FORT MYERS, Fla. – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team struggled shooting the ball to begin the contest and only led by three at halftime, but put together a masterful second-half performance to defeat Chattanooga, 74-61, Friday afternoon at FGCU's Alico Arena.
 
Three Penn players scored double figures led by Mataya Gayle's 20 points with five assists and Stina Almqvist's 19 points on 11 free-throw shots.
 
The Quakers improved to 5-3 while the Mocs fell to 4-4 on the year.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn claimed the first-ever meeting between the Quakers and Mocs. 

*The Quakers earned their second consecutive victory and improve to 2-0 on the week with one game left to play.

*Mataya Gayle finished with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting. She converted all four of her foul shots and added five assists.

*Stina Almqvist reached double figures for the 15th straight game dating back to the end of last season, scoring 19 points with five rebounds in 39 minutes. She was 11-for-14 from the free-throw line.

*Simone Sawyer scored 12 points on four baskets, chipping in four boards and two steals.

*Katie Collins had a team-high six rebounds and two blocks. She also scored seven points.

*Penn shot 42.9 percent (24-for-56) from the field and 77.8 percent (21-for-27) from the charity stripe.

*The Quakers led the Mocs in fast-break points, 12-2, and points off turnovers, 11-4. Penn turned the ball over just six times throughout the contest, the fewest of the year so far and least since four against Dartmouth on March 1, 2024.
 
How It Happened
The Mocs won the opening tip, but it was Mataya Gayle who gave the Quakers the first lead of the game on a three-pointer. After the triple, Penn hadn't scored a basket in nearly five minutes, the score tied 6-6 at the U-5 media timeout.
 
UTC scored a bucket to go up three, but Sarah Miller sunk a gorgeous floater in the paint to trim the deficit back to one point.
 
Penn missed six of its last seven shots to end the first period, converting on just three field goals over the first 10 minutes, but trailed 14-13 at the break, courtesy of late free throws from Stina Almqvist.
 
The Quakers struggled to open the second quarter, but the defense kept it a one-possession lead. Mike McLaughlin took a 30-second timeout—which became the media—with under seven minutes to go and Simone Sawyer immediately answered with a layup to cut the Chattanooga lead to one point again.
 
The lead became Penn's once again with 5:23 remaining in the second quarter when Almqvist used a dish from Gayle to reverse underneath and give the Quakers a 19-18 edge.
 
Chattanooga took another lead but Almqvist got the deficit back to one point with 2:43 left, reaching double digits at 10 points for the 15th consecutive game.
 
A triple from Ashna Tambe highlighted a 8-0 run over the final three minutes of the half as Penn took a 29-26 lead into the locker room.
 
Almqvist started the third quarter the same way she ended the second, sinking two free throws to extend the lead to 31-28. Simone Sawyer's trey gave the Quakers a six-point lead up 34-28 with 8:08 remaining. Chattanooga converted back-to-back shots to cut the Penn lead back to three points, but shots from Gayle and Tina Njike re-extended the margin. The Quakers went on a 7-2 run to begin the fourth quarter, extending their lead to nine points—the largest of the game to that point—and causing UTC to spend an early timeout. A jumper for Gayle with 5:09 remaining in regulation gave Penn its largest lead of the day, up 11 at 63-52. Gayle went to the line to shoot two shots at the two-minute mark and draining both to extend the Penn lead to 14 at 70-56.
 
It was pretty much free throws the rest of the way for both teams, Penn extending to as many as 15 points before the Mocs scored two to end the contest with the Quakers prevailing for a 74-61 victory. Up Next
The Quakers close action at the Homewood Suites Classic on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Cal Baptist. There will not be a live stream, but live stats will be provided through StatBroadcast.
 
For the latest on Penn women's basketball, follow @PennWBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.