Just four games into the season, Penn’s women’s basketball team has found a successful stride.
Coming off a rough loss against Drexel, the team bounced back with a 67-55 win against Hofstra in a collective team effort this past Saturday afternoon. The women’s team is now 3-1 overall, marking a strong start to its season.
From the start of the game, Penn (3-1, 0-0 Ivy) found great offensive rhythm despite a pre-game technical foul that put Hofstra (1-2) ahead 2-0. The Quakers quickly found their momentum with the strong emergence of senior guards Simone Sawyer and Saniah Caldwell.
During Hofstra’s initial run of eight points, Sawyer helped put up the first points for the team with a quick catch-and-shoot three-pointer from the left wing, enabling Caldwell to show a dominating performance alongside her. Caldwell scored early with six first-quarter points, her first basket being an and-one after a strong move to the basket. Caldwell continually facilitated the offense, scoring a three-pointer and allowing her teammates to take open shots to counter Hofstra’s offensive efforts. Penn led the first quarter 20-18.
Penn continued to maintain this lead in the second quarter with sophomore forward Katie Collins’ first basket, a rebound from her own miss. The team had a great defensive effort, withholding many scoring opportunities for Hofstra at the beginning of the second quarter and further widening the point gap. The Quakers were deft at moving the ball with Caldwell steering the offense, making smart passes that led to and-ones and more points on the board for the Quakers.
Sawyer also helped stretch the lead further with back-to-back threes from the right wing midway into the second quarter. Both teams traded baskets as the final two minutes of the quarter wound down, with Penn leading 30-23. Penn leveraged mostly on second-chance points from rebounds in the paint, which Hofstra’s point guard Alarice Gooden was able to respond to with a three-pointer. Heading into halftime, Penn led with a total score of 37-31.
The third quarter was relatively similar to the second, having a lot of trade-off baskets. Junior guard Ese Ogbevire led by scoring the first points of the quarter with a tough move to the basket. Following this, Sawyer maintained her dominating performance, scoring nine points and grabbing five rebounds in the quarter alone. Collins continued to make her presence known, helping further Penn’s lead into double digits. Penn finished the quarter with a 56-45 lead.
The fourth quarter put Sawyer and Collins into the spotlight. A back-door pass from Collins flowed into a wide-open layup for Sawyer, putting up the first two points of the fourth quarter for Penn. Penn capitalized on Hofstra’s offensive and defensive lapses throughout the quarter as Collins added another three to the point differential. The duo of Collins and Sawyer continued to mount the pressure, allowing Penn to maintain its double-digit lead to the end. Ultimately, Hofstra was left in the dust as the Quakers ended the game with a 67-55 victory. At the end of the evening, Sawyer found herself with a total of 21 points, nine rebounds, and two assists, and Collins ended with 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists.
Overall, Penn saw great opportunities due to its combined efforts on offense and defense. Caldwell did a great job facilitating the offense early on, maintaining steady control over the game’s pace. The Quakers’ effective movement of the ball on offense led to numerous open three-point looks. The Quaker offense was also successful from afar, having scored with 41.7% accuracy from the three-point line and 39.6% accuracy from the field.
Penn also found great success in the perimeter, bolstered by Sawyer’s strides to the basket for the team to score 20 points total inside the paint. Sawyer’s offensive bursts maintained the momentum all throughout the game for Penn. In tandem, Collins’ ability to stretch the floor and make open driving lanes forced Hofstra to guard beyond the arc, allowing the Quakers to close in on the glass.
Next up, the Quakers will be returning home to face Norfolk State on Nov. 18 at 6:00 p.m.
