PHILADELPHIA - A season-best shooting percentage and stifling defense were enough to key the University of Pennsylvania (7-5, 1-1 Ivy) women's basketball team to victory on Friday night, as the Quakers jumped out early on the visiting Cornell Big Red, holding for a 68-48 victory inside The Palestra. 

The win is Penn's first of the Ivy League season, evening its conference mark to 1-1, while Cornell falls to 0-1 to start play in the Ancient Eight. 

PENN NEWS AND NOTES
*Freshman Eleah Parker again led the way for Penn, notching her second-career double-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and a pair of blocks and steals each. The rookie has finished in double-figure scoring eight-straight games. 

*Senior Lauren Whitlatch finished the game with 11 points and three 3-pointers, the fifth-straight game the Indiana native has recorded at least three shots from distance.

*Michelle Nwokedi displayed her all-around versatility, filling the stat sheet with nine points, seven rebounds, seven assists and six blocks. The senior's assist total matches a career-high, while the blocks match her best from this season. 

*Anna Ross posted six points on two 3-pointers Friday night, while dishing out six assists, all in the opening 20 minutes of play. Now with 408 career assists, Ross sits third place in Penn record books, just 20 away from tying Cheryl Rath's first-place mark of 428. 

*Sophomore Phoebe Sterba played a season-best 15 minutes, notching five points, including one make from 3-point land. 

*Penn shot a season-best 46 percent from the field, while outrebounding the Big Red 39-32. The Quaker defense held the visitors to 32 percent shooting from the field, with over half of their field goals coming from beyond-the-arc. 

*Play in the paint proved key, as Penn outscored Cornell 32-16 in points in the paint. 

*The Red and Blue won the turnover battle for the ninth time this season, improving to 6-3 on the year when doing so. Penn pushed tempo early, resulting in 15 points off Cornell's 20 miscues. 

*Penn improves to 57-21 all-time against Cornell in its third-straight win vs. the Big Red. Coach McLaughlin is 10-7 all-time vs. Cornell. 

*The win was the 53rd-straight victory for the Quakers when holding their opponents to 49 points or less. 

*The 18 points scored by Cornell in the first half is a season-best for the Quaker defense. 

*The 20-point margin of victory is the biggest against the Big Red since a 67-40 win on Feb. 22, 2013. 

*Cornell's Samantha Clement finished with a game-high 23 points with five 3-pointers. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Penn shot out of the gates with a sense of urgency, spreading the wealth on offense and shutting down the Cornell attack en route to an early 17-3 advantage. Five different players scored during the opening run for the Quakers, who forced five Big Red turnovers to gain the advantage. The defense was so containing for Penn that the Red and Blue held the visitors without a field goal for 8 minutes and 52 seconds of the first quarter.

It was more of the same for the Quakers entering the second quarter, as the lead continued to swell after an 11-0 run pushed the lead to 35-10. Ross continued to dictate the Red and Blue offense, notching six assists in the first half alone. At the break, nine players had already scored for Penn, led by eight points from Whitlatch. Cornell had to rely on the outside shooting of Samantha Clement, who helped keep the Big Red within shouting distance, entering halftime with Penn ahead 38-18.

The Quakers shot out of the locker room on fire yet again, pushing the lead out to its largest margin of the night at a 33-point Penn advantage following a 13-0 run for the home team. Parker and Ross keyed the momentum in the quarter for the Red and Blue, with Ross nailing two distance 3-pointers, combined with nifty layups inside from the rookie. Cornell would gain momentum for the first time in the game to end the period however, going on a 13-0 run of its own that would bleed into a 16-0 push into the fourth quarter. The Big Red did most of its damage from beyond-the-arc, recording five 3-pointers in the third period.

Penn would stymie the Cornell run by going back to its bread and butter in the paint of Parker and Nwokedi in the fourth quarter. A final 3-pointer from Whitlatch would provide the final field goal of the night for the home team as Penn rebounded defensively to hold the Big Red to just nine points in the final period. 

QUOTING COACH
"We came out ready to play. In an Ivy League weekend, back-to-back... We set the tone for how we wanted to play tonight and we want to carry that over to tomorrow."

WHAT'S NEXT?
No time to celebrate for the Quakers, as Penn returns to action in less than 24 hours, hosting Columbia on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 4:30 p.m. as part two of the first Ivy League doubleheader of the season.