Second half heroics give Quakers ‘W’

St. Francis (NY) learned the hard way on Wednesday night that you can never count out the Quakers.

Penn (3-3) completed a stunning comeback from an 18-point deficit with seven minutes to go to defeat the Terriers (2-4), 61-60, as junior Alyssa Baron hit the game-winning layup with just 6.4 seconds to go.

Baron took a handoff from freshman Keiera Ray near the top of the key and drove down the lane before putting up the shot with a defender right on her.

Baron’s game-winner capped a 12-0 run in the final five minutes of the game, extending the Red and Blue’s win streak to three in improbable fashion.

“We were trying to go one possession at a time,” coach Mike McLaughlin said. “But down 18 is a long way to go. Once we got it under 10, we saw an opportunity and really executed well for the last six minutes.”

Although Baron took the final shot, it was sophomore Kathleen Roche who led the Quakers’ charge back into the game. She attained career-highs in points with 20 and three-pointers with six, while also hitting a big trey under two minutes to cut the Terriers’ lead to three.

Roche came into the game averaging just 3.6 points per contest, but she helped carry the offense in the second half, while also adding a team-high seven rebounds.

“It was easy to get open shots because our inside was so strong,” Roche said. “Alyssa and Keiera [Ray] have been huge for us, so it was easy to get shots on the wing.”

St. Francis seemed well on their way to an easy victory thanks to its dominance from beyond the arc. The Terriers began the game on a 19-3 run and the Quakers didn’t close within five again until the final two minutes.

Each time Penn began to inch back into the game, St. Francis had an answer, relying on its 13-for-22 shooting from three-point range.

“Some of them were really deep,” coach McLaughlin said. “Some of them were really late in the shot clock. We were guarding them pretty heavy so you have to give them credit. We tried a little bit of everything [to stop them].”

The win was the first road victory of the season for the Quakers, as they pulled off the impressive comeback away from the friendly confines of the Palestra. Penn continued its trend of close games, as each of its contests has been decided by less than 10 points.

“We really wanted that first road win of the year,” Roche said. “All of us decided that we weren’t going to let this one slip away. We didn’t want this to be an almost comeback and let this go to waste.”

Penn returns to the Brooklyn area to face LIU-Brooklyn on Sunday. The team is determined to finish the week the way it started.

“All week we have been saying that this was going to be our week,” Roche said. “We just want to get the wins we need to get and finish it strong on Sunday and get another road win.”

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