NEW YORK CITY – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team fell victim to a 24-0 scoring run over a nine-minute period between the second and third quarters in a 79-54 loss to Columbia Saturday afternoon at Levien Gymnasium.
 
The Quakers fall to 10-8 overall and have an Ivy League record of 1-4 through the first five conference games of the season. The Lions remain unblemished at 5-0 in Ivy play, improving to 14-4 overall.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn has dropped five consecutive games to Columbia in the all-time series, the Quakers all-time record now 52-25. The Lions have claimed seven of the last eight matchups dating back to Jan. 26, 2022.

*Both Simone Sawyer and Mataya Gayle led the Quakers offensively with 14 points. Sawyer converted 50 percent (6-of-12) of her shot attempts with two assists and a rebound.

*On defense, Sawyer also registered six steals, a season-high number for the Quakers in 2024-25. It was also one shy of her career-high seven from March 15, 2024 at Princeton.

*Gayle played a full 40 minutes, adding six rebounds and three assists to her total.

*Sarah Miller played 25 minutes off the bench with eight points on two three-pointers.

*The Quakers were a perfect 7-for-7 from the free-throw line.

*Penn led Columbia in points in the paint, 24-20, and fast-break points at 13-11.

*The Lions were led by Riley Weiss' 25-point performance with six threes, while Cecelia Collins added a 19-point, 10-rebound double-double.
 
How It Happened
Columbia won the opening tipoff, but the Quakers quickly regained possession on a jump ball.  Stina Almqvist scored Penn's first points of the afternoon with a jumper off an offensive rebound.
 
Mataya Gayle's triple upped the Penn run to 5-0 to begin the contest and she managed to get another to fall, leading 8-3 in the middle stages of the stanza. Columbia had fought back with a 5-0 run to tie game back up at 10-10, but the Quakers took the lead at 13-10 and had a 16-15 advantage at the end of the first quarter. The Quakers scored 12 of their 16 points on three-pointers with six early points for Gayle.
 
The Lions began the second quarter on a 5-2 run, prompting Mike McLaughlin to spend an early 30-second timeout with 7:38 to go.
 
Following the timeout, Columbia went on a 21-0 scoring run over 7:40 to lead 39-18 at the break.
 
The Lions opened the third quarter with five straight points, making it a 24-0 run over nine minutes of play. Coming off the bench, Brooke Suttle scored a layup to halt the push. Columbia remained out in front, 53-23, at the U5 media timeout.
 
Katie Collins drilled her first three-pointer of the afternoon to trim the deficit to 55-28, but the Lions added four more points to take a 59-28 lead with 2:44 remaining in the third quarter. Penn held Columbia without a bucket for nearly three minutes in the third quarter, but still trailed 62-33 heading into the final frame.
 
The Quakers began the fourth on a 5-0 run, but the Lions quickly found their stride once again, converting a four-point play for Riley Weiss into a 69-41 lead.
 
Penn continued to keep the deficit the way it was after Almqvist laid the ball in to make it a 27-point lead for the Lions with 2:11 to go.
 
A layup for Gayle and two free throws from Suttle allowed the Quakers to notch the final four points of the game in a 79-54 defeat.
 
Up Next
Penn continues its four-game road trip with an Ivy weekend in New England at Brown Friday at 7 p.m. and at Yale Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Both games are set to be streamed live on ESPN+.
 
For the latest on Penn women's basketball, follow @PennWBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.