PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team (1-1) picked up their first win of the season with a 55-42 victory over Lafayette (0-3) on Saturday night in their home opener at The Palestra.
 
The win came on a fitting evening where the Red and Blue unveiled their 2016-17 Ivy League championship banner prior to the contest and welcomed back the Class of 2017–Kasey Chambers, Jackie Falconer, and Sydney Stipanovich– to celebrate the accomplishments of past season.  
 
PENN NEWS AND NOTES
*Michelle Nwokedi notched her 65^th career game in double figures and the 34^th double-double of her career with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and six blocks. 

*Kendall Grasela played a career-high 16 minutes in the victory, notching the first 3-pointer of her career at a key moment in the fourth quarter to separate Penn from the Leopards.

*Freshman Katie Kinum recorded her first collegiate points on a three in the first half.

*The Quakers battled back to outrebound Lafayette 49-46 after trailing in boards the majority of the contest. Princess Aghayere, Grasela and Eleah Parker all collected six rebounds behind Nwokedi's 10.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
After starting down 6-0, the Quakers roared back on both ends of the court after Lafayette went cold from the field, going 0-for-5 over the next 2:30. Penn pulled ahead 9-8 and tied the contest 13-all at the end of the first stanza off a combined five boards and five blocks from Eleah Parker and Michelle Nwokedi from strong defensive play inside the paint.
 
The second half was a back-and-forth affair and neither team could muster more than a three point lead over the other until 1:32 remaining in the frame. Beth Brzozowski hit a pair of free throws to pull ahead 26-22, and the Quakers took a 28-22 advantage into intermission by forcing nine turnovers and holding the Leopards to just 24-percent shooting for the half.
 
The Quakers had to fight out of a scoring drought that lasted over four minutes in the third, but Anna Ross got the hosts out of their rut with two minutes left for a five point buffer at 38-34. The Leopards continued to fight and closed the deficit to just one, 40-39, off of jumpers from Alexis Santarelli and Natalie Kucowski at the end of the stanza.
 
Penn gained momentum off a drained three from Lauren Whitlatch and a jumper from Nwokedi with 5:38 to play to pull ahead 50-42, and the Quakers never looked back from there. A 7-0 run and 5-for-6 shooting during that stretch propelled Penn for the win over Lafayette, 55-42
 
UP NEXT
The Quakers head to the tropics for the Thanksgiving holiday when they jet to Bimini, Bahamas next week for the Junkanoo Jam. Penn will take on Georgia Tech on Thursday, Nov. 23 at 5:15 p.m. and will await either Baylor of Missouri State for the second contest of the tournament.