Penn women celebrate senior day with a 79-54 trouncing of Ivy League foe Dartmouth
Jordan Obi led the way with 16 points and 9 rebounds.
Penn women’s basketball team put an exclamation point on its senior day and last home game of the season with a 79-54 rout of Ivy League foe Dartmouth Saturday afternoon.
Behind 16 points and 9 rebounds from sophomore guard Jordan Obi, Penn (12-13, 7-6 Ivy) extended its league winning streak to three. The Quakers have won five of their last six Ivy matchups after losing five straight to start January.
Penn’s win over the Big Green (3-21, 2-10) catapulted the Quakers ahead of Harvard into fourth place in the league and Ivy Tournament position with one game remaining in the season.
Strong start
The Quakers took the lead 14 seconds into the first quarter and never surrendered it. Penn poured in 13 points before Dartmouth could score a basket.
Penn shot 29-of-68 (42.6%) from the field, including 11-of-32 (34.4%) from outside the arc. Obi and junior guard Kayla Padilla combined for 30 points.
Penn senior guard Mia Lakstigala and senior forward Kennedy Suttle also showed out on their day. Lakstigala, coming off a career-high 21 points performance on Wednesday against Cornell, notched 12 points and tacked on four assists.
“I think Mia has confidence. We’ve been waiting for this for her whole career, because she’s a heck of a player,” Penn coach Mike McLaughlin said. “Right now, she’s feeling as good about herself as a basketball player that I’ve ever seen her, and she’s playing phenomenal basketball.”
Suttle notched four assists of her own, tied with Lakstigala for most on the team, and pulled down five boards.
Meg Hair’s comeback
Senior guard Meg Hair started her first game of the 2022 season against Dartmouth after tearing her ACL in a preseason scrimmage. Hair postponed surgery for the opportunity to play her final season.
“I think it’s almost like a Rudy-like story per se, and I don’t know if anyone knows that she didn’t tear an ACL and recover,” McLaughlin said. “She put off surgery until after the season so she can do what she’s doing. Only 20% of the kids could do what she’s doing, as Dr. Sennett said — play with a torn ACL.”
Hair knocked down a three-pointer in the first quarter to send the Palestra into a frenzy.
“Words honestly can’t describe how amazing that felt. And then even just when they called the timeout and looking at my teammates, and they were all just swarming me, it just felt amazing,” Hair said. “All the hard work coming back from an ACL tear, it just meant the world to me, and making that shot … I honestly wouldn’t want it any other way for my senior night.”
The Quakers close out their season on the road at Princeton on March 4, as they hope to secure a bid to the Ivy League Tournament. The Tigers, undefeated in league play, have already clinched the regular-season title.