Penn Women's Hoops Earns First Piece Of Big 5 Title

By Matt Leon

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- History was made last night at the Palestra.

For the first time in program history, the University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team earned at least a share of a Big 5 title with a 52-50 win over Temple.

The Quakers improved to 7-4 and they are 3-0 in City Series action.

"It was a pretty awesome night," Penn head coach Mike McLaughlin tells KYW Newsradio. "The players were excited. Being from Philadelphia and understanding the history of the Big 5 and what it means to so many people, it's pretty special."

Listen to Mike McLaughlin with KYW's Matt Leon:

Penn can win the Big 5 title outright on January 21st with a win over Villanova.

McLaughlin talks about where a Big 5 title ranks in terms of team goals coming into a season.

"We talk about the Big 5," McLaughlin says. "Obviously, being in the Palestra and the history of it. I always take our freshman class around the Palestra to see the history of it, going back so many years. So we talk about it. We have a lot of players that are not from the area that are learning the Big 5 more and more as they come here. But it's up there. It's pretty special for any affiliation, especially one like the Big 5, to be part of, let alone having success in it. It's pretty high up on the list."

The Quakers are the defending Ivy League champions and they will now focus on their Ancient 8 opener Saturday on the road against 16-0 Princeton.

"As long as I've been in the league, this is my sixth year at Penn, I think this might be the best Princeton team yet, that we will face," McLaughlin says. "They just cracked the top 25 for the first time (#22 this week), well-deserved. Pretty special group, they're really talented. It's a great rivalry."

The last time Penn played Princeton was last season on March 11th. The Quakers won 80-64 to win the Ivy title.

Saturday's game will tip-off at 2:00pm in Princeton.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.

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