City of Basketball Love

Jake Adams (@jakeadams520)
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St. Joseph's kept its grip atop the Atlantic 10 Conference standings, beating cellar-dweller UMass on Saturday 77-67. 

It's the eighth straight victory since a home loss to Richmond and leaves the Hawks (21-2, 10-1) a game up on George Mason (18-3, 9-1) and the Spiders (18-4, 8-1) in the loss column. George Mason, SJU's next opponent Thursday, beat Loyola Chicago on the road 61-52 earlier Saturday. Richmond took on Fordham at 6 p.m.

Junior forward and reigning A-10 First Team pick Talya Brugler scored a game-high 30 points, her second time reaching that scoring milestone in a game in her career. She finished 10 of 14 from the field, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out four assists.

Mackenzie Smith was the only other Hawk in double figures with 14 points as SJU shot a tidy 24 of 51 (47.1%) from the field and 5 of 12 from 3-point territory. St. Joe's actually struggled to start, shooting just 11 of 30 in the first half before making more than 60% of its shots in the second.

UMass senior guard Alexsia Rose led the Minutewomen (3-20, 1-10) with 22 points and four assists. The visitors shot 51.8% (29 of 56) and were 8 of 16 from distance.

The win snapped SJU's four-game skid against UMass.

St. Joseph's Talya Brugler scored 30 points for the second time in her career in Saturday's win over UMass. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL file)

More Big 5 coverage

• St. Joe's men rally late to beat La Salle, stay atop A-10 standings

Lucy Olsen dominates as Villanova WBB routs Seton Hall

Lucy Olsen scored 20 points for the 15th time this season, finishing with 21 and a career-high 10 assists in Villanova's 69-41 blowout win over Seton Hall.

The junior guard cooked the Pirates in the first 10 minutes of the game, scoring 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including a 3-for-3 showing from beyond the arc.

The Wildcats (14-8, 7-4 Big East) flew out to a 25-14 first-quarter lead, then went on a 13-0 run to start the second half and blow the game open. Bella Runyan scored 11 points and finished with three assists and two steals. Zanai Jones and Christina Dalce each had 10 points, and Dalce grabbed nine boards. Her game-high three blocks moved her into third in program history with 138 in her career.

Villanova, which is fourth in the conference as of Saturday evening, is off until Feb. 10, when it will face Marquette on the road.

Yale rallies late to beat Penn WBB in overtime

Penn blew a five-point lead with less than two minutes left in regulation and fell 74-68 in overtime to Yale in Ivy League action.

A Mataya Gayle 3-ball with 1:58 left in the fourth quarter put the Quakers up 63-58. But Yale's Nyla McGill sank a layup 19 seconds later to cut it to three and Klara Astrom drilled a buzzer-beating trey to force free basketball.

It was all Bulldogs from there. Jordan Obi made a pair of free throws to give Penn (11-9, 3-4) a two-point lead briefly, but Jenna Clark scored four points in a row to give Yale (5-15, 2-5) a 67-65 lead it wouldn't relinquish.

A Penn turnover with eight seconds left led to a Brenna McDonald fast-break layup and free throw to ice the game. 

Clark finished with a game-high 25 points, while Stina Almqvist paced Penn with 20 and nine rebounds. Gayle had 18 points for the Quakers, and Obi added 17 and seven boards.

Two Bulldogs had double-doubles: McDonald (19 points, 10 rebounds) and McGill (10 points, 13 rebounds).

Penn, which has lost three of its last four, hosts Ivy League-leading Princeton (17-3, 7-0) on Feb. 10 at 2 p.m.

Penn men drop fifth straight in loss to Yale

Ivy League unbeaten Yale handed the Quakers their fifth straight loss 74-58.

The Quakers shot just 37.0% from the field (20 of 54) and 28.6% from 3 (8 of 28). Sam Brown led the team with 20 points, the only Quaker in double figures. The Bulldogs got 24 points and 12 rebounds from Danny Wolfman.

Since a Jan. 6 home win over Dartmouth, Penn (9-12, 1-5) has not won a conference game and sits tied with Dartmouth at the bottom of the league. Yale (15-6, 6-0) is tied with Cornell at the top. 

The Quakers continue their road trip at Princeton on Feb. 10 before hosting Yale six days later.