PHILADELPHIA – Coming off an Ivy League-opening loss to Columbia last weekend at home, the University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team remains at The Palestra to host Dartmouth Saturday at 2 p.m.
 
The Quakers are in search of their first conference victory of the season while the Big Green look to begin the year 2-0 after an impressive win over Brown last Saturday.
 
GAME 15 – Penn (9-5, 0-1 Ivy) vs. Dartmouth (7-7, 1-0 Ivy)
Alumnae Day/Disney Game presented by Valley Forge Sports
Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025 | 2 p.m.
The Palestra | Philadelphia, Pa.
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats | Tickets
Game Program | Penn Game Notes (PDF) | Dartmouth Game Notes (PDF)
 
The Dartmouth Series
Penn and Dartmouth are meeting for the 90th time today, in a series that dates back to 1979. The Quakers have a slight edge in the all-time series, 46-43.
 
Penn has won 18 consecutive games against Dartmouth—the longest win streak in the series—since 2014-15. It's also the Quakers' longest current win streak against an Ivy opponent.
 
Head coach Mike McLaughlin holds a record of 25-3 all-time against the Big Green, his best record against any Ivy League opponent. His only losses occurred during the 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2013-14 seasons.
 
The Big Green have lost 13 consecutive games at The Palestra dating back to the 2010-11 season. Penn is 26-17 all-time against Dartmouth at home.
 
Players of the Week
Penn swept the Ivy League's weekly awards slate following the first conference weekend of the season as Stina Almqvist was named Player of the Week for the second time in her career and Katie Collins earned Rookie of the Week laurels for the fourth time this season.
 
Almqvist averaged 19.3 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per game, while averaging 38.3 minutes over a three-game stretch. She scored a team-high 21 points against Arizona State, while pouring in a career-high 28 points with 10 boards against Benedictine Mesa. In the Ivy opener against Columbia on Saturday, she scored nine points with seven rebounds, and four assists.
 
Collins took home Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the fourth time this year after averaging a double-double at 11.0 ppg and 10.3 rpg, adding 13 assists (4.3 apg), five blocks, and four steals in the three games. She recorded her third double-double of the year at ASU with 16 points and 11 rebounds, adding six assists, and three blocks. Collins notched 10 points with nine bounds, three blocks, and two steals against the Lions.
 
The Last Time Out
Penn dropped its Ivy League opener for the second straight season on Saturday, slipping 74-59 to Columbia at The Palestra.
 
The Quakers battled back down 15 points in the first quarter to take a one-point edge at 29-28 into the locker room at halftime.
 
The Lions put together a solid second half to pull away for a 15-point victory and start the second season off with a 1-0 record.
 
Simone Sawyer led Penn's scoring effort with 14 points on four three-pointers, while Mataya Gayle added 11 points and Collins finished with 10 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks. Saniah Caldwell had a productive 35 minutes off the bench, scoring eight points with a team-high tying four assists.
 
Defensively, the Quakers held the Lions to just 34.6 percent (9-for-26) from beyond-the-arc and 69.2 percent (9-for-13) from the free-throw line.
 
All About Almqvist
Almqvist has been sensational for the Quakers to begin this season, currently second in the Ivy League in scoring at 18.4 points per game.
 
She's registered three double-doubles this year and had recorded double digit points in 20 consecutive games dating back to the end of last season before being held to just nine against Columbia last weekend. It was the longest streak since Eleah Parker had 26 straight in 2019.
 
With 13 games remaining on the regular season schedule, Almqvist is now on the hunt for 1,000 career points. She's sitting at 872 after tallying 257 over the first 14 games for the campaign.
 
Phabulous Philly Phreshmen
The Quakers wouldn't be as successful as they have been this year without the production of freshmen starters Collins and Sarah Miller.
 
Collins ranks third in the Ivy in rebounding, averaging 8.2 boards per game and is also tops in blocks with 28, averaging 2.0 per game.
 
Miller has emerged as the team's go-to sharpshooter thus far, leading the Quakers with 24 three-pointers. She's averaging 1.7 triples per game, good for a tie for sixth in the Ancient Eight.
 
Both Collins and Miller have combined for five Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors so far this season while Miller was named USBWA National Freshman of the Week back on Dec. 10 for her standout effort against La Salle in the Women's Big 5 Classic.
 
Statistical Leaders
Penn is ranked highly—both as a team and individually—among both Ivy and NCAA DI statistical categories as we enter Ivy League play.
 
As a team, the Quakers rank first in the Ivy, 27th in NCAA in assist/turnover ratio and are also highly ranked in blocks per game (4.1; 1st, 60th), fewest turnovers per game (13.4; 2nd, 31st), and fewest fouls per game (14.1; 3rd, 31st).
 
Individually, Almqvist is one of the nation's most prolific free throw shooters, ranked first in the conference, 30th in the country in free-throw makes (69). She is also highly ranked in minutes per game (35.3; 2nd, 29th) and points per game (18.4; 2nd, 39th). With 28 blocks and averaging 2.0 per game this year, Collins is tops in the Ancient Eight in both categories and 34th in NCAA DI.
 
Scouting The Big Green
Dartmouth heads into today's matchup with an overall record of 7-7 but tipped off Ivy League play with a 64-48 victory over Brown in Providence last weekend.
 
The victory gave the Big Green their first Ivy League opening win since the 2019-20 season and their largest margin of victory in a conference game since the season prior.
 
Against the Bears, Victoria Page led Dartmouth with 14 points on 60 percent (6-for-10) shooting. Zeynep Ozel had 12 points with five assists while Olivia Austin grabbed a team-high seven boards.
 
Page leads the Big Green offense—and is fifth in the Ivy—with 15.7 points per game this season, shooting 44.6 percent from the field in 14 starts. Austin is the team's leading rebounder at 6.6 per game and has a team-best 28 steals. Ozel has recorded a team-high 44 assists (3.1 apg) and 23 three-pointers. Clare Meyer's 15 blocked shots is second in the conference to only Katie Collins (28).
 
Welcome to the 250 Club!
Head Coach Mike McLaughlin became just the fifth coach in Ivy League history to record 250 career wins with a school after the Quakers took down the Explorers in the Big 5 Classic, 74-63.
 
McLaughlin continues to stretch out his lead as 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 252-167 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.
 
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 Ashna Tambe, Sarah 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 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 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 158 of its last 172 regular season games when scoring at least 60 points in regulation. Over the last eight seasons under McLaughlin, the Quakers are 168-18 when reaching that number. In comparison overall, the Quakers are just 50-137 (.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 52-101 (.347) when allowing 60 points or more. But when holding opponents under that number, the Quakers hold a healthy winning record of 190-36 (.836).
 
For the latest on Penn women's basketball, follow @PennWBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.