The Mayans may have been wrong about the world ending, but they correctly predicted the end of Penn women’s basketball’s four-game winning streak.
The Quakers were blitzed by Drexel’s high-powered offense from the outset, and the Dragons carried their first-half lead to a blowout victory, 77-50, Penn’s first loss since Nov. 18.
The Dragons (7-2) shot a stellar 61.5 percent in the first half from the field, including six treys. While Drexel leads the CAA in field goal percentage at 42.8 percent, its offense was working with even higher efficiency, shooting over 60 percent for the game.
Penn (4-4) had held opponents to 56.4 points per game on the season, but its defense struggled to contain the Dragons, especially senior guard Hollie Mershon, who had 17 points in the first half alone.
“Defensively, we tried a little bit of everything. Zone, trap, man [to man],” coach Mike McLaughlin said. “With that, they had a great rhythm and we had a tough time breaking their rhythm.”
The Quakers’ defense wasn’t the only part of the team that struggled, as their offense slumped through portions of the game. Penn’s leading scorer Alyssa Baron notched only four points, and her performance summed up the afternoon for the Quakers.
“[Drexel] guarded her hard,” McLaughlin said. “What Alyssa has to learn is that she is going to be guarded hard and she has to work more off the ball and to come off ball-screens harder. She will learn from this and she wasn’t as aggressive today as she needed to be.”
The game was reminiscent of the Quakers’ victory against St. Francis, as whenever the Quakers would close in, the Dragons seemed to always answer with a three. But the Quakers didn’t have another big second-half run in them to pull off a comeback.
Quakers face tough slate of road games
Penn women’s basketball grabs fourth straight victory
Despite the loss, freshman guard Keiera Ray continued her progress, scoring a team-high 15 points.
“She has done a great job,” McLaughlin said. “She has made the transition to point guard at this point and she has done a good job with it. We’ve seen a lot out of her early in her career and she is stepping up now.
While the world didn’t end, the longest winning streak in coach Mike McLaughlin’s tenure was brought to an abrupt conclusion. The game was the Red and Blue’s first loss since losing starting point guard Meghan McCullough to a season-ending knee injury last month.
The Quakers will now have another long break in between games before facing Alabama State in the Iowa State Cyclone Challenge on Dec. 29. With the time off, coach McLaughlin expects Penn to come ready to play.
“[The players] go home today. We come back on the 25th, practice on the 26th, travel to Iowa State on the 27th and we are going to be ready. We’ll be better the next time we come out.”
