How St. Joseph’s women were ‘locked in’ on defense in rout of Penn at the Palestra

Less than 24 hours before Tuesday’s women’s basketball tilt between Penn and St. Joseph’s, the Palestra was as magical as it’s ever been during the men’s upset of No. 21 Villanova.

That magic appeared to run out for the Quaker women, who were clobbered by St. Joe’s, 77-49. The 28-point loss is Penn’s worst defeat since 2020. The Hawks, meanwhile, moved to 3-0 on the season.

“I’m happy with where we are. There’s certainly room for growth,” St. Joe’s coach Cindy Griffin said. “Where I think we really put a stamp on things is on the defensive end, which is really awesome because our team takes the assignments really personally, and they’re there to help each other and they’re all locked in.”

» READ MORE: Call it Palestra magic, but understand how Penn’s Big 5 upset of Villanova came about

Sophomore forward Laura Ziegler, freshman guard Gabby Casey, and graduate guard Chloe Welch scored 18, 16, and 13 points, respectively for St. Joe’s. Ziegler also was all over the boards, snagging a game-high 14 rebounds.

“Honestly, I think it’s just my teammates boxing out, too. Somebody’s got to go get the ball when everybody’s boxing out, and today it happened to be me,” Ziegler said. “It’s something we focus on a lot. We don’t have any 6-5, 6-6 kids that [are] going to be in there and stay in the paint, so we know it’s a lot about hustle, [and] it’s a lot about pride.”

The game was a coming-out party for Casey, a Lansdale Catholic grad who, in her first two games as a Hawk, had tallied only nine total minutes. Coming off the bench, she earned 18 minutes, 49 seconds of court time and made it count, going 5-for-6 from the field en route to her 16-point output.

One factor that might’ve helped: a familiarity with the Palestra. The last time she was in the building, Casey, who is Lansdale Catholic’s all-time leading scorer, won the Philadelphia Catholic League basketball final.

“Coming back in the building, it’s just a surreal moment, and then to be playing for Coach Griffin is really amazing,” she said.

» READ MORE: Behind the shot that lifted Lansdale Catholic to its first Catholic League title

Freshman guard Mataya Gayle led the Quakers’ scoring charge with 14 points while also managing the ballhandling responsibilities. The rookie started in the team’s opener on Saturday against Marist, and again was in the starting five on Tuesday.

“It’s a lot of responsibility, but I can put as much work in out of practice and on my own so that I can step up to that responsibility and be prepared,” Gayle said.

Coming off a career scoring day, junior guard Stina Almqvist had a quieter night Tuesday with 13 points, but she led Penn (1-1) with 10 rebounds, a career-high.

After a back-and-forth opening quarter and a half, the Hawks pulled away thanks to a couple key factors. St. Joe’s effectively spread the ball around, totaling 20 assists behind Talya Brugler’s and Julia Nyström’s five each. Penn, on the other hand, was stagnant in that department, amassing six assists — a far cry from the 20 it had in its opener.

“I think we did way too much off the dribble,” said Penn coach Mike McLaughlin. “Against Marist, the ball moved, and then we attacked off the dribble. I think we played offense through the dribble tonight.”

The Quakers also were incapable of getting their three-point game going, making only two of their 21 attempts, while the Hawks converted on half of their 16 tries.

St. Joe’s led, 30-25, seconds before halftime, and it looked to stay that way, as the Hawks’ only shot option was a long-range heave.

No problem for Welch. She launched a deep triple from the Penn logo and banked in the shot, putting St. Joe’s up eight heading into the break — a lead that only grew in the second half.

St. Joe’s will face another Big 5 foe on Sunday (4:30 p.m., FloSports) at Drexel (1-1). Next for Penn is a Sunday afternoon matchup in Loudonville, N.Y., where it will face Siena (2-0).