Women's basketball succumbs to Columbia in fifth consecutive loss

The stands of the Palestra rattled once again as public spectators were permitted entrance for the first time in 2022. But within the sounds of sparse attendance, accompanied by the melodies of Penn Band and the enthusiasm of Penn Cheer, the Quakers (7-12, 2-5 Ivy) could not overcome the daunting task against conference leader Columbia (16-3, 7-0 Ivy), and fell to the Lions by a score of 66-57.

An early push by Penn presented a thrill of optimism for the returning fans, as the game offered an opportunity to avenge the Quakers’ loss on the Lions’ court, 61-56, just a week prior. The Quakers were in front for much of the early game, and inched to close the lead whenever trailing thereafter.

Reminders of an empty Palestra echoed when the crowd silenced at every airborne three-point attempt. Penn's successful threes drew some of the loudest decibels of support during the night, especially when junior guard Sydnei Caldwell, on her first return from injury, made two consecutive threes and stepped backwards from the line in charismatic celebration.

“I am very happy with Sydnei,” coach Mike McLaughlin said. “Sydnei was out for a while. I mean, she just came back and she worked hard this week for rehab. She worked hard for three weeks to get back on the floor. She did great.”

But Columbia came to Philadelphia to prove an immense consistency in its momentum, remaining poised to shoo away the Quakers from reaching the lead through to the final quarter. This loss against Columbia was Penn's fifth consecutive defeat where it came close to the win, but its efforts were not enough to claim victory. 

“I think that’s been the separator on four of five of these games,” McLaughlin said. “Four-minute bursts, you know, where we're right there, one-point game either way, two-point game either way, and then it gets up to eight, to 10, nine, and I feel like from there, we chase the game a little bit.”

Such a night would have made for a scenic win for women's basketball to crumple its four-game losing streak and build for a comeback in its Ivy League play. Penn's previous win came against Dartmouth at the Big Green's home, 55-31. Yet even at the face of disheartening defeats, the team still fights with its sights on the highest prize.

“They understand where these people before them have been,” McLaughlin said. “We're not hiding from the fact that it’s a goal to get there. But I think they also know that you know, we might have a big challenge ahead of us getting there.”

Columbia made sure to resist the Quakers' advances towards their goals in every way, and Penn searched for confidence with every fast break and pressure against the Lions' defense.

In response to Columbia's durability in defense, junior guard Kayla Padilla set the tone for a physically engaged game early on, not afraid to take the fight for possession to the floor. She concluded the night with the most minutes played for Penn.

Padilla's teammates followed suit to match her tenacity, as sophomore forward Jordan Obi also handled much of the momentum in the opening minutes.

With their duty of cheering on their team eased with the return of vocal fans in attendance, the Penn bench took their efforts to show out early on the court. By halftime, the Quakers' bench put up 12 of their 29 points, compared to the Lions' six out of 33.

Unfortunately, the early driving energy did not sustain long enough, and foul trouble eventually caught up to push McLaughlin to rotate his lineup.

Senior forward Kennedy Suttle stood with immense reliability in the paint, concluding her night with nine rebounds. But at the whistle marking the end of third, she fell to the ground and was helped off the court to join her teammates in the huddle.

Suttle returned for the start of the fourth quarter. But that wasn't the end of Penn's injury problems, as senior guard Meg Hair left the game after only a minute of play, having stepped onto the court with a leg brace signaling a hopeful return from recovery.

Senior guard Mia Lakstigala became the one to end Penn's scoring droughts that slowed Penn’s fight towards the late game, most notably in the late game where McLaughlin called for timeouts to interrupt Columbia's momentum.

Consecutive threes by Penn in the last quarter injected some hope for the Quakers back into the game. Caldwell followed with a layup, pushing past the defense with a last-minute persistence to chase the win, but Columbia remained collected to stay in front and take its lead to the final whistle.

As with many of Penn's recent losses, its loss against Columbia felt like another "could have been" moment, marred to defeat by the curse of coming close but missing its goal by inches. The Quakers have a shot at turning the tides of their losing streak today, Feb. 5, against Cornell at the Palestra.