Four starters scored in double figures to push the Penn women to a convincing 69-57 win over Dartmouth Saturday afternoon. It’s the 11th win in a row for Penn (12-5, 4-0 Ivy), the last 10 of them in the friendly confines of the Palestra.
The young Dartmouth team (2-16, 0-4) showed potential that belies its record and its position as the Ancient Eighth. Still, Penn led all the way, and the game was never in serious doubt after the first quarter, when the Quakers built an 18-10 lead. A three by Dartmouth junior guard Mekkena Boyd cut the Penn lead to six early in the third quarter, but junior forward Jordan Obi answered with a three of her own, and the lead never dropped below nine again.
Penn shot 45% from the floor for the afternoon, to Dartmouth’s 34%. The Big Green kept things close with the three ball, shooting 12-for-26 (46%) from outside. Yes, 63% of Dartmouth’s points came from outside the arc.
Penn, on the other hand, relied on disciplined ball movement to create good shots, from inside or out: A healthy 17 of its 24 field goals came with assists, versus 12 of 21 for Dartmouth. And Penn was characteristically disciplined on personal fouls as well: Dartmouth got to the line for four foul shots all day.
Seven of Penn’s assists were from the hands of senior guard Kayla Padilla, who had another strong game, with 21 points on 7-for-17 shooting. Junior forward Floor Toonders was as effective as she’s been on both ends of the court, with a double-double: a dozen points, a dozen rebounds — seven off the offensive glass — and three blocks. That makes Toonders the Ivy leader in blocked shots and tied for third on rebounds. We’ll find out very soon how she matches up against Princeton’s marvelous Elllie Mitchell, the rebound queen.
Obi was once again a force inside and out, with 6-for-11 shooting (3-for-5 on threes), 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists. And senior guard Mandy McGurk had a good shooting night as well: 4-for-8 from the field for 14 points.
Dartmouth stayed in the game in large part due to the sharpshooting of three starting guards: Boyd (3-for-5 from outside, 11 points), junior Mia Curtis (5-for-7 from outside, 15 points) and sophomore Victoria Page (4-for-8 on threes, 17 points).
Penn’s lead in the Ivies will face more serious threats in the next few games. The holiday weekend finishes with a contest at Princeton (11-5, 2-2) on Monday afternoon, and then Yale visits the Palestra on Saturday, after which come road trips to Harvard, Columbia and Cornell.
Dartmouth knows there’s no rest for the weary, with home games next against Harvard (9-7, 2-2) and Princeton, and then a road trip to Columbia.