PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team returns to The Palestra on Monday night for its first Big 5 matchup of the season, hosting Villanova.
 
GAME 4 – PENN (3-0) vs. Villanova (1-2)
Monday, Nov. 21, 2021 | 7 p.m.
The Palestra | Philadelphia, Pa.
NBCSports Philadelphia+ | ESPN+ | International Stream | Live Stats
Penn Game Notes | Villanova Game Notes
 
Penn-Villanova Series
Penn and Villanova are meeting for the 48th time in tonight's matchup, with the Wildcats owning a 44-3 all-time series record. The Quakers last win against Villanova was on January 17, 2018 at the Pavilion, winning a 79-77 battle. With the win, Penn earned its second Big 5 title.
 
Last Time We Met
The last time they met in January 2020, the Wildcats earned the home win, 70-58. The game was led by a pair of freshmen, Maddy Siegrest from Villanova with 27 points and Kayla Padilla with 23.
 
About Villanova
The Wildcats opened the year 0-2 with losses to Princeton (59-42) and Maryland (88-67) before earning their first victory on Saturday against Saint Joseph's in a Big 5 matchup, 55-39. In the victory, Lior Garzon went off for a career-high 26 points, while Brianna Herlihy pulled in a tied career-high 12 rebounds. Siegrist, a junior, scored her 1,000 career point in her sophomore season in 2020-21, entering the year with 1,131 at 20.6 points per game. Head coach Denise Dillon is in her second season at the helm, maintaining a 18-9 overall record.
 
Penn's Last Time Out
The Quakers earned their second road victory of the season on Thursday night, defeating St. Francis Brooklyn 63-46 to move to 3-0 for the second straight year. With its third straight game of scoring 60-plus points, the Quakers move to 116-2 when scoring 60-plus points in regulation for a regular season game. Padilla put together her second straight 20-plus point performance, dropping 23 with five three-pointers, missing her career high in threes by one. Nikola Kovacikova was two points shy of a career high, knocking in 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting, tying a career high with four threes. She dished out a season-best six assists, one shy of a career mark. Kennedy Suttle notched her third career double-double, scoring 11 points to go with a career-high 17 rebounds.
 
Big Five History
Under head coach Mike McLaughlin, the Quakers earned their first two Big 5 titles. The first was in 2015 and followed again in 2018. Villanova has won 17 Big Five titles in program history, with the last coming in 2020.
 
Thanksgiving Travel
The rest of the week, the Quakers will be on the west coast, traveling to Los Angeles for the Loyola Marymount Thanksgiving Classic. They open on Friday against UC San Diego before taking on Memphis on Saturday, both games starting at 6:30 p.m., eastern.