Women’s City Six notebook: Farewell to Drexel, Penn seniors; Temple, 'Nova prep for tournaments

City Six schools are wrapping up the regular season and preparing for conference tournaments. This means that Senior Days are coming and going.

We look at the biggest performances and recap the week of each of the City Six women’s programs.

Drexel’s four seniors will be suiting up at the Daskalakis Athletic Center for the final time this week. Bailey Greenberg, Aubree Brown, Niki Metzel, and Ana Ferrariu represent the class.

“What they accomplished in their four years is so impressive,” coach Denise Dillon said.

Greenberg is the headliner of the class. She was a star from day one. Dillon recruited her to be an impact player.

“I’m not sure we are aware of how much of an impact Bailey Greenberg has made on this program until she’s no longer here,” Dillon said.

Each journey was different. Brown redshirted and became a full-time starter as a sophomore. Metzel didn’t see much time her first two seasons, but has worked her way into a starting role. Ferrariu has been steady when needed to start a game or contribute off the bench.

Mariah Leonard is also listed as a senior on the roster, but Dillon said that she is an academic senior and will return next season.

Drexel (21-7, 14-2 CAA) has two home games against UNC-Wilmington (Thursday) and College of Charleston (Saturday) before the conference tournament. The Dragons are 12-1 at home.

“Knowing we’re in a position to control our own destiny, I’m happy we’re at home,” Dillon said.

Villanova (17-12, 11-7) showed the league two weeks ago that it can compete with the top teams. The Wildcats finished tied for third, but they’ll be the seventh seed after tiebreakers. They’ll play Xavier on Friday in Chicago.

“We played really well two weeks ago,” coach Harry Perretta said. “There are times that we’re playing well and times that we’re playing poorly. We’re still inconsistent.”

The Wildcats offense hasn’t been strong against zone defenses. Making three-pointers will be important for Villanova to advance.

No one is concerned about the defense. Villanova has the top scoring defense in the Big East, and the best field-goal percentage defense. Perretta said that the biggest concern is the depth. Villanova will have to win four games in four nights to win the tournament.

“We’re not very deep, so if we were to win one or two games, we have to play very slow,” Perretta said. “If we win two and we’re running up and down, we won’t be able to play [well] in the third one.”

Penn clinched a spot in the four-team Ivy League Tournament among with Columbia, Princeton, and Yale. The Quakers are 2-3 combined against those opponents. Penn will travel to Cornell on Friday to play a team it defeated, 63-41, in February. Saturday’s game against Columbia will impact tournament seeding.

Penn coach Mike McLaughlin called Princeton one of the best teams the Ivy League has ever had. Penn split its games with Yale. The Quakers will have their work cut out in the loaded field.

“We set out some goals like every team does, and the first one was to get to the Ivy League Tournament,” McLaughlin said. “This is the seventh-rated conference in the country, so it’s a big deal to get to the playoffs.”

Last Saturday’s 74-60 win against Brown was the final home game for Penn’s four seniors. Phoebe Sterba, Emily Anderson, Liz Satter, and Kendall Grasela represent the group.

Sterba has started very game this season and 26 of 31 games last year. She didn’t start a game in her first two seasons. “She’s been special,” McLaughlin said. “She’s been a phenomenal leader.”

6: Temple (15-14, 7-9) is seeded sixth in the AAC Tournament, which begins Friday in Uncasville, Conn. The Owls will play ninth-seeded Eastern Carolina. Temple lost, 56-50, in its only regular-season game against ECU.

69.6: Mia Davis, Ashley Jones, and Marissa Mackins account for 69.6% of Temple’s scoring. Their play will determine how far Temple goes in the tournament.

17: Temple led by as many as 17 points in its first game against ECU.

La Salle and St. Joseph’s lost in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament. The Explorers (13-17, 7-9) fell on the road at Davidson, 67-63. Claire Jacobs became La Salle’s all-time highest-scoring freshman, but Davidson closed the third and fourth quarters on strong runs to end the Explorers’ season.

St. Joe’s (9-20, 3-13) went to Fordham and was defeated, 59-36. Kaliah Henderson led the Hawks with 11 points. Taking down third-seeded Fordham was simply a tall task.