Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - For much of the night, the University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team kept up with Princeton's long-range offense, but the three-point shooting Tigers pulled away down the stretch in a 72-55 loss at The Palestra Tuesday night.

The Quakers (9-19, 6-8 Ivy) finish in the top half of the Ivy League, winning six of their final 10 League games to place fourth. The Tigers (14-14, 9-5 Ivy) place third among the Ivies, behind Dartmouth and Harvard.

Senior Carrie Biemer led the Red and Blue in scoring with 21 points as she became just the fifth Quaker all-time to record more than 500 points in a single season. She finished her career with 1,124 points, ranking ninth in the Penn record books. Her three three-pointers on Tuesday gave her 59 for the season and 126 for her career--each places her in a tie for sixth all-time.

It was a battle of contrasting offenses throughout the night. The Tigers wasted no time before launching and making four threes in the first four minutes to take an early 14-6 lead. Penn, meanwhile, continued to work the ball inside--capped by senior forward Katarina Lackner's nine first half points--and got to the free throw line six different times.

Nearly halfway through the first half, the Tigers were 5-for-9 from three-point range, but from anywhere inside the arc, they were just 3-for-11. They would finish the game at 9-of-21 (43 percent)from deep.

Down 18-11, Penn put five straight points on the board to close to within two, 18-16. After another Princeton three, the Quakers scored nine unanswered, taking the lead on a Biemer three-point basket from behind the men's line at the top of the key. Princeton went 5:38 without a basket and Penn held a 25-21 lead with 5:28 left in the half before the Tigers broke up the run with a three-pointer.

However,the Quakers would be held to just one Anca Popvici free throw the rest of the way and the Tigers took a 29-26 lead into the half.

The scoring drought continued for the Red and Blue for the first three minutes of the second half. When Biemer's hook shot in the lane went down,with exactly 17 minutes remaining, the Princeton lead was 33-28.

The advantage grew to 39-30 over the next three minutes, but layups from sophomores Jerin Smith and Erin Power closed the deficit to 39-34 with 12:28 left. The Tigers responded, scoring nine of the next 11 points and led 48-36. Though Penn managed six straight and were within 48-42 after another Biemer three, they were unable to shut down the Princeton scoring attack and were not any closer for the remainder of the game.

Biemer's third three of the game closed Penn to within 52-45 with 6:40 left in the season, but Princeton nullified the basket with a three of their own just 28 seconds later.And when junior Caitlin Slover buried her jumper from just inside the free throw line, Penn was within single digits again. But, two straight scores by Princeton put the Tigers up 62-49 with 4:12 left and they pulled away from there.

Princeton's largest lead was the final score as the Tigers shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half and 44.3 percent for the game. Penn shot at a 40-percent clip from the floor, but were just 4-for-16 from three-point territory.

Led by Power's five assists and Bucar's four, the Quakers had 16 assists as a team compared to just 10 turnovers. They also added seven steals as a team with Popovici, Slover and Smith each accounting for two.Popovici also had two assists in her finale in the Red and Blue. Lackner ended her career with all her scoring coming in the first half, finishing the game 4-for-5 from the floor with three rebounds and a steal. Senior Kelly Scott had three points and two rebounds in playing the last 31 minutes of her Penn career.

The seniors were replaced with 38 seconds remaining to a standing ovation of 4,087 fans at The Palestra.
 

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