City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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With the Big 5 taking a couple days off for the Thanksgiving holiday, this seemed like as good a time as any to do an early-season Big 5 Power Rankings, now that we’ve gotten enough of a sample size of the city’s six Division I programs to figure out who’s off to a great start and who has some work to do.

Here are the women’s rankings: 

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6) Temple Owls
Record: 3-3 (1-1 Big 5)
Recent Results: vs. George Washington (W, 86-50), @ West Virginia (L, 89-61), vs. La Salle (W, 75-54), @ Richmond (L, 72-57), @ Villanova (L, 88-58)
Standout Star: Kaylah Turner (Jr. | G) 

The Owls have played a tough schedule, to be sure, but they’ve lost three of their last four and someone has to be last in these rankings. But Diane Richardson has guided her teams to back-to-back 20-win seasons for a reason, and it still wouldn’t surprise us if this group made it three in a row. Turner, who transferred in last year from Alabama A&M, has built on her sophomore campaign (9.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg), with averages of 14.7 ppg and 3.3 rpg while shooting 37.2% from the floor. 

Junior guard Tristen Taylor (11.0 ppg, 5.5 apg) and junior forward Jaleesa Molina (10.3 ppg, 8.7 rpg) are both in double figures, and junior forward/Jacksonville transfer Saniyah Craig (9.0 ppg, 9.7 rpg) is another reason the Owls are out-rebounding their opponents by 6.3 rebounds/game. But they’re turning it over nearly 18 times per game while shooting below 40% from the floor, and those numbers combined won’t cut it. 

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5) Penn Quakers
Record: 4-2 (0-2 Big 5)
Recent Results: @ Delaware State (W, 63-41), @ Drexel (L, 72-55), @ Hofstra (W, 67-55), vs. Norfolk State (W, 55-50), vs. Saint Joseph’s (L, 74-53)
Standout Star: Tina Njike (Jr. | C)

The good is certainly that Penn has gone 4-0 against its non-Big 5 opponents, including a season-opening win over D-III King’s College (Pa.). But the Quakers have not looked good in either of their Big 5 games, trailing by 20-plus points for long stretches against both the Dragons and Hawks. Things won’t get any easier with a trip to No. 4 Texas on Sunday, with Washington State looming later in the non-con (Fri., Dec. 19) and archrival Princeton beginning Ivy League play on Jan. 3. 

Penn’s still figuring itself out offensively; senior guard Simone Sawyer is the team’s leading scorer at just 10.3 ppg, and the Quakers are shooting just 28.9% from 3-point range as a team. Nike, who missed her freshman year with her second ACL tear in three years and is now fully healthy for the first time since her sophomore season of high school, has been strong out of the gate, averaging 10.0 ppg and 6.7 rpg while showing she can also step out and knock down the ‘3’ ball. But they need more production from junior guard Mataya Gayle (7.2 ppg), who’s averaged more than 13 ppg over her first two seasons, and getting more consistent bench contributions from a deep group that McLaughlin can lean on. 

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4) Drexel Dragons
Record: 4-2 (1-0 Big 5)
Recent Results: @ Marist (W, 71-61), vs. Penn (W, 72-55), vs. Loyola (Md.) (W, 66-57), @ Lehigh (L, 71-57), @ NJIT (L, 73-66)
Standout Star: Amaris Baker (Sr. | G) 

The Dragons looked like they might be headed for the top spot in our first Big 5 rankings of the year, beating an ACC squad on the road in Pitt and then taking down Penn in its Big 5 opener, but losses to Lehigh and NJIT in their last two have cooled things off somewhat. They’ve got a week off over Thanksgiving to prepare for the biggest game of the season thus far, a trip to St. Joe’s on Saturday with a trip to the Big 5 championship game on the line. 

Not surprisingly, Baker has been Drexel’s leading scorer this year, the O’Hara product averaging 20.7 ppg on 41.4% from the floor and 41.7% from 3-point range. Enjoying a breakout year alongside her is junior wing and Rustin grad Laine McGurk, who’s averaging 15.0 ppg on .462/.458/.700 splits along with 3.8 rpg, and Carroll product Grace O’Neill is averaging 5.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg and 5.1 apg. As a team, they’re shooting 38.3% from deep while winning the rebounding and turnover battles; developing a little more scoring depth will go a long way. 

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3) La Salle Explorers
Record: 5-2 (0-2 Big 5)
Recent Results: @ Lehigh (W, 81-70), @ Temple (L, 75-54), vs. West Chester (W, 83-50), vs. American (W, 72-61), vs. Villanova (L, 66-54)
Standout Star: Ashleigh Connor (Sr. | G)

Certainly the most pleasant surprise in the entire Big 5 — men’s or women’s — this season has been the start that Mountain MacGillivray’s Explorers have been on in the first few weeks, which matches their most recent hot start in 2019-20. It starts at the top with a returning core of Connor (18.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg), junior Aryss Macktoon (16.5 ppg, 7.8 rpg) and sophomore guard Joan Quinn (13.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg), all of whom are shooting the ball at an efficient clip, and redshirt freshman forward Kiara Williams (9.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg) has jumped into a starting role up front. 

The schedule does get notably more difficult from here on out, though the Explorers acquitted themselves well on Monday night against the Wildcats, overcoming a slow start to play their Big 5 foe even through the final three quarters; they’ve got Delaware and Mississippi State looming in December before A-10 play begins in earnest on New Years’ Eve. They’ll need to get some shooting besides Connor and Quinn — who are a combined 17-of-35 (48.6%) from deep while the rest of the team is 13-of-69 (18.8%) — if they want to keep it rolling.

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2) Villanova Wildcats
Record: 5-2 (2-0 Big 5)
Recent Results: @ VCU (W, 74-40), vs. Princeton (L, 73-68), @ James Madison (W, 84-73), vs. Temple (W, 88-58), @ La Salle (W, 66-54)
Standout Star: Jasmine Bascoe (Soph. | G)

The Wildcats locked up their spot in the 2025 Big 5 championship game on Monday night with the win over the Explorers, where they’ll face either Saint Joseph’s or Drexel depending on Saturday afternoon’s result at Hagan Arena. Either way there will be a new champion this season, as Temple beat ‘Nova in last year’s inaugural women’s Big 5 title game. As expected, the Wildcats are getting terrific play from Bascoe, whose numbers — 16.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 3.4 apg — are on par with her fantastic freshman campaign, though the supporting cast is quite different. 

There are six different Wildcats averaging between 6.0 and 9.6 ppg, which includes graduate student center Kylee Watson, who’s missed the last three games due to an undisclosed injury. Junior wing Brynn McCurry (9.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 4.0 apg) is playing the best ball of her college career, senior forward Denae Carter (9.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg) continues to give them a presence up front, and freshman wing Kennedy Henry (9.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.4 apg) has been strong from the jump, with a team-high 13 blocks to boot. It’s a promising group with a lot of upside, and they’re still pretty young and inexperienced.

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1) Saint Joseph’s Hawks
Record: 5-1 (1-0 Big 5)
Recent Results: @ Maine (W, 63-62), vs. Cincinnati (W, 70-65), vs. Penn State (L, 89-77), @ Columbia (W, 66-48), vs. Penn (W, 74-53)
Standout Star: Gabby Casey (Jr. | G)

The Hawks graduated their top three scorers from a year ago and had a whole lot of talent and experience to replace, and Cindy Griffin has done a great job of keeping it rolling with a rather different cast of characters this year. Casey, a former Lansdale Catholic standout who led the Crusaders to Catholic League and state titles her senior year, is leading the Hawks in scoring (15.8 ppg) and rebounding (7.0 rpg), with Penn Charter product Aleah Snead (15.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg) also off to an outstanding start to the season. Two transfers, Faith Stinson (IU Indy) and Jill Jekot (Penn State) have jumped right into starting roles, averaging 10.3 and 9.3 ppg, respectively.

What’s really helped this year’s Hawks start strong has been their depth. Freshman wing Emily Knouse (Archbishop Wood) is shooting 35.5% from 3-point range, sophomore forward Cecilia Kay is averaging 5.0 ppg and 3.8 rpg off the bench, and senior guard Kaylie Griffin and freshman guard Kaylinn Bethea have given them quality minutes behind sophomore Rhian Stokes (7.8 ppg) at point guard.