PHILADELPHIA – A well-rounded effort by the University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team steamed it past La Salle on Tuesday night in a Big 5 matchup, taking an early lead and never looking back for the 72-59 victory.
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Quaker Notemeal
*Freshman
Simone Sawyer led the charge for the third straight game, cashing in on a career- and game-high 24 points off 9-for-18 shooting. She added to her career marks with seven rebounds and four assists.
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*Junior
Jordan Obi joined her in that point range with 20 points, knocking in 10-for-13, the most field goals made against a Division I opponent in her career.
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*Senior captain
Kayla Padilla also had a double-digit scoring night, dropping 10 points including 4-for-4 at the line. She added a game- and season-high seven assists to go with five rebounds.
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*Senior captain
Mandy McGurk tied a career high with six assists.
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*Junior
Floor Toonders hit double figures in rebounds for the second time this season, pulling in a game-high 10. The other time this season was in the season opener at Marist, recording a career-high 14 rebounds.
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*Expanding her defensive game tonight, sophomore
Stina Almqvist registered a career- and game-high four steals to add with six points and six rebounds. They were her first steals of the season, nearly equaling her total of six from her freshman season.
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*The Quakers totaled 23 assists in the game, the most since December 7, 2019, when Penn defeated Stetson, 81-41 in The Palestra.
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*Penn forced the Explorers into 22 turnovers, their second most of the season. La Salle turned the ball over 25 times to Niagra on November 12. The Quakers turned those 22 turnovers into 21 points.
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How It Happened
All Penn needed was five seconds to score the first bucket of the game when Obi batted the tip to Toonders who quickly turned to Sawyer on a cut to the basket. It opened a 6-0 run for the Quakers after two straight layups by Obi for a lead that wouldn't falter the rest of the way.
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La Salle put away its first basket nearly four minutes in but was answered by two free throws by Padilla and a layup by Toonders to take a 10-2 advantage midway through the first frame.
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The first double-digit lead came in the closing minutes of the first when Padilla drilled a three then Sawyer had a steal on the full-court pressure that transitioned into a strong finish, 17-6.
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The Explorers closed the gap to five before the end of the first, but Sawyer hit a three and Almqvist chipped in a left corner jumper to put Penn out eight at the break.
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Nothing changed in the second, as the lead ballooned after an 11-2 run for the Quakers over the span of three minutes. Obi had three straight layups off feeds from McGurk, while Padilla added another three and Almqvist capped it off with a layup. Penn had five steals in its full-court press during the stretch, including three by Almqvist.
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La Salle halted the run with two free throws, but it didn't slow down Penn, who added eight more points after that to take a commanding 43-22 lead into the half. Four different Quakers scored in the run, and
Sydnei Caldwell put the final touch on the half with a driving layup from the top of the arc to give Penn its largest lead of the game.
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A slightly slow start for Penn to restart the second half saw the Explorers hit a 13-4 run to close the gap to 12. However, the Quakers responded with a 6-2 stretch to hold onto momentum as they got back out to a 19-point lead by the end of the third after a three and layup by Sawyer, 60-41.
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The Explorers won the fourth, 18-12, but it wasn't nearly enough to overcome Penn's substantial lead.
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Up Next
The Quakers head back to The Palestra on Thursday to kick off a 10-game home stretch, starting with a clash with Stony Brook. Tip is set for 7 p.m.
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