Box Score PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team played catch-up for most of Saturday's Ivy League opener against No. 25 Princeton, and the Tigers eventually opened up a lead the Quakers could not make up in taking a 75-55 win at The Palestra.
 
In a meeting between two teams that entered the contest a combined 22-2, Princeton (now 13-1) took an 18-16 lead on the final shot of the first quarter and never trailed again. Penn made up most of a nine-point deficit in the second quarter, getting within 33-30 at halftime, but the Tigers opened it up with a 21-12 third quarter and cruised from there.
 
PENN NEWS AND NOTES
*Freshman Kayla Padilla led all scorers with 27 points, a season/career high. Her previous mark was 25, set against NJIT on November 13.
 
*Padilla knocked down four three-pointers, her third time hitting four or more treys in a game this season.
 
*Junior Tori Crawford had 13 points, a season/career high, and grabbed seven rebounds which was two shy of her season/career best.
 
*Crawford has reached double figures in scoring in three of Penn's last four games.
 
*Senior Phoebe Sterba hit double digits in scoring for the sixth time in the last seven games and the seventh time overall this season with 11 points.
 
*Sterba also tied a season high with six rebounds, previously set December 31 at Hawaii.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Princeton showed fewer nerves early in this highly anticipated battle, Grace Stone and Bella Alarie opening the scoring with a pair of three-pointers for the first six points of the game. Penn got on the board with a Phoebe Sterba floater in the lane, but Princeton responded with the next four points and a 10-2 lead. At that point, freshman Kayla Padilla came alive, scoring six of the game's next seven points, the impetus behind an 11-2 Quakers run that put them on top, 13-12. The teams traded the lead three times after that in the quarter, the Tigers taking an 18-16 lead when Maggie Connolly ended the period with a trey.
 
Up 22-21, when the Tigers went on an 8-0 run while holding Penn scoreless for more than three minutes. Tori Crawford ended the skid with a pair of baskets, and then Padilla dropped a trey and a coast-to-coast layup which got the Quakers within 33-30 by halftime.
 
The teams traded points to start the second half, before Princeton went on a 6-0 run to open up a 41-32 lead and force Penn coach Mike McLaughlin to take a timeout. No matter; the run stretched to 10-0 before Padilla ended a 2:46 scoring drought with a driving floater along the baseline. That hardly stopped the Tigers, however, as they responded with the next six points to go in front 51-34.
 
Penn began another comeback, but there was too much deficit to bite off. The Quakers used an 8-1 run to get within 10, bringing the home crowd to life, but Connolly fired home a runner at the third-quarter buzzer to make it 54-42 heading into the final 10 minutes. Abby Meyers then opened the fourth-quarter scoring with a second-chance three-pointer to push the Tigers' lead to 15.
 
The knockout blow came midway through the fourth. Up 63-50, Princeton held Penn scoreless for just over three minutes and went on an 8-0 run to extend the lead beyond 20 points.
 
UP NEXT?
Penn will complete Big 5 play over its next two games, starting Wednesday when the Quakers make the short trip to the Main Line to face Villanova. Tipoff with the Wildcats is set for 7 p.m.