Led by swarming defense, Penn women turn in a convincing win over La Salle
The Quakers carried the day in a tough city rivalry matchup with the Explorers.
Dating back to 1973, La Salle leads the all-time series with Penn, 36-12. However, Penn took the win, 72-59, in dominant fashion Tuesday night at Tom Gola Arena.
Statistical leaders
Simone Sawyer led the way for Penn with 24 points, and Jordan Obi contributed 20. The pair combined for 11 rebounds. Kayla Padilla added 10 points, five rebounds, and seven assists, and Floor Toonders had 10 boards for the Quakers (2-5), who earned their first Big 5 win in three tries this season.
La Salle (5-3) saw double digits from three Explorers — Gabby Crawford (17), and Charity Shears (13), and Claire Jacobs (10). Kayla Spruill added nine points. Crawford and Jacobs led the Explorers with eight and seven rebounds, respectively.
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What we saw
The Quakers came out strong, scoring right off the jump ball and implementing a press from the start, which took some adjusting for the Explorers, who still are without starting point guard Molly Masciantonio.
“There’s no doubt that Molly impacts our ability to handle those situations, but the talent on our roster is good enough to have been better tonight,” head coach Mountain MacGillivray said.
Masciantonio has “returned to activity,” but there is no timeframe for her return.
La Salle ran its offense in typical rotation fashion, bringing in fresh legs every couple of minutes, depending on the Quakers’ response — though the switches may have occurred more often than MacGillivray wanted. The Explorers remained scoreless for over three minutes in one early stretch, which finally was broken by Crawford.
The Quakers continued to take advantage of turnovers, scoring 21 points off them, and were dominant in the paint with 48 points to the Explorers’ 16. Both teams tallied 22 turnovers, but La Salle had trouble capitalizing on its chances. The Explorers shot 32.4%, while Penn shot 42%.
“Well, we didn’t play very well tonight,” MacGillivray said. “Turned the ball over 17 times in the first half. Tough to win a basketball game. There’s no avenue to a win when you shoot 32% and turn the ball over 22 times. We have to be better. We’re gonna get back to work. Bury this one and move on.”
Game-changing play
With less than seven minutes to play in the second quarter, Penn’s press was showing its effect in the form of seven Penn steals — four of which were by Stina Almqvist — and 12 La Salle turnovers. Explorers players appeared frazzled, trying to get a grip on the game.
“We did expect it [the press],” Shears said. “We’ve been practicing against a press, but I just think we got sped up and kind of disrupted on offense.”
La Salle inched closer in the second half, but never got within 13 points.
“We certainly looked fatigued differently tonight than I’ve seen us all season. I have no explanation for it,” MacGillivray said. “I don’t want to take anything away from Penn. [Penn coach Mike McLaughlin is] the best coach in the city. He does an unbelievable job. Their team is really good and really talented, but if you watch tonight, it was not what they were doing.”
Up next
The Explorers host Lehigh University on Saturday at Tom Gola Arena on Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN+). Penn hosts Stony Brook at 7 p.m. Thursday (ESPN+).
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