Our George “Toothless Tiger” Clark previews a key Monday Ivy clash between the Penn and Princeton women at Jadwin Gym:
Jordan Obi
Penn women outlast Columbia, 71-67, to stand alone atop Ivy standings
It might be time to say it out loud: The Penn women are back.
You can’t blame them if they were a bit jittery Saturday as they faced Columbia. The top-ranked team in the Ivies was visiting the Palestra with a roster full of scorers, a gaudy record and a fresh overtime win at Princeton.
Turns out Columbia should have been nervous as well.
Penn women trounce Brown in Ivy opener
The question still unanswered at the start of Monday afternoon: whether Brown or Penn belonged in the top tier of Ivy women’s basketball.
Penn provided an emphatic answer quickly, leading from start to finish and scoring 19 straight points in the 25-4 first quarter of a 74-53 home victory, its seventh win in a row.
It’s not just that the Quakers were better than the Brown Bears for the 21st straight time. It’s that they played a commanding game, inside and out, that will challenge anyone else in the Ivies.
Penn women romp over Gwynedd Mercy in pre-Ivy warmup
Coaches have plenty of good reasons for scheduling events like the Penn women’s Friday afternoon game — let’s not call it a contest — against Gwynedd Mercy at the Palestra. Drama just isn’t one of them.
Let’s get the basics out of the way: Penn 95, G. Mercy 38. The Quakers put 17 players on the court (no, not all at once), and 16 of them scored. The Penn reserves outscored the Penn starters, who in turn outscored Gwynedd Mercy, which to be fair played well for a Division III team facing a bigger, faster, more talented Division I team.
Penn women rout St. Francis Brooklyn for fourth straight win
There being no mercy rule in basketball, coaches on the comfortable end of a lead will pull their starters and give untried freshmen real-life college playing time.
When Penn’s Mike McLaughlin did that Thursday night against St. Francis Brooklyn, the game was only three-quarters over — and the Penn reserves made the lead even bigger, closing out a 78-44 romp.
It wasn’t just that St. Francis (1-9) was victim material, though it’s a young team. The Quakers played well enough to beat any team on their schedule, ending the drama early with a 33-point first quarter, knocking down three after three. Penn sank 12 of its 17 first-quarter shots, a stunning 70.6%. The pace of long balls eased up after that, but Penn’s threes — 15 on 37 attempts for the night, or 40.5% — were enough by themselves to outscore everything St. Francis put into the basket.
Penn women need overtime to beat Bucknell
For the third game in a row, the Penn women were facing a team that beat them last season. And for the third game in a row, they came away with the win.
This time, though, it wasn’t easy. And it required good play up and down the lineup: Four Penn starters scored in double figures, and forward Floor Toonders posted her second double-double in a row.
Penn women shut down Stony Brook, 73-53, after career scoring high from McGurk
This should not have been an easy game for Penn women’s basketball.
This is a challenging year in which the team is trying to regain a spot among the Ivy leaders, projected to repeat in finishing outside the top half of the league. Thursday night’s opponent, Stony Brook, has a winning record and beat the Quakers a year ago.
Sawyer solidifies standout start as Penn women sail past La Salle, 72-59
The Penn women put together their most effective game of the year so far Tuesday night at La Salle, building a comfortable lead early and cruising to a 72-59 win.
Freshman guard Simone Sawyer dispelled any doubts that she’s for real. After just getting her feet wet in the Quakers’ first four games, Sawyer got significant time in two games last week in California and scored 18 points in each. Against La Salle, Sawyer led all scorers with 24 points on 9-for-18 shooting and added seven rebounds and four assists.
Penn women comeback falls short at Northwestern
The Penn women knew they weren’t traveling to Chicago in mid-November for the weather.
They were at Northwestern, not a national power but a legitimate Big Ten competitor, to test themselves. A win would be a bonus.
The Quakers didn’t get the win. In fact, they never came closer than the zero-zero tie at tipoff on the way to a 63-55 loss. But they made the game close in the fourth quarter — an 11-point run brought them to within three — and they learned some lessons as they try to improve on last year’s fifth-place finish in the Ivies and overall losing record, a rarity for any team that Mike McLaughlin has coached.’
Padilla shines as Penn women outmatch Marist, 65-61, in season opener
The Penn women started their season very, very badly Thursday night at Marist, missing 10 of their first 11 shots.
Then Kayla Padilla reminded everyone why she’s the top scorer in the Ivies and a threat whenever the ball is in play. The senior guard sliced through the Marist defenders or shot over them for 31 points, and the Quakers held on to beat the Red Foxes, 65-61.