The University of Pennsylvania women’s basketball team started its season with a 105-31 win over King’s College at The Palestra in Philadelphia on Friday. The Quakers led from the opening minutes and maintained control throughout the game.
Thirteen Penn players scored, with Katie Collins leading the team with 18 points in just 16 minutes. Sarah Miller contributed 13 points, Tina Njike had 12, and Ruke Ogbevire added 11. This marks the seventh consecutive year that Penn has opened its season with a win, bringing head coach Mike McLaughlin’s record in openers to 10-6.
Penn improved its all-time record against King’s College to 3-0. The team’s margin of victory was 74 points, just one short of the program record set last season against Immaculata. Collins’ performance was three points shy of her career best.
Njike and Mataya Gayle both recorded four assists, while Njike also collected six rebounds and two blocks. Penn’s bench outscored King’s reserves by a margin of 63-14, with Miller leading the second unit.
All seventeen players on Penn’s roster saw playing time, including freshmen Ruke Ogbevire, Sarah Gordon, Ari Paraskevopoulou, and Kate Lipatova. The Quakers held significant advantages in several statistical categories: they scored more points off turnovers (38-4), dominated points in the paint (56-4), second-chance points (21-1), and fast break points (20-0).
Defensively, Penn limited King’s to 20 percent shooting from both the field and three-point range. Offensively, Penn shot over 55 percent from the field and made eleven three-pointers.
The Quakers took an early lead with a 16-6 run and finished the first quarter ahead by sixteen points. By halftime, they led by forty-one after holding King’s to only three field goals in the first half. In the third quarter, Penn shot seventy percent from the floor as Georgia Heine hit two three-pointers off the bench and Ese Ogbevire returned from injury to score for the first time since her freshman year.
Penn closed out the game by outscoring King’s by sixteen in the final quarter for a wire-to-wire victory.
The Quakers will begin a three-game road trip next week starting at Delaware State on Monday at 6 p.m.
