PHILADELPHIA – After a successful three-game road trip, the University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team returns home Tuesday night to host Norfolk State at The Palestra. Tip off is set for 6 p.m.
 
Tuesday night is Community Night where West Philadelphia schools, church groups, youth teams, and community groups are eligible to receive complimentary tickets to the game. Group leaders can request tickets for their organization here.
 
GAME 5 – PENN (3-1, 0-0 Ivy League) vs. NORFOLK STATE (2-3, 0-0 MEAC)
Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2025 | 6 p.m.
The Palestra | Philadelphia, Pa.
Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats | Tickets | 
Digital Game Program | Penn Game Notes (PDF) | Norfolk State Notes (PDF)
 
The Norfolk State Series
Tuesday marks the third-ever meeting between Penn and Norfolk State and the first matchup since the 2013-14 season.
 
The series is knotted up at one game apiece with the Quakers winning the last time out, a 79-49 victory at The Palestra on Jan. 5, 2014.
 
In that particular contest, Penn dominated the game from start-to-finish, matching a then-program record seventh straight non-conference win. Three Quakers scored double figures, led by Keiera Ray's 16 points, 15 for Sydney Stipanovich and Kara Bonenberger's 10.
 
The Hofstra Recap
Penn overcame an unusual start—trailing 2–0 before the opening tip due to a technical foul—to control the game in a 67–55 road win at Hofstra, improving to 3–1 on the season.
 
Simone Sawyer delivered her best performance since her freshman year with 21 points, nine rebounds, and a perfect 8-for-8 mark at the line, while Katie Collins added 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists. The Quakers shot 39.6 percent from the field, hit 10 threes, and maintained a steady lead after building a 37–31 halftime advantage. Strong contributions from Saniah Caldwell (eight points, five assists) and the bench helped Penn keep the margin near double digits throughout the second half to secure the program's first-ever win on Long Island.
 
So Far, So Good
Penn has opened the 2025–26 season with a strong 3–1 start, showing balanced scoring, physical rebounding, and a noticeable defensive edge through the first four games.
 
The Quakers are averaging 72.5 points per game while allowing just 49.8, owning a +22.8 scoring margin behind improved shooting and an 11-rebound advantage per night.
 
Collins has led the way statistically, averaging 11.0 points and 8.0 boards while logging a team-high 30 minutes per game. Njike has matched her on the glass with 8.0 rebounds per contest and adds 9.5 points on efficient interior scoring. Sawyer has provided a major spark as well, averaging 9.3 points on 45 percent shooting and a perfect 13-for-13 at the free-throw line, highlighted by her breakout performance at Hofstra.
 
Despite missing Saturday's game due to injury, Mataya Gayle has paced the offense with 14 assists in three games, while Caldwell (6.5 ppg), Ruke Ogbevire (5.8), and Gabriella Kelley (5.0) have delivered steady depth scoring.
 
Through four games, Penn has looked composed defensively—forcing nearly 19 turnovers per game—and unselfish offensively with more than 16 assists per outing.
 
The DSU Recap
Penn improved to 2-0 with a 63-41 win at Delaware State on Monday night, pulling away in the final three quarters after a tight opening frame. The Quakers used a 20-6 run in the second quarter to build a double-digit lead and never looked back, earning their first road victory in the three all-time meetings against the Hornets.
 
Njike led the way with her first career double-double, finishing with 15 points and 12 rebounds to pace Penn on both ends. Katie Collins added eight points and 12 boards, while Saniah Caldwell chipped in nine points off the bench.
 
The Quakers shot 44 percent (23-for-52) from the field and 81 percent (13-for-16) from the foul line. Defensively, Penn stifled Delaware State, holding the Hornets to just 25 percent shooting (15-for-59) overall and forcing 19 turnovers. The win marks the Quakers' second straight 2-0 start to a season and remain unbeaten (3-0) all-time against Delaware State.
 
Scouting The Spartans
Norfolk State heads into Tuesday night's matchup sporting an overall record of 2-3. All three losses have come against nationally-ranked competition, falling to #12 Ole Miss (87-46) on Nov. 3, #15 Duke (83-32) on Nov. 12, and #16 Iowa State (98-52) on Nov. 16.
 
Jasha Clinton is NSU's leading scorer at 15.5 points per game, also leading the way in assists (11) and steals (21).
 
Head coach Jermaine Woods is in his first year at Norfolk State. He spent the previous three seasons at MEAC rival Coppin State, leading the Eagles to back-to-back MEAC semifinal appearances.
 
Graduate student Iyanna Rogers is a familiar face to the Penn community, having spent three seasons with the Quakers from 2021–24. Although she did not appear for the Red and Blue during the 2024–25 campaign, she played in 26 games across the 2022–23 and 2023–24 seasons, averaging 5.0 minutes per game and shooting 50.0 percent from the field.
 
A Bright Future
Just like how things finished up last season, the Quakers were picked to finish fourth in the Ivy League's preseason poll, earning 106 points by a panel of 16 media members.
 
Despite losing a pair of key starters—first-team All-Ivy selection Stina Almqvist and Lizzy Groetsch—to graduation, Penn returns three key members of the starting lineup in Gayle, Sawyer, and Collins. Gayle (2023-24) and Collins (2024-25) have won each of the last two Ivy League Rookie of the Year awards.
 
Another familiar face is re-joining her teammates as Ese Ogbevire is set to make her 2025-26 debut after missing all of the 2024-25 campaign with a torn ACL. Ogbevire shined brightly during her freshman season, averaging 4.7 points per game, adding 23 assists and nine steals. She was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week twice.
 
Things looked promising for Brooke Suttle when the season finished up last season, as she made a tremendous impact late in the year. She played the most minutes (27) of her rookie season at Princeton on Feb. 8 before finding herself getting more playing time by year's end. In the Quakers' 60-54 loss to Columbia in the Ivy League Tournament semis, Suttle poured in six points with six rebounds in 17 minutes.
 
So Many Fresh Faces
Penn has a freshman class of four this season, bringing the team total to 17 student-athletes.
 
Ruke Ogbevire (Houston, Texas/Fulshear), Ari Paraskevopoulou (Athens, Greece/16th General HS of Athens), Kate Lipatova (Moscow, Russia/Putnam Science Academy (Conn.), and Sarah Gordon (Vestavia Hills, Ala./Vestavia Hills) are all eager to make their collegiate debuts this season, maybe as soon as Friday afternoon.
 
Of the four, two (Ogbevire, 1,895 points; Gordon, 2,168) graduated as their high school's all-time leading scorers, while the other two (Paraskevopoulou, Greece; Lipatova, Russia) played for their national teams.
 
In addition to the players, Mike McLaughlin has a new member on his coaching staff in Ryan Weise (pronounced 'wee-see'), who became an assistant coach following two seasons as Holy Cross' Director of Basketball Operations.
 
With the departure of longtime associate head coach Kelly Killion, who took the head coaching job at American University in the offseason, McLaughlin promoted another longtime assistant Ashley Robinson to associate head coach and recruiting coordinator.
 
Captain, Captain, Captain, Captain, Captain
Penn has a program-record tying five captains leading the team in 2025-26.
 
The leadership group is made up of seniors Caldwell, Sawyer, and Georgia Heine, as well as junior Gayle and sophomore Collins.
 
There's only two other occasions in program history that the Quakers had five—2004-05 and 2020-21 (a season that was canceled due to COVID-19).
 
Magic Number: 60
The statistic that may most indicate a Penn win or loss? 60 points. Penn has won 164 of its last 179 regular season games when scoring at least 60 points in regulation. Over the last eight seasons under McLaughlin, the Quakers are 174-19 when reaching that number. In comparison overall, the Quakers are just 50-143 (.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 55-108 (.347) when allowing 60 points or more. But when holding opponents under that number, the Quakers hold a healthy winning record of 191-36 (.836).
 
For the latest on Penn Women's basketball, follow @PennWBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.