Women's Hoops Guru

(Guru's Note: While spending the holiday at home, Acacia dropped by Syracuse to see what's up with the Orange.)

By Acacia O'Connor

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Last year they were 9-20 and finished 13th in the Big East—hardly a team to notice.

In fact, the Syracuse University women's basketball team has almost always played in the shadow of their male counterparts, this city's darlings.

But this year could mark a change. With a 12-1 record, strong transfers and some impressive stats, the Orangewomen are catching some attention. Currently ranked 36th in the latest AP poll and heading into Big East play, the team is the league mystery.

11-game streak
This afternoon the Orange, led by a dominating performance from Senior forward Fantasia Goodwin, put down St. Bonaventure 72-57 at the Carrier Dome.

Goodwin contributed a game-high 19 points and 10 assists, while Chandrea Jones and Erica Morrow also put in double-digits with 15 and 12 points respectively.

The Bonnies and their star player, Atlantic 10 Conference player of the week Dana Mitchell, looked slow and struggled against the Orange’s zone offense. They shot an impressive 53% (6-11) from behind the arc in the first half, but were unable to sustain that level of shooting in the second half.

Mitchell, who was averaging 20.2 points per game going into the contest, scored only a single field goal in the first half and netted 10 points overall.

Going into today Syracuse had defeated opponents by an average scoring margin of 18.1. Today proved no different and the Orange enjoyed an unthreatened lead for the last 25 minutes of the game.

Beyond scoring, (Jones, Morrow and Goodwin all average in double-digits) the Orange get the job done on the boards. The team has marked at least 50 boards on five occasions and 18 or more offensive rebounds in the past 4 games.

They out-rebounded the Bonnies 43-25, 18 of which were offensive.

Goodwin has been a major contributor to that field. On December 22 she set a school record by pulling down 25 rebounds in the team’s 81-35 slaughtering of Saint Peter’s.

Today’s win marked Syracuse's 11th consecutive this season, a program record. Their sole loss came at the hands of No. 4 North Carolina (72-97) at the Women’s National Invitational Championship on Nov. 18.

“It is just remarkable to be 12-1 right now,” said Syracuse Head Coach Quentin Hillsman. "Our kids come everyday to compete. I am extremely happy for them."

Hillsman said the team’s preseason performance has shown them to be a legitimate force.

“This is not a fluke. St. Bonaventure came in here with a pretty good record. They didn't come in here as slouches. They have a very good post player who averages about 20 a game and today we held her to 10. I think it shows we can shut down team's top players."

When asked if they feel like a top 25 team, Goodwin and freshman guard Tasha Harris said yes, they think they are.

“We just have to keep playing hard and competing and see what happens,” Harris said. “The more people don’t recognize us the hungrier we get out on the court. That just builds and makes us work harder.”

Syracuse will look to legitimize its might when league play tips off for on Saturday, Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. against Louisville at the Carrier Dome.

-- Acacia

(Updating just before 2008 arrives: Fixing two home stops to road stops in Rutgers schedule and noting that stewart didn't play first season, thanks to a reader's observation).

(Guru's Note: A print version of Sunday's Temple-Rutgers game exists in the Inquirer sports dept. section of Philly.com. Due to the more immediate locale of Temple in terms of print readership, it is written more from the Owls' perspective.)

By Mel Greenberg

PISCTAWAY, N.J. _ There was reason for concern on the part of Rutgers heading into Sunday's annual nonconference encounter with Temple.

The Owls had been one of those pesky unranked teams that caused the Scarlet Knights some fits in recent seasons that included a few upsets.

Temple, on a rugged nonconference slate including a bunch of top 10 teams, had been competitive to the point that the Owls wouldn't be expected to show up in awe of a team ranked sixth in the nation.

Rutgers also had reached its long-awaited breather from a brutal opening agenda barely holding off Army and Princeton, mostly because of exhaustion and a sore foot that was keeping senior all-America candidate Essence Carson on the bench.

However, given a chance to refresh, coach C. Vivian Stringer's group took the floor Sunday and looked even better than the team that finished runnerup in the nation last season.

The Scarlet Knights rolled to a 70-34 victory that even had Stringer surprised by its magnitude over the Owls (7-7).

"I thought it was going to be a five-point game," Stringer said after the Scarlet Knights improved to 9-2.

The loss was Temple's worst since a 112-34 wipeout by then No. 16 Duke on Dec. 12, 1998, in Durham, N.C. -- a setback that indirectly became a factor in a Deer-Meets-Guru incident near Harrisburg, Pa., later that night. (We'll explain on the jump side of the page).

The only blemish on the day was an undetermined knee injury (as of this writing at 11:50 p.m. Sunday) to freshman Khadijah Rustdan.

Sophomore Epiphanny Prince (20 points) and Matee Ajavon ran the backcourt so well that fans were able to be slightly less nostalgic for former all-American Cappie Pondexter, the MVP of the WNBA playoffs for the Phoenix Mercury who was in the stands.

On the Temple side, two of Staley's predecessors were in the Rutgers Athletic Center in associate athletic director Kristen Foley, a former Scarlet Knights' star in the 1980s, and Charlene Curtis who were broadcast analysts on Temple's radio network and ESPNU-TV.

Foley was the coach during that Duke disaster and Curtis preceded her, both in the 1990s when losing seasons were commonplace because of injuries and other factors.

But Staley has normally been able to take something positive out of most losses.

The only thing that made her smile near the finish was a greeting from Pondexter, whom Staley coached as an assistant with USA Basketball last summer in an Olympic qualifying tournament.

"This is the worst loss in my short coaching career career," said Staley, who took charge in the spring of 2000."Either or team is going to respond to it or not. You have to have a short term memory."

Because Staley has seen much of the top 10 either from the stands or from the opposition bench, she was asked how Rutgers compared.

``They've got all the weapons," Staley said. "They just can't get into foul trouble because I don't know if they're as deep as some of the teams we've seen. But the first five, six, or seven players, they're hard to matchup with anybody in the country.

``And if they're shooting their outside shots, like they did in this particular game (7-of-12 three-point attempts) ... Part of it was they were ready to play us. They were well coached for this particular game.

``It's two-fold. You have to prepare for it and you have to sieze the moment. And they did that and we didn't.''

Incidentally, there was a bit of a Philadelphia connection at halftime when former Rutgers stars Tasha Pointer, now an assistant coach at her alma mater, and Shawnetta Stewart were introduced as this year's inductees to the Scarlet Knights' Hall of Fame.

Both played on Rutgers' first NCAA Final Four team in 2000 at the Wachovia Center in South Philadelphia. Stewart is also a local product who starred at University City High and broke Wilt Chamberlain's Public League career scoring record.

She was also the first to sign with Rutgers for 1995-96 when Stringer arrived from Iowa to take over the program though Stewart did not play the first year due to NCAA eligibility requirements.

And so just like in the second half of game in which the first 30-second timeout becomes a full timeout, Rutgers heads into the New Year looking to extend a current win streak of four games into 14.

Next up is a visit Wednesday night from Pepperdine, which heaped one of those shocking defeats on Rutgers early last season.

Then it's on to the Big East and the road to quality seeding for the NCAA tournment.

Stringer and her players don't like to look ahead, but we can, so consider Rutgers strong favorites over St. John's, Marquette, and Seton Hall.

Louisville becomes a little more formidable, but memories of a blown lead a year ago and the fact the Cardinals come here should be enough to give Rutgers the edge.

Then it's a visit to Cincinnati, back home against Villanova, and on the road again to West Virginia.

Villanova is vastly improved from last season's 8-21 disaster but unless Rutgers has trouble shooting against a zone and the Wildcats continue to fill the air with three-pointers, the athleticism of the Scarlet Knights should carry the day.

That same trait makes Rutgers favored over an improved West Virginia squad that's been in the rankings all year.

A visit to Pittsburgh occurs with the arrival of February and the Panthers will be campaigning for another NCAA bid and looking for a statement game.

Then comes the mini-NCAA Final Four dress rehearsal with a visit from No. 1 Connecticut and a trip to Tennessee. That same back-to-back could occur in April in St. Petersburg, Fla., but we need more data between now and then before we discuss Rutgers' prospects for those games.

click here to follow the jump

(Guru's note: Updating to note that St. Joe can only tie for Big Five title thanks to a reader who caught the comment.
A print publication version of St. Joseph's Upset of Auburn to win its own tournament exists at Philly.com in the Inquirer sports section area. The following alternative version also provides more detail of the suspensful finish.)

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA -Three decades ago this week, Texas freshman Nell Fortner and the rest of her Longhorn teammates paid a visit to St. Joseph's and left with a signature 89-85 victory at the expense of the No.8 Hawks.

Texas, then ranked No. 16, was on the way to becoming a national power under Hall of Famer Jody Conradt.

Fortner went on the become nationally prominent, herself, setting the stage for Purdue's 1999 NCAA title a year earlier leading the Boilermakers. She became the USA Basketball coach of the second-straight gold medalists in 2000 at the Sydney Games. The native of Jackson, Miss., was an in-studio analyst for several years for ESPN's Women's Final Four coverage and also coached the WNBA's Indiana Fever.

On Saturday, the Hawks finally got one back 30 years later on Fortner by upsetting No. 15 Auburn, 71-69, in a wild finish against the Tigers (12-2) she now coaches. The triumph enabled St. Joseph's (7-6) to win its own tournament for the first time since the 2001-02 season.

Freshman center Sarah Acker (16 points, eight rebounds), and tournament MVP Amy Wold (17 points) helped cancel a sensational effort by Auburn's DeWanna Bonner, who had 30 points and a career-high 19 rebounds.

The win occurred after narrow losses to nationally-ranked Rutgers and Wyoming earlier this season.

The Hawks certainly lived up to their mantra of "never die," but they prevailed more in the form of a cat with several lives and a Villanova Wildcat with gifted three-point shooting ability.

St. Joseph's, paced by Wold's 5-for-8, connected on 10-of-15 attempted treys.

But the game was never over until time expired even though twice in the second half, the Hawks appeared to have the game well under control.

In the first half, led by Wold, the Hawks rode a 5-of-9 effort on three-point attempts to forge a 41-29 lead at intermission.

The differential widened to 16 points at 60-44 with 9:59 left in the game. The Hawks then missed a few easy shots, while Auburn got hot and suddenly it was a cliffhanger at 60-59 before Acker finally stopped the run. She scored on the inside with 4:41 left.

Bonner’s two foul shots kept things tight until a three-pointer by McDade created some breathing space for the Hawks.

The lead seemed safe at 70-63 with 1:11 left but a pair of treys by Bonner and Smalley around a foul shot by Alexis Johnson made it 71-69 with 15 seconds left.

Timisha Gomez missed the front end of a bonus situation from the line and Wold did likewise after getting the offensive rebound.

Auburn went length of the court with a chance to tie but Alli Smalley lost the ball off her foot with two seconds left. However, then Wold was called for five seconds on the inbound possession. Sherell Hobbs’ three-point attempt then went wide as the game ended.

St. Joseph's, which will host the Atlantic Ten tournament in March, had entered its event with a four-game losing streak.

"Winning this tournament is hopefully the beginning of winning another tournament on this home floor so we have that to look forward to once the Atlantic Ten starts,'' St. Joseph's coach Cindy Griffn said.

(Correcting) -- Despite the loss to Villanova, the Hawks could still get a piece of the title through a 3-1 record -- the key contest being at three-time defending champion Temple on Jan. 30. They'll also host the Owls in another regular season game that will count only in the Atlantic Ten standings.

"We told this one (Wold) we have to pretend every game is a tournament, because two out of three (this season), she's been the MVP,'' Griffin said.

"We're playing kids that are productive in practice and that is what has to happen until we get into a flow. Hopefully, this starts our flow,'' she added.

"We would like to get back to the (NCAA) tournament,'' said Griffin, who is still seeking her first appearance as coach after returning to her alma matter in the spring of 2001.

"This is a good game to kind of make the nation, the AP, and even the selection committee that this team is for real.''

Helping the Hawks come together is forward Brittany Ford, who had eight points before fouling out in her third game back since minor knee surgery in the offseason.

"We're very deep in the postand I think it helps our starters and team develop. Our frontcourt right now -- the ones that are playing -- are freshmen and sophomores. The experience is coming game-by-game and practice-by-practice,"Griffin said.

St. Joseph's had beaten higher-ranked teams bvefore, most recently then-No. 8 George Washington in March in the Atlantic Ten tournament semifinals.

Biut Saturday's win is somewhat different than others in the Hawks' history of success.

Most previous wins against ranked squads were against annual rivals of the past and present such as Montclair State, Penn State, Rutgers, Temple, and George Washington.

But Saturday's was a rarity outside the group, although Texas and Virginia have been victimized as ranked teams by the Hawks.

A win of similar nature to Saturday dates way back to Dec. 27, 1984. when St. Joe's and a feisty freshman named Debbie Black upset No. 15 Western Kentucky, 93-90, in overtime in La Salle's tournament.that the Hawks eventually won by beating C. Vivian Stringer's second Iowa team.

-- Mel

(Guru's note: There is a print coverage version of Thursday's win over in the Inquirer sports section at Philly.com)

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ Temple showed up for the first of what could be several dates with Big Five history on Thursday night by beating Penn, 65-40, to achieve a record 16th straight victory in the local round-robin that began in 1979-80.

The Owls (7-6, 2-0 Big Five) had tied St. Joseph's previous mark on Friday by beating Villanova, which prevented an outright Big Five crown by the Wildcats, who finished 3-1 in the City Series.

Temple needs to beat St. Joseph's at home on Jan. 30 and at La Salle, Feb. 2, to claim fourth-straight outright crown with another 4-0 sweep that would be unprecedented. The total number of consecutive titles outright or titles in combination outright and shared is three held by St. Joseph's, Temple, and La Salle (two shared in the Explorers' run).

Further history about the streaks is in the previous post.

In Thursday night's game, the Owls prevented any of the players for Penn (3-7, 0-3) from scoring in double digits. Carrie Biemer had nine points for the Quakers.

Temple senior Ashley Morris, a graduate of Central High, scored 18 points, hitting 3-of-6 three-point attempts, and dealt four assists. Junior Shenita Landry of Milwaukee scored 11 points, and Lady Comfort had 10.

The Owls forced 23 turnovers and led 35-19 at the half. Penn was the last player to beat Temple in the Big Five, which occured in December, 2003, at the Liacouras Center.

"I think it's a great win'' said Temple coach Dawn Staley, who grew up in North Philadelphia close to the Temple campus but played her collegiate ball at Virginia. "Just being from Philadelphia and growing up being around the Big Five, you want the bragging rights of being the city's best.

"I've thought for the past couple of years, we were that, and we're moving towards breaking records like we did tonight,'' she continued. "But we want to win the Big Five. We want to continue on and get the game against St. Joe's and get the game against La Salle and win the Big Five one more time.

"Our seniors deserve it, they've put a lot of time, hard work, and effort into it, so we went to keep it going for the tradition we're trying to build here and for the former players who put their hearts and souls into it as well.''

Temple changed things somewhat defensively to account for some of Penn's large number of ball handling errors.

"Penn turns the ball over a lot anyway,'' Staley said. "We had an opportunity to speed the game up and make them play a little bit quicker than they wanted to play. We put a defense in yesterday that previous (Temple) teams couldn't play that well, but this team came out and played it well, forced some turnovers.

"I thought our overall team speed bothered Penn. If we were to do it for 40 minutes, I think it would pay big dividends in the win column for us," Staley added.

Temple next goes to No. 6 Rutgers (8-2) Sunday as the Owls play another team in the top 10 on their rugged nonconference slate that has included Maryland, Duke, Purdue, Stanford, Georgia, as well as ranking honorable mentions Georgia Tech and North Carolina State.

"It's a big game," Staley said of the Scarlet Knights who used to be a Temple conference rival when Rutgers was in the Atlantic Ten. "It's another opportunity for us to play a top 10 team. We've fared pretty well against most of the top 10 teams (in terms of competiveness).

"Rutgers is a rival of ours. We've had some success. The last time we beat a top 10 team, it was Rutgers. We'll keep crossing our fingers and hopefully catch them on a bad day," Staley said with a little smile.

"They haven't played in a while so maybe the rust has piled up."

It is unknown at this hour if Essence Carson will play for the Scarlet Knights. Coach C. Vivian Stringer rested the senior all-American candidate against Princeton and into the break because of a sore foot and make sure she's ready for the Big East wars.

Staley spoke of Morris, who has emerged as a force this season and is now a leading candidate for local player of the year honors.

"Ashley's been playing well. She's been running our basketball team. She does have a tendency to get into one-on-one play, I think she did that a little tonight.

"She needs to play a certain way for us to be successful -- spreading the basketball out, making sure Lady gets her touches, Shanea (Cotton) gets touches. She's going to get hers (points) because she can create her own shot. Sometimes she shoots it a little too quickly getting into the competitive matchup. Sometimes it's called for -- sometimes it's not.

"We're just trying to get her to be thinking ahead in running our basketball team, but, hey, 18 points, you can't take that away from her."

Morris was pleased with the way the night went.

"It feels real good just for my team to do this together and make the record books. That's always a plus."

Landry admitted to not knowing much about the Big Five in Milwaukee when she was being recruited by Temple.

"The only thing we heard about was (Temple men's coach) John Chaney and all the things he did," Landry said.

As for playing Rutgers, a team similar to Temple in style, Landry said, "They're a very physical team. Top 10 teams are mainly physical so to play a team that's physical does nothing but help us."

Penn coach Pat Knapp spoke of that quality in Temple.

"In the three-and-a-half years since I've been back to Philadelphia, they have the best athletes in the city and if you play hard, that's going to work. They usually disrupt those people that they play," Knapp said.

On Sunday, some of Temple's past coaching history will be on the scene at Rutgers broadcasting the game.

Associate athletic director Kristen Foley, a former Rutgers star who preceded Staley, will be doing color commentary on the radio broadcast on WPHT-AM (1210), while Charlene Curtis, who preceded Foley, will be doing the analyst work for the ESPNU-TV broadcast.

What Might Have Been

Staley was asked what went through her head watching Stanford upset Tennessee Saturday night. The Owls had held a 17-point lead in the first half against the Cardinal in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands last month.

"That's exactly what I was thinking, 17 points at the half on them. If we would have beaten Stanford and then Stanford beat Tennessee, you can start writing us down for the (NCAA) tournament.

"But somewhere we're going to get that game back against someone of similar stature."

Rutgers offers the next opportunity.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA - Temple will host Penn Thursday night at 7 p.m. as the Owls attempt to become the first Big Five women's team to win 16 straight City Series contests.

Ironically, Penn has already stopped coach Dawn Staley's team from already owning the record by being the last local in the round-robin to beat the Owls in games that counted in the Big Five.

That is said because St. Joseph's has beaten the Owls since the string began, but that was in a contest that was a stand-alone Atlantic Ten Conference encounter.

In a game that was also played at the Liacouras Center, Penn grabbed a 70-64 win on Dec. 9, 2003, when Kelly Greenberg was still coaching the Quakers.

In Thursday's game, through Temple will be a strong favorite, the Owls have had enough problems on offense at times that a low-scoring tilt would not be shocking.

Temple's current Big Five run began wiith a narrow 62-61 overtime triumph on Hawk Hill on Jan. 25, 2004.

Some other narrow triumphs since then were 66-64 in overtime at La Salle on Jan 8, 2006, and a 68-65 win at Villanova on Dec. 22 a year ago.

There have also been single-digit differential victories over St. Joseph's twice in the streak besides the overtime win, and two others over Villanova.

Temple could make more Big Five history later. La Salle had a three-piece of the title by sharing with St. Joseph's and Villanova in 1986-87 and 1987-88 and then an outright 4-0 for the Explorers in 1988-89.

St. Joseph's, which has the other 15-win streak in Big Five history since the round robin began in 1979-80, had three straight 4-0 sweeps during the run as Temple has already achieved through last season, That occurred from 1992-93 through 1994-95.

The Hawks then repeated the three-sweeps with 4-0 performances from 1998-99 through 2000-01.

Temple stopped a 14-win run of St. Joseph's on Feb. 5, 2002, taking a 77-65 triumph on the way to the Owls' first Big Five title under Staley in her second season.

Villanova then followed with two 4-0 sweeps through 2004 and since then the Big Five trophy has rested on North Broad St.

In terms of the title collection, Temple at 3-1, if either Penn or La Salle or St. Joseph's find a way to win their games, would still be the first to claim four titles in a row, though one would be shared.

And, to be fair and not a spoil sport, if the Owls suddenly grow cold in the rest of the season series, Villanova could become a co-champion at 3-1 or an outright one if nobody else is better than 2-2.

After Thursday night's game, Temple will change the focus back to its regional/national agenda with a visit ahead to No. 6 Rutgers on Sunday.

The Weekend Ahead

Having mentioned Temple-Rutgers, incidentally the Scarlet Knights have been idle since Princeton on the official schedule that excludes a recent exhibition game, here's how everyone followed in this area will finish out the 2007 portion of their schedules.

St. Joseph's will host a holiday tournament Friday and Saturday afternoons with No. 15 Auburn, a team that wasn't ranked preseason, facing Davidson while the Hawks will begin with New Jersey Institute Tech, which is coached by Margaret McKeon, a former St. John's star who also coached Boston U.

Auburn is coached by Nell Fortner, who was a coach of the WNBA Indiana Fever and gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic team in 2000.

La Salle will host Sacred Heart on Friday at 1 p.m. and then travel to Wisconsin-Milwaukee on New Year's Eve.

In a key game to start the Big Ten season, Penn State will be at Iowa where first-year coach Coquese Washington will participate in her first conference game. The loop fell on hard times this week when Michigan State's exit reduce Big Ten representation in the AP poll to one team -- the first occurence in that situation since the 1997 season.
It's a road game and Iowa is tough at home, so it's game for the Nittany Lions as they battle their way back to both a winning season and perhaps a berth in the NCAA for the first time in several years.

Villanova will visit Manhattan on Sunday afternoon.

Penn will meet host St. Peter's in a tournament on Saturday and then meet either Eastern Kentucky or High Point on Sunday.

Delaware, suffering with a nine-game losing streak, will meet Arkansas in Dartmouth's tournament on Saturday and then play either Dartmouth or Marquette on Sunday.

Drexel will host American at the Palestra, 3:30 p.m. Monday afternoon before the Dragons men take the floor to meet St. Joseph's

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

So the holiday has arrived and with it, perhaps, a new computer (laptop or otherwise) that quickly needs to be broken in but the day being what it is, there isn't much news happening as teams have dispensed for the break.

Well, sit right down and scroll away and we'll provide a little entertainment, much of it by way of the new AP poll for the week that arrived just ahead of Santa's delivery sleigh.

Also, if you want to check going to another screen, we wrote our own version of the AP story for Tuesday's print edition, but the link wans't available in the early A.M. But just lurk around in Philly.com in the Inquirer sports section and you'll find it unless Jonathan reads this with his wheaties Cheerios down in Washington and inserts one.

[Which he has, correcting his breakfast foodstuff of choice along the way.]

You can read the print story right here.

There's a new oldie as No. 1 with Connecticut taking 49 of the 50 first-place votes. The Huskies are there in part because of 9-0 highlighted by a sweep in the Virgin Islands and in part because of two of his colleagues in the profession that have been involved in past and present controversies put together a dandy of a game on the West Coast late Saturday night, Eastern time.

Stanford upset Tennessee in overtime, thus setting up the Vols for a fall from No. 1 where they were perched all season. The Cardinal might have taken the big leap from five all the way to No. 1 had they not lost to UConn in the Virgin Islands.

So who's involved in this unwitting conspiracy to help the Huskies?

On the Stanford side there's one Tara VanDerveer, who is about to get her 700th career win.

Back in the mid-90s when UConn first came on the scene VanDerveer was coach of the famous '96 Olympic squad who less-than-discreetly showed a lack of excitment over the USA basketball committee's selection of Huskies idol Rebecca Lobo on the team.

That's now Bay water over the dot.com industry as they say in Northern, Calif., but it was quite a deal back then to the Connecticut faithful.

And of course, in the other corner Saturday night was one Tennessee legendary coach Pat Summitt, who canceled the regular-season series between the two last summer.

Now that missing piece could become somewhat of a factor against Tennessee in how the No. 1 seeds are planted by the NCAA depending how the rest of the season plays out.

Furthermore, unless Rutgers, North Carolina, or LSU get their two sense against UConn, then the Lady Vols will now find themselves a bit in the Huskies' shadow the rest of the way.

Since it's been noted that Connecticut has the second-most appearances at the top to Tennessee (this week is poll No. 544), here's the list of every team that's ever been No. 1. Two times there were actually ties, including a preseason deadlock one year between Louisiana Tech and Tennessee. Here's the list:

Tennessee 111
Connecticut 95
Louisiana Tec 83
Texas 47
Duke 34
Old Dominion 34
Virginia 24
Southern Cal 16
LSU 15
Maryland 14
Auburn 11
Stanford 9
Wayland Baptist 9
Iowa 8
Penn St. 6
Vanderbilt 6
Delta St. 5
Georgia 5
North Caro. 5
Notre Dame 5
Purdue 4

This week also gives the Big East 100 appearances with a No. 1 current team exceeded only by the Southeastern Conference's 135. More SEC teams have held the spot but were not in the conference at the time of the ranking.

Ok, now to test your mouse/touch pads, click here to keep reading.

By Mel Greenberg

Saturday night was anything but silent in the Bay Area on the West Coast where Stanford got that elusive upset of Tennessee and now all is no longer calm, though still very bright in the women's basketball world.

That's because we now have suspense attached to the NCAA title chase the rest of the way.

First, the immediate fallout willl occur Sunday when votes get sent to AP headquarters for this week's Top 20 poll where the Vols can expect to be dislodged from the No. 1 position they held all season long.

A few first-place votes might still come their way. But the media panel will be all over the map because of the varying ways the upper positions will be handled.

We think when all is said and done, Connecticut will take that one step up.meaning locally here in Philadelphia the No. 1 team in the country potentially will be playing at Villanova on Jan. 3 in the Big East opener.

Our ballot, using some logic of the early season competition, will look like this at the top.

1. Connecticut -- They're unbeaten and they have a win over Stanford. That gives them an edge.

2. Ergo Stanfoird -- only loss is to UConn and they beat Tennessee

3. Tennessee -- only loss is to Stanford but they may now pay a bit of a price for dropping UConn.

4. North Carolina -- Can't let them drop too much -- only loss is to Tennessee.

5. Rutgers -- We all know about Stanford and other loss was at Duke. But

6. Maryland -- lost to Rutgers so on head-to-head and you can argue either way, this is how we see it.

Status quo sets in for the next three slots and we haven't started working on the rest of the ballot other than knowing Hartford needs to be rewarded for the win over Michigan State and the Hawks may now have an insurance policy for the NCAAs unless they mess up real bad in the America East. Michigan State may drop out and when was the last time only one Big Ten team was in the poll -- we know we have the answer but you'll have to wait a while for us to look it up in the database. It's also time to bring George Washington back into the house.

OK, so the above was just about polling. Now it's time to revive our previous discussion looking long range toward the selections.

The first implication of Stanford's success Saturday night is the Cardinal got the win they had to get. It's basically PAC-10 the rest of the way and they're a threat to run the table. So, yes, we now have five teams in the hunt for the four No. 1 seeds and North Carolina will get its chances soon to join the mix.

If Rutgers should beat Tennessee and find some way to handle UConn, Tennessee could drop to the third No. 1 seed, depending what else happens.

Connecticut has taken over the driver's seat, but enough bumps lie ahead -- one being Rutgers, another being LSU, still another being North Carolina, and perhaps some Big East ambusher could dislodge the Huskies.

The best that could be said for Rutgers is that things are in the Scarlet Knights' hands and it is up to them to figure out how not lose the grip. Maryland is right there with a threat to run the Atlantic Coast table, but North Carolina will want to have a say in that.

LSU needs to make al lot of noise in the SEC to become a candidate for a No. 1 but the Tigers are a frontrunner for a No. 2. Oklahoma, another Top10 team, will have to figure out how to navigate the Big 12, though a slip or two might not hurt the Sooners' hopes for a No. 2.

Georgia has LSU and Tennessee ahead in the SEC so a strong closing kick could start a buzz in the Bulldog's direction, though No. 2 line is what looms for now.

The rest of the chase for threes and fours is wide open and things won't begin to focus until the first half of conference play is complete.

So on that note, it's time to get a little shut-eye but we'll be back here on a desk shift and maybe share whatever reaction comes our way.

-- Mel

(Guru's note: Twas three nights before Christmas at a very late hour when the Guru was deep within the expanse of the sports department conference room after the desk shift doing a little musical download action from laptop to ipod when the blackberry started buzzing away.

But as an early present, here is the AP writethru account with some quotes. Enjoy, unless you are a Tennessee fan, obviously).

By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer

STANFORD, Calif. — Finally, it was Candice Wiggins’ and Stanford’s turn
in the long rivalry with Tennessee.

Rosalyn Gold-Onwude scored nine of Stanford’s 10 points in overtime,

Wiggins sunk one of two free throws with 28.6 left and finished with 22 and
the No. 5 Cardinal shocked previously unbeaten and top-ranked Tennessee 73-69
on Saturday night to end an 11-game losing streak in the series.

“I just want to say one thing,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said.
“Tonight Candice is spelled with an ’i.”’

Tennessee All-American Candace Parker missed the first of two free throws
with 30.5 seconds left after scoring the tying basket with 7.4 seconds
remaining in regulation to force OT. Tennessee had a chance in the final 30
seconds of overtime but Shannon Bobbitt turned the ball over with 8 seconds
left.

The Cardinal rushed the court to celebrate when the buzzer sounded.

Wiggins scored Stanford’s final six points of regulation, then missed two
free throws with 16.9 seconds to go and Parker answered with the tying score
on the other end, sending the game into extra time at 63 all.

“The overtime game, I blame that totally on myself,” Wiggins said. “I
have to hit those free throws.”

Jayne Appel had 19 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks and three steals and
freshman Kayla Pedersen’s outstanding defense on Parker was a key factor in
the upset, Stanford’s first win over Tennessee since an 82-65 victory on Dec.
15, 1996, in Knoxville — during the Cardinal’s last Final Four season. Onwude
had 13 points.

Parker finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, four blocks
and two steals and Alexis Hornbuckle had 15 in the first defeat for Tennessee
(10-1).

The Cardinal (10-1) won their seventh straight game and earned VanDerveer
her 699th career victory, and she will try to become the seventh Division I
coach to reach the 700 mark in the Pac-10 opener next Friday against
Washington State.

Candace vs. Candice — or “Ace” vs. “Ice” as some prefer to call the
matchup between two of the country’s top players — was a thriller as
expected.

“It took four years,” Wiggins said. “It’s definitely nice to beat the No.
1 team in the country. There’s something special about this team. We are so
tough. We stayed together through the whole game.”

Pat Summitt’s defending champion Lady Vols shot 59 percent in the first
half and crashed hard to the offensive glass to create second and third
chances, but couldn’t sustain that level of play for the entire game.

“We had a lot of breakdowns and they came together, made passes and shots
they needed to make,” Hornbuckle said. “It’s disappointing, but Stanford is
great. It’s hard to hold them down. You saw that tonight.”

This was the best atmosphere for a women’s game on The Farm since
Tennessee last came on campus two years ago — and fans waited in long lines
outside for a chance to see this one. The game attracted about a half dozen
WNBA representatives, too.

Stanford’s lively fans waved white rally towels at packed Maples
Pavilion, where a crowd of 7,172 — just shy of a sellout — watched Stanford’s
final non-conference test before opening Pac-10 play.

“We have had games just like this one that have gone the other way,”
VanDerveer said. “Playing Tennessee is always good for us.”

After struggling to finish her chances in the first half, Appel picked up
her game. The 6-foot-4 reigning Pac-10 Freshman of the Year scored 11 of her
points in the final 20 minutes.

“At halftime, they told me to stop playing scared and just go up with
it,” Appel said. “We had 20 minutes to leave everything on the floor.”

Wiggins shot only 5-for-12 and converted only 11 of 16 free throws after
earning Pac-10 Player of the Week honors. She scored a season-high 35 points
to go with four rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots in a rout of
Baylor on Dec. 16 followed by a 21-point outing two days later at New Mexico.

Parker, too, was Player of the Week for the Southeastern Conference after
reaching the 1,500-point mark when she scored 34 points to match her career
high Dec. 13 against Middle Tennessee.

Summitt thought her star player got beat up and didn’t receive enough
calls.

“I’m going to take my time and watch every possession,” Summitt said.
“This happens to her all the time. That comes with being the best player in
the game. At some point in time, it doesn’t quite seem appropriate.”

Both teams pushed the tempo early and forced turnovers. Parker had two
blocks and two steals in the first five minutes before getting her first
points or rebound, while Appel also had two blocks in the opening minutes.

Pedersen drew the tough defensive assignment of guarding Parker and
Jillian Harmon also helped, earning just her fifth start of the season as
Stanford went with a bigger lineup to help match Tennessee’s size and
physical play.

After the Lady Vols went ahead 33-22 on Parker’s basket with 2:26 to go
in the first half, Stanford scored the final five points to pull within 33-27
at the break.

Stanford’s Michelle Harrison sat in a wheelchair at the end of the bench
one day after undergoing surgery on her left knee to repair a torn anterior
cruciate ligament after getting hurt last month. Fellow sophomore Melanie
Murphy is scheduled to have surgery Jan. 4 on her left knee, also for an ACL
tear.

Cardinal football coach Jim Harbaugh was in attendance.

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ Villanova's rain of threes were reduced to a drizzle Friday afternoon as Temple deprived the Wildcats of an outright Big Five title with a 54-46 victory at the Liacouras Center.

Villanova (9-3, 3-1 Big Five) entered the game with a three-point shooting binge in which the Wildcats had been averaging 11.2 made treys to lead the nation. They had also connected on 33-of-71 attempts outside the arc in their previous two games.

But Temple (6-6, 1-0 Big Five) shut off the outside faucet --Villanova shot 4-of-27 -- and as a result are now tied with St. Joseph's for consecutive wins all-time in the city competition with 15 straight. The Owls can break that streak on Thursday when Penn visits.

Had Villanova won, the Wildcats would have swept to a local title, something Temple had done three straight season and could become the first to win four straight outright titles.

The Owls' other two City Series games will be at home against St. Joseph's Wednesday, Jan. 30, and at La Salle on Feb. 2. -- games that also count in the Atlantic Ten.

Temple has another game with St. Joseph's that counts only in the A-10, a cateogry in which the Hawks do hold a victory over Temple outside the Big Five category since the Owls' run began with two wins at the close of the 2003-04 season.

Villanova did not have an offensive rebound in the first half.

“Every time you took a shot, you felt like you had to make it because you weren’t going to get a second chance,’’ said Kurz, a transfer from Duke.

Former Blue Devils star Alison Bales, now in the WNBA, was in the stands to watch her former teammate, who starred at Germantown Academy.

Perretta was philosophical about his team’s effort, which actually produced some scoring inside the paint to keep the Wildcats competitive.

“At least we got to play for the title,’’ he said. “A year ago, it was over for us after we played our first game. When you only win eight games (Villanova was 8-21), everything we’re doing now is a sign of progress.

"Of the 27 shots we took for threes, only about 17 were good shots. Temple was a very good opponent to prepare us for the Big East because they are the kind of physical and athlete competition we are going to face. ‘’

Incidentally, one of our newsroom photographers was on the scene to shoot for the print story and also to provide a slide show at philly.com.

Although he's back home in Washington for a week, Jonathan sent us the link via email for the pictures.

In the game, Kurz and Lisa Karcic each scored 14 points for Villanova, while Temple senior Ashley Morris scored 13 points, junior Shenita Landry scored 12 points, and Shanea Cotton scored 10.

Among four players we touted in Friday's blog as leading candidates for Big Five player of the year, Kurz and Morris maintained their possibilities, although with three games yet to be played for the Owls, someone else could become the more dominant threat involved if they go on to win outright.

A Temple loss would enable Villanova to gain a tie. And, theoretically, because the other three games still remain on the Owls' schedule, mathematically, St.Joseph;'s or La Salle could still factor into a tie.

The Hawks, however, continue to look for some scoring power.

On Friday, St. Joseph's dropped a nonconference game at Seton Hall, 59-42, to fall to 5-6.

Meanwhile, Delaware fell to Bowling Green at home, making it a school-record nine straight losses since an opening day victory for the Blue Hens, who received an at-large invitation to the NCAA tournament last season.

Drexel will meet Delaware and Hofstra, which is also struggling, on the front end of the Colonial Athletic Association schedule.

And here are the scores in Temple's current Big Five win strreak.

2003-04

Temple 62, at St. Joseph's 61, overtime.
Temple 71,La Salle 59

2004-05

Temple 63, Penn 46
Temple 64, Villanova 57 at St. Joseph's
Temple 57, at La Salle 47
Temple 69, at St. Joseph's 46

2005-06

Temple 72, at Penn 53
Temple 52, Villanova 43
Temple 66, at La Salle 64, ovt.
Temple 59, St. Joseph's 53

2006-07

Temple 68, at Villanova 65
Temple 68, at Penn 49
Temple 78, at St. Joseph's 71
Temple 68, La Salle 55

2007-08

Temple 54, Villanova 46

Ruitgers' Stanley Staying Wtih Scarlet Knights

We noted in a previous blog that reports out of the Northwest claimed Rutgers assistant coach Marianne Stanley had been targeted by the Seattle Storm for the vacant head coaching position that occurred after Anne Dnovan resigned.

Confirming reports that have now appeared elsewhere, a contact with the Storm left us a similar overnight message that Staley's name was mentioned at the start of the search but she had communicated back to Seattle that she prepared to remain at Rutgers.

Connecticut and Tennessee on Left Coast

Although they no longer will meet in the regular season, top-ranked Tennessee and No. 2 Connecticut are both on the West Coast at the moment.

Tennessee meets Stanford on Saturday, while Connecticut, in its first game without Kalana Greene after she tore her ACL, came up late Friday night with an 85-53 victory over the Aztecs.

Freshman sensation Maya Moore had 12 points and seven rebounds in her first start, while Rene Montgomery led her and three other starters also scoring in double figures with 19 points.

Off the bench, Katia Swannier had nine rebounds and four points in 23 minutes, Charde Houston had six points and five rebounds in 15 minutes, and Lorin Dixon played 10 minutes.

Brittany Hunter, who started, only played 13 minutes, but was 6-for-6 scoring 14 points, and grabbed six rebounds.

Connecticut, incidentally, will visit Villanova, Jan. 3.

Also, speaking of Tennessee, we heard that Knoxville beat writer Dan Fleser's surgery went well put doctors still need to see the biopsy report.

And also, Acacia checked in from her home Syracuse after arriving from Vassar to offer holiday greetings and volunteered to check out Syracuse's improvement-to-date this season.

-- Mel

(Guru's note: After a heavy serving of ranked teams in a compressed period of time, Rutgers took an 11-day break for classroom exams and fine-tuning court exams. The Scarlet Knights don't play a game that counts again until Temple visits on Dec. 30.

However, Rutgers got a chance to try their adusted schemes in an exhibition encounter
Thursday night at the Louis A. Brown Athletic Center and Stephen K. Lee was on the scene before heading home to his native Louisiana for the holidays.)

By Stephen K. Lee

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – With just five days until Christmas, the Rutgers women’s basketball team enjoyed a few holiday surprises in a 66-54 exhibition win Thursday night over the DT3AAU team.

Freshman guard Khadijah Rushdan took full advantage of her extended playing time in the exhibition. The Delaware native finished with 13 points and wowed the crowd with reverse layups and three pointers.

Junior forward Heather Zurich paced the No. 6 Scarlet Knights (8-2) in scoring with 18 points and sophomore Brittany Ray added another 15.

For the first 17 minutes of the first half, the game was close as neither team trailed by more than four points. Then at the 3:01 mark, with the Knights trailing 24-20, Ray hit a three pointer that sparked a 13-0 Rutgers run heading into halftime.

The Knights maintained the lead and control of the game the rest of the way.

The DT3 team featured some familiar faces for Rutgers fans. RU alum Mauri Horton (’03) was greeted with cheers in her return to the Louis Brown Athletic Center. Horton finished with five points.

Former Duke star Alison Bales, who scored 21 points in the Blue Devils’ 53-52 loss to the Knights in last year’s Sweet Sixteen matchup, started at center for DT3. Bales, now in the WNBA, finished with six points.

Rutgers resumes its regular season play at home against Temple on Dec. 30. The game will be televised on ESPNU at 2:00 p.m.

(Updated with further items)

(Guru's note: Due to space limitations in print for Friday's editions, the following advance that was to be the front part of a notebook has been transferred here. We'll be back late Thursday night with added coverage off the Drexel-Penn game and extra notes.)

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ By the time Villanova and Temple finish their 3 p.m. date at the Owls’ Liacouras Center Friday afternoon, the City Series will either be over or barely begun.

The Wildcats (9-2, 3-0), the most-improved team in the city, have already beaten La Salle, Penn, and St. Joseph’s, and have been bombing the baskets from long-range with authority.
Nearly each time out, especially in recent games,

Villanova has been connecting with three-pointers in double-digit totals by halftime in a threat to the NCAA record of 21.

The Wildcats already have tied their school-record total of 18 twice, including last week’s easy win over Binghamton at the Pavilion.

Senior Stacie Witman has led a three-prong attack that has also seen impressive shooting from Duke transfer Laura Kurz and junior Lisa Karcic.

The addition of Kurz, no doubt, is a major reason for Villanova’s turnaround from a season that was a worst-ever 8-21.

“What Laura has given us is another player the opposition has to worry about,” Villanova coach Harry Perretta said. “Usually, they’re first two options to defend are Stacie and Laura, which has opened things up for Lisa.”

Temple (5-6), meanwhile, has been getting a heavy dose of nationally-ranked nonconference teams, but Villanova will be the Owls’ first Big Five game as they begin defense of three straight titles.

Coach Dawn Staley’s group will seek to tie St. Joseph’s all-time record of 15-straight Big Five wins, which the Hawks achieved between 1991-92 and 1995-96. They also had a 14=game win streak between 1998-99 and 2001-02.

Temple offers a physical challenge, of the kind that the Owls’ Atlantic 10-rival George Washington recently gave the Wildcats in a win here by the Colonials.

“Temple is going to defend hard,” said George Washington coach Joe McKeown, a graduate of Father Judge High.

“But Villanova has definitely improved and they should do well against a bunch of teams they’ll face in the Big East.”

Temple’s Ashley Morris has blossomed in her senior season in the backcourt in terms of scoring, but the Owls have not been able to produce a power game, offensively, in the post despite the big presence of senior center Lady Comfort.

Turnovers have been a problem as has scoring.

The Owls recently got some help in the post when sophomore forward Jasmine Stone was cleared to return to action after sitting out the front part of the season under NCAA eligibility rules.

If Temple wins, the Owls will have the opportunity to be the first to claim four straight titles since the women’s round-robin began in 1979-80.

It will also mean that the issue won’t be decided until Temple meets La Salle and St. Joseph’s in what are also Atlantic Ten games.

Friday’s game could also have an impact at an early date on player-of-the-year in the city.
At the moment, four players appear to be leading the pack -- Witman, Kurz, Morris, and La Salle’s Carlene Hightower.

St. Joseph’s Brittany Ford has been sidelined after minor offseason knee surgery, though she’s soon to return. Sarah Acker might be the leading freshman, but her overall numbers fall short of the others, as do those of senior Timisha Gomez.

For more items click here the same way you'd jump and turn inside a newspaper

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ These are the days when talk about starting the NCAA women's basketball season a month later after finals and the Christmas break doesn't seem like such a bad idea.

That's only because after undergoing a heavy slate of games, a signficant number of which may have already determined some premium designations, we are basically sitting around in a lull waiting for momentum to begin anew.

For some coaches, the time is a blessing because once finals are done they can act like they are coaching in the WNBA for a week or so or more where basketball is the only course being taught.

So where are we in the scheme of things?

Like the presidential election campaign which may come to an earlier moment than in the past because of the move up of primary voting in the states, so do the No. 1 seeds for the NCAA tournament seem to be already established way ahead of schedule because of the major confrontations that have occurred in nonconference play.

Tennessee would need to suffer major injuries to be dislodged since the Vols don't appear that they will lose many games the rest of the way, though some challenges could come in SEC competition.

The same goes likewise for Connecticut, although complete slips against LSU, North Carolina and the majority of Big East losses to Rutgers could cause a drop to No. 2. Losses alone to Rutgers, however, wouldn't be harmful since the Scarlet Knights are also in play for a No. 1 and the only item that would be decided is who got the stronger overall seed.

Maryland has also proven its worth unless Duke and North Carolina wreak havoc in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Rutgers, even with the high wire act, is in good shape with the only major deals left are the visit to Tennessee and the UConn games, which is not to say the rest of the Big East can be taken lightly. But losses to those two teams wouldn't cost a No. 1 seed, only a stronger No. 1 since all three are competing for the same value.

In some cases, things are academic because certain 1-2 games would occur in regional finals if all plays out so it wouldn't make major differences if some changed occurred. A year ago we looked ahead and said who could dislodge the existing frontrunners in the weekly polls, which Connecticut and Rutgers did on the court.

The best threats from projected two-seeds are LSU by beating Tennessee and Connecticut and having a hot finish, and North Carolina by doing likewise, but against Maryland and Connecticut. Stanford, despite the win over Rutgers, would need to beat Tennessee to get involved at the top because the Pac-10 will not offer much, if any, in the way of quality opportunities.

Oklahoma already has losses to Maryland and Tennessee and can't compare statistically right now to Rutgers or Connecticut. But winning the Big 12 will keep the discussion alive.

Incidentally, a bunch of we media folks have been invited in early February to NCAA headquarters to go through a mock bracket exercise as the tournament committee will ultimately do -- the men did it last year -- and we will be working with the live data at that point of the season. Enough will be written off of what we produce, I think.

Georgia could be in play for a No. 2, but might go higher with a strong SEC run that would include potential wins over LSU and Tennessee.

After that, things are very wide open. There are some very good won-loss records, but many of those owners of such have yet to be really tested, though certainly the Big East, Big 12, SEC, and ACC will offer opportunities.

Like last year, several mid-major teams could get at-large bids, but not necessarily the same ones from the CAA this time around. Hartford looks like a good candidate if the Hawks don't win the America East.

Maybe Liberty out of the Big South could be another, although we can't see them not winning the conference.

Looking conference-by-conference, in the ACC, Duke has the chance to restore its luster, while Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina State will get their chances in conference play. Virginia has good RPI numbers but needs to strongly contend for the upper portion of the ACC.

The Atlantic Ten is a mystery. George Washington got nicked but another strong conference run could offer a safety-valve at-large bid. Temple played strong outside competition, but didn't win, although Rutgers is still left. However, a strong conference run will improve the RPI. St. Joseph's has yet to get fully healthy, but if the Hawks do, they could cause trouble as they did in the tournament. Is Dayton for real? and Xavier needs to shore itself up.

The Big 12 will produce Oklahoma, Baylor, and Texas A&M, minimally, and then it will be up to several others to out-duel each other.

The Big East could send a mob but the first half of the conference race will help clarify things and maybe not. Villanova, after a worst-ever 8-21, has been shooting threes like baseball players hit homers -- but without the steroids.

The Big Ten, again, does not seem likely to be in position to send many but it will be fascinating to watch the wars to see who wants to make an impression. Penn State certainly is a team to be examined among several others.

James Madison and Old Dominion are the best of the CAA threats, although the next time ODU doesn't get an automatic will be conference history.

SMU and Tulane have the best outside numbers in Conference USA, but the at-large spot may go to an alum over in the Big East.

Marist is another potential at-large candidate depending on its run in the Metro Atlantic.

Bowling Green has a great RPI now, but how much will the Mid-American competition weaken the schedule rating.

Wyoming is the best bet for at-large status out of the Mountain West, short of a conference title,although Urah seems to be in play.

Stanford, California, and Arizona State seem the most NCAA-worthy now unless they get challenged by the other PAC-10 schools. We know Tennessee, Georgia, LSU, and Vanderbilt, along with a revitalized Auburn project out of the SEC, but Arkansas looks interesting on record at the moment.

As for everyone else, if you haven't been mentioned, you better win your conference.

Since it is a quiet week, we'll hold off on other topics until 24 hours from now.

-- Mel

(Guru's Note: Now that I got your attention, this is not a basketball story. However, we do ocassional dabble in other sports and since this one came in too late to make most of the print editions, here is the Associated Press report of the NCAA Division I women's championship match,

Speaking of PSU, however, the basketball 64-55 victory at Bucknell Saturday night in nearby Lewisburg brought the season record to 9-3 and makes it the first time in five seasons the program has nine nonconference victories).

By The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Penn State played near-perfect volleyball in an amazing NCAA run, winning its second national title while dropping only two games in six tournament matches.

The scrappy Nittany Lions even found a way to stun top-seeded Stanford on Saturday night, getting 26 kills from Megan Hodge and 19 from Nicole Fawcett against the very same school they beat for their first title in 1999.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet that we won,” Hodge said. “It’s surreal. I’m on a high.”

A day before her 21st birthday, Fawcett served on match point and Penn State capped its 26th straight victory on another powerful kill by MVP Hodge, winning 30-25, 30-26, 23-30, 19-30, 15-8 exactly three months to the day after losing a five-game thriller to the Cardinal — the last defeat for the Nittany Lions.

“We just talked coming in about how we were going to win,” Fawcett said. “So, we just had to go back to how we were playing in the first two games. There was no way we were going to lose it.”

It was a classic for volleyball fans considering each side had three first-team All-Americans. Trailing 4-3 in the decisive game, Penn State (34-2) scored six straight points and got two kills each from Christa Harmotto and Alisha Glass for a 10-4 lead and Stanford called timeout.

National and Pac-10 player of the year Foluke Akinradewo and Pac-10 freshman of the year Alix Klineman each had 18 kills for the Cardinal (32-3), who tried to become the first team since UCLA in 1991 to rally from a two-game deficit to win.

“This is why we take the court every day and work hard in practice, so we can win a national championship,” Akinradewo said. “It’s worth taking the risk.”

Stanford fell short for the second straight season, missing a chance to give senior starters Bryn Kehoe and Franci Gerard another title after winning when they were freshmen in 2004.

Penn State coach Russ Rose had no intention of shutting down Stanford’s stars. What his team did was keep points alive by chasing down tough loose balls and hitting the floor for athletic digs to end Stanford’s 12-game winning streak and deny the Pac-10 its sixth title in seven years.

“Anything can happen in a short game, but I was confident if we got to Game 5 and had enough offense we could do some things,” Rose said.

Stanford, which barely advanced out of the semifinals after a 3-2 win over Southern California on Thursday night, was seeking its seventh title in 16 seasons. Now, after five straight championships by the Pac-10, 2006 winner Nebraska and Penn State are bringing more parity to the college game.

The Cornhuskers were the only other team to beat Penn State this season. The Nittany Lions are 31-0 when they win the first game of a match and this was only the fifth time they had to go the distance to win — and fresh legs could have been a factor in this one. Penn State breezed past California 3-0 on Thursday.

Fawcett had served into the net on game point in Game 3, but made up for it later.

This marked the third time these teams met in the championship, with Stanford winning in 1997 and Penn State two years later. These are the only two teams to make all 27 NCAA tournament fields since its inception in 1981.

Stanford freshman libero Gabi Ailes extended her own single-season digs record to 533 with 10 digs Saturday.

In the opening game, the teams combined for five service errors among the first 14 points. Fawcett’s kill made it 26-23, then she had a key block for her team’s 29th point and the game-winning kill.

Kate Price, Penn State’s senior outside hitter, chased down several tough saves along the right sideline.

Rose, in his 29th season at the school, was national coach of the year and Saturday’s triumph was his 925th career victory.

The championship drew 13,631 for a total of 26,679, the second-highest attendance mark in NCAA volleyball history behind Omaha, Neb., last year (34,060).

-- Mel

(Guru's note: This is the sushi-style, raw but longer version of the print story submitted Thursday night)_

By Mel Greenberg
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Villanova’s attack has become women’s basketball’s version of the homerun derby.

The Wildcats played longball again at record levels last night, shooting 18 three-pointers on the way to a 78-51 nonconference victory over Binghamton at the Pavilion.

It’s the second time this season and third overall that Villanova (9-2) has shot that total, which is three short of the NCAA record of 21.

The Wildcats now head for some rest and exams before returning for next Friday’s Big Five showdown at Temple (3 p.m.).

Villanova needs a win to claim the Big Five crown outright after grabbing its first three City Series games to date. Temple, which is much more physical, has yet to play in this season’s round-robin, but the Owls have won three straight crowns and will be seeking to tie St. Joseph’s twice-set win streak record of 15 straight Big Five games.

``When you’re not athletic, you try to even it up by shooting from the outside,’’ Villanova coach Harry Perretta said of his strategy. ``We can make a three as easy as a foul shot, so why shouldn’t we take advantage. When you make shots, it looks easy.

The Wildcats have made 10 or more treys in seven of their last 11 games.

In that regard, Duke transfer Laura Kurz continues to be the Villanova’s leading slugger. The Germantown Academy graduate had 28 points against the Bearcats (1-8), including a phenomenal 8-for-9 on three-point attempts.

``I was feeling it a little bit with the threes,’’ Kurz said afterwards. ``The short little floaters weren’t falling and I was getting cleaner looks on the outside.

``I think we did a good job finding each other.’’

Kurz is now 20-for-30 attempting treys in her last eight games and is 57-for-88 overall from the field in the same stretch.

The Wildcats, incidentally, officially moved to the plus side in the victory column ahead of last season’s overall effort, when they finished a worst-ever 8-21.

Stacie Witman also shot for power last night, scoring 20 points and making 4-of-9 threes. Binghamton’s Laura Franceski scored 16 points and Laura Sario added 10 points.

The Wildcats will get a better idea of their progress in the Temple game and when the Big East gets under way. Villanova’s first conference game, incidentally, will be here Jan. 3 when second-ranked Connecticut visits.

``At the moment, these kind of games we’re playing right now were life and death struggles for us last year,’’ Perretta said.

Villanova leads the nation in made treys with an 11.1 average – they had 13 by halftime last night – and also leads in fewest turnovers with an 11.6 average.

Through 11 games, Villanova has made 129 threes and committed just 125 turnovers.

-- Mel