Guru Report: Padilla Powers Penn Over Saint Joseph’s

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – Passing its first real test of the season Penn shut down host Saint Joseph’s the final 5:07 of regulation in the Hawks’ Hagan Arena Wednesday night to ease into a 55-45 victory.

In the process Penn (4-0, 1-0 Big 5) took its opening Big Five matchup and saddled Saint Joseph’s (2-2, 1-1) with its first loss in the City Series round robin. Additionally, the program’s overall best start ever extends to 4-0.

The Quakers have now beaten the Hawks three straight times and four of the last six meetings.

Penn’s new sensation, freshman Kayla Padilla, may be from Torrance, Calif., but in an upgrade in terms of the opposition from the Quakers’ first three foes, the guard displayed poise and calmness in what was a tighter game than Penn’s 65-45 wipeout at The Palestra last season over the Hawks.

Padilla, who has been on a tear, and has quickly added one rookie of the week citation from the Ivy League, had a game-high 22 points.

 That helped offset Saint Joseph’s ability to limit forward Eleah Parker to eight points and eight rebounds.

 “It was exciting to come into a more competitive game and it lived up to those expectations,” Padilla said. “It was a different atmosphere and we want to be the best team in Philadelphia. We showed we can be that.

 “Eleah’s presence on the court opens it up for guards like me,” she continued . “When things are not working in the post the guards do their best to make up for what we can’t get down low.”

 The Hawks were without Spaniard Lula Roig, who was sidelined under a concussion protocol in the wake of the injury suffered Sunday in the loss to Seton Hall at Fordham’s Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx.

Katie Mayock had 10 of her team high 15 points and 6 of her 9 rebounds for Saint Joseph’s in the first half. 

Sophomore Devyne Newman, who played sparingly as a freshman, had 12 points but freshman Claire Melia of Ireland, who also had an impressive start as a collegian, was held to two points and three rebounds.

“This was one where we played really good basketball at times and Saint Joe’s played really good basketball at times and we just grinded it out at the end,” said Penn coach Mike McLaughlin.

“Putting the ball in Kayla’s hands, three minutes to go, four games into her college career was pretty impressive,” he said.

“You couldn’t ask for a better start and this group is still going to get a lot better. We played three really good games and this was a good game for us. They played a different style and we found a way to win.”

 McLaughlin in his 12 seasons has now claimed 16 Big Five games and a share of two titles as opposed to the 30-year history in City Series competition prior to his arrival in which the Quakers won just 14 games in the round robin.

The Penn coach said he used a lot more presses than the Quakers normally do to disrupt the Hawks’ rhythm.

“We have a variety of presses,’ McLaughlin said. “We played more of them than at any time that I’ve been at Penn.

“They started to get good pace and play the way they wanted to. It was helpful. The pace started to change.“

The home team had a two-point lead early in the game and a one-point lead later in the period while Penn led by as much as 11 early in the fourth before the Hawks sheared it down to five at that 5:07 mark.

But the Quakers, who didn’t score much themselves the rest of the way, did stretch the advantage and put the clamps on the Hawks‘ attack.

As for what drew her to enroll with the Quakers, Padilla said, “Just the great balance of academics and athletics. The coaches got to know me early on and I really valued that.”

She added she selected Penn from some other Ivy schools who pursued her as well as some local schools out West.

Evaluating the loss just over a week from beating Temple in their Big Five opener, Saint Joseph’s veteran coach Cindy Griffin, now in her 19^th season, said, “We lost to a very good team today.

“But without our starting point guard (Roig), we handled things as well as we could have with such short notice of not having her. But we had kids step up today. I look at sophomores Mayock and Newman coming in and playing primary roles for us today.

“I thought they did a really, really good job. 

“This team we played, they were averaging 84 points coming in, we held them to 55, we just couldn’t score enough baskets.

“ Turnovers have been a problem for us, the last four games, really, and we’ve got to cut down on them,” Griffin said.

“Because a team like this, it’s a possession game, they’re playing a zone, you’re only getting so many shots, so you got to really take care of the ball. That’s a place we really need to improve on, and quickly.”

Penn is off until Black Friday after Thanksgiving, when the Quakers will travel to play a matinee game at Duke, with a chance to beat a Power 5 school.

 The Quakers’ next Big Five game is at La Salle on December 4 while the remaining two against Villanova and Temple will be in mid-January.

The Hawks are off to Auburn of the Southeastern Conference on Sunday night at 7 p.m. Their next City Series encounter will be against Villanova on the Main Line on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 1 p.m.999!

Temple Tops Bucknell

A strong second half carried the Owls to a 72-61 non-conference victory at Bucknell (2-3) of the Patriot League at Sojka Pavillion in Lewisburg, Pa.

Temple (4-2) was coming off a conference loss to Connecticut at home Sunday and was meeting the Bisons for the first time in 26 seasons.

Newcomer Ashley Jones had a career-high 24 points for the Owls, while Mia Davis produced another double double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Lena Niang contributed 17 points, helped by a career-high four three-pointers.

Defensively, Shannen Atkinson tied a personal mark with four blocked shots while freshman Asanah Alexander tied a career-mark dealing eight assists.

Tessa Brugler scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Bisons while Ellie Mack scored 12 and Taylor O’Brien scored 10.

Temple next heads to the tropics Thanksgiving night at 9 to play North Carolina, under former Princeton coach Courtney Banghart, in the Cancun Challenge and then stay to play Creighton of the Big East on Black Friday at 8 p.m.

The next home game is Saturday, Dec. 7, when Temple hosts Dawn Staley’s South Carolina squad at 3 p.m. in McGonigle Hall.

Princeton Nipped at Iowa

Completing a lite night schedule-wise for the Guru’s local 11, the defending Ivy champs dropped in on Big Ten country in the Midwest and then got dropped in overtime 77-75 in Iowa City at Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the first loss on the season by the Tigers (4-1).

Princeton had several sizeable leads but fell behind and got saved in regulation when Julie Cunningham’s three-ball with eight-tenths of a second left tied the score at 67-67 to force overtime.

The visitors then took a six-point lead before Iowa fought back to go ahead and Princeton had chances to come back and force a second overtime but fell short.

Bella Alarie, back in action, had 26 points for Princeton, helped by three threes, while Cunningham scored 17 points, and Grace Stone scored 13.

The visitors led 37-27 at the half under new coach Carla Berube, a former UConn star, who made Tufts into a Division III national power.

The game served as chance to give Carli Littlefield a visit to her home state. She finished with just four points.

Kathleen Doyle had 18 points for Iowa (3-1), the defending Big 10 tournament champions, while Makenzie Meyer scored 14 points, Monika Czinano scored 10, and Amanda Ollinger grabbed 12 rebounds.

Princeton next returns home to play in-state rival Monmouth of the MAAC at 1 p.m. in Jadwin Gym. 

Thursday’s Card

Elsewhere locally it’s another quiet night with just two games Thursday as Villanova hosts Manhattan at 7 p.m. at Finneran Pavilion with the Wildcats looking for their second win.

Penn State will be doing likewise when Clemson of the ACC visits the Bryce Jordan Center.

And that’s the report.