Philly Women’s College Basketball Week In Review – Games of January 7 – January 13

PHILLY COLLEGE SPORTS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL REVIEW

Philly College Sports.com Players of the Week – Hollie Mershon, Drexel and Victoria Macaulay, Temple

It was a big week for both players as Hollie Mershon and Victoria Macaulay averaged over 20 points per game and led their teams to conference road victories.

 

Hollie Mershon made two free throws with 4 seconds to play that turned out to be the winning points at James Madison.  Mershon scored 20 points in the game, 17 in the second half.  In the game at UNCW the senior guard set a career mark with 6 made three-point shots.  Her 26 points were one shy of a career-high, but Mershon did set another career-high with 10 made field goals.

Victoria Macaulay scored 22 against Western Michigan and 23 at Saint Bonaventure.  It was the senior forward’s seventh double-double of the season as she grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.  Macaulay was 9 – 10 from the free throw line.  Her four foul shots in the last 25 seconds kept the lead for the Owls.

PhillyCollegeSports.com Honor Roll

Laura Sweeney, Villanova

Chatilla van Grinsven, Saint Joseph’s

Erin Shields, Saint Joseph’s

Week of January 7 – January 13, 2013 Games

LA SALLE 5 – 11 Overall, 1 – 0 Atlantic 10, 0 – 2 Big Five

Results – Lost 67 – 62 at Richmond, Won 72 – 46 vs. Rhode Island at the Gola Arena

Summary –

Richmond 67 LaSalle 62 – A late comeback for the Richmond Spiders resulted in a 67 – 62 victory.  LaSalle had the lead most of the second half.  Brittany Wilson had a season-high 27 points for the Explorers.  Shanel Harrison added 14 points and 8 rebounds.  Ebonee Jones pulled down 10 rebounds in addition to her 8 points and 2 blocked shots.  The game did not count in the Atlantic 10 standings.  Due to the expanded league Richmond and LaSalle were not scheduled to play each other, but were permitted to play a non-conference game.

LaSalle 72 Rhode Island 46 – With the game tied at 35 LaSalle went on a 15 – 0 run to take control and cruise to the victory.  Michea Bryant scored 10 unanswered points in 48 seconds in that run.  She finished with 11 points for the game.  Brittany Wilson scored a game-high 17 points and 10 rebounds.  She added 4 assists and 3 steals.  Jordan Mosley scored 12 points and Shanel Harrison added 10.  The Explorers win their conference opener.

Next Game – 1/16/2013 at Dayton

PENN – 7 – 6 Overall, 0 – 1 Ivy League, 1 – 1 Big Five

Results – Won 79 – 73 vs. Morgan State, Lost 77 – 47 at Princeton

Summary –

Penn 79 Morgan State 73 –  Penn junior guard Alyssa Baron filled the stat sheet for the Red and Blue scoring 28 points (9-13 field goal attempts, 3-4 three-pointers), handing out 5 assists, garnering 2 steals, and taking down 6 rebounds.  The Quakers needed almost every point as Morgan State guard Bianca Jarrett scored a game-high 32 points and 11 rebounds. In the end the Red and Blue made 10 of 12 free throws down the stretch to hold off Morgan State.  The 79 point outburst for Penn was their season-high team score.  Baron also scored her season-best.  It was a close game as there were 10 lead changes and 6 ties.

Princeton 77 Penn 47 – In the traditional Ivy League opener Penn did not fare well losing 77 – 47.  Princeton jumped out to an early 13 – 0 lead and never looked back.  The Tigers built the lead up to as many as 31 points in the second half.  Penn shot 27.3% and committed 17 turnovers.  Princeton shot 49.2% and turned the ball over 8 times.  Alyssa Baron scored a game-high 15 points and added 6 rebounds and 3 assists.

Next Game – 1/16/2013 vs. Villanova at the Palestra

SAINT JOSEPH’S 10 –5 Overall, 1 – 0 Atlantic 10, 1 – 1 Big Five

Results – Won 82 – 62 vs. Richmond at the Hagan Arena,

Summary –

Saint Joseph’s 82 Richmond 62 – The Hawks opened conference play with a decisive win over the Spiders.  Late in the first half trailing 29 – 26 Saint Joseph’s started 32 – 9 run that spanned both halves to take control of the game.  The Hawks had a 58 – 38 at the conclusion of the run.  Saint Joe’s had two 20 point plus scorers as Chatilla van Grinsven had 24 and Erin Shields netted 21 points.  Saint Joseph’s shot 42% for the game (28 of 66).  In the second half the Hawks were 14 of 25 (56%) in the second half.

Chatilla van Grinsven was named the Big Five Co-Player of the Week.

Next Game – 1/17/2013 at George Washington

TEMPLE 7 – 8 Overall, 1 – 0 Atlantic 10, 0 – 1 Big Five

Results – Won 68 – 41 vs. Western Michigan at McGonigle Hall, Won 67 – 59 at Saint Bonaventure

Summary –

Temple 68 Western Michigan 41 – The Owls halted 6 game losing streak with a convincing win over Western Michigan.  The Owls dominated the paint outscoring their opponent 42 – 8 inside.  The Cherry and White had a 47 – 36 rebounding advantage.  Victoria Macaulay scored 22 points leading 4 Owls who posted double-digit scoring.  Tyonna Williams notched a double-double with 13 points and a career-high 12 assists.  Rateska Brown and Erica Covile scored 13 points each.

Temple 67 Saint Bonaventure 59 – In winning their conference opener Coach Tonya Cardoza got the 100^th win of her career 67 – 59 in Olean, NY.  It took a strong rally by Temple over the last 6 minutes as they overcame a 7-point deficit.  The Cherry and White finished the game with a 19 – 4 run.  Victoria Macaulay went 4 for 4 in the last 25 seconds from the free throw line to keep the Bonnies at bay.  Macaulay had a game-high 23 points, and had her seventh double-double of the season grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds.  She converted 9 of 10 free throws.  Erica Covile and Tyonna Williams had 11 points each.

Victoria Macaulay was named the Atlantic 10 and Big Five Co-Player of the Week.

Next Game – 1/7/2013 vs. VCU at McGonigle Hall

VILLANOVA 13 – 2 Overall, 3 – 0 Big East, 3 – 0 Big Five

Results – Won 65 – 45 vs. DePaul at the Pavilion, Won 68 – 52 at Pitt

Summary –

Villanova 65 DePaul 45 – The usual game expectation from Villanova is to move the ball and rain threes on the opponent.  This time the Villanova women Wildcats played their usual motion offense, but this time the ball went inside.  It was effective as Villanova earned a 65 – 45 win over the Blue Demons of DePaul.  It wasn’t that the Wildcats did not take threes, they took 25 making a mere 3.  But they found the middle open, and took advantage of it scoring 42 points in the paint.  The Villanova close in shots allowed the host team to shoot 29 of 64 (45.3%) overall and connected on 26 of 39 (67%) two-point shots.  Rachel Roberts had a career-high 19 points shooting 8 – 15 from the floor, and had a team best 2 three-pointers.  Taylor Holeman also posted a career-high 14 points making all of her seven shots.

Villanova 68 Pitt 52 – The Wildcats broke the game open in the second half making 14 of 25 from the floor (56%), and 5 – 9 from distance,  outscoring Pitt 35 – 21 in the second half.  Villanova was efficient on offense getting 24 assists on their 28 field goals.  Laura Sweeney led the way with 18 points, 4 assists, 10 rebounds, 4 blocked shots, and 5 steals.  It was the 13^th double-double for the senior forward, 3 this season.  Sweeney moved into 10^th place on the school all-time scoring list with 1,301 points.  Rachel Roberts scored 14 points and handed out a career-high 7 assists.  Nine Wildcat players registered at least one assist in the game.

Next Game – 1/16/2013 at Penn

DREXEL 10 – 4 Overall, 3 – 0 CAA

Results – Won 48 – 46 at JMU, Won 64 – 51 at UNCW

Summary –

Drexel 48 James Madison 46 – Hollie Mershon made two free throws with 4 seconds on the clock giving Drexel its only lead of the game.  Mershon scored a game-high 20 points, 17 in the second half.  She was the only double-digit scorer for the Dragons who got 9 points each from Renee Johnson-Allen and Taylor Wootton.  Johnson-Allen pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds.  Drexel trailed by 11 at halftime and methodically crawled back into the game.  The game would come down to the last 9 seconds.  Nicky Jones missed her second free throw that would have tied the score.  Two JMU players went for the rebound, but the ball went out-of-bounds off them giving the ball back to Drexel.  Mershon got the ball, went into the lane, and got fouled.  She hit the decisive free throws.  Drexel survived a last second three by JMU’s Tarik Hislop who scored 13 points and added 5 assists.

Drexel 64 UNCW 51 – The Dragons won their third straight as Hollie Mershon scored 26 points, one shy of her career-high.  Mershon did set a career-high in made three-pointers with 6 and 10 made field goals.  Nicky Jones scored 12 points.  Fiona Flanagan set a career mark with 8 rebounds, 5 off the offensive glass.  Drexel had 15 offensive rebounds and an 18 – 8 advantage in second chance points.  Drexel is 3 – 0 in the CAA for the first time since the 2007-08 season.

Hollie Mershon was named the CAA Co-Player of the Week.

Next Game – 1/17/2013 at Hofstra