Palestra Power Nite: Penn Punctures American

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — The moping after Penn’s loss to Princeton in the Ivy League final at Yale last Sunday ended quickly and the mopping up job the Quakers did here Friday night on American University was even more rapid in beating the Eagles 64-45 at home in The Palestra in an opening round of the WNIT.

Penn has won all three opening round games the Quakers have been a participant in the WNIT.

The Quakers (24-6) methodically built a 16-5 lead after one period, increased it to 23 in the next and never trailed in a wire-to-wire finish though American (22-11), the Patriot League representative which lost to Bucknell in their championship, did outscore Penn 28-26 in the second half.

But the name of the game was defense and that effort carried Penn into its third straight weekend New England trip, this one on short notice predicated by the win, to a well-rested Providence squad which will have not played since the Friars (18-15) of the Big East blasted Hartford 71-54 at home Thursday in their first postseason appearance since 2010.

The teams will meet Sunday at 4 p.m. — Quakers fans are questioning the travel setup by the WNIT considering Penn’s energy and attendance was higher than the crowd at Providence’s win.

Owning one of the better scoring defenses in the nation, the Quakers forced 15 turnovers and outrebounded American 42-28.

Senior Ashley Russell had 18 points, connected on 4-of-8 three-point attempts, Phoebe Sterba nailed three shots beyond the arc on the way to 15 points and Ivy defensive player of the year Eleah Parker, a sophomore, put down another double double with 16 points and 17 rebounds while blocking two shots.

Princess Aghayere, another senior, scored nine points.

Cecily Carl had 16 points for American while Jade Edwards scored 14.

“I thought we played really well,” said Penn’s Mike McLaughlin, who added another Ivy coach of the year to his collection after the Quakers tied Princeton for the league crown in the regular season. 

“Especially, defensively out of the gate.

“We tried to set a tone, we set a goal of 18 offensive rebounds (they got 15), we were really aggressive on both ends of the floor. 

“In the first half, we were terrific. 

“Third quarter, we had some breakdowns, they did a really good job attacking our zone, we did enough on the offensive end in the second half, we struggled in the fourth, but we did enough because we defended the ball, and rebounded the ball.”

McLaughlin referenced the state of the team and how motivation is carrying the Quakers, especially dealing with another long bus ride on a short turnaround of less than 48 hours between games.

“It was a nice little atmosphere for us, Penn did a good job promoting it for us, the girls really wanted to play.

“ It was a disappointing ending on Sunday, but this group wants to play and are going to continue to play.”

Penn was competitive with Princeton in the championship losing in the closing minutes.

“They’re mentally and physically fatigued but they found a way,” McLaughlin said.

With Ivy rival Harvard having ousted Drexel at home, if the Crimson get past Georgetown and Penn prevails in the second round, the two would meet again for the fourth time this season in the third round.

McLaughlin smiled, thinking of the rout of Harvard in the league semifinals, saying, “Wouldn’t that be something. That’s all I got for you.”

He wondered why the decision was made to not be home the next round.

“I thought we did enough. Attendance is another factor, a few other things, we already put in a call asking why we’re not home for the next round.”

As for the team, McLaughlin noted, there was no anger carried from the Sunday loss in terms of the Quakers’ start, “I think they wanted to play. I can’t say that more clearly.

“We have four seniors. This jersey means a lot to them. It means a lot to look at these banners and play in this building. The time will come when they have to take it off, but they cherish it right now.”

In the decade since McLaughlin arrived here in West Philadelphia after building Holy Family in the Northeast section of the city into a national Division 2 powerhouse, he has led Penn to three Ivy titles and one shared, and led the the Quakers to share three Big Five crowns after being a perennial local doormat in the City Series round robin.

Friday’s win tied the 2015-16 mark for most in a season at 24 while the Quakers also tied the 2015-16 program mark for most non-conference wins at 11, though the previous standard did not include postseason success.

In a recent discussion on job openings at the power five level, Hall of Fame Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, when asked if he was the athletic director having to make a hire, mentioned several names, but then paused and said, “I think that guy at Penn has done a heck of a job. But I don’t know if any of these schools are going to be gender-specific in their searches.”

Meanwhile, Russell, one of the prized seniors, said of the last loss and mindset, “We tried to grow from it. We also know it was win or home.

“We used that mentality. We’re not done yet. We want to keep playing. Definitely, we came out with the fire in the first half. Our defense showed we came here to win,” she continued.

“We were really locked in. We knew the scout very well.”

As for the trip, she drew on reference to the Ivy Friday-Saturday schedule, especially on road weekends.

“The back-to-backs have taught us a lot. We’re a lot better for it and we’re really ready for this type of situation. Having one day in between, that’s going to help us.”