PHILADELPHIA – A disastrous second quarter put the game out of reach as the University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team couldn't quite recover despite outscoring Drexel, 23-11, in the fourth quarter in a 72-55 defeat Wednesday evening at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.
It was the Big 5 pod opener for both teams as the Quakers fell to 2-1 on the young season, the Dragons remaining unbeaten at 3-0.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn drops its Big 5 opener for the fifth consecutive year. The Quakers have not won their first Big 5 contest of the season since the 2019-20 campaign (at Saint Joseph's, 55-45).
*Drexel officially takes over the lead in the all-time series, 15-14, while snapping a three-game skid against the Quakers dating back to the 2015-16 season.
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Mataya Gayle finally reached double figures for the first time this season with 13 points, seven assists, and two rebounds over 34 minutes of play.
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Tina Njike nearly recorded her second straight double-double with nine points and 11 boards. She was 5-for-7 from the free throw line.
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Katie Collins was only 1-of-9 from the field, but her 12 rebounds led the team, adding a block and a steal in a team-high 36 minutes.
*Penn tallied 23 bench points as a team, led by
Saniah Caldwell's nine on 3-for-5 from deep, providing the Quakers' second-half spark.
*The Red and Blue shot 28.8 percent (17-for-59) from the field as a team, 21.4 percent (6-for-28) from deep and 83.3 percent (15-for-18) from the line.
*Amaris Baker led the Dragons with an 18-point performance, adding two rebounds and two steals, while Molly Lavin registered a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.
How It Happened
Drexel won the opening tipoff but clanked its first shot attempt off the rim to give possession back to the Quakers. Penn took the game's first lead on a long-range two-pointer from
Tina Njike, picking up where she left off from Monday night.
Things got tight the next five minutes, with Drexel shooting north of 60 percent to take a 10-9 lead at the media timeout with 4:55 remaining. The Dragons scored five consecutive points to expand their run to 9-2, taking a 15-9 lead with 3:23 left in the period. The hole deepened when O'Neill put down a trey to make it a 12-2 spurt. Drexel's lead ballooned to 27-13 after one quarter of play.
The Dragons opened the scoring again in the second with a triple to take a 30-13 advantage, followed by four more points to cause
Mike McLaughlin to spend a 30-second timeout with 6:58 left.
Penn's ball handling struggled mightily as the second stanza progressed, turning the ball over three times in a 3:28 span, not scoring a point over the same span as Drexel increased its push to 9-0 over 3:10 to lead 39-14 with under four minutes to play.
The scoring drought continued—now up to seven minutes and 30 seconds—as the Dragons took a 44-14 lead into the locker room, having outscored the Quakers, 17-1, in the second stanza.
After Dragons struck first in the third quarter to go up ahead 46-14,
Ese Ogbevire answered back with a three-pointer, her first bucket of the night and Penn's first trey.
From there, the Quakers missed seven straight baskets and the Dragons scored eight straight points to extend their lead to 54-19 with 4:46 remaining in the third. Penn's offense came alive late in the third, outscoring Drexel 13-7 to close out the frame—capped by a three-pointer from
Saniah Caldwell—trailing 61-32 heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter started quickly as Penn continued to claw back, outscoring Drexel 12-6 over the first five minutes. Caldwell sunk her second triple of the night to make it a 67-44 game as McLaughlin called timeout, becoming the final media.
Penn trimmed the deficit to under 20 points with less than three minutes on the fourth-quarter clock as a
Simone Sawyer layup made it a 69-48 game. The Quakers then held the Dragons without a field goal in a 4:30 span, cutting the deficit to a more respectable final score of 72-55.
Up Next
Penn ends its three-game road trip Saturday against Hofstra on Long Island. Tip off is set for 1 p.m.
For the latest on Penn Women's basketball, follow @PennWBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
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