Quakers women's basketball coach Pat Knapp knew that, aside from Penn or La Salle's usual offensive standouts, either squad would need another player to step up to ensure a victory.
And he was exactly right - La Salle sophomore Tara Lapetina scored a career-high 20 points to help lift the Explorers to victory.
Going into the game, Lapetina was not considered a huge offensive threat. The guard had contributed eight, zero and three points, respectively, in La Salle's first three games of the season.
And a performance like Lapetina's was just the thing that Penn lacked last night as its two top scorers were Lauren Pears and Monica Naltner - and by a decent margin.
Naltner had 22 points, while Pears contributed 19. The next-highest Penn scorer was Carrie Biemer, who tallied 11 on the night.
In addition to Lapetina's 20, La Salle's Crista Ricketts added 21, and Carlene Hightower contributed 15.
But it wasn't just that the Quakers lacked a strong third shooter like the Explorers had; as a whole, Penn lacked other players who could step up and make baskets.
Going into halftime, only three Penn players had registered points - Naltner and Pears each had 11, while Joey Rhoads had five.
On the other side, seven different Explorers were already on the score sheet by halftime.
Penn attempted 30 shots from the field in the first, and only four of them came from someone other than Naltner, Pears or Rhoads.
However, Penn did work to correct the issue.
"In the second half, it got much better," Knapp said. There was a "great effort by people to post up and want the ball."
In the end, of eight Penn players who saw action in excess of 10 minutes, only five of them managed to score. In fact, they were the only five to register shots on the night at all.
But this has become a recurring theme for the Quakers in their first three contests.
Naltner and Rhoads each had 18 against Lehigh and were the only ones in double figures.
At Rider, Naltner and Rhoads led again with 17 and 25 respectively, although Pears did add 12 that game.
Knapp doesn't have an immediate solution to the problem.
"You want balance; you need other people to score," Knapp said. "I have to look at the tape to say, 'Who could have scored, and who could have cut better?'"
However, Naltner could offer a solution.
"If people aren't hitting their shots, . we just got to try to take it inside and try to get layups or get to the foul line," Naltner said.
Those 20 points by Lapetina made the difference in last night's game, and, to be more successful, Penn needs to find other players to take and sink shots.
