PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team is off to the postseason this weekend, taking on top-seeded Princeton at Jadwin Gymnasium for an Ivy Madness semifinal matchup on Friday evening.
 
GAME 28: PENN (17-10, 9-5 Ivy) at PRINCETON (21-5, 12-2 Ivy)
Friday, March 10, 2023 | 4:30 PM
Princeton, N.J. | Jadwin Gymnasium
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A Look At Ivy Madness
This year's Ivy Madness will be the fifth installment, with the inaugural tournament taking place back in 2017. Penn won the first one at The Palestra, while this is the first time it is being held at Jadwin Gymnasium. With ties in the standings for the top spot and the third seed, the four spots lined up as follows after tiebreakers: #1 Princeton, #2 Columbia, #3 Harvard, and #4 Penn.
 
Friday evening's semifinals, both airing on ESPN+, will lead off with Penn-Princeton at 4:30 p.m., and Columbia-Harvard at 7 p.m. The winners of both games will face off on Saturday at 5 p.m., on ESPNews.
 
The Series With Princeton
The Quakers are meeting the Tigers for the 94th time in program history with Princeton holding the 64-29 lead in the all-time series. In 44 games at Jadwin, Penn has won 14. The last time was in January 2019, 66-60, the last time the Quakers defeated the Tigers in general. Princeton has won the last eight matchups. Penn has scored 5,369 points in 93 games, averaging 57.7 per game. This is the fourth matchup at Ivy Madness between the two squads, with Princeton taking the last two in 2019 and 2018, while the Quakers won the first in 2017. It was the first Ivy Madness, as Penn secured the title, 57-48, at The Palestra.
 
Last Time We Met
The two teams clashed just seven days ago, last Friday at The Palestra. Princeton overcame a first-half deficit with a 27-7 third quarter to take the 71-52 decision. Kayla Padilla (17) and Jordan Obi (19) led the Penn offense with a combined 36 points. Obi secured her sixth double-double of the season with 11 rebounds. The Tigers were paced by Kaitlyn Chen with a game-high 27 points.
 
About The Tigers
Princeton enters the game on a 13-game winning streak, after earning a share of the Ivy League regular-season title on Friday night at Penn. The Tigers' two losses in league play were the first two of season, falling to Harvard (67-59) and Columbia (58-55, OT), the other two teams at Ivy Madness. Averaging 66.2 points per game, Princeton has been paced by Chen and Julia Cunningham. Chen averages 15.4 points on a consistent .489 shooting percentage, while Cunningham comes in at 10.5 points on .386. Ellie Mitchell continues to lead the Ivy League in rebounding with 10.8 per game, the only player in double figures.
 
Moving Up The List
Padilla has steadily moved up the all-time scoring list in Penn history, currently sitting with 1,314 points through 74 games for seventh in the record book. Two weekends ago, she totaled 23 points at Dartmouth, her fifth straight 20-plus point performance, to move her past Dionne Anthon (1988-92) into seventh. To get to sixth, she'll need to catch 2016 Ivy League Player of the Year and two-time Defensive Player of the Year, Sydney Stipanovich (2013-17) who finished her career with 1,386 points.
 
Eyes On The Last Three-Point Record
With a five three-point effort at Brown a few weeks ago, Padilla became the program's career three-point leader with 200. She bypassed Karen Habrukowich (2001-05) with 196 on her second bucket against the Bears. With two games since then, her career total sits at 206. The senior captain now owns two three-point records in program history and has one more to finish the trifecta. Last season, she became the single-game leader with nine three-pointers against Memphis. For the 2022-23 slate, she currently has 77 threes, needing one more to break the program record set back in the 1999-00 season by Mandy West of 77.
 
She is one of just two players in all of Division I that currently averages at least 17.5 points, 2.8 three-pointers, and 3.5 assists per game. The only other player is Iowa's Caitlin Clark at 27 points, 3.4 three-pointers, and 8.3 assists per game.
 
Defense Wins Ball Games
The Quakers currently sport the second-best scoring defense in the Ivy League, only allowing 58.7 points per game to opponents. The only team better is Princeton at 52.8, while the other six teams allow more than 61. Penn ranks second in the league in rebounds at 38.2 per game (1,031 total), behind Columbia at 43.3. The Quakers have two players ranked in the top five in the league in rebound: Obi (7.6) and Floor Toonders (7.6). Toonders also leads the conference in blocks with 30 for the season, while McGurk ranks ninth in steals with 48.
 
Adding More Accolades To Their Careers
On Wednesday afternoon, the Ivy League announced the 2022-23 All-Ivy honors for women's basketball, as Padilla and Obi each earned spots on the team. For the third straight year, Padilla was named to first team, this time as a unanimous selection, while Obi earned her second straight appearance on second team.