NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The second-seeded University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team used a dominant run bridging the end of the first quarter and the start of the second to dominate the rubber match with third-seeded Harvard on Saturday night in an Ivy League Tournament semifinal of historic proportions.
 
Penn's 91-62 rout of the Crimson means the Quakers will play Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament final for the third straight year on Sunday at 4 p.m., with the winner earning the Ancient Eight's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers advanced to Sunday with a 68-47 win over Cornell in the day's first semifinal. Sunday's game will air nationally on ESPNU.
 
The Quakers and Crimson went to overtime in both regular-season meetings, Penn winning at home in one extra session and Harvard needing two extra periods to win in Cambridge. The third meeting took place almost exactly midway between the two schools and there was no drama this time.
 
Notes
*The 91 points were the most scored by a Penn team since a 91-83 overtime win over Marist on January 3, 2003.
 
*The last time the Quakers scored 91 in a regulation game? Try January 23, 2001, a 91-80 win over Drexel.
 
*This was the most points by Penn against Harvard since a 93-71 win on January 7, 1994 in Cambridge.
 
*Penn was incredibly efficient on Saturday night, scoring 29 more points than Harvard despite taking 13 fewer field-goal attempts.
 
*Senior Ashley Russell had 20 points to lead five players in double figures in the scoring column, and also led the Quakers with four assists.
 
*Senior Princess Aghayere had her fifth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
 
*Sophomore Eleah Parker, the newly minted Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, had 14 points and blocked three shots while also collecting two steals. Parker has scored in double figures 24-straight games. 
 
*Sophomore Michae Jones had 14 points on Saturday night, her fifth double-figure scoring game this season; in three games against Harvard this season, Jones—whose season average was 4.2 points per game—scored 48 points (16.0 ppg).
 
*Sophomore Tori Crawford had 12 points, a career high.

*Penn's historic level of offense was fueled by a balanced-display of at least 21 points scored in each quarter. The Quakers had never previously scored over 20 points in every quarter of any game since women's college basketball moved to quarters in 2015-16.

*Penn improves to 34-51 all-time against Harvard and has won 12 of the last 14 meetings between the two.

*Penn's 91 points scored are the most by any team in Ivy League Tournament history. 
 
How It Happened
Penn scored the game's first five points, as Phoebe Sterba hit a three-pointer right off the bat and Ashley Russell nailed a jump a few minutes later. Harvard came back to take a 10-9 lead on the strength of back-to-back three-pointers, but the Quakers reeled off the game's next 15 points over a four-minute span bridging the first and second quarters.
 
The run continued well into the second quarter. Penn scored on seven of its first nine possession in the period—making all seven of its shot attempts—to build a 19-point lead, at 37-18. It was 43-25 at the half, the margin 18 points only because Harvard's Madeline Raster banked home a three-point shot from the right wing at the buzzer.
 
Harvard then opened the second half with a Katie Benzan trey, but any thoughts that the Crimson might make a run were quickly squelched. Instead, Penn rattled off 11 of the game's next 14 points over a 2:34 span to blow its lead out to 23 points, at 54-31. Michae Jones' acrobatic and-1 layup (plus the foul shot) put the Quakers up, 65-39, after three periods.
 
Harvard got no closer than 22 points in the final period, and that came early. Penn's lead grew as large as 30 points, and by that time head coach Mike McLaughlin had emptied his bench to save some legs for tomorrow evening.