In a town known for producing crayons, the Penn women's basketball team used the whole box last night to create its most convincing win of the season.
Coach Patrick Knapp got all 15 of his active players on the floor and nine scored points as Penn routed Lafayette, 68-33, in front of a sparse crowd at the Kirby Sports Center.
"We really don't care who scores," he said. "That needs to continue, because when we get into the league, they are going to look to shut down specific people, and if that happens, somebody else has to step up."
The Quakers' impressive balance on offense led to only two players scoring in double figures. Sophomore guard Joey Rhoads led all scorers with 14 points, coming off the bench to shoot a perfect 5-of-5 from the field and 2-of-2 from three-point range in 22 minutes. Junior center Jennifer Fleischer had 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds, including seven in the first half.
"I kind of like coming off the bench," Rhoads said. "You get to see what's going on and then you can go and just try to make a difference when you get in there."
Rhoads admitted that the team felt this game would probably be easier than some of the others on this season's schedule, currently ranked as the 61st-most difficult in the nation. Penn's RPI ranking is 111. Both numbers are the best in the Ivy League.
"When we had heard that Harvard had beat [Lafayette] by a lot [84-40], that sparked us to want to do that too," she said. "I think, offensively, it was a good game for us to just run a lot of our stuff and run though some things that we need to work out the kinks on."
Knapp fully agreed, but he continues to hold the team to the highest standards as conference play looms at the end of the month.
"I was hopeful for this," he said. "We really were focused on defense and rebounding -- we didn't rebound well tonight, but we made them miss enough shots and we got the ball."
Penn (6-6) did pull down 42 rebounds, but Lafayette got 41, including 20 on the offensive end. The Quakers had 33 defensive boards and nine on offense.
But the gaudy numbers for both teams were due in no small part to the fact that Lafayette (2-11) shot only 10-of-60 from the field and 5-of-22 from three-point range. In the first half, the Leopards made only three field goals, and did not reach double digits until a three-pointer by Maureen Johnson made the score 29-11 with 38 seconds remaining in the first half.
When informed of this, Knapp read the box score and pronounced himself "still unhappy with that."
Penn shot 27-for-51 from the field and also made five shots from beyond the arc, but only had 10 attempts. The Quakers had 20 points with 8:31 to go in the first half and reached 50 points with 8:34 to go in the second. Lafayette's 20th point came a minute after that.
"I think we're always going to be working at our half-court offense execution," Knapp said.
Tenacious Defense
Penn turned in a brilliant effort on the defensive end against Lafayette.
Penn allowed 33 points, the fewest since a 65-29 drubbing of Temple on Jan. 17, 1995.
The Quakers held Lafayette to 11 first-half points on 3-of-27 shooting from the field.
Penn scored its 50th point before the Leopards scored their 20th, as Penn mounted a 51-19 lead midway through the second half.
Lafayette did not score its first points until Maureen Johnson hit a three-pointer six minutes and 49 seconds into the game.
The Quakers also had a stretch late in the first half when they allowed two points in seven and a half minutes.
Penn forced 18 Lafayette turnovers and five different Quakers players had steals, led by Karen Habrukowich, Joey Rhoads and Maria DiDonato, who each collected two.
