Coaches have plenty of good reasons for scheduling events like the Penn women’s Friday afternoon game — let’s not call it a contest — against Gwynedd Mercy at the Palestra. Drama just isn’t one of them.
Let’s get the basics out of the way: Penn 95, G. Mercy 38. The Quakers put 17 players on the court (no, not all at once), and 16 of them scored. The Penn reserves outscored the Penn starters, who in turn outscored Gwynedd Mercy, which to be fair played well for a Division III team facing a bigger, faster, more talented Division I team.
Penn shot 54% on the afternoon vs. Gwynedd’s 27%. The rebounding was about equally lopsided: 54-30. Penn’s harassing defense forced turnovers that led to 22 points, versus three for Gwynedd Mercy.
This was a warmup for both teams, a return to the court after Christmas and before the start of league play. Penn (7-5) arrives at 2023 with a six-game winning streak, including several actual contests, and though it’s comfortable with its starting five, coach Mike McLaughlin has now seen what all his players can do in game situations. He has plenty of reasons to be pleased.
Take Iyanna Rogers, the lanky 6-foot-1 sophomore forward from Richmond, Va. What, you’ve never heard of her? Well, that’s understandable: She missed all of last season to an injury and got onto the court only briefly before Friday, when she logged 12 minutes — and scored her first 10 collegiate points on 5-for-8 shooting, with five rebounds, an assist, an emphatic block and a steal. That should earn her some more game time very soon to spell starter Jordan Obi or play alongside her.
Obi had team highs with 12 points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes, and Floor Toonders was a perfect 4-for-4; Gwynedd Mercy had no answer for 6-foot-1 and 6-foot-4 frontcourt players who can handle the ball well and shoot threes if needed.
Along with Rogers, Penn reserves who played well included some better-known names: Stina Almqvist, who was practically perfect (4-for-5 shooting, 2-for-2 on foul shots, 11 points); Sydnei Caldwell, with 11 points, five rebounds and an assist to little sister Saniah; and Michaela Stanfield (five points, four rebounds, two assists and two blocks).
Are the Quakers as good as they looked on the second-to-last day of 2022? We’ll find out on the second day of 2023, when they host Brown (7-5) at the Palestra, with Cornell (7-6) and an especially challenging Columbia team (11-2) due in town for the weekend.