You’ve got to feel for Dartmouth: After suffering a 66-34 trouncing by Princeton on Friday night, the Big Green women were exactly one point worse off Saturday night in being clobbered by Penn, 66-33, in Hanover.
The indignities Saturday included a four-point second quarter, a five-point third quarter and a 29-0 Penn run in the first half that eliminated any sort of suspense about the game. And two of the biggest cheers came for a Penn player: First-year forward Silke Milliman grew up in Hanover, so her relatives and friends roared when she came into the game and when she scored her one point of the night.
The crowd that came for Dartmouth (7-10, 1-3 Ivy) didn’t have a whole lot of reason to cheer. Penn’s aggressive defense shut down the Big Green’s top scorer, senior guard Annie McKenna, who managed two points on 1-for-13 shooting. Senior forward Paula Lenart got into foul trouble and played just 14 minutes, scoring four. Junior guard Elle Louie’s night ended when she bore the force of a flying Eleah Parker, Penn’s powerful 6-4 center, and had to be helped off the court.
The one bright light for the Big Green was first-year guard Allie Harland from Melbourne, Australia, who in five minutes scored 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting, raising her career total to 15.
A night after struggling against Harvard — in fact, after struggling through four straight losses — the Quakers (11-5, 1-2) were resurgent. Parker, who has been injured and tentative for much of the season, was assertive inside, with 14 points, 16 rebounds (seven offensive) and two blocks. She took more shots (15, up from her average of 10) and also made her presence felt with five fouls. Guards Phoebe Sterba and Kayla Padilla had 15 points apiece, Sterba on 6-for-8 shooting. Penn shot well from outside, penetrated inside, dominated on the boards and passed with precision. Using a man offense instead of the 2-3 zone that has been coach Mike McLaughlin’s trademark, Penn also got 18 points off turnovers and held Dartmouth to 22.4% shooting.
Dartmouth will stay home at Leede Arena again next weekend, against Brown and Yale. Penn returns to the Palestra to face Columbia and Cornell.