NEWARK – Behind 25 points from Kayla Padilla, the University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team cruised to an 85-51 win at NJIT on Wednesday night. The win pushed the Quakers to 2-0 for the first time since 2011-12.
Eleah Parker and Emily Anderson joined Padilla in double figures as Kendall Grasela tallied a career-high nine assists in the win.
PENN NEWS AND NOTES
*Penn improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2011-12.
*The Red and Blue moved to 102-1 in its last 103 regular-season games when scoring at least 60 points. In both games this season, Penn has scored at least 85 points.
*The Quakers are now 5-2 all-time against the Highlanders, winning the last five meetings by an average margin of 36.4 points.
*Penn finished with 10 threes and is now 30-0 when hitting at least 10 in a game under Coach Mike McLaughlin.
*Kendall Grasela dished out a career-high nine assists.
*At the halftime break, Penn's 19 buckets came on 16 assists.
*After a debut of 14 points against Siena, freshman Kayla Padilla poured in 25, the most by a freshman since Eleah Parker scored 25 against Villanova.
*Padilla has scored the most points in her opening two games under McLaughlin and is the quickest to score 25 in a game in the McLaughlin era.
*Emily Anderson scored a career-high 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the field.
*Eleah Parker drilled the third three of her career and now two in consecutive games this season.
*Twelve Quakers scored, the second consecutive game more than 10 players recorded a point.
HOW IT HAPPENED
For the second consecutive game, Eleah Parker scored the game's first points, slipping and taking a pass from Phoebe Sterba. Sterba and Parker both made plays on the defensive end before Kendall Grasela canned a three from the corner to take a 5-3 lead. Grasela's long ball was the first of three consecutive buckets from distance as Parker and Sterba matched her from deep to give Penn an 11-3 lead at the first media timeout.
Five points from Kayla Padilla in just 16 seconds with about a minute to play in the opening period pushed the Quakers' lead to 13 at 18-5, forcing NJIT into a timeout. The Red and Blue ended the quarter by scoring the last nine points, including a bucket from Parker at the buzzer after a pretty pass from Tori Crawford.
A quick 7-2 spurt initiated the second quarter, propelled by a corner three by Mia Lakstigala. The Highlanders fought back, though, and dug in to make it a 14-point game with just over six minutes remaining in the half. Padilla promptly nailed a three late in the shot clock, Emily Anderson knocked down a turnaround jumper from the foul line, Kennedy Suttle stepped in to a mid-range and Anderson capped a 9-0 run to push the lead back over 20.
On Anderson's bucket, just past the midway point of the second, Grasela tallied her seventh assist. Anderson scored eight points in the period, on 4-for-4 shooting, all within a stretch of 2:18. The Red and Blue took a 21-point lead into the break, 47-26, assisting on 16 of its 19 buckets.
A slick backdoor pass from Sterba led to an easy bucket for Padilla to open the second half. On the next possession, this time Padilla made the pass in transition to Parker for another layup.
With 4:13 left in the third, Grasela pushed the pace and fed Crawford for her eighth assist, tying her career high. Penn led 61-37 after three.
Grasela set a new mark just 1:36 into the final period when she sent a no-look pass to Parker for a point-blank layup. The Quakers scored the first 10 points of the fourth to push the lead to 71-37 while Padilla accounted for eight during that run.
Penn eventually closed out an 85-51 win over NJIT on the road.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Quakers return to The Palestra on Sunday to take on Iona. Tip is scheduled for 1 p.m.
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