Women's Basketball Plays Penn at the Historic Palestra

LEWISBURG, Pa.- The Bucknell Bison women's basketball team hits the road for a nonconference showdown in the City of Brotherly Love against the Quakers of Penn. The game will take place in one of college basketball's holiest arenas: The Palestra.

The last time out, Bucknell defeated Stony Brook 64-58 during the final nonconference home matchup of the season.

Bucknell and Penn met last season with the Bison claiming a decisive 62-46 victory.

Game Notes

What: Bucknell (4-5, 0-0 PL) vs. Penn (3-5, 0-0 Ivy)
When: Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m.
Where: The Palestra-Philadelphia, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 90.5 WVBU
Live Statistics: BucknellBison.com

Last Game's Starters:
Fr./G: Blake Matthews (2.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.0 apg)
So./G: Cecelia Collins (12.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.0 apg)
So./G/F: Isabella King (7.9 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.2 apg)
So./G: Remi Sisselman (8.0 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 0.8 apg)
Sr./F: Emma Shaffer (9.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.6 apg)

With a Win Over Penn, Bucknell Would....
• ... improve to 5-5 on the season.
• ... improve to 2-3 on the road.
• ... move to 5-5 all-time against the Quakers
• ... improve to 2-0 against the Quakers and 3-0 against the Ivy League under Woodruff.
• ... move to 62-22 overall under Woodruff.
• ... improve to 26-15 on the road under Woodruff.

Headlines
• Bucknell is looking to continue its winning momentum when it travels to Penn on Tuesday for a showdown in the City of Brotherly Love. The Bison are 4-5 this season following Saturday's win against the Seawolves.
• Three of Bucknell's four wins have come in home games. The Bison have challenged themselves with a grueling non-conference schedule that has included two ACC teams.
• The Bison have relied largely on youth through their first nine games. In their last five games, the Bison have started one freshman, three sophomores and just one senior.
• Bucknell finished 24-10 overall and 12-6 in Patriot League play last season. The Bison reached the 2022 Patriot League Championship game playing as the No. 4 seed in the tournament, but they fell 65-54 to No. 2 seed American.
• Bucknell received an at-large bid to the 2022 WNIT and defeated Fordham in the first round before falling to Drexel in the second. Bucknell is the only Patriot League team with two all-time WNIT victories under its belt.
• Bucknell graduated two seniors in the spring, including two-time First Team All-Patriot League guard Taylor O'Brien and 2022 PL All-Defensive Team member Marly Walls. O'Brien led the Bison in scoring over the past two seasons, scored the fifth-most single-season point in program history as a senior (567) and graduated ranking 21st on Bucknell's all-time scoring list (1,125).
• Bucknell sophomore Cecelia Collins was voted to the 2022 Preseason All-Patriot League Team. She was a Second Team All-League selection last year. This is the first time since 2011 Bucknell has not returned a junior or senior All-League player.
• Bucknell was picked fourth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll. It's the first time since 2015-16 Bucknell was not picked in the top three. The Bison have gone 100-16 in league play since the start of the 2015-16 season.
• Senior Emma Shaffer, junior Caroline Dingler and sophomore Cecelia Collins were named captains ahead of the 2022-23 season.
• Head coach Trevor Woodruff is in his fourth season at Bucknell. He was named PL Coach of the Year in each of his first two seasons.
• Following the retirement of assistant coach Jim Reed during the offseason, Kelly Mazzante was elevated to associate head coach, and former manager of basketball operations LaSashia Connelly was named an assistant coach. Molly Gillis joined the staff during the offseason as the program's new manager of ops.

Scouting Penn
• The Quakers are 3-5, earning victories over Marist, La Salle, and Stony Brook. Like Bucknell, they most recently defeated the Seawolves of Stony Brook.
• Penn and Bucknell share three common opponents this year (Cornell, Stony Brook, and Temple). Both Bucknell and Penn have defeated Stony Brook. The Quakers have yet to play their city foe Temple and Cornell awaits in conference play.
• Penn was voted to finish 5th in the eight-team Ivy League. Princeton was picked to repeat as champions.
• Penn has two players averaging in double digits for scoring: Kayla Padilla (13.6) and Jordan Obi (10.3)
• Penn is led by 27th-year head coach Mike McLaughlin, who owns a 214-142 career record with the team.

Series History with the Quakers/Ivy League
• Penn leads 5-4 in the all-time series with Bucknell, which dates back to 1985.
• Penn's last win over Bucknell came in 2013.
• Bucknell is 1-0 against the Quakers during the Trevor Woodruff era.
• The Bison have been undefeated against Ivy League opponents under Woodruff for a 2-0 record. The Bison defeated Cornell this year and Penn last season.
• Bucknell is 33-24 all-time against current members of the Ivy League.

Series History with Penn
11/25/85            at Penn                  W, 76-72
11/30/86            vs. Penn              W, 79-61
1/5/89                Penn W, 71-65
1/3/91               vs. Penn L, 74-86
1/23/99              Penn    L, 53-56
1/2/00               at Penn L, 74-86
12/3/12              at Penn L, 53-58 (OT)
12/7/13              Penn    L, 61-69
12/3/21              Penn W, 62-46

Series Record: 4-5
Record at Home: 1-2
Record at Penn: 2-2
Neutral Site Record: 1-1
Trevor Woodruff Record: 1-0
Current Streak: 1 win
Longest Winning Streak: 3 games

Last time out
• Bucknell used a fierce defense to hold Stony Brook to 58 points on 24-for-64 shooting (37.5%)
• The Bison shot 18-for-25 on free throws to take control of the game despite having 19 fewer shots than the Seawolves.
• Bucknell held the lead for 25:43 minutes.
• Stony Brook outfouled Bucknell 19-12 which led to 25 free throws for the Bison compared to only 7 such opportunities for the Seawolves. It was the second straight game where Bucknell had vastly more chances at the charity stripe than the opposition.
• The Bison were led by Emma Shaffer who posted 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting with four free throws. Isabella King added 13 points. Stony Brook was led by Anastasia Warren who notched 20 points.

Notable CAREER HIGHS SET vs. Stony Brook
None

STREAKS OF NOTE
Emma Shaffer — starts (43)
Cecelia Collins — starts (43)

Patriot League Preseason Awards
• Cecelia Collins was one of five players named to the 2022 Preseason All-Patriot League Team.
• Collins is Bucknell's lone returning All-Patriot League player, earning spots on the Second Team and the All-Rookie Team as a freshman in 2021-22. She became the first Bison freshman to earn a spot on the First, Second or Third Team since 2001.
• Collins was one of two sophomores to make the Preseason All-League Team.
• Boston University senior Sydney Johnson was named the Patriot League Player of the Year.
• While not earning a spot on the five-player Preseason All-League Team, Boston senior Maren Durant was voted the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, an award that was just added prior to this season.

Preseason All-Patriot League
Sydney Johnson, Sr., G (Boston U.) (Preseason Player of the Year)
Cecelia Collins, So., G (Bucknell)
Frannie Hottinger, Sr., G/F (Lehigh)
Mackenzie Kramer, Jr., G (Lehigh)
Lex Therien, So., F (Loyola Md.)

Bison Picked FOURTH in Patriot League Preseason Poll
• Bucknell was picked to finish fourth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll based on a vote by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.
• Bucknell was last picked fourth in the preseason poll prior to the 2015-2016. It has been picked third or higher every year since.
• Boston University was picked first, followed by Lehigh and Holy Cross. Reigning Patriot League Champion American was picked eighth.
• Bucknell is 100-16 in league play since the start of the 2015-16 season.

Preseason All-Patriot League
              Boston University, 160 (16 first-place votes)
              Lehigh, 136 (2)
              Holy Cross, 127 (2)
              Bucknell, 115
              Army West Point, 93
              Lafayette, 78
              Colgate, 64
              American, 58
              Loyola, 39
              Navy, 30

Up Next

Bucknell will have a rest of two weeks before traveling to upstate New York to face the Buffalo Bulls on Dec. 20 at 6 p.m.

Women's Basketball Plays Penn at the Historic Palestra

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cecelia Collins

Caroline Dingler

Isabella King

Blake Matthews

Taylor O'Brien

Emma Shaffer

Remi Sisselman

Marly Walls