While Penn men’s basketball’s victory over Princeton on Saturday was a season-changing upset, there were some other big moments from Penn Athletics over the break. From game-winning jumpers to big upsets to even bigger blowouts, Penn’s winter sports found success in some impressive ways. Our sports editors debate what the best moment was for the Red and Blue during each team’s winter break slate.
Sports Editor Ian Wenik: This question has a pretty simple answer to me: women’s basketball. No other Penn team has picked up a signature win quite like the Quakers’ New Years Day triumph over Miami in Coral Gables. Not only was it the team’s first-ever victory over an ACC school, it was a validation of Mike McLaughlin’s coaching philosophy. He has built this program essentially from the ground up.
To pick up a win over a BCS school — especially in the women’s game, where talent differences between majors and mid-majors are normally stark — in a fashion as dramatic as junior forward Katy Allen’s game-winning layup, is a tremendous momentum booster heading into Ivy weekends and should stand as a hallmark moment for years to come. The performance was particularly impressive given the Quakers’ ability to overcome adversity. The team had a double-digit lead going into halftime and fell behind late in the second half, but found a way to still get the signature victory.
Senior Sports Editor-elect Steven Tydings: While the Miami win was big for the women’s hoops squad, there is another victory for the Quakers that is under appreciated. On Dec. 21, a year since their 27-point defeat at the hands of Drexel, the Red and Blue defeated the very same Dragons squad. At the beginning of the game, it looked like it was more of the same as Penn fell down by 19 points in the opening half.
But thanks to a 14-point, 19-rebound effort from freshman sensation Sydney Stipanovich, the Quakers made it a game and slowly came back against the Dragons. On their home floor, Penn completed the comeback, tying the game up late thanks to Stipanovich and a 4-for-6 shooting performance from junior guard Kathleen Roche.
And as is often the case for Penn’s close victories over the last few seasons, the game came down to a final shot by senior captain Alyssa Baron, who drained the game-winning jumper to complete the biggest comeback in program history.
Sports Editor-elect Riley Steele: It’s impossible to disagree with how important the women’s basketball team’s victories were over winter break. But I think the best moment of the layoff had to be from one of the best Penn teams that not enough people talk about: women’s squash. Entering an Ivy weekend doubleheader, the Quakers hadn’t played in six weeks. All the Red and Blue did was come out and sweep Dartmouth to pick up their 12th consecutive victory over the Big Green.
Freshman Anaka Alankamony played in the No. 1 position for the first time in her young career, and the results were stellar. Despite a loss the following day to reigning Ivy champ Harvard, the match was tight throughout, and the Dartmouth win seems to have set up the No. 3 ranked Quakers for a successful run through the Ancient Eight this season.
