There will be plenty of challenges ahead as they rebuild their women’s basketball programs but there is only one chance to make a good first impression, and Loree Payne of Santa Clara and Blanche Alverson of San Diego did that last week.
Payne’s Broncos were too much for Division II Stanislaus State, sprinting to a 57-18 halftime lead on the way to a 108-52 victory. Forward Kylee Fox had 18 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. Guard Ashley Hawkins contributed 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists and forward Sophie Glancey chipped in 11 points in 10 minutes.
“I’m just super excited about the product we put on the floor. We talked about the fact that it’s a non-DI but we’re not going to treat it like that,” Payne said. “We wanted to show our fans this is the style of basketball we’re going to be playing this year. It’s going to be fun, it’s going to be up-tempo, a lot of energy. I think we did a pretty good job of displaying that.”
While Payne had eight previous seasons of head-coaching experience at Northern Arizona, where she won 73 games the past three years, Alverson’s debut with the Toreros was her first game as a head coach.
She’ll always remember USD’s 92-23 rout of NAIA power Bethesda as her first step after six seasons as an assistant at Georgia Tech. And no matter how long she coaches, Alverson is not likely to be part of a game quite like this one.
The Toreros led 19-1 after the first quarter and outscored Bethesda 40-3 on points off turnovers. Jayden Rhodes had 22 points and eight rebounds and twin sister Hallie Rhodes scored 11 points.
While Bethesda arrived at Jenny Craig Pavilion with only five available players and was forced to play the final two quarters with four because of illness, it gave San Diego a chance to get its roster game action under Alverson.
“We just wanted to get everyone on the floor and play well together,” Alverson said after spreading minutes among 13 players and getting points from 11 of them. “We’ve got a long way to go. This is the first game, a building block.”
LAST WEEK’S BIG THING: LMU’s men are 3-0 for the first time since 2018 (when they started 8-0) after a 94-72 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday. Redshirt sophomore guard Rodney Brown Jr., who spent one year each at Cal and Virginia Tech, scored a career-high 28 points, including 8-for-13 accuracy from 3-point range, and guard Jan Vide had 15 points and 11 assists with zero turnovers.
THIS WEEK’S BIG THING: The No. 21 Gonzaga men (2-0) face a serious test when they host No. 23 Creighton (1-0) on Tuesday night in an early-season duel of unbeatens. The visiting Bluejays were picked to finish third in the powerful Big East Conference. Gonzaga and Creighton are among just four teams that have won a game in the NCAA Tournament each of the past five seasons. The Zags have won the past three meetings, including an 83-65 victory in the 2021 Sweet 16 in their most recent matchup.
GAELS CRANK UP THE OFFENSE: The Saint Mary’s men’s team, known primarily for its physical defense, is averaging 85.5 points after victories over a pair of better-than-you-think mid-major opponents. The Gaels opened with an 84-58 win over St. Thomas of Minnesota, which has invested heavily in its program after making the leap from Division III and is favored to win the Summit League. On Friday, Saint Mary’s posted an 87-66 win over Chattanooga, the defending NIT champion.
Sophomore guard Mikey Lewis, the reigning West Coast Conference Sixth Man of the Year, has transitioned nicely into a starting role, averaging 25.5 points through two games while shooting 62 percent from 3-point range. Forward Paulius Murauskas is producing 19.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists.
"That's a well-oiled machine,” Chattanooga head coach Dan Earl said of the Gaels, who are targeting a program-record fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament bid. “Coach (Randy) Bennett does a fantastic job . . . They're a phenomenal program.”
NEW-LOOK USF WOMEN ROMP: The San Francisco women, with 11 new players on their roster, got big contributions from a couple of them in their 64-40 season-opening win over UNC Greensboro. Sophomore guard Candy Edokpaigbe, a native of Naples, Italy and transfer from Seattle U, scored a career-high 26 points to go with 7 rebounds. Graduate guard Meghan McIntyre, an NAIA All-American at Southern Oregon last season, flirted with a triple-double, posting 11 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists.
ZAGS SHOW OFF MULTIPLE THREATS: No one is surprised by No. 21 Gonzaga’s frontcourt firepower. Veterans Graham Ike and Braden Huff combined for 32 points and 20 rebounds in the Zags’ 83-68 win over Oklahoma at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena on Saturday night.
But Gonzaga newcomers Tyon Grant-Foster (14 points, 7 rebounds), Jalen Warley (13 points, 8 rebounds) and freshman point guard Mario Saint-Super (8 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals) also factored in the victory.
“Hopefully that’s going to be one of the beauties of this team. I think we’ll have different guys stepping up every night,” head coach Mark Few said after the game. “Tonight, these three guys were great, but night in and night out you’re going to have to deal with our bigs. What these guys showed is we’re certainly not one-dimensional.”
SEATTLE U’S RETURN: Seattle U, back in the West Coast Conference for the first time since 1980, celebrated with an 84-73 opening win over Denver, which will join the conference next season. Senior guard Brayden Maldonado scored a career-high 28 points and redshirt sophomore forward Will Heimbrodt had 24 points in his first career start.
LMU’S HIGH-SCORING FLASHBACK: It’s that time of the season when mismatches often produce crazy numbers. The Portland men opened with a 120-83 victory over Willamette. LMU topped that.
The Lions tipped off their schedule with a 137-54 win over Lincoln of California, the most points they’ve recorded since Jan. 5, 1991, when LMU beat U.S. International 186-140 in the highest-scoring game in college basketball history. The game also was notable for USIU’s Kevin Bradshaw scoring 72 points to break Pete Maravich’s NCAA record of 69 against a Division I opponent.
TIP-INS: Saint Mary’s made 27 of 29 free throws in its win over Chattanooga and broke a nearly 46-year-old program record by converting 30 in a row over two games . . . Oregon State beat North Dakota State 67-65 in its opener when Josiah Lake II scored a layup with two seconds left . . . Kendra Koorits, a redshirt freshman from Estonia, made her college debut with Washington State, scoring 18 points in 15 minutes off the bench in the first half and finishing with 23 points in an 87-85 loss to rival Idaho . . . Gonzaga redshirt freshman Lauren Whittaker, a top prospect from New Zealand, had 13 points and 9 rebounds in her debut as the Zags beat North Dakota State 81-66 at Fargo, ND.