Alyssa Baron came to Penn expecting to step onto the court right away.
Perhaps only Baron knew what a significant impact she would have.
On the strength of two extraordinary performances against Big 5 opponents, the freshman guard swept the weekly women’s basketball awards — earning Co-Big 5 Player of the Week, Co-Ivy League Player of the Week and Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Monday. She became the sixth player in the last nine years to win both Ivy awards in the same week.
“It’s definitely really exciting,” Baron said of the recognition. “It’s good to know that my hard work is going in the right direction.”
In the first game of the week against La Salle, Baron led all scorers with 17 points, as the Quakers won their first Big 5 game in six years.
Then against Temple on Saturday, the Florida native dropped 23 points and tallied a career-high five assists as the Red and Blue fell in a hotly-contested matchup.
Last year, while Baron was still a senior at Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami, the Red and Blue went 2-26 under then first-year coach Mike McLaughlin.
“When I came to Penn for my official visit, Coach told me, ‘You’ll have a chance to play right away as a freshman,’” Baron recalled. “I took that into consideration when I made my decision and I thought I might be able to come in here and have a big impact.”
Indeed, she has made quite an impact — to say that Baron has become the Quakers’ go-to scoring option would be an understatement.
She leads the team with 16.1 points per game, and her scoring average is twice that of the next leading scorer.
Baron may also have benefitted from some extra motivation in the last couple of games.
“All my family was here this past week to see me play,” Baron said. “It was definitely nice to have them in the stands.”
