Penn’s hoop teams went 2-0 over the weekend against cross-city rival Temple at the Palestra to conclude Big 5 play for the 2022-23 season. On Saturday, the men’s basketball team won 77-57, and on Sunday, the women’s basketball team prevailed 62-61.
The men’s team used a 24-4 run in the final 8:49 of the second half to turn a 53-53 game into a 20-point blowout. Third-year guard Jordan Dingle scored 13 of his 21 second-half points during the run and third-year guard Andrew Laczkowski contributed seven points.
The first half was a fervent and fervid, seesawing 20 minutes. The Quakers opened the game with a 5-2 advantage and the Owls tied it up at 11-11 at the 13:28 mark. The Red & Blue led by as much as five before Temple made it a 23-23 game with 6:10 on the clock. The Owls were up 28-26 at halftime.
Dingle finished with a game-high 30 points. He shot 10-22 from the field, 1-7 from behind the arc, and 9-10 from the foul line. He also had four rebounds, six assists, and three steals. Third-year forward Max Martz had 14 points and fourth-year guard Lucas Monroe chipped in 10.
Penn had only seven turnovers to Temple’s 15 and scored 13 points off turnovers to the Owls’ two.
In the Quakers’ four Big 5 games, Dingle scored 120 points, which broke a 56-year-old record. He topped the previous mark held by Saint Joseph’s Cliff Anderson, who scored 116 points in the 1966-67 season. Dingle also notched his eighth career 30-point game, tied for second-most in school history with Keven McDonald.
Led by fourth-year guard Kayla Padilla’s 28 points, including the game-winning layup with six seconds on the clock, the women’s team extended their winning streak to five with their one-point win over the Owls.
Padilla and third-year forward Jordan Obi scored all of Penn’s 12 first-quarter points. Both scored six apiece. The game was tied 12-12 after the first period. Temple outscored the Quakers 17-15 in the second quarter and held a 29-27 halftime advantage.
The Owls went on a 13-0 run in the third quarter and took a 44-29 lead with 5:20 left in the period. Padilla scored eight straight points—two threes and two free throws—to cut the lead to 44-37, then first-year guard Simone Sawyer drained a three to make it a 44-40 game. Yet another three by Padilla with 53 seconds left in the period trimmed Temple’s lead to 46-43. The two teams traded buckets in the final seconds and the Owls were up 48-45 with one quarter to go.
Two more threes by Padilla put Penn up 54-53 with 6:21 left in the fourth quarter. The Owls scored a layup and two free throws to retake the lead, 57-54. Sawyer answered with a three-pointer to tie the game at 57-57 with three minutes remaining.
Temple’s Tierra East hit a jumper with 1:19 left on the clock, which gave the Owls a two-point advantage. Free throws by East and Ines Piper put the Owls ahead 61-57 with 26 seconds on the clock.
Sawyer hit a three with 20 seconds left in the game to cut the lead to one. After the Quakers forced a five-second turnover, Padilla scored the decisive layup with six seconds on the clock. Penn forced East into a costly travel in the final seconds to close out the win.
Padilla led all scorers with 28 points, including the 1,000th point of her Penn career. She played all 40 minutes and was 10-21 from the field, 6-13 from the three-point line, and 2-2 from the foul line. Obi had 16 points and Sawyer scored 13.
The men’s team (6-7) is off until Dec. 28, when they take on Wilkes University at 2 p.m. at the Palestra. Up next for the women’s team (6-5) is Gwynedd Mercy on Dec. 30 at the Palestra.
