There’s a youth movement at Penn — are you ready for it?
In a physical beatdown of Delaware State that marked their fifth straight win, the Quakers once again saw their burgeoning rookie stars lead the way to success. Sophomore center Tina Njike led the team in scoring, while freshman guard Sarah Miller’s outside shooting and freshman forward Katie Collins’ presence in the paint made the difference for the Red and Blue’s dominant 72-45 win.
“I think we’ve seen some youth play some big roles on championship teams,” coach Mike McLaughlin said. “But I don’t know if we’ve seen so much at once.”
In a lackluster start, Penn (8-3) was challenged early as Delaware State (3-9) hit two threes against its leaking zone defense. Despite the early punch of scoring, Penn’s defense soon switched to man-on-man which stifled the Hornets’ ball movement.
Finding themselves in a physical dogfight, Penn was able to outwork its opponents in the first half. With a strong paint presence, the Quakers scored 12 of their 38 first-half points on second-chance attempts while out-rebounding Delaware State 27-15. Njike dominated down low throughout the first two frames — being the only Penn player shooting above 50% and putting up eight points solely on putbacks. Njike finished the match leading in scoring with 14 points on 75% shooting for a career-high.
“Tina is, as you know, coming off a season-ending injury, never even played,” McLaughlin said. “So she’s starting to round into shape. Our fitness is so much better. You know, her timing is better — what you saw today is what we’ve been seeing the last two, three, four weeks.”
Penn’s trademark ball movement earned them multiple open shots from outside the arc as the game progressed, but the team couldn’t consistently find the rim as the Quakers shot below 30% from the three. Overcoming these struggles, Miller and junior guard Saniah Caldwell hit a three each at the end of the second quarter to balloon their lead to 21.
The Quakers finished the half with an egalitarian performance, scoring 38 with no player scoring over eight — a testament to the team’s mentality.
The third frame saw the Red and Blue turn on the burners as their offense finally stepped up to the level of their defense. Penn outscored the floundering Hornets 22 to 13 as Caldwell and Miller continued to heat up with their outside shots.
As the game continued, Miller and Collins once again put the Penn community on notice. After notching a USWBA National Freshman of the Week award, Miller showed out by being one point shy of leading the team in scoring — while three-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week Collins led the team in rebounds.
As the fourth quarter came to a close, the bench came in, as Penn’s lead was too large to overcome. Continuing their dominant streak of victories with today's 72-45 win, the players are as hopeful as ever for a strong end to the season.
“Really exciting for our program, the fact that [young players] are doing this well now. I can only imagine how good our program will be in two years,” Njike said. “Or even right now, actually.”
After the holidays, the Quakers will take a trip out west to battle Arizona State on Dec. 30 and Benedictine on Dec. 31 to close out 2024.
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