Protect the Palestra.
That’s just what Penn did against Merrimack in its season opener, ending with a 64-52 victory.
To start the game, Merrimack (0-2) opened with a suffocating zone defense that nearly forced a shot clock violation on Penn (1-0). Soon after, senior guard and team captain Stina Almqvist threaded the needle to feed freshman forward Katie Collins in. Immediately on their next trip down, Collins had a block — there’s no better way to get acquainted with the Palestra than that.
“I was definitely really excited. I had some nerves before the game but I feel like my teammates really helped calm me down and everyone just came together and it was really exciting and we were just ready to go,” Collins said.
Collins’ debut turned into a block party. In addition to logging nine points and 10 rebounds, she had six blocks this afternoon.
“It’s remarkable someone that young [who] never played college basketball can come out here and be a focal point in what we did — changing shots, blocking shots, rebounding the ball, getting our fast breaks started,” coach Mike McLaughlin said of Collins. “[She] played a complete full game at a high level of intensity.”
Today’s whole game was marked by a high level of intensity.
After Almqvist went on a hot streak and got six straight for the Quakers, the quarter ground to a halt for both teams. In the first quarter alone, there were four jump ball possessions to flip the court. The defensive grind from both ends led to a low-scoring first quarter; Penn led 12-10 at the buzzer.
“We knew it was gonna be a scrappier game so we were just like, ‘Let’s just do us, focus on ourselves,’” sophomore guard Mataya Gayle said. “And obviously, you can’t force the shots to fall. All we can try and do is try to get our ball movement going and try to lock down on defense.”
As part of that defensive grind, McLaughlin called for his team to press early in the first quarter to generate more momentum for his team and make Merrimack “uncomfortable.”
And indeed, the Warriors became more uncomfortable with every possession. The Quakers held them to a mere 11 points in the quarter with their frequent double teams and pressure along the sideline.
Meanwhile, the Quakers started to find their rhythm in the second quarter. Gayle got onto the stats sheet, getting seven points up on the board — including a three-ball. And after going 0-4 from three in the first quarter, the Quakers shot 3-4 in this quarter.
“We just got to learn how to make another pass. The ball got stuck, [and] we did a lot of off-the-dribbles from so far away. We had a couple good shots, but we could’ve had great shots if we made one more pass,” McLaughlin said of their offense.
The grit-and-grind defense awarded Penn a 27-21 halftime lead, despite earlier offensive woes. But Merrimack started to find some offensive life, scoring 19 points in the third quarter — the most they had all day in a quarter. Merrimack guard Thalia Shepard led the charge with seven points, but her and her teammates’ attempts to tie fell short, as the Quakers always had an answer and maintained a 48-40 lead going into the fourth quarter.
How? Their tenacity.
That tenacity carried through to the fourth quarter, which began with Penn giving up two turnovers in back-to-back possessions. But instead of running back straight on defense, Gayle applied the pressure and junior guard Simone Sawyer joined in to draw the foul and the ball back. And a few minutes down the stretch, senior guard and team captain Lizzy Groetsch drew the charge. And to ice the game, Gayle stole the ball for a go-ahead layup and junior guard Saniah Caldwell blocked a shot.
The defense turned to points and the offense began to flow and click more for everyone. Gayle put up eight to bring her total to 17 and Almqvist’s four brought her total to 15. And Caldwell went 2-2 from downtown.
“It was a good team win at the end of the day. We didn’t play [as] offensively as we really need to going forward,” McLaughlin said. “But we found a way. We grinded it out.”
Penn’s next order of business is an away game at Maine (1-0), where the Quakers will look to find a way to pick up their next win.
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