With just three games to play, these next two couldn't be more important as the University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team looks to clinch the final spot in the Ivy League Tournament.

  Penn opens up with Dartmouth Friday night at 8 p.m. before taking on Harvard Saturday at 7 p.m. Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+.

  The Quakers enter the weekend a game in front of Brown for fourth place, while the Bears take on Columbia Friday and Cornell Saturday.

 
Penn and Dartmouth are meeting for the 91st time Friday, in a series that dates back to 1979. The Quakers have a slight edge in the all-time series, 46-44.

  Penn saw its 18-game win streak against Dartmouth since 2014-15 snapped the last time these two teams played back in early January. At the time, it was the Quakers' longest win streak against an Ivy opponent.

  Head coach Mike McLaughlin holds a record of 25-4 all-time against the Big Green, his best record against any Ivy League opponent. His only losses occurred during the 2009-10, 2010-11, 2013-14, and the 2024-25 seasons.

  Penn's record at Leede Arena all-time is tied with Dartmouth at 19-19. However, the Quakers have won nine straight games in Hanover dating back to Jan. 30, 2015.

 
Penn and Harvard are meeting for the 95th time in program history on Saturday. The Crimson lead the all-time series, 56-38.

  The two teams have split the last 10 meetings, 5-5, while the Crimson won the last meeting earlier this season in dominant fashion, a 73-44 win at The Palestra.

  Penn is just 13-32 in Cambridge all-time against Harvard, last winning at Lavietes back on Feb. 12, 2022 in overtime, 87-78.

 
Penn couldn't find much of anything offensively in a 61-49 loss to Dartmouth on Jan. 11. 

  Trailing by as many as 16 points on two occasions, the Quakers trimmed the deficit to just eight with 4:50 remaining in the fourth quarter but couldn't close the gap in a 12-point loss.

  Stina Almqvist registered her seventh 20-point performance of the season with 21 on 10 field-goal makes. She also tallied seven rebounds while playing a full 40 minutes on the floor.

  Ashna Tambe led the second unit with nine points off the bench. She knocked down a pair of fourth-quarter triples to trim the deficit to single digits.

  The Quakers took care of the ball on offense, committing just eight turnovers while forcing 14 Big Green turnovers on defense, which turned into nine points.

 
In a tough loss to Harvard at The Palestra on Jan. 20, Penn had the game tied up at 13-13 to end the first quarter before being worn out by the Crimson's defense and dominant second half in a 73-44 defeat.

  The Quakers were outscored 42-21 in the second half after trailing by just eight points at halftime.

  Almqvist led her Penn teammates in all major categories including points (14), rebounds (6) and assists (4).

  Katie Collins also managed double figures with 11 points, six boards, and two blocks.

  Despite the defeat, the Quakers held the Crimson to just 21.7 percent (5-for-23) from beyond-the-arc.

 
Another week, another set of weekly awards for the Quakers!

  Following an important win over Cornell on Saturday, Almqvist was named Big 5 Player of the Week for the third time this season. She was terrific against the Big Red, pouring in 25 points—her second straight 20+ point game—while adding nine rebounds with a block and a steal.

  Collins continues to etch her name into the conference record books after being named Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the fourth straight week—the entire month of February—and the eighth time overall this season. She's tied for the third-most Rookie honors in Ivy history along with former Penn hoopers Eleah Parker (2018) and Sydney Stipanovich (2014). The record is 10, held by Quaker legend Diana Caramanico in 1998, Dartmouth's Elisa Morrison (2004) and Harvard's Temi Fagbenle (2013).

 
With Columbia, Princeton, and Harvard already clinched and heading to Providence for the Ivy League Tournament in March, the verdict is out for that final team, either Penn or Brown.

  The Quakers are currently on a win streak of three straight games, a victory over the Big Red putting them a game ahead of Brown in fourth place with just three games remaining.

  Here are the possible scenarios Penn can clinch a spot in Ivy Madness this weekend:

  • Clinches a spot on Saturday with wins against Dartmouth and Harvard AND if Brown loses against Cornell or Columbia.

  • Clinches a spot on Saturday with a win against either Dartmouth or Harvard AND if Brown loses against Columbia and Cornell.

  • Clinches a spot on Saturday with a win against Harvard AND if Princeton loses both games AND if Columbia wins both games this weekend.

 
NCAA NET rankings could turn out to be important in deciding which of Penn or Brown clinches the fourth spot in the Ivy Tournament.

  NET happens to be the third tie breaker after conference record and series record.

  Since the two teams split their season series, it could come down to NET ranking to decide the final team if they are tied following the last game next weekend.

  Right now, Penn is ranked 166th in NET rankings while Brown is 180th. The Quakers play two of their final three games against teams ranked in the Top 50 of the NET rankings including Harvard (No. 34) and Princeton (No. 49). The Bears only have Columbia (No. 42) remaining on their schedule.

 
Penn kept it rolling, winning its third consecutive game to take sole possession of fourth place in the Ivy standings with a 68-63 victory over Cornell Saturday at The Palestra.

  The Quakers trailed by three points at halftime and one after three quarters before scoring 26 points in the final period to emerge victorious.

  For the second straight game—and ninth time this season—Almqvist scored 20+ points with a 25-point effort, adding nine rebounds. She was 12-14 from the free-throw line. Mataya Gayle finished with 20 points and five assists, while Collins scored 11 points, grabbed eight boards, and added two steals and a blocked shot.

 
Dartmouth's just looking for a win right now, having lost nine consecutive games since a 61-49 victory over Penn at The Palestra on Jan. 11.

  The Big Green's leading scorer is Victoria Page at 14.8 points per game. She's shooting nearly 40 percent from the field at 39.7 percent and is a 75.7 percent free-throw shooter. Olivia Austin leads the team in rebounds at 6.5 per game while Zeynep Ozel has a team-high 2.4 assists per game this season.

  The last time Dartmouth and Penn met, Page finished with a game-high 26 points while Clare Meyer had 14 points and eight rebounds. Austin led the Big Green with 11 boards, while Cate MacDonald added a team-high two blocked shots.

 
It's been quite the dominant year for Harvard, especially after punching its ticket to Ivy Madness over the weekend. The Crimson boast the Ivy League's best highest NET ranking at No. 34 with an overall record of 20-3 and a conference mark of 9-2.

  Harmoni Turner has been a staple for Harvard over the past couple seasons and has been a force statistically in both the conference and national leaderboards. She's averaging an Ivy-best (and ranked 11th in the nation) 21.3 points per game this season along with 5.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 3.0 steals—which ranks 13th in the country—in all 23 games. She leads all four of those categories. Saniyah Glenn-Bello leads the Crimson in blocks at 0.9 per game.

  Elena Rodriguez led Harvard with 22 points and four rebounds in a victory back on Jan. 20 at The Palestra. Harmoni Turner added 19 points and eight boards while Saniyah Glenn-Bello had 14 points and four assists.

  Statistical Leaders
Penn is ranked highly—both as a team and individually—among both Ivy and NCAA DI statistical categories.

  As a team, the Quakers rank second in the Ivy, 40th in NCAA in assist/turnover ratio
(1.15) and are also highly ranked in three-point percentage defense (28.4; 2nd, 58th) blocks per game (4.0; 2nd, 56th), fewest turnovers per game (12.8; 2nd, 25th), and fewest fouls per game (14.7; 3rd, 55th).

  Individually, Almqvist is putting together quite the senior season, ranked 40th in the nation in minutes per game at 35.6, 66th in points per game (17.6) and 52nd in total free throws (111). With 43 blocks and averaging 1.8 per game this year, Collins is tops in the Ancient Eight in both categories, ranked 59th nationally in blocks, 46th in average.

  Magic Number: 60
The statistic that may most indicate a Penn win or loss? 60 points. Penn has won 161 of its last 176 regular season games when scoring at least 60 points in regulation. Over the last eight seasons under McLaughlin, the Quakers are 171-19 when reaching that number. In comparison overall, the Quakers are just 50-140 (.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 55-105 (.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. 

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