PHILADELPHIA – Following a successful non-conference campaign, the University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team returns home to The Palestra Saturday to kick off Ivy League play against Columbia at 2 p.m.
 
The Quakers are coming off a 1-1 week in Arizona after falling to ASU Monday and beating Benedictine Mesa to head into the Ivy schedule with a 9-4 overall record. The Lions are also 9-4 having won back-to-back games against Wagner and Towson.
 
GAME 14 – Penn (9-4, 0-0 Ivy) vs. Columbia (9-4, 0-0 Ivy)
Camper Reunion Game presented by Steamfitters 420
Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025 | 2 p.m.
The Palestra | Philadelphia, Pa.
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats | Tickets
Game Program | Penn Game Notes (PDF) | Columbia Game Notes (PDF)
 
Camper Reunion Game/Post-Game Autograph Session
Penn Women's Basketball is excited to welcome back its campers on Saturday for the contest against Columbia. Stick around after the game for an exclusive autograph session with the Quakers!
 
Ivy League on ESPN+
A reminder that the Ivy League is paired with ESPN and you will be able to find all Penn home games, as well as road Ivy games and select non-conference road games, on ESPN+ again this season with the same high broadcast quality you've come to expect. ESPN+ is a subscription-based service that offers monthly and yearly packages. Click here to subscribe to ESPN+!
 
The Ancient Eight Returns
It's time for another competitive Ivy League schedule as the conference slate returns Saturday against Columbia.
 
When the preseason poll was unveiled back in early October, Penn was picked to finish fourth, earning 75 voting points by a panel of 16 media members.
 
Defending Ivy champion Princeton was picked to repeat with 122 points and 10 first-place votes with Columbia in second (110; 5) and Harvard in third place (101; 1). The Quakers were slotted just ahead of fifth-place Brown (71), Yale in sixth (48), Cornell seventh (30), and Dartmouth rounding out the field in eighth (19).
 
Penn will begin its search for its seventh Ivy League title and first since the 2018-19 season. The Quakers have not made a March Madness appearance since 2016-17.
 
The Columbia Series
Saturday marks the 76th all-time meeting between Penn and Columbia, with the Quakers leading the series 52-23.
 
Penn has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success in this series at The Palestra, going 31-6 against the Lions at home.
 
The last 10 games in the series are tied, 5-5, with Columbia claiming the last three and five of the last six.
 
The Lions are one win away from their fourth straight over the Quakers, which would be their longest win streak in the series all-time.
 
Non-Conference Finale
It was a solid non-conference slate for the Quakers in 2024, going 9-4 heading into the Ivy opener today with the Lions. Penn is coming off a 1-1 Arizona trip, falling to Arizona State on Monday and beating Benedictine Mesa on Tuesday.
 
Penn is just one of four Ivy teams to enter conference play with a winning record overall, joining Harvard (11-1), Columbia (9-4), and Princeton (9-4).
 
Stina Almqvist was special in the Valley of the Sun earlier this week, putting in two 20+ point performances. Against the Sun Devils in Tempe Monday, she had 21 points with four rebounds and then recorded her third double-double of the season Tuesday vs. the Redhawks with a career-high 28 points and 10 rebounds.
 
All About Almqvist
Almqvist has been sensational for the Quakers to begin this season, currently second in the Ivy League in scoring at 19.1 points per game.
 
She's registered three double-doubles this year and has recorded double digit points in 20 consecutive games dating back to the end of last season. It's the longest streak since Eleah Parker had 26 straight in 2019.
 
With 14 games remaining on the regular season schedule, Almqvist is now on the hunt for 1,000 career points. She's sitting at 863 after tallying 248 over the first 13 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 Katie 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 25, averaging 1.9 per game.
 
Miller has emerged as the team's go-to sharpshooter thus far, leading the Quakers with 23 three-pointers. She's averaging 1.8 triples per game, good for a tie for fifth in the Ancient Eight.
 
Both Collins and Miller have combined for four Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors to begin the 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.
 
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 252-166 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.
 
Last Time(s) Out
Penn played twice this week in The Grand Canyon State, falling to Arizona State in Tempe on Monday and then topping Benedictine Mesa Tuesday.
 
In Monday's contest, the Quakers had a lead to begin each of the first three quarters, before being outplayed by the Sun Devils in the fourth en route to a 73-67 defeat, snapping their five-game win streak.
 
Three players scored double figures led by Collins, who recorded a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double—her third of the season—also finishing with a career-high six assists. Almqvist had a team-high 21 points, while Mataya Gayle scored 10 points with five assists in 40 minutes.
 
Penn bounced back on Tuesday at BENU-Mesa, despite facing strong opposition in the Redhawks.
 
The Quakers led by as many as 21 points with 9:18 remaining in the fourth quarter, but Benedictine chipped away and got as close as 10 points with 26 seconds on the clock.
 
Almqvist had a career-high 28 points on 11 field goals, also recording 10 rebounds for a double-double. Gayle had 18 points and five assists off the bench, while Collins had 11 boards, seven points, and three assists.
 
Scouting The Lions
The 2023-24 Ivy League co-regular season champions are starting to shape into form as we hit the conference portion of the schedule.
 
Columbia sits in a tie for second place in the league standings at 9-4, having won two consecutive contests after dropping two of three to #13 Duke and RV Richmond.
 
The Lions shut down Towson on Sunday in their final game of the 2024 calendar year, beating the Tigers on the road, 73-53. Columbia grabbed 60 rebounds, its most in a game since 2005. Riley Weiss had 22 points with eight rebounds, while Kitty Henderson posted her second double-double of the year with 16 points and 10 boards.
 
Henderson was named Ivy League Player of the Week on Monday, while freshman Mia Broom earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors. Broom had eight points, three rebounds, and a game-high four steals against Towson.
 
Weiss ranks third in the Ivy in points per game (17.1), while Henderson is sixth (15.6) and leads the conference in assists per game (5.1).  Perri Page is sixth in rebounding (6.8 rpg), while Weiss also leads the Ivy League in three-pointers made per game (2.9).
 
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 50-136 (.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 52-100 (.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.