PHILADELPHIA – Behind a gritty and gutty performance, the University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team found a way back from a nine-point deficit to muscle to a 53-49 win over Drexel on Friday afternoon at The Palestra.
Penn's 17-2 third-quarter burst, propelled by a pair of three-pointers from freshman Kayla Padilla and two buckets from Tori Crawford, catapulted the Quakers from a four-point deficit to an 11-point advantage. In the fourth quarter, Drexel drew as close as two, but never inched ahead again.
Kayla Padilla led four Quakers in double figures with 17 points, while Tori Crawford, Phoebe Sterba and Eleah Parker, who also recorded five blocks, finished with 10.
PENN NEWS AND NOTES
*The Quakers are 8-1 for the first time in program history, continuing their best start.
*Penn matched its 1982-83 and 2000-01 teams for the eighth-most non-league wins in a season with eight.
*The Quakers improved to 8-0 when outscoring opponents on the fast break. This season Penn leads the opposition 128-43.
*Penn has kept opponents under 50 points seven times this season, including each of the last four games. The Quakers are 95-5 under Mike McLaughlin when limiting teams to 49 or below and 7-0 this year.
*Penn is 7-0 when winning the points-in-the-paint battle, outscoring Drexel in the area 28-20.
*The Quakers managed just 18 first-half points, the fewest in a first half this season.
*Penn turned the ball over 14 times in the first half, more than its season average of 11.8. The Red and Blue finished with a season-high 22 turnovers.
*After knocking down a pair from beyond the arc, Phoebe Sterba has now made at least two in each of the last four games and seven overall. The senior finished with 10 points.
*Kayla Padilla led the way with 17 points, continuing her streak of scoring at least 14 in every game to start a career.
*Eleah Parker swatted away a season-high five shots to go with 10 points.
*Tori Crawford joined Sterba, Padilla and Parker in double figures with a season-high 10, including Penn's last four of the game.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Kendall Grasela, who has been one of the best distributors in the country, scored the game's first points with an up-and-under in the paint. Drexel immediately answered and then freshman Kayla Padilla counted her first two points after corralling an offensive rebound and converting on a floater. After a step-back jumper from Phoebe Sterba to make it 6-6, Padilla and Drexel's Bailey Greenberg traded three pointers before the Dragons ripped off a 9-0 run to end the opening quarter up 18-9.
In total, the Quakers went 5:30 without a point before Padilla drew a foul and hit a pair at the line with 7:30 left in the second. Thirty seconds later, Tori Crawford beat her defender to the basket for a strong right-handed layup, cutting the deficit to five. Penn held Drexel scoreless for the first 5:47 in the period, but the Dragons answered with four consecutive points of their own to expand the lead back to nine at 22-13 with just under four to play in the half.
Trailing by nine with just over two minutes left in the first half, Penn monopolized the final five points of the period to claw within four at the break, 22-18. Eleah Parker bullied her way to the rim to draw a foul, making both shots at the line and then Sterba stepped back into a three from the wing with just 11 seconds left. The Quakers' 18 points were the fewest they've put on the board in the first half all season.
Penn raised the defensive intensity to open the third quarter; Kendall Grasela stepped into a passing lane, took the ball the length of the court and then handed it off to Padilla for a layup. Then, Kennedy Suttle picked up a loose ball and split a pair of defenders before laying it off the glass of the opposite side of the basket, closing within 24-22 with 7:40 left in the third.
Down 26-22, Sterba took a pass from Padilla and drilled another long ball from the wing. On the ensuring defensive possession, Parker swatted away a shot, sprinted down the other end and laid in two points to take Penn's first lead since 6-4 with 6:18 left in the first quarter. Drexel answered immediately, but Padilla drew a foul and made both at the line to take the lead back.
With a one-point lead, the Red and Blue got a stop on the defensive end and Crawford bounced in a layup to move the advantage to three. Then, Grasela forced a steal in the backcourt, handed it off to Sterba, who made an extra pass to Padilla for three more in the corner. Crawford rattled in another bucket on the next possession, leading to another long ball from Padilla, capping a fatal 17-2 run for the Quakers, busting out to a 39-28 lead. The Dragons dug in, though, and countered with an 8-2 spurt to close the period with Penn ahead 41-36.
The fourth quarter was a slugfest, however, and neither team could snag any of the momentum. On three occasions, Penn grew the lead to seven and three separate times Drexel inched as close as two - the latest with just 2:32 remaining. Parker was brilliant in the final 10 minutes for the Quakers, scoring three baskets while Crawford closed the game with a layup under duress and then two clutch free throws with only 10 ticks on the clock to secure a 53-49 win.
UP NEXT?
After the holiday break, Penn embarks on a trip outside the continental U.S. to play Hawai'I on New Year's Eve and then Chaminade on Jan. 2.
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