answered both times, a pair of Emma Boslet free throws with 7:53 remaining putting the Hawks ahead for good. Smith would follow up on the next Hawks possession, sticking a mid-range jumper for a four-point advantage.

“They’re deliberate in what they do, they’re consistent,” Dillon said. “They run their actions and they continue to run it. They obviously were looking to get the ball to Mackenzie for some isolation looks, they run a lot through her but with them, it’s always whoever has the hot hand.

“They have four players averaging double figures and in this case, Mackenzie had the hot hand so they were running her through screen action and some isos for her to attack.”

Griffin added an underrated factor in the comeback effort was simply the Hawks playing harder. At the half, the coaches pointed out too many players didn’t have any fouls, which meant they weren’t being physical enough.

Welch, who finished with 11 points as St. Joe’s fourth double-figure scorer, didn’t hesitate to get on the floor in the second half and freshman Gabby Casey was aggressive, the Lansdale Catholic product playing most of the second half and in on a couple plays to force tie-ups just as the Hawks’ big run was getting started.

Villanova stuck around a little longer, Smith helping to again open up space with a tough baseline drive and finish that matched her point total with her uniform number then getting up against Dalce to secure one of the game’s biggest rebounds when Olsen was off on a potential tying three.

By the time Smith fouled out with 19.6 on the clock, St. Joe’s led by six and was on its way to a title.

“We harp on being prepared every day and challenging each other every day,” Smith said. “In our huddle before the game I said this is our chance to at least secure a spot for the first championship we’re going to win.

“I think we did a really good job of coming back in the end to do that.”

SAINT JOSEPH’S 13 | 10 | 28 | 16 -73

VILLANOVA 18 | 15 | 16 | 24 - 67

Scoring:

SJU: Mackenzie Smith 21, Tayla Brugler 16, Lauren Ziegler 16, Chloe Welch 11, Gabby Casey 4, Julia Nystrom 3, Emma Boslet 2

V: Lucy Olsen 32, Christina Dalce 15, Maddie Webber 10, Bella Runyan 4, Zanai Jones 4, Brynn McCurry 2