With just under 16 minutes left to play in the game, Villanova forward Liad Suez let fly a three- point shot and was fouled. Her shot fell, as did the ensuing free throw, to complete a four-point play.
That sequence was a microcosm of a difficult day for the Penn women's basketball team. The Quakers (3-3) fell to the No. 24 Wildcats (4-2), 69-44, dropping the Quakers to 2-1 in the Big 5.
The shot by Suez put Penn in a 44-24 hole, well after the outcome had already been decided.
"Villanova played great," Penn coach Patrick Knapp said. "We played terrible. We've got to live to fight another day, so we're moving on."
Perhaps moving on is the best remedy for the Quakers, who were dominated in almost every phase of the game.
Just nine minutes into the affair the Quakers found themselves in a 15-4 hole mostly because of outstanding shooting by Villanova.
Junior Courtney Roantree, a Philadelphia native, punctuated the run with a three-pointer. She came into the contest averaging just one point-per-game for the Wildcats, but scored 14 points including 3-for-5 shooting from downtown.
"I've seen Roantree for four years," Penn senior guard Amanda Kammes said. "I see her all summer in gyms and summer leagues. She's nothing new, nothing special. She did what she had to do today to help her team out, that's the bottom line."
Overall, led by Roantree's performance, Villanova made 11-of-25 attempts from deep. Penn, on the other hand, made only two-of-nine three-point tries.
Knapp, the former Georgetown coach, is quite familiar with Villanova and knew that its game plan would revolve heavily around three-point shots.
Conversely, Penn tried to exploit its inside game. "We want to get it inside," Knapp said. "I'd like to free up our three-point shooters a little more but that might be difficult because people will switch out."
The Quakers sputtered from the outside but created some opportunities in the interior. The team was paced by junior center Jennifer Fleischer who scored 12 points and collected 10 rebounds. Compared with Villanova's barrage of threes, however, Penn just could not keep up.
"You can't trade three for two," Knapp said. "But we were trading three for zero."
Knapp was referring to the Quakers' anemic offense, which managed just 44 points on 32.7 percent shooting, in addition to committing 11 turnovers.
"Today they didn't shoot it well," Villanova coach Harry Perretta said. "But we really tried to take away their threes."
Another key to the game, according to both coaches, was Villanova's ability to gather offensive rebounds and convert them into scoring opportunities.
In the first half, the Wildcats had nine offensive boards, as opposed to one for the Red and Blue.
"When you're not shooting the ball well -- which we haven't been -- then you have to try to get some second chance points and offensive rebounds," Perretta said. "We did that today and I was very happy."
As the Quakers prepare for another Big Five game against Temple on Tuesday, they must quickly forget this disastrous performance. Perretta, for one, believes Penn can perform much better.
"Today wasn't an indicative game of them," he said. "I thought they've been playing well all year."
