We go to college to learn, right? And the Penn women had an intensive seminar Sunday afternoon with the Duke Blue Devils, who coasted to a 77-55 win at the Palestra.
For Duke (8-0), the game had to be a nice break: The undefeated Devils’ previous game was a victory over No. 9 Iowa, and its next is against No. 1 South Carolina. Before then, I suspect the AP writers will hang a number on Duke as well. This is a team that wouldn’t be out of place playing any school in the country. (And you don’t know how it pains me to say anything nice about Duke, but even I have to give the Devils their due.)
If you were hoping for some suspense in this game, it evaporated soon after the opening tip. Penn (4-5) didn’t score a point in the first five minutes, and though Duke also got off to a slow start, the first quarter was a lopsided 22-5. A run in the second and third quarters got Penn to within 11, but that’s as good as things got.
The Blue Devils were bigger, quicker and more accurate with passes as well as shots. Without a superstar evident in the lineup, they have an enviable depth of talent: No player had as many as 10 rebounds, and none scored more than 14 points, but five had seven or more, and nine had 10 minutes or more on the court. Duke shot a hair under .500 — 32 of 65 — vs. Penn’s 21 of 66.
With its height advantage, Duke might have expected a rebounding advantage as well, but it was slight: 42 to 39. Duke simply made better use of its rebounds, with quick outlet passes and a 19-7 advantage on points on the fastbreak. Duke ran up 19 assists (versus nine for Penn) and 46 points in the paint (versus 30 for Penn).
This was the long-awaited reunion for Penn: The rolling four-game suspensions that had sidelined all the juniors and seniors are done. There were bound to be adjustments when these players finally got into a game together. But there were few flubs, just cold hands and superior opponents.
To have a chance, the Quakers would have needed torrid shooting from three-point land; what they got was 5-for-18. Kayla Padilla, who had an insane 36 points her last time out, against Memphis, came back down to earth with 16 (and just one three-pointer, compared to her record nine last time).
And the Quakers would have needed another standout performance by forward Jordan Obi, who has redefined Penn’s frontcourt in her first year. This time, though, bedeviled by Duke, she had just one basket and five rebounds.
The best news for Penn came in the continued strong play of senior forward Kennedy Suttle, who had the only double-double for either team (11 points, 12 rebounds). Senior guard Mia Lakstigala had 11 points as well.
In their next game, the Penn women face mere mortals: St. Joseph’s, Tuesday night at the Palestra. The shorthanded Quakers lost their first two Big 5 games of the season but, now at full strength, should match up well with the Hawks. St. Joe’s is 2-6 but beat Yale over the weekend.