SOUTH BEND, Ind. - It was competitive throughout, but ultimately the top-ranked team in the nation was too much for the University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team to handle, as #1/1 Notre Dame upended the Quakers 75-55. 

PENN NEWS AND NOTES
*With the loss, Penn falls to 1-1 on the year. 

*Senior captain Ashley Russell led the way offensively for Penn, scoring 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting. The Massachusetts native also dished three assists. 

*Junior Kendall Grasela featured a career performance in the loss, scoring a personal best 10 points, going 4-for-6 from the field with three rebounds.

*Eleah Parker and Emily Anderson both featured minutes in the paint, as the duo combined for 10 rebounds.

*Penn forced the Fighting Irish into 19 turnovers and scored 19 points of the home team's miscues. The Quakers also grabbed 13 offensive rebounds, earning 15 points from second-chance opportunities. 

*Tori Crawford led the team with a career-high four steals. 

*Freshman Sereena Weledji scored her first collegiate points in the fourth quarter. 

*Notre Dame improves to 5-0 all-time in the series between the two squads. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Penn's defense was stout early on, thwarting Notre Dame's attempts at fast-break runouts with stout transition defense, forcing three turnovers in the first 90 seconds. After the Fighting Irish managed to jump ahead 8-2 with layups in the paint, Penn responded with smart offensive sets from Grasela, as the junior pulled up for a 3-pointer and made a diving cut into the paint, scoring on an assist form Russell to make it 12-9. 

The Red and Blue forced Notre Dame into over two minutes of scoreless play on offense, and ended the first quarter in good position against the top-ranked Irish, down just 16-13. 

It was a one point game after Penn's first possession of the second period, as Russell again found a guard down low in Phoebe Sterba. The home team responded with a 7-0 run, forcing a timeout from the Quakers, before Penn broke the press and found Sterba open on the wing, who drained the 3-pointer to stop the bleeding. 

Again, the Quakers defense stepped up, holding Notre Dame without a field goal for over three minutes late in the quarter before a long jumper from Arike Ogunbowale with 2:15 left in the half, right after Penn trimmed the lead down to five. Ogunbowale continued to push the Irish ahead, going on a 7-0 run herself to give the home team its largest lead of 10, ultimately entering the locker room ahead 39-27 at the break.

The start of the second half would prove costly for Penn, as Notre Dame went on an 11-0 run to balloon its lead out to 50-27 less than three minutes into the quarter. The Quakers would not wilt however, as Grasela asserted herself on offense, displaying acrobatic ability in the paint on both an and-one opportunity and a reverse layup to keep Penn within shouting distance. 

Penn's defense settled in, holding the Irish to just one made shot in the final 3:49 of the period and forcing three-straight turnovers to trim the lead down to 18 entering the final stanza. 

The Irish lead swelled out to a game-high 27 points after a Penn scoring drought in the midsection of the quarter, as Penn's primary offense early came from Russell. The Quakers kept fighting to the finish, closing the game on a 9-2 run behind points from Russell, Weledji, Kristen Daley and Kennedy Suttle. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
The Quakers return home to the City of Brotherly Love for their first games at The Palestra later this week, hosting Big 5 rival Saint Joseph's on Thursday before a battle with NJIT on Saturday.