City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The inaugural Big 5 Women’s Classic will take place this Friday, Dec. 6, at Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion, with all six Big 5 programs competing under the same roof for the first time. 

With Drexel joining the Big 5 for the first time this offseason, the women’s city series restructured to match the men’s new format from a year ago, dividing the six teams into two pods, with two set matchups to determine the pairings for the championship night. 

Villanova and Temple, by virtue of their respective 2-0 finishes in their pods, will face off in the inaugural championship game at 8:00 PM. Saint Joseph’s and Drexel, 1-1 each, will face off for 3rd place at 5:45 PM; La Salle and Penn will meet at 3:30 PM in the fifth-place game to tip it all off. 

All three games will be aired on NBC Philly Plus. Tickets are available for sale on Villanova’s website.

Here’s a look at all three games:

Championship: Temple (4-3, 2-0 Big 5) vs. Villanova (5-3, 2-0)

The inaugural Big 5 Classic race comes down to Owls and Wildcats, two programs that have a lot to like about what they’ve done early in the season, even as they’re still putting some new pieces together. It’s a contrast in styles, too: Temple loves to force the action, with a full-court press designed to wreck as much havoc as possible; Villanova’s more patient and controlled, its offense designed to create open jumpers and clean looks.

Villanova earned a trip to the title game with a 16-point win at Saint Joseph’s on Sunday, getting 20 points from freshman point guard sensation Jasmine Bascoe (15.4 ppg) to lead the way; Maddie Webber (12.5 ppg) is second on the team in scoring. The key for Villanova will be on the glass: the Wildcats have been out-rebounded by five boards per game this season, with an undersized frontcourt, relying on Denae Carter (9.0 ppg, 6.4 rpg) to set the tone in the paint, with nobody else averaging more than 4.1 rpg.

Temple’s success this season has tended to hinge on how well the Owls are shooting the ball. They’ve done a great job of forcing turnovers, with opponents averaging nearly 21 per game, but they’re shooting only 35.7% overall and 29.0% from 3-point range. Tiarra East (15.3 ppg) has been their leading scorer, the Louisville native 48 points from 1,000 in a Temple uniform. Getting Tarriyonna Garry (12-of-47, 25.5%) back on track from deep would be huge, as she hit 35.5% from deep each of the last two years. It was also encouraging to see sophomore Kaylah Turner (7.8 ppg), the 2024 SWAC Freshman of the Year when she was at Alabama A&M, go for a season-high 17 points the last time out after scoring 15 the game before. 

Prediction: Villanova, 63-54

Third-Place Game: Drexel (2-3, 1-1) vs. Saint Joseph’s (5-2, 1-1)

Both teams in the third-place game were good enough to play in the championship — and they know it — so this one will be for some significant bragging rights. That’s driven even higher by the fact that Drexel assuredly wants to finish with a winning record in Big 5 play in its first season as an official member, while St. Joe’s wants to start racking up wins as the Hawks have March Madness hopes down the road, but have dropped their two biggest tests so far in Utah and ‘Nova. 

As it has been for the last couple years, St. Joe’s attack is centered around the formidable frontcourt duo of Talya Brugler (18.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg) and Laura Ziegler (18.0 ppg, 11.0 rpg), who also has a team-best 32 assists. Those two are a major reason why St. Joe’s averages nearly 10 rebounds per game more than their opponents, and they also commit four fewer turnovers per game, a tough combination to beat — oh, and they’re also shooting 40.3% from deep, with Mackenzie Smith (14.9 ppg) and Gabby Casey (10.6 ppg) also in double figures. 

Controlling things inside for Drexel has been sophomore Deja Evans (11.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg), the Archbishop Wood product and Albany transfer putting together a quality season in her first year as a Dragon. But she’ll need rebounding help from Chloe Hodges (8.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg) and Grace O’Neill (7.4 rpg, 5.4 rpg), her biggest support on an otherwise-undersized Drexel squad. Senior guard Amaris Baker (17.4 ppg), an O’Hara grad, has been their go-to bucket getter, and they need quality shooting from Cara McCormack (5.8 ppg) to stay in this one. 

Prediction: Saint Joseph’s, 68-54

Fifth-Place Game: La Salle (5-4, 0-2) vs. Penn (6-3, 0-2)

Although it’s the battle for last place in the Big 5, both La Salle and Penn have started to build up a little momentum, and this game matters for both of them. Penn comes in having won three in a row after three straight losses, beating Chattanooga and Cal Baptist in a pair of games at FGCU last weekend; La Salle’s won four of its last five, and had a lead over Temple going into the fourth quarter of their Big 5 battle, a significant step forward after losing to Drexel by 33 earlier in November. 

Penn’s depth has started to develop early this season, head coach Mike McLaughlin coming into the year with just one proven entity in senior Stina Almqvist (18.9 ppg, 8.3 rpg), while sophomore Mataya Gayle (13.0 ppg) has slid into the role of the No. 2 scorer after a strong freshman year. But freshman Katie Collins (8.2 ppg, 7.3 rpg, team-high 18 blocks) has come out of the gates ready to play, and her classmate Sarah Miller (4.8 ppg) is the team’s best 3-point shooter (11-of-28, 39.3%). If they can get production from junior Simone Sawer (5.2 rpg), who’s been hitting some 3s after a slow start, then McLaughlin has the offensive versatility he needs.

Up at 20th and Olney, Mountain MacGillivray is starting to develop some depth and a pecking order of his own. Saint Louis transfer Ashleigh Connor (11.7 ppg, 5.9 rpg) has been the most consistent producer on the Explorers’ roster thus far — but sophomore Aryss Macktoon (10.8 ppg), who only played in four games as a freshman, is averaging 15.5 ppg over her last four games after an up-and-down start to the season. If she’s finding her stride, and Ayisse Magassa and Joan Quinn — both averaging exactly 8.1 ppg and 4.1 rpg thus far — continue to chip in, that’s a good sign moving forward, as none of that group are seniors. Three-point shooting (27%) continues to be a team concern, but they’re defending the 3-point arc very well (28.1%), so it hasn’t burned them as much as it could have.  

Prediction: La Salle, 62-57