LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team kicked off its four-game road trip in the win column Sunday afternoon, as a handful of career performances guided the Quakers to an 85-79 victory at Siena.
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Penn moves to 2-1 for the season, while the Saints fall for the first time this season to 2-1.
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Quaker Notemeal
*The win shifts the all-time series to 4-1 with the Quakers winning the last three meetings.
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*Freshman
Mataya Gayle erupted for a career-high 25 points, knocking in 20 in the first half. She finished 5-for-8 from three-point range, falling just one shy of the program record by a freshman in a single game. Six was hit three times by a Quaker freshman: last year by teammate
Simone Sawyer at San Francisco and twice in 2019-20 by
Kayla Padilla.
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*Junior
Stina Almqvist continued her breakout start to the season with her second straight double-double with a career-high 25 points and 10 rebounds. She shot 9-for-13 from the floor and 7-for-8 from the free-throw line.
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*Senior captain
Jordan Obi put away all 12 of her points in the second half, adding a game-high four assists, game-high three blocks, four rebounds, and two steals.
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*Freshman
Abby Sharpe came off the bench for a nearly perfect shooting outing, going 3-for-3 from beyond the arc including an and-one and 2-for-3 at the line for 11 points, her first collegiate double-digit tally.
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*The Quakers shot 49.2 percent for the game, 40 percent from three (10-for-25).
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*Penn led for 62.9 percent of the game, hitting its largest lead of the game of 10 points right before the end of the first half. The Quakers trailed by as much as eight points late in the third.
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How It Happened
The Quakers took nearly four minutes to get rolling offensively, as the Saints built up a 7-0 advantage off the tip before Gayle knocked in her first points of the game at the 5:53 mark to kick off a 10-point stretch for Penn. Gayle scored seven in the run while
Lizzy Groetsch and Almqvist chipped in the other three to put the Quakers in the lead for the rest of the first half.
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In the final minute before the break,
Saniah Caldwell caught a dish on the right wing to drill a three to give Penn its largest lead of the game, 37-27. The Saints dropped it back to single digits before the half, as the Quakers carried a 39-30 advantage to the locker room.
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Similar to the start of the game, the third quarter saw the Saints hit early offensive success with a 10-0 stretch to erase the deficit and jump in front, 40-39. Obi hit her first jumper of the game to slow down Siena, but the Saints reclaimed the lead and held it through the rest of the quarter.
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Looking for a spark to start the fourth, trailing by three, the Quakers got just that from Sharpe. The freshman guard drilled back-to-back three-pointers including an and-one from the right wing to put the Quakers back in front the rest of the way.
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Siena seemed to always have an answer, not letting its deficit fluctuate to more than six points through much of the fourth until Almqvist hit a five-point stretch including an and-one finish at the rim to put the Quakers in full control in the closing two minutes.
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In the final minute, the Quakers went 6-for-8 from the line to maintain their distance thanks to four from Almqvist and one each from Sharpe and Groetsch.
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Up Next
The Quakers continue their four-game road trip on the west coast, playing three games in the Golden State during Thanksgiving break. They'll take on Chapman Wednesday before playing San Diego State and UC San Diego over the weekend.
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#FightOnPenn
