The 2023-24 season was Kelly Killion's eighth straight on the Quaker sidelines and her 10th overall with the program. She was named Associate Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator in July 2022.
Killion has overseen the success of two Ivy League championship teams across her two tenures with the Quakers, including the program's fourth title in a six-year span in 2018-19 when the Quakers went 24-7 and 12-2 in league play.
During the 2019-20 campaign, Killion worked with the guards helping guide Kayla Padilla to Ivy League Rookie of the Year and first-team All-Ivy honors while also mentoring point guard Kendall Grasela, who finished seventh in the nation in assist/TO ratio and led the Ivy League in assist/TO ratio and assists per game. Padilla finished sixth nationally among all freshmen and second overall in the league in scoring at 17.4 points per game.
While also previously working with the post players, Eleah Parker has become one of the dominant forces in the conference, earning unanimous Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors in 2018 and following that up as a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection and Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year in 2019. Parker finished the season third nationally in blocked shots per game (3.19), tying the program's single season record with 99 on the year. In 2019-20, Parker defended her honor, winning back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards while earning first-team All-Ivy honors once more.
Vital to the 2018-19 team's championship-level success was senior forward Princess Aghayere, who stepped off the bench for the first time in her career with the Red and Blue for a forceful final campaign, more than doubling her previous single-season point total and earning second-team All-Ivy status and was named the Most Improved Player by the Big 5.
Parker's immediate dominance for the Red and Blue helped vault Penn to its second Big 5 championship in program history in 2017-18, as the Quakers finished second in the Ivy League and earned a bid to the WNIT. Parker was also named second-team All-Ivy, joined in postseason accolades by Michelle Nwokedi's first-team All-Ivy and All-Big 5 accolades and Anna Ross' second-team nods.
Killion was an integral part of Penn’s NCAA Tournament run in 2016-17 and continued the culture of success known during the McLaughlin era. The Quakers posted a 22-8 overall record and 13-1 mark in Ivy League games under her tutelage as the Red and Blue won the inaugural Ivy League Tournament with a decisive 57-48 win over Princeton, the third over the Tigers in 2016-17, and booked their trip to the Big Dance as the No. 12 seed. Penn led Texas A&M wall-to-wall in the NCAA First Round and gave the Aggies all they could handle in Los Angeles, but the upset bid fell just short with a 63-61 defeat at Pauley Pavilion.
The Quakers saw several individual earn accolades for their performances during the season, with Michelle Nwokedi being named the Ivy League Player of the Year, a unanimous First-Team All-Ivy selection and an All-Big 5 honoree. Sydney Stipanovich (Second Team All-Big 5) and Anna Ross were named Second-Team All-Ivy selections under Killion’s guidance.
Killion began her collegiate coaching career with the Quakers under McLaughlin, spending the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons in University City for her first stint with the Red and Blue. While at Penn, she helped the Quakers to its largest single-season turnaround in program history which included the program’s first Big 5 win in six years. In 2010-11, Alyssa Baron to become the first freshman in Ivy League history to lead the conference in scoring and the second player in program history to garner Ivy League and Big 5 Rookie of the Year honors under Killion’s tutelage.
Killion returned to Penn following three seasons with the College of William & Mary. During her time with the Tribe, Killion helped William and Mary to two back-to-back record-setting seasons with 15 wins, the fourth-most in school history, en route to its first-ever postseason appearance with a bid in the Women’s Basketball Invitational in 2015. Killion played an integral part in player development, recruiting, and scouting for the College and helped William & Mary to a top-10 NCAA ranking in steals per game while four players earned six All-CAA accolades under her tutelage.
Prior to her appointment at William & Mary, Killion served as an assistant coach at Sacred Heart University for the 2012-13 season. She led the Pioneers to their first-ever appearance in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament and helped coach three All-NEC selections during her time in Fairfield, playing a vital role in recruiting and player development.
Killion was a four-year letterwinner and a three-time team captain at Holy Family University in Philadelphia, Pa. There, she was a two-time Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Player of the Year, a two-time ECAC first-team selection and a two-time second-team selection. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education from Holy Family in 2008, and was recently named to the Holy Family Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2021 while her 2007-08 team was inducted into the 2017 CACC Hall of Fame.
Kelly and Edward welcomed their first child, Edward Lee Bacerra III in December 2020.
