PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team hits the road for a pair of Ivy League matchups this weekend, taking on Yale on Friday night and Brown on Saturday evening.
 
GAME 24: PENN (15-8, 7-3 Ivy) at YALE (11-12, 5-5 Ivy)
Friday, February 17, 2023 | 6:00 PM
New Haven, Conn. | John J. Lee Amphitheater
Watch (ESPN+) | Live Stats | History
 
GAME 25: PENN (15-8, 7-3 Ivy) at BROWN (10-12, 3-7 Ivy)
Saturday, February 18, 2023 | 5:00 PM
Providence, R.I. | Pizzitola Sports Center
Watch (ESPN3) | Live Stats | History
 
The Series With Yale
The Quakers are meeting the Bulldogs for the 90th time in program history, maintaining a slight 47-42 edge in the series. Penn is looking to earn the season sweep of Yale for the first time since the 2018-19 season and the 13th time in since the first clash back in 1974. Although the Bulldogs hold a 23-19 edge over Penn when playing on their home court, the Quakers have won 7 of the last 10 meetings at the John J. Lee Amphitheater. Through 89 games, Penn has scored 5,517 points in the matchup (61.99 points per game).
 
Last Time We Met
Penn battled Yale in The Palestra in the first half of Ivy League play on January 21, rolling to a 22-point victory, 79-57. The win marked the 11th straight home victory for the Quakers, setting the program record that passed the 10-game home win streak set back in the 2000-01 season. Penn was led by a pair of 20-plus performances from senior captain Kayla Padilla and junior Jordan Obi. Padilla finished with 21 points on 9-for-12 shooting, while Obi tacked on 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting. Off the bench, senior Sydnei Caldwell knocked in a season-high 16 points, a substantial piece to a 26-point bench outing. For the Bulldogs, Jenna Clark paced the offense with 21 points and six assists, but the Quaker defense held Yale to just 37.1 percent from the floor for the game.
 
About The Bulldogs
Yale currently sits fifth in the Ivy League standings with a 5-5 tally, falling in four of its last five conference matchups. The Bulldogs most recently loss was this past Saturday at Columbia, a team the Quakers have split with this season and sit atop the Ivy League standings in a tie with Princeton, 74-46. Nyla McGill was the leader for the squad against the Lions, recording a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. McGill currently ranks second in the league in rebounding at 9.0 per game. On the offensive side of the ball, Clark continues to lead the conference in assists with 126 for the season and 5.5 per game. Yale ranks sixth in offense this season at 60.0 points per game, and seventh in defense with 65.7 points allowed per game.
 
The Series With Brown
The Quakers are meeting the Bears for the 91st time in program history, as Penn carries the 55-35 advantage in the series. Dating to the 2011-12 season, the Quakers ride a 21-game win streak against Brown into Saturday's matchup, winning the last 10 matchups in the Pizzitola Sports Center. Penn is 21-19 all-time on the Bears' home court, a record that goes all the way back to 1978. Through 90 games, Penn has scored 5,956 points against Brown (66.18 points per game.
 
Last Time We Met
Penn opened the 2023 Ivy League schedule against the Bears on January 2 in The Palestra, cruising to a 21-point win, 74-53. The Quakers used a 21-0 run bridging the end of the first quarter with beginning of the second to control the game in its entirety. Senior captain Mandy McGurk led all scorers with a career-high 28 points, while finishing with a career-high 12 field goals and five steals. Padilla (13) and Obi (12) also finished in double-figures, and Obi added a game-high seven assists. Penn scored 30 points off 22 Brown turnovers, and outscored the Bears on second-chance points, 15-5. For Brown, Grace Arnolie and Kyla Jones led the offense with a combined 21 points.
 
About The Bears
Brown has won two of its last three Ivy matchups, topping Cornell in its last contest, 76-48. The two wins are crucial, as the squad now sits with a 3-7 record in the Ivy League. The game had two 20-point performances by Isabella Mauricio (22) and Kyla Jones (20), as the team shot 50 percent from the floor and from beyond the arc. The 9-for-18 from three-point range was paced by 6-for-8 from Mauricio. That's not unusual for the Bears, as she leads the team with 49 threes this season and tied for second in the Ivy League with 2.7 per game alongside Padilla. Mauricio averages 12.7 points per game, 10th in the conference.
 
Moving Up The List
Padilla has steadily moved up the all-time scoring list in Penn history, currently sitting with 1,228 points through 70 games for ninth in the record book. She put up 27 points last Saturday in a victory over Harvard, shooting 10-for-16 from the floor with four three-pointers. Her outing jumped her three spots in the scoring list to No. 9, bypassing Cheryl Rath (1985-89), Joey Rhoads (2003-07), and Karen Habrukowich (2001-05). To move up to No. 8, she will need to catch Natasha Rezek (1991-93, 94-96) who finished her career with 1,265 points.
 
With a four three-point effort last game, the senior captain inched closer to the program record with 190 for her career. The top spot is in striking distance, currently occupied by Habrukowich with 196. For her career, she is shooting .382 percent from beyond the arc.
 
Fresh Off Awards
On Monday afternoon, the Ivy League announced the Quakers swept the weekly women's basketball honors as Padilla was tabbed Player of the Week and Simone Sawyer earned Rookie of the Week. It is the third time this season Padilla was given the honor, and the second for Sawyer.
 
Padilla earned the accolade following her 27-point performance over the Crimson to go with a game-high eight assists, her highest mark of the season. Sawyer continued to impress from deep, drilling five three-pointers in the win, one short of tying her season high set at San Francisco back in November. The freshman guard sits second on the team in three-pointers with 39, only behind Padilla's 61. Shooting at a .364 clip from deep and .430 from the floor, she ranks as the best rookie in the league from beyond the arc, averaging 1.8 per game.