Welcome to the inaugural edition of Is Stat So?, a compilation of some of the most interesting stats to come out of Penn Athletics from the week. Each week, we'll highlight a few different numbers that go beyond the box score, and give deeper insight behind Penn's biggest wins and losses.

If the Quakers have all of their best athletes on the floor, we think the Red and Blue men will drive home as tournament champions. As for the women, closing the gap with Columbia might be a tall task, not to mention that the women have a harder field because Temple does not have a men’s team. But still, we expect the Quakers to improve on last year’s effort with a second-place finish here.

Both the men’s and women’s teams experienced an inconsistent meet, picking up wins against host Dartmouth, 249-104 and 235-118 respectively, but suffering big losses to Yale, 123-230 and 80-273 respectively.

In its Ivy opener, Penn women's basketball fell to Princeton, 70-55. The Quakers (6-5, 0-1 Ivy) struggled offensively, while Princeton (11-3, 1-0), behind strong performances from junior Gabrielle Rush, sophomore Bella Alarie, and senior Leslie Robinson, proved too much for the Red and Blue to handle. Here are some takeaways from the game.

On Saturday, Penn women’s basketball fell to Princeton, 70-55 at the Palestra. The Quakers shot just 33 percent from the field, while the Tigers connected on 24 out of 51 of their shots, including 8 of 21 from three. 

2017 is over, but at least one thing isn’t changing in the new year. On Monday, Penn women’s basketball freshman center Eleah Parker was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week for a third straight week.

The win captured the NJIT Highlanders Christmas Tournament for the Quakers (6-4), who outscored opponents 159-90 across the two-game competition. Both games set new season records for margin of victory, and Parker earned tournament MVP honors. 

NEWARK, N.J. — It was all Quakers, all night long. Dominating from the beginning on both sides of the ball, Penn women’s basketball soundly defeated Virginia Commonwealth, 82-52, on Thursday night in the NJIT Highlanders Christmas tournament.

For the second straight week, Penn women's basketball's Eleah Parker was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week. Parker is the first Quaker to earn the award in consecutive weeks since current senior Michelle Nwokedi took home four straight during the 2014-2015 season.

It took them eight games, but they’re finally hitting their stride.  On Friday, Penn women’s basketball began the next phase of its season with a dominant 84-66 victory over Rhode Island at the Palestra just one day after the end of final exams.

Penn women’s basketball might have only had one game this past week, but that one game was all it took for freshman center Eleah Parker to earn recognition as the Ivy League Rookie of the Week.

After playing seven games in just about as much time this past month, Penn women’s basketball will look rebound from a tough early schedule over winter break and look to come out with its heads held high.

Taking a step back from the actual games themselves, 2017 was an exciting year for the Penn Athletics community. 

Sometimes, the numbers don't tell everything. With a little more than a month gone in the season, Penn women's basketball currently sits at 3-4. The small number of games played by the Red and Blue has led to a small sample size of stats and observations, but there are several overarching trends from the team as it approaches Ivy play.

Penn women’s basketball ended its semester on Monday night with a tough trip to Saint Joseph’s, escaping with a 57-50 win to kick off a brief 11-day break. 

Considering the sheer competitiveness and ubiquity of Penn’s club culture, it seems only fitting that the Year in the Review issue takes into account the successes of Penn's club sports in 2017. 

For many teams at Penn, there is one event that stands out over the others: The Ivy League Championship.