PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team plays one more home game before heading south to Florida for Thanksgiving break, hosting Immaculata Tuesday evening at The Palestra.
 
The Quakers are coming off three straight losses against three tough opponents while the Division III Mighty Macs have enjoyed a fine start to their year, winners of four straight entering Tuesday night.  
 
GAME 7 – Penn (3-3, 0-0 Ivy) vs. Immaculata (5-1)
Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024 | 6 p.m.
The Palestra | Philadelphia, Pa.
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats | Tickets
Penn Game Notes (PDF)  | Immaculata Game Notes (PDF)
 
The Immaculata Series
Tuesday marks the sixth meeting in program history between Penn and Immaculata and the first matchup since 1980.
 
The Quakers have never beaten the Mighty Macs in the previous five games, Immaculata going 5-0 all-time against Penn.
 
All five previous meetings took place at The Palestra with Immaculata winning the previous one, 66-61 in overtime, on Jan. 17, 1980.
 
It'll be the 10th straight season taking on a non-Division I opponent for Penn, with the Quakers currently on a 13-game winning streak against such opponents.
 
Looking To Break The Streak
The Quakers are currently on a little bit of a streak—but not the one they'd like to be on—after losing three straight games against Saint Joseph's, Villanova, and UC Irvine.
 
It's Penn's longest losing streak since dropping five of its first six games to begin the 2022-23 campaign.
 
After that skid, the Quakers went on to win 11 consecutive games—the second-longest win streak in program history—en route to a 17-12 campaign and a berth into the WNIT.
 
All About Almqvist
Stina Almqvist has had one incredible start to her senior season after starting the campaign with five straight double-digit scoring games.
Almqvist has 13 consecutive games of 10-or-more points dating back to the end of last season.
 
In just six games this year, she is averaging 20.2 points and 8.3 rebounds.
 
In a two-game week last week against Villanova and UC Irvine, Almqvist poured in a game-high 24 points against the Wildcats to go along with eight rebounds. She notched 17 points and nine boards with three assists vs. the Anteaters on Thursday night. From Siena to Villanova, she had three consecutive 20-or-more point games for the Quakers.
 
All-Eyes On The First Year
Freshman forward Katie Collins has looked nothing but impressive in her first stretch with the Quakers, playing and starting the first six games of the year.
 
She is averaging 9.3 points and 7.5 rebounds so far and leads the Ivy League in blocked shots with 14. Collins had the first down game of her career against Villanova last Wednesday, failing to score a point. But she still had four rebounds, two blocks, and two steals on her stat sheet.
 
She rebounded nicely with an 18-point performance Thursday in overtime against UC Irvine at The Palestra, adding seven boards, two assists, two blocks, and two steals.
 
Collins has already been named Ivy League Rookie of the Week twice this season.
 
Passing The Rock
As a team, the Quakers are averaging 13.2 assists per game this season and Mataya Gayle has been a big part of that stat.
 
The sophomore guard picked up her second eight-assist contest of the year on Thursday against UC Irvine after doing the same against Siena a week prior.
 
Gayle is averaging 3.5 assists per game this season and is currently tied for the team lead and fifth in the Ivy League with Almqvist.
 
Last Time Out
The lead changed hands 21 times and the game needed overtime to find a victory, but UC Irvine prevailed over Penn, 72-68, Thursday evening at The Palestra.
 
Collins finished with a career-high 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting and added seven boards, two assists, two steals, and two blocked shots. Almqvist recorded her 13th consecutive game in double figures dating back to last season, with 17 points and nine rebounds.
 
Freshman Ashna Tambe led the bench unit with 10 points on three three-pointers.
 
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.
 
Winning Streaks
Prior to McLaughlin, Penn had just one winning streak of more than seven games in its entire history (21). However, in the last six seasons, the Quakers have had nine such winning streaks, including an 11-game win streak that the Quakers were on last season until falling at Princeton (55-40) on January 16. It marked the second-longest stretch in program history only to the 21 from 2000-01.
 
Additionally, two seasons ago, the Quakers sported 12 straight wins in The Palestra from December 2022 to mid-February 2023, a program record that eclipsed the 10 set back in the 21-game stretch.
 
Magic Number: 60
The statistic that may most indicate a Penn win or loss? 60 points. Penn has won 152 of its last 166 regular season games when scoring at least 60 points in regulation. Since head coach Mike McLaughlin took over at Penn, the Quakers are 190-216 (.906) when they reach that number (162-18 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 50-100 (.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).
 
For the latest on Penn women's basketball, follow @PennWBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.