PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team finishes up Big 5 pod play on Wednesday evening, heading down the Main Line to face Villanova at 7 p.m. at Finneran Pavilion.
 
Then, the Quakers host UC Irvine Thursday at The Palestra for a 6 p.m. tipoff, as the Anteaters for a 33rd Street sweep, visiting nearby Drexel on Wednesday evening.
 
GAME 5 – Penn (3-1, 0-0 Ivy) at Villanova (2-1, 0-0 BIG EAST)
Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024 | 7 p.m.
Finneran Pavilion | Villanova, Pa.
Watch Live on FloSports ($) | Live Stats
Penn Game Notes (PDF)  | Villanova Game Notes (PDF)
 
GAME 6 – Penn (3-1, 0-0 Ivy) vs. UC Irvine (3-1, 0-0 Big West)
Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024 | 6 p.m.
The Palestra | Philadelphia, Pa.
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats | Tickets
Penn Game Notes (PDF)  | UC Irvine Game Notes (PDF)
 
The Series Details
Starting with Villanova, Penn has posted just three wins all-time against the Wildcats (1975, 2001, 2018), trailing 3-47 since the first meeting in 1974. The last two wins occurred at Finneran Pavilion.
 
Penn trailed Villanova by 16 points with 6:23 remaining in the third quarter before the Quakers began their fourth-quarter comeback last season at The Finn. A joint effort from Jordan Obi and Stina Almqvist cut the deficit to as little as four points with 3:38 remaining but the 'Cats prevailed for the 68-62 win.
 
Obi led all scorers with 20 points (9-for-15) and posted her first double-double of the year with 10 rebounds. Mataya Gayle scored 17 points, all in the first half. Almqvist added 14 points, going a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line.
 
On Thursday, it'll be a historic first-ever meeting for Penn and UC Irvine at The Palestra.
 
Big 5 is Back!
Big 5 action continues Wednesday evening at Villanova.
 
This season, it's a brand-new look and format for the longtime city tradition, building up to the inaugural Women's Big 5 Classic at Villanova's Finneran Pavilion on Dec. 6.
 
For the new format, Pod 1 features Drexel, La Salle, and Temple while Pod 2 includes Penn, Saint Joseph's, and Villanova. The first seed in each pod will compete for a Big 5 championship, the second-place teams in each pod will play for third place, and the third seeds will compete for fifth place.
 
A Solid Start
Penn has a record of 3-1 through its first four games of the 2024-25 season slate. It's the second consecutive year the Quakers have started the campaign with the same record.
 
Almqvist has been on a scoring tear, averaging 20 points per game in four starts. She's currently second in the Ivy League in scoring behind Harvard's Harmoni Turner (25.0 ppg). After scoring a career-high 27 points against Siena and then 21 vs. Saint Joseph's, Almqvist was named Big 5 co-Player of the Week.
 
We See You, KC!
Katie Collins has impressed in her first four games, helping lead Penn to a successful opening stretch.
 
In the first weekend after wins against Merrimack and Maine, she averaged 8.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and had seven blocks, four steals, and five assists over the two contests en route to being named Ivy League Rookie of the Week.
 
In the season opener against the Warriors, Collins flirted with a triple-double, scoring nine points and adding 10 boards and six blocks, the most by a Penn player in her debut in program history.
 
Collins recorded her first career double-double against Siena with 13 points and 11 rebounds, then played a full 40 minutes in Penn's loss to Saint Joseph's on Friday. She was named Ivy Rookie of the Week for the second straight time.
 
Last Time Out
Penn got as close as five points to the Saint Joseph's lead, but the Hawks took care of business in a wire-to-wire 68-57 victory over the Quakers on Friday night.
 
Almqvist recorded her second 20-point performance of the week, finishing with 21 and nine rebounds, adding three assists.
 
Gayle scored all 13 points in the second half, while Collins logged a full 40 minutes with eight points and five rebounds. She also had two blocks.
 
Freshmen Sarah Miller (six points) and Ashna Tambe (five) scored 11 of the Quakers' 15 bench points to lead the second unit.
 
Penn totaled seven blocks with two each from Collins, Almqvist, and Tambe.
 
Scouting The Wildcats
Villanova heads into Wednesday night's matchup with an overall record of 2-1 following back-to-back contests against Ivy League opponents. The Wildcats fell at Princeton, 70-61, last week before beating Columbia 68-67 at the Finn on Saturday.
 
In the close win over the Lions, Villanova led by as many as 13 points in a contest where it led for over 33 minutes, but Columbia used a 6-0 run down the stretch to tie the game at 67-all with 12 seconds remaining. A heldball and a foul sent Denae Carter to the line, who hit one of her two attempts to grab the lead and ultimately the win.
 
Jasmine Bascoe is Villanova's leading scorer at 17.3 points per game, also contributing 4.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.0 steals. Maddie Webber has also notched double-scoring figures at 13.7 points per game this year so far.
 
Scouting The Anteaters
Thursday marks the first-ever meeting between Penn and UC Irvine, the defending Big West conference champions.
 
Coming out of the weekend, the Anteaters are 3-1 and have won three consecutive games following a season-opening loss to New Mexico State.
 
In a thrilling, 64-61 win over Saint Mary's on Saturday, UC Irvine trailed for most of the game but used a big fourth quarter to win, going 6-of-11 from the field and outscoring the Gaels, 24-16.
 
Hunter Hernandez led the team with 15 points, adding five rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Olivia Williams drained a career-high four three-pointers for 14 points. Two other Anteaters—Nevaeh Dean (10 pts) and Déja Lee (10)—also reached double figures.
 
Preseason Prognostications
Things are certainly looking up for the Quakers as the 2024-25 season gets underway this week. Penn was picked to finish fourth in the Ivy League's preseason poll, earning 75 voting points by a panel of 16 media members.
 
Penn returns a pair of key starters from last year in senior Almqvist (second-team All-Ivy) and sophomore Gayle (Ivy Rookie of the Year).
 
Almqvist and Lizzy Groetsch were named the Quakers' captains for the season.
 
Another Year of Madness
Penn completed another successful season in 2023-24 after qualifying for Ivy Madness for the fifth time in six seasons, narrowly falling to top-seeded and eventual champion Princeton, 59-54, in the semifinals.
 
Gayle dropped a team-high 20 points against the Tigers and was subsequently named a member of the Ivy League's All-Tournament team.
 
The Quakers went 15-13 overall and 7-7 in Ancient Eight play by season's end. In addition, Penn finished Big 5 play with a 1-3 record and a fourth-place finish.
 
Fresh Faces
Six student-athletes make up Penn Women's Basketball's Class of 2028 including four guards and two forwards.
 
Guards include Tambe, Miller, Brooke Suttle, and Reagan Jamison.
 
The Quakers have two new forwards in Collins and Gabriella Kelley.
 
Tambe (The Hockaday School), Kelley (SF University HS), and Suttle (Campbell) scored over 1,000 points in their high school careers with Tambe leaving as the program's all-time leading scorer (with over 1,600 points).
 
Impressive First Season
Gayle's rookie campaign was nothing short of impressive as she looks for more of the same in 2024-25, hoping to take that next step.
 
She was one of just three Quakers—and the only freshman—to start all 28 games and finished third on the team in scoring (14.3 ppg), while grabbing 86 rebounds (3.1 rpg). Among Ivy players, she was fifth in three-pointers per game (1.8), eighth in assists (3.1), eighth in steals (1.5) and 10th in points (14.3) as a freshman.
 
Gayle also made her national mark after being named USBWA National Rookie of the Week on Jan. 3 when she dropped 28 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and three steals in a victory over eventual America East champion Maine.
 
20-Win Seasons
Penn is the only team in the Ivy League to surpass the 20-win plateau in seven-straight years under Coach Mike McLaughlin after concluding the 2019-20 campaign. With no play in the Ivy League in 2020-21 due to the pandemic, the 2021-22 season was the first under-.500 season for the Quakers since the 2011-12 season when Penn went 13-15 (Coach McLaughlin's third season at the helm) but bounced back last year with a 17-12 tally.
 
All-Time Wins Leader
Coach McLaughlin is Penn's all-time wins leader, surpassing Lois Ashley's mark of 128 wins in 12 seasons with his 129th win at Dartmouth on March 3, 2017. The head man now sits with an record of 246-162 (.600) at Penn. In addition, McLaughlin earned the 650th win of his career last season against Harvard; that ranks him ninth among active Division I coaches.

Magic Number: 60
The statistic that may most indicate a Penn win or loss? 60 points. Penn has won 152 of its last 164 regular season games when scoring at least 60 points in regulation. Since head coach Mike McLaughlin took over at Penn, the Quakers are 190-214 (.906) when they reach that number (162-16 over the last eight seasons). In comparison, the Quakers are just 50-136 (.288) when they've scored less than 60 points under McLaughlin. The trend continues defensively. Over the last 11 seasons, the Red and Blue are 50-98 (.347) when allowing 60 points or more. But when holding opponents under that number, the Quakers hold a healthy winning record of 187-36 (.836).

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