The Penn women knew they weren’t traveling to Chicago in mid-November for the weather.
They were at Northwestern, not a national power but a legitimate Big Ten competitor, to test themselves. A win would be a bonus.
The Quakers didn’t get the win. In fact, they never came closer than the zero-zero tie at tipoff on the way to a 63-55 loss. But they made the game close in the fourth quarter — an 11-point run brought them to within three — and they learned some lessons as they try to improve on last year’s fifth-place finish in the Ivies and overall losing record, a rarity for any team that Mike McLaughlin has coached.’
First on the list of pluses for Penn on Sunday afternoon: the return of an apparently healthy forward Jordan Obi, who limped off the court early in Thursday night’s season opener at Marist. Obi was not at her most effective, with 3-for-13 shooting (including 2-for-5 from beyond the arc), nine points and six rebounds in 30 minutes on the court.
A second plus: solid play from point guard Mandy McGurk. McGurk doesn’t necessarily have to score to be effective: McLaughlin treasures reliable ball handlers at point who show their value in on-court management, assists, hustle and maniacal defense (Meghan McCullough and Kasey Chambers being the exemplars from his past Penn teams). But if McGurk is going to take shots — she loves the floater in the lane — they need to go in as often as not. On Thursday, she was 1-for-11; on Sunday, she went 7-for-13, finishing with 15 points and four assists.
In fact, McGurk was the game’s second-leading scorer, behind only her backcourt partner, fellow senior Kayla Padilla. Trouble is, Padilla’s 20 points came on 6-for-16 shooting, including 2-for-9 from beyond the arc. And when no one else in red and blue catches fire, the Quakers rely on Padilla to carry them — as she did against Marist with 31 points.
Northwestern has no one on the court with Padilla’s explosiveness and star power. (Seriously, if you’ve never seen Padilla on the court, preferably in person, do so before she finishes her senior year. It’s a joy to watch her create plays where no one else can.) But Northwestern has strength and talent enough to dominate the middle against Penn, and that’s where the game was won. The Wildcats held the advantage in offensive boards (16-9), second-chance points (17-9) and points in the paint (28-18). Penn couldn’t make up the difference from outside, shooting an anemic 6-for-26 from beyond the arc, compared with Northwestern’s 7-for-18.
The game marked a homecoming for 5-foot-11 guard Simone Sawyer, the only Penn freshman to get game time so far. After a short stint against Marist, she played 13-plus minutes against Northwestern, just 20 miles from the high school gym where she set a single-season scoring record. Sunday’s results were disappointing for her hometown fans: no baskets on three three-point attempts, an assist and a rebound. But take the word of someone who’s watched her high school highlight tapes: She’ll be playing a real role for the Quakers.
Other Quakers will have the chance to play in front of their hometown friends and family this month: Obi and freshman center Ella Ray at San Francisco on the 21st, and Padilla and freshman guard Isabel Gomez at Southern California on the 23rd. First, though, come two Philly games: at St. Joseph’s on Tuesday and at the Palestra against Villanova on Thursday. We’ll see what lessons the Quakers learned in Chicago and can apply closer to home.