You weren’t expecting a close game, were you? If so, you were expecting the Penn women to travel to Morgan State for their first game in 20 days. But with the coronavirus shuffling and scuttling schedules, the Quakers instead were playing host to Division III Ursinus, and the result was an emphatic 89-29 Penn win.
Both teams were patching a sudden hole in the schedule, and the main goal, as Penn coach Mike McLaughlin said, was to get out on the floor and play again. Sure enough, the Quakers looked relaxed, and every Penn player scored — except for high-scoring guard Kayla Padilla, who was unavailable. But after weeks of uneven play followed by finals and Christmas break, another goal had to be dispelling the funk of Penn’s six losses in a row; any doubts were dismissed before the end of the opening quarter, when Penn started a 39-0 streak that stretched more than 15 minutes.
This wasn’t so much a game as a showcase: The Quakers gave us a peek at what they hope to bring to the Ivy season, which in their case begins Sunday at Brown. They didn’t look like a 5-7 team but a prospective 18-game winner with a legitimate shot at the Ivy title.
McLaughlin gave every one of his 13 players a chance to shine, and the results were sparkly: Each of the 13 Quakers had at least 10 minutes on the court, and at least three points, shooting collectively at an impressive 54.9% clip. The defense was relentless, as usual, with 18 steals — five of them by senior Kennedy Suttle in just 14 minutes of play.
Starters Suttle, forward Jordan Obi and senior guard Mandy McGurk each went 4-for-5 in limited minutes. Freshman guard Lizzy Groetsch, the first player off the bench, had 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting and was effective all over — with five rebounds, two blocks and three steals.
The bright spots included the play of junior Faye Parker, the 6-foot-3 backup center on a team that has no starting center. (Obi, an immensely talented natural forward playing in her rookie year as a sophomore, fills the role of center as needed.) As a freshman two years ago, Parker saw scant minutes behind junior Eleah Parker and senior Emily Anderson; last year, of course, Faye Parker and everyone else in the Ivies practiced and watched the world go by.
On Friday, Parker looked poised and smooth in going three of four from the field — and not just in the shadow of the hoop — for seven points. Penn will need more of the same from Parker in going up against players like Yale’s Camilla Emsbo.
Truth is, though, 13 players took the court for Penn, and you could name-drop pretty much all of them for bright and heady plays. They have every reason to feel good as they put 2021 behind them. We’ll see how the team looks in the light of 2022 and on the court of an Ivy opponent.