PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team scored 26 of its 68 total points in the fourth quarter alone, taking down Cornell 68-63 in a crucial contest Saturday afternoon at The Palestra.
 
It was another strong offensive performance for senior Stina Almqvist who notched her second straight 20+ point game with a game-high 25 as the Quakers slide into sole possession of fourth place in the Ivy League standings.
 
Penn improves to 14-10 overall, 5-6 in Ivy play and has won three games in a row, while Cornell falls to 7-17, 3-8.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn increased its win streak over Cornell in the all-time series to 16 straight games, the longest against the opponent in history. The Quakers now lead the series, 70-21.

*Stina Almqvist was excellent once again, scoring a game-high 25 points with nine rebounds. She was 12-of-14 from the free-throw line. 

*Mataya Gayle also scored in double figures with 20 points and five assists. Katie Collins scored 11 points and grabbed eight boards, adding a block and two steals.

*Saniah Caldwell played 35 minutes off the bench with a team-high tying five assists and four rebounds.

*Penn shot 44.4 percent (8-for-18) from beyond-the-arc and converted 20 of its 29 foul shots in the victory.

*The Quaker defense held the Big Red to just 20 percent (3-for-15) shooting from deep.

*Four Cornell players scored in double digits, led by Summer Parker-Hall's 17 points.

How It Happened
Penn won the opening tip and cashed in first off Gayle's three-pointer. The Big Red almost immediately answered and scored four points to take a 4-3 lead with just over seven minutes to play.
 
Almqvist recorded a trey to put the Quakers ahead, 10-8, at the under-5 media timeout. The period was relatively even from that point forward with Penn ahead, 16-15 at the quarter break.
  Cornell opened the second quarter on a 6-2 run, prompting Mike McLaughlin to spend an early 30-second timeout which became the media.
 
The Big Red completely controlled the second period, leading 30-24 with under three minutes play in the midst of a 7-0 push. Cornell ended up ahead, 30-28, to close the first half.
 
Penn began the second half with two big three-pointers, one from Gayle and the other from Collins to pull ahead, 34-32.
  Cornell took a second timeout after shooting just 20 percent (1-for-5) from the floor to open the third stanza, trailing 38-36 with 4:14 remaining.
 
A 6-0 push—which caused McLaughlin to take a 30-second timeout—had the Big Red in front by three points with under a minute to go in the third. Cornell's lead was a single point, 43-42, at the end of the third period.
 
Almqvist broke a two-minute scoring drought for Penn with just over five minutes remaining with a pretty layup, taking a 49-48 edge.
 
The Quakers played a fabulous final five minutes of the fourth quarter after Almqvist's layup with 3:36 to go and a Collins three-point dagger that put Penn up seven points at 58-51 with less than three minutes on the clock.
  Gayle extended Penn's lead to double digits with two free throws with 1:14 left in regulation, but Cornell didn't go away easily, ending the game on a 7-4 run as the Quakers came away with the 68-63 win.
 
Up Next
With sole possession of fourth place and just three games remaining, Penn heads to New England next weekend to face Dartmouth Friday at 8 p.m. and Harvard Saturday at 7 p.m.

For the latest on Penn women's basketball, follow @PennWBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.