Ladies Ride early lead to victory

While the women’s basketball team’s freshmen have had solid outings so far this season, it was veteran captain Caroline Nicholson that came up big for the Quakers last night against Rider.

In addition to scoring eight points of her own, Nicholson and the Penn defense held Rider’s 6-foot-2 sophomore forward Caitlin Bopp — who entered tonight’s contest averaging eight points per game prior to the match — to just one point in the Quakers' 60-45 win over the Broncs.

“[Nicholson] was the one defensively that helped greatly,” Penn coach Mike McLaughlin said “She guarded [Bopp] well when she received the ball. Her goal tonight was to hold her.”

The Quakers (2-1) got off to an early lead — thanks in large part to Nicholson, who drained four consecutive shots to bring Penn to 11 points — and were ahead by as many as 18 points in the first half.

In addition, Penn out-rebounded its opponent, 47-31, compared to last year’s margin, when the Broncs grabbed 15 more rebounds than the Quakers.

“We really took them out of the game in the first half. We boxed them out” Nicholson said. “Last year, they ran all over us on the boards, so that was a huge emphasis, and … we obviously achieved our goal there.”

Despite the Quakers’ ability to hold Bopp and her teammates to few opportunities, sophomore Sheeren Lightbourne came off the bench for 12 points — a team high for the Broncs.

In the second half, Penn continued to hold onto its large margin until Rider put on a full-court press and cut the Quakers’ lead to only nine points with three minutes remaining.

In the end, however, Penn pulled out a win, marking their second of the season and matching their win total from last year. It was a collaborative effort from all, as freshman Meghan McCullough was perfect from downtown, netting 12 points on four attempts and leading the team with 17 total points. Junior Jess Knapp scored eight points and led the team in rebounds with 12.

Penn is looking to carry this momentum into Saturday’s contest at New Jersey Institute of Technology (0-3).

Although NJIT has yet to win a game, Nicholson claims the Highlanders are more athletic than Rider.

“We really have to keep all of our guards in front of us,” Nicholson said. “They’re a lot quicker, so we’re going to try to take a lot of charges when they go down the lane.”

One of those guards is junior Melanie Griffin who leads her squad with 10.7 points per game. In addition, the Highlanders have three strong rebounders including Rayven Johnson who has tallied 15 total rebounds this season.

“Every opponent is more about us. We are working hard as coaches to put together the best scouting report to help our team out,” McLaughlin said. “Our focus is making sure what we’re doing is as precise and organized as we can.”

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