It makes sense that on the night of Floor Toonders’ return from the injury that kept her off the court for the season’s first six games, her Penn Quakers would control the inside.
But the 6-foot-4 senior forward came in for just four minutes and made no plays; it was her shorter teammates who made their inches and aggressiveness count in beating La Salle Wednesday at the Palestra, 79-71.
Toonders’ time will come, no doubt, as she works her way back to full strength and the starting lineup. Against La Salle, at least, the current Penn starters were enough: Junior Stina Almqvist once again led the scoring with 24 points on 9-for-18 scoring and added a half-dozen rebounds; senior forward Jordan Obi and freshman point guard Mataya Gayle had 18 points apiece, and junior guard Lizzy Groetsch had 17. The fifth starter, freshman Ese Ogbevire, had no points but a team-high five assists in 12 minutes on the court.
In their third year playing for Penn, Almqvist and Obi are both fulfilling their promise, and then some. Both are listed at 6-foot-1, but the team’s successes (when they come) are built around their complementary styles and strengths. Almqvist, listed as a guard but often playing the high post in Toonders’ absence, scores frequently by looping between and around defenders with deft layups (and drawing fouls — giving her 42 of the team’s 110 trips to the line this season).
Obi muscles to the basket and practically dares defenders to hack at her — and they rarely do. On defense, she’s the enforcer, leading the Quakers in blocks and steals. But Obi also is the more likely to help bring the ball up court and loves to shoot the three: In this young season, she has seven three-pointers to Almqvist’s four. Obi, the forward, has more assists than Almqvist but fewer rebounds. Go figure.
Any Big 5 game can be a grudge match, and though La Salle has been the weakest of the Philly quintet in recent memory, the Explorers’ revamped lineup used speed and three-point shooting to keep the Quakers from getting too comfortable. La Salle racked up 12 threes (to Penn’s four) and shot a very respectable 42% overall; but Penn worked the ball around for good inside shots (and 21 assists on 33 baskets) and shot 52%. The Quakers also dominated on rebounds, 44-26, and points in the paint, 56-20. They ran up a lead early, lost it briefly on an Explorers run late in the first quarter, then reclaimed it for good.
Makayla Miller, a 5-foot-7 guard and grad student in her first year (and first start) at La Salle, had a breakout game in a losing cause: 23 points on 10-for-18 shooting. She’ll be getting more starts now. And Molly Masciantonio, another grad student, helped keep the Explorers in the game with clutch threes and 4-for-6 shooting for 11 points.
This Penn team had only a superficial resemblance to the one that was blown out on the same court just 15 days earlier by a hot-shooting Saint Joseph’s: On Wednesday, its playmaking was sharp, its defense on its toes. The next game for the Quakers (5-2) will be a more serious test on Sunday in Milwaukee at No. 23 Marquette (7-0). La Salle (3-3) will also face a big challenge Sunday when it hosts Virginia.