PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team returned home to The Palestra on Saturday afternoon, moving its home win streak to 11 games with a 79-57 throttling of Yale.
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The Quakers move to 13-6 for the season and remain atop the Ivy League standings with a 5-1 record. The Bulldogs slip to 10-9 for the year, 4-2 in conference play.
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Quaker Notemeal
*Penn's 11-game home winning streak sets a new bar in program history, topping the previous record of 10 set back in the 2000-01 season.
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*The Quakers are 11-1 at home this season, only falling to then-No. 24 Villanova in the home opener on November 17.
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*Consistency on the offensive end had the Quakers shooting .574 from the floor for the game, the highest mark of the season and the third time above .500. The other two games were against DIII Gwynedd Mercy (.542) and Hartford (.509).
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*Penn was led by a pair of 20-plus performances from senior captain
Kayla Padilla and junior
Jordan Obi.
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*Padilla finished with 21 points on 9-for-12 shooting, while adding three assists.
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*Obi tacked on 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting with two from beyond the arc. She added seven rebounds and two assists.
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*Off the bench, senior
Sydnei Caldwell knocked in a season-high 16 points including 5-for-6 at the free-throw line to go with five rebounds.
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*Junior
Floor Toonders posted a game-high 10 rebounds, the seventh time this season she had double-figure boards. At 8.1 rebounds per game, she currently ranks third in the Ivy League.
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*Eight different Quakers scored in the game, including 26 points from the bench.
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*Penn trailed for only three minutes in the game, early in the first quarter, and held an advantage for over 36 of the 40 minutes.
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How It Happened
A lot of trading buckets early in the game had neither team leading by more than three points through the first five minutes. Padilla got the scoring started for Penn, following a three by Bulldogs with a crafty finish through traffic down the lane.
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Stanfield, who earned the start on Saturday, gave Penn its first lead at 6-5 with a layup, and by the first media timeout the Quakers remained atop, 11-9.
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Penn didn't trail the rest of the way, building as much as a nine-point advantage in the first quarter after a three-pointer by
Sydnei Caldwell in the closing minute of the frame. Yale responded with a three of its own, as the Quakers carried a 20-14 lead into the second quarter.
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At the restart, the Bulldogs chipped away at their deficit to get within two, but the Quakers used several runs to hold onto the lead at the half. In the closing three minutes, Penn hit a 7-0 stride including an and-one finish by Padilla, a jumper by senior captain
Mandy McGurk, and another bucket by Padilla to carry a 38-28 advantage to the locker room.
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The third quarter played heavily into the favor of the Penn offense, going 81.8 percent from the floor on 9-for-11 shooting. Padilla and Obi led the charge, combining for 16 of the 22 points in the frame while the Quaker defense held the Bulldogs to 12. The lead continued to expand, reaching 20 by the final horn, 60-40.
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The consistency on offense rolled into the final quarter, shooting 60 percent with six more buckets.
Sydnei Caldwell paced the frame with seven points, five of which came at the line.
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Up Next
The Quakers return to action next Saturday, traveling to Boston for another Ivy League tilt at Harvard. Tip is set for 2 p.m.
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