The ups and downs of the Penn women’s basketball season brought it Sunday to the Big 5 Classic at Finneran Pavilion — not to play for the title but to avoid the odd fate of taking sixth place in the Big 5. And avoid it Penn did, beating La Salle 65-52 behind a 20-point afternoon for Katie Collins.
(The addition of Drexel threw off the numbers of the Big 5 but saved Philly’s treasured rivalry, as even the Villanova men’s team can devote three games instead of the traditional four in playing Big 5 games. Besides, do you know how many schools are in the Big Ten these days? Of course not — nobody does, but estimates range as high as 30.)
This year, the Penn women lost the two games in their pod, to strong Drexel and Saint Joseph’s teams, and so faced La Salle, which had dropped games to Temple and Villanova. (Villanova beat Saint Joseph’s Sunday for the title.) And though Penn and La Salle played close to even in the first quarter, the Explorers shot a miserable 3-for-17 in the second.
The Quakers took an 11-point lead into halftime and extended that to as much as 21 (at 41-20) in the third quarter on a Collins jumper. La Salle then put together a 15-0 run, but Penn held on for a comfortable win.
This was not a particularly pretty game for either side: La Salle committed 20 turnovers, which would have been embarrassing except that Penn committed 21. La Salle caused most of those Penn turnovers with 12 steals and did the better job of capitalizing, producing 23 points on turnovers to Penn’s 13. But Penn had the surer shooting hands, hitting about 41% from the field to La Salle’s 37%. And Penn dominated the boards.
Senior guards Simone Sawyer and Sania Caldwell picked up eight points apiece for Penn but were more productive setting up their teammates — Sawyer for five assists and Caldwell for six. Fellow starting guard Mataya Gayle, who has been hampered by an injury in recent weeks, had limited time on the court and no points.
Collins, the sophomore forward and last year’s Ivy Rookie of the Year, continued her consistently strong play. She once again made a difference inside and out, though this time around she missed her lone three-point attempt. But she played nearly every minute of the match, took down nine rebounds, made two blocks and sank nine of her 15 shots and both her free throws.
Center Tina Njike continued her development as a key player for Penn, collecting a double-double with 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting — including 2-for-2 for three-pointers — and 13 rebounds. And sophomore Ashna Tambe came off the bench for 25 minutes for a career-high 11 points on 4-for-10 shooting.
Junior guards Aryss Macktoon and Ashleigh Connor led La Salle: Macktoon had 15 points on 6-for-16 shooting and seven rebounds, and Connor added 12 on 5-for-14 from the field.
Penn (7-3) takes a break for finals before returning to the Palestra to face Washington State on Dec. 19. Then it’s on to Fairleigh Dickinson for a post-Christmas tournament before the start of Ivy play in January. La Salle (6-3) plays Sunday at Maryland Eastern Shore.