A day after losing its last chance at Ivy Madness, the Penn women’s basketball team came out and put on a championship-level clinic at Dartmouth, barely missing a shot in the first quarter en route to an 89-66 victory Saturday night.
Yes, it was Dartmouth, not an imposing opponent. The women who were honored Saturday for Senior Day have endured not only four endless New Hampshire winters but also a four-year record in Ivy contests of 4-51, with a final game next week at Cornell.
For Dartmouth, a 23-point loss to Penn, though disappointing, must be something of a relief after the previous night’s 50-point drubbing by Princeton.
But Penn’s first-quarter performance at Hanover was impressive no matter the opponent. It was exuberant basketball, assured and energetic and downright joyous. Simone Sawyer, whose own Senior Day is coming up Saturday at the Palestra, started with a layup four seconds in, on an assist from sophomore forward Katie Collins. A turnover later, she nailed a three from the right side – with the assist from Collins. Next time down the court, it was center Tina Njike with the three from beyond the top of the key. After Clare Meyer got Dartmouth on the board with a jumper, Sawyer nailed another three. The next three belonged to junior point guard Mataya Gayle, the one after that to Brooke Suttle on a Gayle assist.
All told, in the first 10 minutes, Sawyer racked up 13 points as the Quakers built a 31-13 lead. Dartmouth picked up its scoring in the rest of the game, but Penn, always a stubborn and harassing team on defense, never let the Big Green get particularly close.
Sawyer, whom coach Mike McLaughlin has always valued for her defense, finished with a game-high 23 points on absurd 10-for-13 shooting, including 3-for-5 on threes.
Three other Quakers hit double figures: Njike, with 19 points on 9-for-15 shooting plus eight rebounds; Collins, with 15 points, 6-for-12 shooting and five rebounds; and Gayle, a night after struggling so painfully at Harvard, with 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting (3-for-5 from deep), plus eight assists and three steals.
For Dartmouth, three players cracked double figures: sophomore guard Zeynep Ozel with 13 points, and sophomore forward Olivia Austin and junior guard Alexandra Eldredge with 11 apiece.
While Dartmouth travels to Cornell on Saturday, Penn returns home for a grudge match against Brown, which beat the Quakers in double overtime in Providence and is heading to the Ivy tournament in Penn’s place.