Villanova Finishes in a Five-Way Third-Place Tie in the Big East; Drexel Winning streak Broken at JMU; Penn In a Second Place Tie in the Ivies
Games of February 24 – March 1, 2020
Drexel (21 – 7, 14 – 2) – The Dragons saw their 13-game winning streak come to an end at James Madison University. The teams are in a tie for first place in the conference. Drexel forced 25 JMU turnovers, but could only turn those into 10 points. In the game Aubree Brown became the first player in program history to record 500 career points and 500 assists. The Dragons got back on track winning at Towson. DU took an 18 – 3 lead in the first quarter and withstood numerous rallies by the Tigers. With the win Drexel women’s basketball has 599 wins. Keishana Washington scored 20 points over the weekend.
Lost 69 – 39 at JMU, Won 63 – 60 at Towson
La Salle (13 – 16, 7 – 9, 1 – 3 Big Five) – La Salle ended the regular season with a split. The Explorers held a late 55 – 51 lead, but fell victim to an 18 – 9 run in North Carolina. The Explorers closed the season with a victory thanks to a big second quarter offensive explosion where they made 5 of 9 three-point shots. Kayla Spruill posted two double-doubles totaling 28 points and 21 rebounds. Claire Jacobs scored 30 points. Shalina Miller added 3 more blocked shots to her record at Davidson, then pulled down 10 rebounds at Mason.
Lost 71 – 60 (OT) at Davidson, Won 64 – 59 at George Mason
Penn (18 – 7, 8 – 4 Ivy League, 3 – 2 Big Five) – The University of Pennsylvania suffered back to back losses at Princeton and at home against Yale. The loss at Princeton snapped a 7-game Ivy win streak for Penn. Kayla Padilla scored 24 points in that game. She was the only Quaker to score more than one basket. The Red and Blue returned home and fell to Yale. No Penn player scored in double figures while Roxy Barahman posted a season-high 29 for the Eli. The Quakers got back to winning ways on Senior Night beating a stubborn Brown team. The victory clinched a berth in the Ivy League Tournament. Eleah Parker led the way with 24 points and 14 rebounds, her 7th double of the season. Padilla added 18 points.
Lost 80 – 44 at Princeton, Lost 71 – 54 vs. Yale, Won 74 – 60 vs. Brown
Saint Joseph’s (9 – 19, 3 – 13 Atlantic 10, 1 – 3 Big Five) – The Hawks trailed by 11 points in their home finale with 1:35 to play. SJU went on a 7 – 0 run, but got no closer. Katie Jekot had 16 points. It was her 17th game scoring in double figures. Finishing the regular season at Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx, Fordham won the second quarter 15 – 4 to take a lead that Saint Joe’s could not overcome. The Rams shot 50% for the game. Lula Roig was the Hawks leading scorer with 10 points.
Lost 51 – 47 vs. UMass, Lost 67 – 45 at Fordham
Temple (15 – 13, 7 – 8 American, 3 – 1 Big Five) – The Owls fell in both close games at UCF and at home against Tulsa. Temple lost both over the week by a total of 7 points. In Florida the game was tied at 59, but UCF went on a decisive 5 – 0 run. The Knights made 66.7% of their three-point shots while the Owls converted only 26.7%. The Cherry and White held a 50 – 48 lead after three, but the Golden Hurricane won the final ten minutes 20 – 14. Over the two games Mia Davis posted double doubles getting a total of 36 points and 24 rebounds. Ashley Jones scored 23 and 20 points. Emani Mayo recorded a season-high 11 points in Orlando.
Lost 67 – 64 at UCF, Lost 68 – 64 vs. Tulsa
Villanova (17 – 12, 11 – 7, 3 – 1 Big Five) – The Wildcats finished in an unprecedented 5-way tie for third place. Once the tiebreakers were applied Villanova got the #7 seed in the Big East Tournament. Statistically, Nova was better than Creighton, but on the scoreboard, it was the Blue Jays. Jaylyn Agnew had a game-high 20 points for Creighton. Raven James led the Cats with 15 points. In the regular season final game Villanova erased a double-digit deficit to win at Providence. Mary Gedaka scored 26 points and pulled down 16 rebounds. Nova had a 20 – 5 advantage in points off turnovers. Over the weekend Maddy Siegrist had double digits in both games getting 10 each. Gedaka totaled 36 points.
Lost 67 – 47 at Creighton, Won 74 – 63 at Providence
Upcoming Games – Conference tournament play begins. On March 3rd Villanova (7) will face either Georgetown or Xavier, the team with the lower RPI. In the Atlantic 10 both La Salle and Saint Joseph’s are on the road in the first round on March 3 as Saint Joseph’s (13) plays at Fordham (3). La Salle (10) goes to Davidson (7). In the final week of the regular season Drexel is chasing the top seed in the CAA. They will host UNCW and the College of Charleston over the weekend. Penn is trying to get the second seed and with that the automatic qualifier for the WNIT if they do not get an NCAA bid. The Quakers go to Cornell and Columbia. The Lions are in a second-place tie via record with the Red and Blue. Temple ends their regular season on Monday night in New Orleans.
PhillyCollegeSports.com Players of the Week
Kayla Spruill, La Salle who posted double-doubles in both games over the week. In the loss at Davidson Spruill led the way with 11 points and 11 boards. She followed that with a 17-point, 10 rebound effort at George Mason. Over the week Spruill averaged 14 points and 10.5 rebounds. She recorded a double-double in three of the last four games.
Mary Gedaka, Villanova who led the way for the Wildcats scoring 26 points and grabbing 16 rebounds in the come-from-behind win at Providence. Gedaka has scored in double figures in all but two games this season. Over the weekend the senior forward averaged 18 points and 10.5 rebounds.
Honor Roll
Aubree Brown, Keishana Washington – Drexel
Claire Jacobs, Shalina Miller – La Salle
Eleah Parker, Kayla Padilla – Penn
Katie Jekot, Lula Roig – Saint Joseph’s
Ashley Jones, Mia Davis – Temple
Maddy Siegrist – Villanova
Player of the Week and Honor Roll selections are made by Glenn Papazian, PhillyCollegeSports.com, Mel Greenberg, Women’s Hoop Guru, and Matt Leon, KYW Newsradio
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