Penn women's basketball defeats Temple, clinches first Big 5 title

For most of Monday evening at the Palestra, offense was tough to come by for Penn women’s basketball. But unlike the majority of their shots on the court, the Quakers did not allow their shot at history to rim out.

The Red and Blue defeated city-rival Temple, 52-50, to clinch a share of their first Big 5 title in school history.

"It's the culmination of a lot of hard work," coach Mike McLaughlin said. "We had a lot of girls who were not aware of the Big 5 coming in ... And we certainly captured their understanding of [its history] over time."

The first half was a back and forth affair. Neither Penn (7-4, 3-0 Big 5) nor Temple (7-9, 1-3) was able to create any distance from each other for most of the half.

The majority of the Red and Blue were unable to get going offensively. Senior guard Kathleen Roche largely carried the team in the early going, scoring 10 in the first half.

"That's just how the game goes sometimes, shots just don't go in," Roche said. "I think that I just had more opportunities because the post was doubled so much throughout the night."

"It was easier for girls to lose their composure," McLaughlin said. "And she held the team together."

Despite holding Temple to under 32 percent shooting in the first half, the Quakers went into halftime down, 26-22.

The Red and Blue continued their offensive struggles in the early stages of the second half, as free throws and otherwise makeable shots just did not seem to be falling. At certain points, it seemed that the Owls were ready to pull away.

But Roche continued her strong offensive performance, and the team's trademark interior defense, led by sophomore Sydney Stipanovich and enhanced by McLaughlin's zone schemes, kept them in the game.

"They're more of an attacking team," said Roche of Penn's zone defense. "So we wanted to make sure that we make them beat us with 15-foot jump shots."

"Defense is always our main focus," senior guard Renee Busch said. "We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game."

With under three minutes to go, the Quakers got a three-point play on a baseline drive from Roche and a post-up bucket from Stipanovich to take a three-point lead. However, a clutch three-pointer from Temple guard Feyonda Fitzgerald left the score tied with under a minute to go.

Busch missed a three on the following possession, but after a long rebound from senior forward Kara Bonenberger, Busch got her shot at redemption. And she did not miss.

"I could just hear coach yelling 'knock it down Renee,'" Busch said. "So I shot it, and it went in ... If I miss one, the next one's going in. You have to keep your confidence up."

Busch’s three-pointer with 25 seconds left put the Quakers up for good, as Roche would later ice the contest at the free-throw line with her 22nd point of the game.

"Coming into freshman year, winning a Big 5 game was more the goal," Roche said. "It's definitely amazing to have this [title]."

With the tremendous milestone in the bag, the Red and Blue will take the next couple days to enjoy the accomplishment. But just over the horizon lies their biggest challenge of the season – a matchup with undefeated and nationally-ranked Princeton to start Ivy play.

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