PHILADELPHIA-- “That was a win we definitely needed coming off of Villanova. It wasn’t our best performance,” said Penn junior point guard Kendall Grasela. “I think we needed a strong win coming into Ivy play next week.”
Big Five play came to a close at the Palestra Wednesday night as University of Penn beat Temple University 71-62 in a game where Penn never surrendered the lead. The Quakers finish with a 3-1 record in the Big Five, second behind Villanova.
“When we first entered Penn, this coaching staff, we didn’t win a game for seven or eight years in the Big five period,” said head coach Mike McLaughlin. “So, I wanted them to celebrate again, the two other times we won the Big Five, we were 3-1. That’s what we were again today. It’s a lot to celebrate for them.”
Penn got off to a hot start, opening the game on an 11-4 run. The Quakers took advantage of their size and continually worked the ball into the paint early on. Eleah Parker and Princess Aghayere set the tone with their physical brand of basketball. Temple lacked anyone to match their size and struggled to contain Penn’s bigs. Parker and Aghayere combined for 28 points and 15 rebounds on the night.
“It’s a dirty game in the post, really rough and physical, but Princess and I both really just battle back. They push us, we push them back. We’re really tough with it,” said Parker. “We’re working on our chemistry together. If I get doubled in the post, I know that she’ll be diving to the basket for a quick lay-up. So, our chemistry together is really working well.”
UPenn sophomore Eleah Parker talks about the Big 5 culture -(video by James Williamson).
Parker is a special player, and Aghayere has become sort of an unsung hero on the court who according to McLaughlin, deserves her share of credit for Penn’s success this season.
“Princess is just Princess. She just comes out and plays. Nothing bothers her, nothing fazes her. She goes up in a crowd and grabs a ball, it doesn’t matter what the moment is,” said McLaughlin. “Her senior year is off to a phenomenal start and I think she deserves it. She’s very quiet and unassuming and she deserves credit for the success we’ve had so far.”
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
(video: James Williamson, editor- Austin Ampeliquio).
As the game wore on, Penn’s work in the paint helped create opportunities on the outside and allowed their guards to get to the net with ease. With their guards able to find better looks beyond the arc and at the rim, Penn would put up a 29-point third quarter to essentially ice the game.
“(Eleah and Princess) go hand in hand and work well together. It’s awesome to have posts like them because you don’t always have that and it’s really important to us,” said Grasela. “It makes people double them and our shooters get open, so they definitely have a heavy importance.”
With this win, Penn finishes Big Five play and must now begin preparations for conference play.
UPenn junior Kendall Grasela talks about how Big 5 games prepare them for the Ivy League-(video-James Williamson for PSD).
Penn’s Ashley Russell, who finished with 18 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists in the win over Temple, feels as though similarities can be drawn between the Big Five and Ivy League.
“I think it’s the same sense of pride we have in both,” said Russell. “Obviously Big Five is a smaller amount of games, it’s so concise and every second matters. In the Ivy League you play every team twice, but every game is very important and every game feels like a championship just because one loss could separate us from being in the Ivy Tournament and not being in the Ivy Tournament.”
This win served as a proper test to prepare the Quakers for conference play. About two minutes into the second quarter, with Penn up 19-12, Temple’s Marissa Mackins hit three - three pointers in the span of three minutes to tie the game at 21. This was the closest Temple ever came to stealing the lead and posed as an eye opener for the Quakers as they prepare to face an Ivy league full of shooters.
UPenn senior Ashley Russell finished with a game high of 18 points vs. Temple (photo by Zamani Feelings for PSD).
“(Mackins) was in the trail on transition a couple of times. Eleah picked her up and then when she made a pass twice, Eleah went back in the lane and she just moved over two steps. When you go and pick her up in transition, you need to stay with the ball until the ball is reversed to another side of the floor. It’s just a learning thing for her,” said McLaughlin. “She doesn’t normally pick up the ball. She’s usually the first one in the lane or around the lane and now you’ve got kids who are going to spread the floor. The good thing is we’re going to see teams in our league, like Brown, who shoot a lot of three’s in transition. She’s gonna be out there again and hopefully a situation that wasn’t great tonight will help us going forward.”
The Quakers eagerly await conference play but for now, they can reflect on their successes.
“I think teams are starting to recognize Penn not only for their academics, but also for their athletics especially in basketball in the Big Five with the boys winning and we’re coming in a close second,” said Grasela. “I think we’re really starting to change who’s going to win the Big Five.”
Ivy League play picks up next Friday, February 1st, as the Quakers head to Cornell. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
The Quakers will host Haverford in their last non-conference game of the season this Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
Photos by: Zamani Feelings and Chris Evangelist for PSD