CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard women's basketball (9-7, 2-1 Ivy) returns home for the third time in four games as they welcome Penn for the third weekend of conference action.  Play on Saturday will begin at 2:00 p.m. ET in Lavietes Pavilion and ESPN+. 

What to Know

• Harvard began their 2023-24 season and the second year under head coach Carrie Moore with 13 non-conference match ups, standing at 7-6 heading into league play.  Through the out of conference slate the Crimson tallied six strong victories over Boston College, Quinnipiac, UMass, North Dakota State, SMU, UMass Lowell, and Delaware and falling only to Maine, BU, URI and a trio of Power 5 opponents.
• Through two weekends of Ivy League play, the Crimson now stand at 9-7 after going 2-1 while facing Yale, Princeton, and Brown. 
• The Crimson split its two most recent contests 1-1 when falling to Princeton and then bouncing back against Brown two days later. 
• On its home court against the Tigers, the Crimson fell 49-73 in a rematch of last year's Ivy League tournament championship game. 
• In the contest, Lola Mullaney led all scorers with 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the field.  Fellow captain, Harmoni Turner joined her in double figures with 12 points. 
• After falling to the Tigers, Harvard was able to bounce back as they traveled to Providence, RI to take on the then 11-4 Bears. 
• Elena Rodriguez posted a dominant game against the Bears by collecting her third double-double of the year with 21 points and 13 rebounds.  The junior also added four assists and a block on the day. 
• Turner and Mullaney completed the double-digit scorers list for the Crimson by each adding 13 points. 
• With a trio of triples against Brown, Mullaney inched closer to moving up the all-time three pointers list.  Now with 257, the senior is just five out from surpassing Erin Maher for second all-time. 
• Saniyah Glenn-Bello and Abigail Wright both had strong performances against Brown by registering nine points and eight rebounds and eight points and nine rebounds, respectively. 
• The Crimson put up 73 points against the Bears who normally average holding opponents to 58 points per game, a statistic that ranks them second in scoring defense in the league. 
• Harvard dished out 19 assists on 28 made field goals while shooting 41.2% from the field. 
• The Crimson now stand at 7-1 when outrebounding its opponents as it grabbed 45 boards to the Bears 38.  Of their 45 rebounds, Harvard notch 19 on the offensive end of the floor to result in 18 second chance points. 
• Rodriguez, who had a breakout season last year, continues to be dominant presence all-around for the Crimson.  The junior is averaging 12.6 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.9 blocks, and 1.4 steals per game through the first 16 contests.  In 2023-24, Rodriguez has scored in double figures 1 times and has led the team in rebounding and assists in ten and nine games, respectively.  While shooting 55.0% from the field, Rodriguez ranks first in the Ivy League, a title which she held at the end of last season. 
• Mullaney is out to a hot start in her senior season by currently averaging 14.4 points and career bests in rebounds (3.5), assists (2.1), and steals (1.3) through the first 16 games.  In the month of December, Mullaney averaged 17.5 points per game on 43.0% shooting.  The senior is currently sitting with 257 career three-pointers and is on pace to break the Harvard women's basketball three-point record by averaging 2.4 threes per game. 
• With five field goals against the UMass Lowell, Mullaney cracked the Harvard women's basketball top-10 with 470 career field goals. The senior now has 479 made field goals throughout her four years and will continue to climb the top-10 list throughout 2023-24.
• The Crimson first-years, Mary Hollensteiner, Karlee White, and Abigail Wright, all have made an immediate impact this season.  Hollensteiner has proven her shooting abilities early and led the team in scoring in their win over Quinnipiac.  White has started 13 games for the Crimson and has begun to blossom on both the offensive and defensive ends.  Lastly, Wright averages nearly 18 minutes a game and is contributing 6.7 points and 4.0 rebounds per appearance. 
• In the Ivy League the Crimson rank second in points per game (70.6), assists (14.6), blocks (4.3), and three-point field goals (7.1), and third in field goal percentage (43.1%) and three-point percentage (32.0%).
• Not allowing its opponents to have the same success from behind the three-point arc, the Crimson rank first in the league in three-point percentage defense, holding its opponents to 27.9% from three.
• Saturday's match up will be the 92^nd all time between the Crimson and the Quakers.  Harvard currently holds a 54-37 advantage over Penn in the all-time series. 
• The Crimson won one and lost one contest against the Quakers last season.  Most recently Harvard fell at the Palestra, 64-70. 

Next Up

The Crimson will hit the road to face the Bulldogs of Yale for the second time this season on Saturday, January 27.  Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. in New Haven, CT and on ESPN+.