For the third game in a row, the Penn women were facing a team that beat them last season. And for the third game in a row, they came away with the win.
This time, though, it wasn’t easy. And it required good play up and down the lineup: Four Penn starters scored in double figures, and forward Floor Toonders posted her second double-double in a row.
The Quakers needed overtime to slip past the Bucknell Bison, 68-62, Tuesday night at the Palestra. As in their convincing wins last week over La Salle and Stony Brook, Penn (4-5) led nearly all night. But Bucknell (4-6) worked its way back from a 15-point deficit in the middle of the third period to tie the game early in the fourth and again, improbably, at the buzzer on a chuck off the glass from the top of the key by sophomore guard Cecelia Collins.
The shot wasn’t pretty — Collins was scrambling after nearly losing the ball under pressure from Penn’s Sydnei Caldwell — but Collins had a stellar game that enabled Bucknell’s comeback, leading all scorers with 18 points on 8-for-18 shooting while adding four rebounds and a game-high six assists. Many of those assists were to 6-foot-2 senior forward Emma Shaffer, who notched 15 points and 11 rebounds. And sophomore swing player Isabella King had seven rebounds and a dozen points on 5-for-10 shooting.
In some ways, it made sense that these two teams would play so evenly over 45 minutes: Both are defense-minded, and generally disciplined teams coached by men who value those attributes and don’t mind low-scoring games — as long as they win, which they usually do. Toward the end of overtime, when the Bison had to send the Quakers to the foul line to keep them from running out the clock to preserve their lead, Bucknell committed a bunch of fouls in succession — because it hadn’t committed any in the fourth quarter. Even so, Bucknell committed just 15 fouls all game, to Penn’s 14 — disciplined play on both sides.
Five of those Penn fouls were charged to Toonders, who had to watch the OT and the last minute of regulation from the bench. But she’d done all anyone could ask of her for the win: 11 rebounds, 15 points on 6-for-12 shooting (including 3-for-6 threes — how many 6-foot-4 women are credible threats from deep?), four blocks and two steals. Toonders, a junior from Holland who transferred to Penn this year after playing minor minutes at Florida, has become central to Penn’s game, scoring more points in nine games this season than in 29 last year. She’s the most important transfer to the Penn women’s team since Kasey Chambers took over at point guard seven years ago.
Classmate and fellow forward Jordan Obi was effective inside and out, leading the Quakers with 16 points on 7-for-15 shooting and adding four rebounds and five assists. Senior guard Kayla Padilla came off a cold start to score 15 points, and the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week, Simone Sawyer, hit 10 points on 4-for-9 shooting.
Penn continues its home stand Thursday night against St. Francis of Brooklyn and then hosts what should be a tougher opponent, Temple, at noon Sunday.