PHILADELPHIA – The Big 5 season wraps up on Friday, as the University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team competes against La Salle in the opening game of the inaugural Women's Big 5 Classic at Villanova's Finneran Pavilion.
 
The Quakers are riding a three-game winning streak following a successful business trip in the Sunshine State after defeating two NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago in Chattanooga and Cal Baptist.
 
The Explorers have won four of their last five games and began Atlantic 10 play on a high note Tuesday evening, taking down Loyola Chicago on the road.
 
GAME 10 – Penn (6-3, 0-0 Ivy) vs. La Salle (5-4, 1-0 A10)
Women's Big 5 Classic presented by Toyota
Friday, Dec. 6, 2024 | 3:30 p.m.
Finneran Pavilion | Villanova, Pa.
Watch Live on NBCSP+, Villanova YouTube | Live Stats | Tickets
Penn Game Notes (PDF) | La Salle Game Notes (PDF)
 
Happy To Be Here
Penn is honored to compete in the inaugural Women's Big 5 Classic at Villanova's Finneran Pavilion this season, the first year all six Division I teams are competing in the same group.
 
The Quakers will battle La Salle for fifth place on Friday, while Saint Joseph's and Drexel square off for third and the host Wildcats and Temple play for the Big 5 Championship Friday at 8 p.m.
 
Penn has won the Big 5 two times in its history, last doing so in 2018.
 
The Series History
Penn and La Salle are facing off against each other for the 51st time in program history on Friday with the Explorers holding a 36-14 advantage.
 
The Quakers have won two in a row and four of the last five meetings dating back to 2018.
 
The last 10 games have gone the way of Penn, putting together a 7-3 record during that stretch since 2013.
 
We're Streaking!
Penn recorded its second three-game win streak of the season when taking down Cal Baptist, 64-51, on Saturday in the finale of the FGCU Homewood Suites Classic in Fort Myers.
 
It's the first time since 2022-23 the Quakers have two win streaks of three games or more and the 10th time in the last 11 seasons dating back to 2012-13.
 
Two games included victories over 2024 NCAA Tournament teams in Chattanooga on Friday and the Lancers on Saturday.
 
Last Tuesday night vs. Immaculata, Penn scored its most points in a single game in pro-gram history (114) and had its largest margin of victory (75) in a 114-39 victory over the Mighty Macs at The Palestra.
 
Spectacular Start
Well, Katie Collins continues to make a very early season case at Ivy League Rookie of the Year after she earned Rookie of the Week honors for the third time so far in 2024-25 on Monday afternoon.
 
Collins is the first Ivy Leaguer to earn three Ivy Rookie of the Week honors in the first four weeks of the season since Princeton great Bella Alarie in 2016-17. Of course, Alarie went on to be named Ivy League Player of the Year three times (2018-2020) and was the fifth overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings.
 
Collins had a quiet week offensively for the Quakers in their 3-0 week but made a tremendous impact defensively in the three wins.
 
She averaged 6.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in three starts. Against Immaculata, Collins had eight rebounds and four assists. She finished with seven points, six boards, three assists, and two blocks in the win over Chattanooga on Friday before registering seven points, seven rebounds, three assists, a block, and a steal to defeat Cal Baptist.
 
Collins remains the Ivy League's leader in blocks per game (2.0) and total blocks (18). No other player in the conference has double-digit blocks so far this year. She also ranks fifth in rebounding (7.3).
 
Double Trouble
We're starting to see the two-headed tandem of Stina Almqvist and Mataya Gayle emerge, especially after Penn went 3-0 last week.
 
Both players averaged double figures for the Quakers with Almqvist averaging 16.3 points per game and 8.3 rebounds. Gayle notched 16.7 points per game and 4.0 assists.
 
In addition, Almqvist recorded her first double-double of the season against Cal Baptist on Saturday, recording 20 points and 11 rebounds. She also had six assists and three blocks.
 
Almqvist has recorded double-digit scoring figures in all nine games this year, 16 consecutive dating back to the end of last season.
 
Gayle recorded her first 20-point game of the season on Friday, scoring 20 points on 58.3 percent (7-for-12) shooting against Chattanooga, adding five assists.
 
Passing The Rock
As a team, the Quakers are averaging 15.8 assists per game this season and Gayle has been a big part of that stat.
 
The sophomore guard has two games of eight assists or more this season, doing so against UC Irvine and Siena.
 
Gayle is averaging 3.7 assists per game this season and has the team lead and is fifth in the Ivy League.
 
Last Time Out
Penn had a run of 17-1 early in the first quarter and 13-0 to end the fourth quarter, pre-vailing for a 64-51 victory over Cal Baptist on Saturday to close the FGCU Homewood Suites Invitational at Alico Arena.
 
Almqvist had a dagger three-pointer late in the final period and finished with a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double to lead the offense and head back to Philadelphia on a high note.
 
She led all scorers with 20 points, scoring 10 of her points in the second half and had a team-high three made three-pointers, chipping in six assists. Gayle had another strong performance with 14 points and three helpers while Saniah Caldwell was a team-best +25 on the afternoon with six points, six boards, and three assists.
 
The Quakers struggled shooting the ball overall (34.9 percent) throughout the contest but shot 57.1 percent (8-for-14) in the final stanza alone.
 
Almost at No. 250
Head Coach Mike McLaughlin is just one win shy of his 250th at Penn and would accomplish the feat with a victory over La Salle on Friday.
 
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 currently sits with a record of 249-165 at Penn. In addition, McLaughlin earned the 650th win of his career last season against Harvard; that ranks him eighth among active Division I coaches.
 
Scouting The Explorers
La Salle enters the Big 5 Classic with a 5-4 overall record and opened up its Atlantic 10 schedule on Tuesday evening with a 55-45 victory at Loyola Chicago.
 
The Explorers have won four of their last five games, the only loss in that stretch coming against Temple on Dec. 1, falling 73-68.
 
In the win over the Ramblers, La Salle held them to their lowest point total of the year. Four players scored double figures led by Aryss Macktoon (11), Ashleigh Connor (11), Ayisse Magassa (10), and Mackenzie Daleba (10). Despite the size on Loyola Chicago's roster, La Salle scored 28 points in the paint.
 
Connor leads the Explorers in scoring average at 11.7 points per game and also in rebounding (5.9) and assists (3.2). Macktoon is averaging 10.8 points and 4.7 rebounds, as well as 3.1 steals per game this year.
 
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).
 
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.
 
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 pro-gram 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 155 of its last 169 regular season games when scoring at least 60 points in regulation. Since head coach Mike McLaughlin took over at Penn, the Quakers are 193-216 (.906) when they reach that number (165-18 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 51-100 (.347) when allowing 60 points or more. But when holding opponents under that number, the Quakers hold a healthy winning record of 189-36 (.836).
 
For the latest on Penn women's basketball, follow @PennWBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.