The Penn women’s basketball team faced a basic question as it opened the season Friday afternoon at the Palestra: Is it ready to win again?
The answer was yes: In place of All-Ivy forward Jordan Obi, 6-foot-1 freshman Katie Collins had an emphatic debut as Penn beat Merrimack, 64-52.
Collins isn’t Obi, who gunned down Merrimack last year with 30 points and 13 rebounds. But then, with an Ivy season killed by COVID, we never got to see Obi as a freshman. And Merrimack, though an energetic and well-coached team, is in just its first year — its second game — in Division I. But that doesn’t diminish what Collins produced in her 38 minutes on the floor: 10 rebounds, nine points on 4-for-5 shooting (including a three), a steal and a startling half-dozen blocks.
“I think I played pretty well,” Collins, a graduate of Manasquan High School in New Jersey, told ESPN+ after her first college game. “I had some ups and downs, but I think I tried to stay composed, because I was pretty stressed before we started.”
This wasn’t a one-woman show, of course. More familiar Quakers helped carry the win against a stubborn Warriors starting five that kept things close for much of the first half. (All but two of Merrimack’s points came from its starters; the bench shot a combined 1 of 12.)
Guard Mataya Gayle picked up more or less where she left off her Ivy Rookie of the Year season, with team highs of 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting and four steals. Senior Stina Almqvist collected 15 points and eight rebounds.
For Merrimack, dynamic sophomore guard Thalia Shepard had a game-high 19 points on 8-for-16 shooting along with 10 rebounds and four steals.
Penn (1-0) likely faces a tougher test Sunday afternoon with a trip to the University of Maine (1-0), a perennially good squad that won 24 games last year and reached the NCAA Tournament. The Quakers return to the Palestra with games Wednesday against Siena and Friday against St. Joseph’s.