The Guru Report - I: Padilla Makes Penn’s Big Five Day Her Day in Quakers’ Comeback Win Over Temple

Guru note: With how the schedule played out time wise Sunday, the Penn-Temple game will be separate with the general roundup of local/national later

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — There’s nothing like landing your own storybook moments in a storied arena that is Penn’s Palestra, the “Cathedral of Basketball,” as esteemed scribe Dickie “Hoops” Weiss so dubbed the lasting phrase upon the home of the Big Five several decades ago.

On Sunday afternoon in the final City Series game of the season for both Temple and Penn, Quakers senior Kayla Padilla took the tennis phrase of game, set, and match, and personally transformed it into milestone (1,000 points), game total (28), winning layup (with six seconds remaining), and 62-61 victory.

As noted about Padilla and to get the other statistics quickly mentioned, her points came by way of 10-for-21 from the field, including 6-for-13 from deep; and four assists, while Jordan Obi had 16 points and eight rebounds, and freshman sensation Simone Sawyer had 13 points.

Temple’s Tiarra East, in a lineup change for this one, on the bench from the outset, scored 23, Jasha Clinton scored 15 before going down late in the game with what appeared an ankle injury, and Aleah Nelson scored 11.

The triumph from Penn (6-5, 2-2 Big Five) extended the win streak to five as the Quakers now heading into a long finals/holiday break while the brief two-game spurt by Temple (4-6, 1-3) short circuits the Owls until resuming play Friday night at 7 p.m. at home in the Liacouras Center, hosting Duquesne on ESPN+.

“Having been here for 14 years, it was one of the most exciting arenas we’ve had for our program in a while,” said Penn coach Mike McLaughlin of the ambience that is helped when the label here says Big Five or Ivy.

“The ending was terrific on our side …I thought Kayla was special — not even good. I thought she was as good as she’s been  here at Penn, she single-handedly carried us to the finish line.

“She was as good as you’re going to see at this level, and the culmination of her getting to 1,000 points, too, it’s pretty remarkable for anyone at any level, let alone the college level.

Heading late Sunday morning to the noon tip here, with the battle of City Series Unbeaten schools determined by Villanova over Saint Joseph’s out on the Main Line the previous afternoon,  the Penn-Temple matchup loomed as one of the remaining fill-outs to complete on the annual ten-game round-robin.

There were points of interest to be sure, both squads had perked up recently from struggles in November — Penn on a four-game win streak that got the squad to .500 overall and Temple beginning to get more comfortable in a do-over under new coach Diana Richardson also having won two straight, thus a prize for this one would be a 2-2 finish.

Meanwhile, the Quakers had another item on their menu concerning Padilla, one of the more recents in a long line of star recruits McLaughlin had drawn to the Ivy school since his hire from Holy Family, the school in the Northeast section of the city he built into a Division II Powerhouse.

Padilla, a 5-9 guard from Torrance California, as the game began, her 58th, was just 15 points from reaching the 1,000-point scoring club, making her the 24th member, the fastest to arrive in McLaughlin’s 14 seasons here and third fastest in the program’s list. The others were West Virginia transfer Mandy West and all-time Big Five scoring leader Diana Caramanico at 48.

Unlike the state of things when Padilla was Ivy freshman of the year with a loaded roster of upper class women, a large part of her ensuing career was marked by a pandemic-caused cancellation of another Ivy tournament the Quakers had qualified, followed by the league presidents’ cancellation of the entire 2020-21 season when she was more off campus, and then followed by a bumpy season of more games knocked off when positive tests were determined among other matters.

So, yes, it would be nice minimally for Padilla to reach the mark Sunday, and of course better from the Penn viewpoint to attach a win to maintain the momentum with a long break about to occur.

Though the halftime score was a tight 29-27 in favor of Temple, the Quakers were rescued in the closing minutes from drifting decidedly to the Owls when an eight-point lead got reduced to a basket on a personal 6-0 three-shot spurt by Jordan Obi.

Padilla had nine points, moving her within six of the milestone, but at a paltry pace.

Her clip picked up in the third but Temple exploded on the play of Clinton and East to build a 15-point lead with 5 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the stanza.

Padilla then began to take over, scoring a shot from deep and a pair from the line to reach 999 while the deficit got to 10 with 3:53 left in the period.

Temple’s Nelson missed a jumper, the ball back to Penn. 

Obi’s attempted three missed but Sawyer got the offensive rebound and flipped it to Padilla, who fired a three ball, the Penn bench erupting in celebration as at the same moment it had become a competitive game.

“I knew it was close but she doesn’t talk about those things,” McLaughlin said. “When they announced it, she said, `Let’s go win the game.’”

Said Padilla with a grin, “My mom was telling me she wanted me not to score so she could be there for my 1,000th point game, but I felt like I kinda needed to put the ball in the basket.

“I’m not super big on individual accolades and while yes I’m very proud to have reached 1, 000 points, I don’t think it would have meant as much if we didn’t translate and win this game, so to have done that and win such a great game like this  just means the world.”

The milestone may have been achieved but the drama was far from over, typical of historic Big Five play, men or women, in the city.

Suddenly, by the end of the period, the lead by the Owls was a mere three at 48-45.

More and more the points by the Penn senior were accumulating, keeping the Quakers right on Temple’s heels.

Her three-ball with 7:09 left in the fourth period for the second time in the final quarter made it a two-point game.

Then another three with 6:21 left gave Penn the lead before the Owls got it right back. Right after, though, Clinton went down in extreme pain and was carried off the court with what appeared to be a serious ankle injury.

Richardson suspected it may be serious. “She doesn’t cry and she’s crying today” the Temple coach explained. “We gotta get some x-rays and see what’s going on.”

Back in the game, Tarriyonna Gary hit two foul shots for a three point lead before Penn got a stop and then Sawyer tied it with a three at the three minute mark.

By now the thought is seeping while observing Padilla — She’s got the milestone, she’s got points, all she needs to do is win the game and it’s movie stuff.

Temple begins missing foul shots and making turnovers.

With 26 seconds left East’s second foul shot that connected following a miss made it a four-point advantage and perhaps Temple was going to spoil the ending.

But Padilla hit Sawyer who sank a three and it was a 61-60 lead with 20 seconds in favor of Temple.

A turnover got it back to Penn and Padilla drove inside for the two and a Penn lead with six seconds left.

“I’m always trying to do my part,” Padilla said. “And I knew that in moments like these, this is a time when the team needs me to step up and make plays, and I’m just happy that translated.

“I knew I had been shooting the ball pretty well so I had a feeling the lane might be open, and ‘Coach had been harping to take on contact, and I think there was one thing on my mind, and I knew I could put the ball in the basket. Thankful that it did.”

Richardson tried to call time, the referee claimed, according to the coach,  they didn’t hear her and the Owls turned the ball over again, the ball in Padilla’s hands with a big smile  sealing the finish.

“It was a tough game,” Richardson said of Temple’s loss. “We were up early. Offensive rebounds really killed us, put backs really killed us. And you know they fought hard to the end and came out with the win. My gosh. Believe me. I gave (her players) some choice words about free throws. Shooting 50 percent from the line is not going to win a game.”

On defending Padilla, the Temple coach said, “We tried to face guard her but of course she is very determined. Mike through some screens on her, some double screens for her. We lost her. And she got some shots off.”

Temple will also play host to Ole Miss on Dec. 21 before the holiday break and then beginning play against Memphis in the American Athletic Conference.

Penn hosts Gwynedd Mercy at 2 p.m. here on Dec. 30 continuing on the ten-game home stand and then opening Ivy play hosting the first five league games, Brown on Jan. 2; Cornell on Jan. 6; Columbia in a key game on Jan. 7; Hartford in a non-league game on Jan. 10; then Dartmouth on Jan. 14. 

The next game is on the road but in the area, the Quakers head north nearby to league favorite Princeton at 2 p.m. on rivalry day per the new schedule arrangement from the league.

Princeton will also hold the two-day Ivy tournament in March.

And that’s part 1.