College Basketball: Boston U. tops Staley's S.C.

It's St. Joseph's tournament, but the talk of the first round of the Hawk Classic yesterday at Hagan Arena involved Boston University's 68-67 upset of Dawn Staley's South Carolina squad.

The game matched two ex-Big Five coaches - the winning Terriers' (4-6) Kelly Greenberg, who guided Penn to two Ivy titles earlier this decade, and Staley, who helped Temple gain national recognition in her eight seasons with the Owls before leaving in 2008.

"I know it's surprising, but Kelly did a great job," St. Joseph's coach Cindy Griffin said of the former La Salle star her Hawks (5-7) will meet in today's title game at 4 p.m.

The Hawks had an easy time handling Brown (3-8), 65-36, in the first game.

Wildcat Christmas Classic - Gabriela Marginean had 29 points for Drexel (6-4) in a 59-58 win over Loyola (Md.) (4-6) in the opener. Villanova (9-2) beat San Francisco (4-11), 67-35, in the next game.

Elsewhere: Temple got 11 points from Marli Bennett in a nonleague 55-43 win over host Akron in Ohio. . . . Tyra Grant had 28 points for Penn State in a 77-73 Big Ten conference win in overtime against Iowa in State College, Pa. . . . Tina Charles scored 16 of her 24 points in the second half to lead No. 1 Connecticut over No. 12 Florida State, 78-59, in Tallahassee, Fla., for its 50th straight win. . . . Joy Cheek scored 16 points to help No. 8 Duke overwhelm N.C. Central, 117-28, in Durham N.C. . . . Angel Robinson had 12 points and 14 rebounds as No. 9 Georgia improved to 12-0 for the second time in three seasons with a 59-47 win over Clemson in Clemson, S.C. - Alyssa Karel scored 21 points, and Wisconsin shocked No. 16 Michigan State, 62-54, in Madison, Wis. . . . Brittainey Raven had a season-high 26 points as No. 17 Texas beat Central Michigan, 94-83, in Coral Gables, Fla., in Round 1 of the Miami Wyndham Holiday Tournament. . . . Freshman Tiffany Clarke had 27 points to lead No. 18 Vanderbilt to a 96-83 win over East Tennessee State in Nashville. . . . No. 19 Arizona State easily ended its two-game skid with a 74-37 win over Furman in Tempe, Ariz. . . . No. 22 Green Bay posted a 75-64 victory over Southern Illinois in Green Bay, Wis. . . . Monica Wright scored 28 points and No. 23 Virginia beat Samford, 69-60, in the opening round of the Cavalier Classic in Charlottesville, Va.

North Carolina 81, Rutgers 67 -

Freshman Dexter Strickland scored a season-high 18 points to help the No. 9 Tar Heels (10-3) beat the Scarlet Knights (9-3) in Chapel Hill, N.C.