PHILADELPHIA – Four members of the University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team garnered All-Big 5 honors, including two first-team selections in Eleah Parker and Kayla Padilla, the league office announced on Friday.
Parker and Padilla add first-team city honors after already scooping up first-team All-Ivy recognition while Kendall Grasela landed on the All-Big 5 second team and Phoebe Sterba earned honorable mention distinction. Additionally, Grasela was named the Big 5 Scholar Athlete of the Year.
This marks the third straight season with All-Big 5 recognition for Parker, who was named Big 5 Rookie of the Year in 2017-18 and Player of the Year last season. The junior center was a first-team selection as a sophomore and landed on the second team as a freshman. During league action, Parker led the Ivies with 10.3 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game while finishing the season averaging 12.0 points per game, earning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year accolades. In four Big 5 games, Parker finished in double figures twice, including a massive 17-point, 13-rebound performance at Temple and was named Big 5 Player of the Week on two occasions.
Also a Big 5 Player of the Week, Padilla wrapped up her superb freshman campaign averaging a team-high 17.4 points per game, ranking second in the Ivy League and sixth among all rookies nationally, earning Ivy League Rookie of the Year in addition to first-team league and Big 5 honors. Her excellence was especially apparent in Big 5 contests, piling up three of her 12 20-point games against city opponents. In her Big 5 debut, Padilla racked up 22 in a game settled by defense as Penn left Hagan Arena with a 55-45 triumph before pouring in 24 more at La Salle and 23 at Villanova.
Grasela, who notched the Scholar Athlete of the Year award as a nursing major, landed on the second team as the quarterback of the Quakers' offense. She led the Ivy League and finished seventh in the country in assist/turnover ratio with a mark of 2.8, led the league in assists per game (4.4) and ranked second in steals per game (2.1) while scoring 4.2 points per game.
Sterba wraps up her career with Big 5 honorable mention recognition as the sharpshooting threat from beyond the arc, finishing with 186 made threes, second in program history and just 10 shy of the record. Sterba recorded 10.4 points per game, third best on the team, 4.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. In a 65-49 win at La Salle in Big 5 competition, Sterba drilled five treys to bury the Explorers for 22 tallies, one of 25 games in which she made at least one three and one of three games that she hit at least five.
The Quakers went 20-7 overall, including a 2-2 mark in Big 5 action and their seventh straight 10-win Ivy season.
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