Penn believes that behind its young women’s basketball roster, ‘anything can happen’

Penn believes it has all the right pieces to be a competitive women’s basketball program in the Ivy League.

Now the Quakers just have to put it all together.

After a season in which Penn lost in the first round of the conference tournament for the third straight year, the Quakers find themselves only a month away from opening tip at the Palestra with plenty of questions still left to answer.

Having to reinvent the offense to make up for the loss of first-team All-Ivy forward Stina Almqvist — who led the team in total minutes, points, and rebounds — coach Mike McLaughlin recognizes that the starting rotation needs a lot of ironing out .

“I think we need a little more in the post. … We need to see who’s going to be three, four, and five in that rotation,” McLaughlin said. “ … That is the area that I need to see more of because that’s been inconsistent so far.”

» READ MORE: Penn men’s hoops unveil throwback jerseys that pay homage the program’s winning ‘era’

Katie Collins, last year’s Ivy League Rookie of the Year, is the only other front court player to log significant minutes for Penn — and is preparing to adapt to playing next to a more traditional center in Tina Njike.

“Little different from last year with Katie and Stina,” McLaughlin said. “They could both play inside and out. Katie is going to need to adapt a bit because Tina’s ball skills away from the basket are not where Stina’s were.”

With McLaughlin believing Njike to be capable of playing only 20 minutes a game because of her physical style of play, the team will have to find valuable minutes from players eager to make an impact.

Kate Lipatova, a 6-foot-3 stretch forward from Moscow, rounds out the frontcourt group alongside fellow international freshman Ari Paraskevopoulou (Greece).

“[Lipatova] hasn’t played, unfortunately, she got hurt 10 minutes into practice, and will be out at least a couple more weeks, which is going to impede her growth,” McLaughlin said. “She had a nice preseason. … This is definitely a setback.”

Point guard Mataya Gayle is set to take center stage for the first time with the Quakers. After being a strong No. 2 to Almqvist in 2024 and former first-team All-Ivy forward Jordan Obi in 2023, Gayle will be Penn’s go-to player when it comes to scoring.

“This kid is ready,” McLaughlin said. “She’s going to have a huge year. She’s going to score it, she’s going to assist it, you’re going to see her rebound the ball better, you’re going to see her in big spots being significantly further along.

“I think for someone with her stature after the first two years, she’s taken massive growth, [and] I just love where the kid is mentally — I just think she’s doing it the right way.”

Which players get to fill out the rotation, besides Gayle and Collins, is still up in the air. Stalwart guards Saniah Caldwell and Abby Sharpe, who played significant minutes last year, are battling injuries already — leaving the door open to establish a larger rotation of guards.

“If we can add 10 players that can actually get out there and play at our level every day, I think this team has a chance” of competing for a championship, McLaughlin said.

» READ MORE: Penn men’s basketball gives a first glimpse of its new era in a preseason scrimmage

Roster overturn and injuries will always lead to uncertainty. Gayle, though, is confident that this is the roster that will bring Ivy glory back to the Palestra.

“This is the most excited I’ve been about a season — I see us taking this to the next level,” Gayle said. “We’ve had a lot of team conversations, internal work, and I think we are all on the same page this year, which is obviously winning an Ivy League championship.”

With the season growing closer by the day, McLaughlin feels as though this squad has the ability to rise to the occasion by the end of the season.

“If a couple of these kids take a bigger step before we get to league play, anything can happen from there,” McLaughlin said. “ … We have a ways to go to get to where we were last year, but our ceiling couldn’t be higher.”

» READ MORE: Follow the Inquirer's complete coverage of Penn athletics right here!