ORONO, Maine – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball survived a back-and-forth affair besting Maine 56-52 Sunday afternoon at Memorial Gymnasium.
 
Sophomore Mataya Gayle was the catalyst for the Quakers (2-0, 0-0 Ivy) late, scoring six of her 11 points in the fourth quarter, while Stina Almqvist added a team-high 17 points with seven rebounds and five assists to lead the team over the Black Bears (1-1, 0-0 America East).
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn improves it's record over Maine to 3-1 all-time and take the home-and-home series with the Black Bears following victories in both 2023 and 2024.
 
*Stina Almqvist played a team-high 35 minutes and certainly put in the work, scoring a team-high 17 points with seven rebounds and five assists.
 
*For the second straight game, Katie Collins impressed with eight points, eight rebounds, five assists, and three steals whole playing 34 minutes.
 
*Gayle (11 points) and freshman Sarah Miller (10) also scored in double-figures to join Almqvist. Miller scored 10 of the Quakers' 15 bench points. Fellow rookie Ashna Tambe added five.
 
*Penn shot 41.5 percent (22-for-53) from the field and converted on eight of its 12 free throw attempts. The Quakers held the Black Bears to 39.6 percent (21-for-53) shooting from the field.

How It Happened
Maine got off to a fast start, scoring the first three baskets and got out to a quick 7-0 lead. Penn cut it as close to two points following a Katie Collins three-pointer with 2:25 to play, but the Black Bears ended the stanza on a 4-2 run to lead 15-12 heading into the first break.
 
After Mike McLaughlin made a couple changes coming out of the huddle, the Quakers controlled nearly the entirety of the second quarter, starting with a layup from Almqvist that made it a one-point game with 9:21 left.
 
Penn ended up starting the second on an 8-0 run following Ashna Tambe's layup off Saniah Caldwell's steal with 5:26 remaining, leading 20-15.
 
Maine cut it to two on Caroline Dotsey's triple with 4:34 left, but Almqvist answered abruptly with a layup to extend back to four. Penn out-scored Maine, 15-5, in the second period to take a 27-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
Both teams traded baskets to begin the third quarter when Paula Gallego started the scoring with a jumper in the paint and Almqvist had one herself with 7:03 to go, the Quakers up 31-25. Sarah Miller had a nice run where she scored five points in two minutes to up the Penn lead to nine at 37-28 with 2:37 to play. However, an 8-0 push to end the period made it a one-point ballgame with 10 minutes to go.
 
Maine took its first lead of the game since the end of the first quarter at the start of the fourth when Caroline Bornemann sank a layup to take a 38-37 edge. Collins almost immediately answered back with a layup of her own with 8:30 to play to give Penn the lead back.
 
Neither team led by more than a point for the first six minutes of the fourth quarter when Simone Sawyer broke the trend when she stole the ball from Bornemann and took the ball herself to the rack, upping the Penn lead to 52-49.
 
Free throws the rest of the way allowed the Red and Blue to maintain distance and come away with the 56-52 victory.

Up Next
Penn returns to The Palestra on Wednesday against Siena at 6 p.m. for Public Safety Appreciation Night.
 
For the latest on Penn women's basketball, follow @PennWBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.