Floor Toonders

Penn women’s basketball shows off its youth brigade

by
The last time we saw the Penn women’s basketball team, it was within seconds of a stunning upset of Princeton in Ivy Madness. Penn may well have succeeded but for an egregious foul call.
The last time we saw the Quakers, forward Jordan Obi was one of the Ivies’ premier players, a 6-foot-1 senior forward with guard skills and linebacker strength.
Now Obi has brought her number zero to the roster of the No. 22 Kentucky Wildcats, and Penn coach Mike McLaughlin is looking through an intriguing collection of new pieces to put together the puzzle of another Ivy contender. He showed them off Saturday at the Palestra in the annual Red and Blue Scrimmage.

Read more

Four Quakeaways from Penn women’s basketball’s loss to No. 25 Princeton

by
My friends Steve Silverman and George “Toothless Tiger” Clark did a fine job covering No. 25 Princeton women’s basketball’s win at Penn, so (with apologies to Ian Wenik, the Quakeaways man), here are four Quakeaways from Saturday’s game:

Read more

Columbia women’s basketball bests Penn in Ivy League opener

by
Columbia women’s basketball opened its defense of its Ivy hoops title Saturday at home with a solid 79-66 win over Penn.
As if to underline that this isn’t the same Lions team as last year’s, the game’s standout player wasn’t even playing in Manhattan until the fall. Bucknell junior transfer Cecelia Collins had 19 points, five rebounds and seven seriously nifty assists. On a subpar day for senior guard and leading scorer Abbey Hsu (a mere 14 points on 5-for-14 shooting), Collins frustrated the visitors on both ends of the court.

Read more

Penn women’s basketball bests Maine, 72-69

by
Bring on the Ivies!
The Penn women’s basketball team came out of a 20-day break for finals and Christmas by beating a strong Maine squad, 72-69, Saturday afternoon at the Palestra.
Freshman point guard Mataya Gayle had the hot hand and dropped 28 points, the highest total in her short college career. But this was a team effort for the Quakers against the Black Bears, and a great game if you just love basketball: The lead changed hands 20 times in 40 minutes, with eight ties. Maine hit five of its last seven shots but had to foul repeatedly to get the ball back, and Penn staved off the charge with clutch free throws.

Read more

Penn women’s basketball trounced at No. 23 Marquette, 87-52

by
The clock on women’s college basketball games runs 40 minutes, and for the first 10 on Sunday, the Penn Quakers looked like they belonged on the same court as the No. 23 Marquette Golden Eagles. Penn even had the lead for a few ticks.
After 10 more minutes and a 10-2 run for Marquette, the differences were more clear. Marquette has a potent, balanced offense and a stingy defense, while Penn has some talent and some work to do.

Read more

Penn women’s basketball dominates paint to beat La Salle, 79-71

by
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.

Read more

Mataya Gayle, Stina Almqvist Lead Penn women’s basketball past Siena

by
(Penn Athletics) Mataya Gayle posted 25 points on 10-for-16 shooting for Penn in her third career game in a win at Siena Sunday.
Mataya Gayle has arrived.
The freshman from Georgia showed why coach Mike McLaughlin made her his starting point guard by running the offense and scoring 25 points in three quarters as the Penn women beat a good Siena team on the road Sunday afternoon, 85-79, in a back-and-forth game between well-matched teams.

Read more

St. Joseph’s runs away from Penn women’s basketball

by
Mataya Gayle notched 14 points on 5-for-16 shooting for Penn in her second collegiate game Tuesday. (Penn Athletics)
Saint Joseph’s gave Penn women’s basketball a reality check Tuesday night at the Palestra. After the Quakers’ comfortable season-opening victory Saturday over Marist, the undefeated Hawks cut them down, 72-48.
The Hawks have run up 20-plus-point margins of victory in each of their first three games (including at Yale). Their top scorers from last year have returned, joined by grad student Chloe Welch and freshman Gabby Casey, two of the five Hawks who hit double figures at Penn. Sophomore forward Laura Ziegler led the way with 18 points and 14 rebounds.
How good are these Hawks offensively? Well, in the first quarter, they hit a third of their shots, including 1-for-3 from three, and the Quakers kept pace. In the second quarter, St. Joe’s hit half of its shots, including 2-for-4 from three (the killer being a buzzer-beater from just inside half-court to leave Penn seven points down). In the third quarter: 57% overall, 40% of threes. In the final quarter, 75% on all shots, including 3-for-4 on threes.

Read more

2023-24 Ivy women’s media day recap and season preview

by

With the season a few weeks away, the Ivy League hosted Women’s Basketball Media Day on Monday, the first of two media availabilities this week. The event was hosted over Zoom for media members and is available on the conference’s YouTube channel.

The preseason media poll was released last Thursday with Princeton earning all 16 first-place votes. Last year’s Ivy Tournament winner and regular season co-champions are the sixth unanimous pick in league history and the first since Penn in 2016-2017.

Read more

Ivy League Tournament women’s semifinal preview: No. 4 Penn vs. No. 1 Princeton

by

No. 1 Princeton (21-5, 12-2 Ivy) vs No. 4 Penn (17-10, 9-5 Ivy), Jadwin Gym, 4:30 p.m. (available on ESPN+)

Game #1, 1/16/23: Princeton (home) over Penn, 55-40
Game #2, 3/3/23: Princeton over Penn (home), 71-52

Read more