NEW YORK CITY – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team battled top-seeded Princeton for the full 40 minutes in the first semifinal of this year's Ivy League Women's Basketball Tournament, but the Tigers escaped with a 59-54 victory at Columbia's Levien Gymnasium Friday night.
Penn was down three and inbounding the ball in the final minute, and with a little more than 14 seconds left senior
Jordan Obi—who had spurred the Quakers' comeback to get them to that point—drove around her defender and put home a layup as a Princeton player slid in under her. Incredibly, Obi was called for a charge, and the Quakers never got a chance to equalize again after that.
Penn's season comes to a close at 15-13 while Princeton improved to 24-4 and will play second-seeded and tournament host Columbia (a 63-61 winner over third-seeded Harvard in Friday's second semifinal) in Saturday's Ivy Madness final at 5 p.m.
Quaker Notemeal
*Freshman
Mataya Gayle was every bit the Rookie of the Year that she was awarded earlier this week, leading all players in points (20) and assists (5) on Friday and adding four rebounds. It was her fifth 20-point game this season.
*Following the conclusion of the championship game on Saturday, in which Princeton beat Columbia 75-58, Gayle was named to the all-tournament team along with Princeton's Kaitlyn Chen (also MOP) and Madison St. Rose, Columbia's Abbey Hsu, and Harvard's Harmoni Turner
*Senior
Jordan Obi finished with 15 points in her final game wearing the Red and Blue, including the last five for the Quakers to get them from down eight (57-49) to within a possession. Obi also had four rebounds, two assists, and two blocked shots.
*Junior
Stina Almqvist was Penn's other double-figure scorer on Friday, with 11 points. She also led the Quakers with six rebounds and dished out four assists.
*Sophomore
Simone Sawyer was an absolute menace on defense, coming up with seven steals which was the most by a Penn player since Kendall Grasela had seven at Cornell on March 6, 2020. She also had six points and three boards. As a team, Penn had 13 steals on the night.
*Princeton got 19 points from Madison St. Rose and 18 from Kaitlyn Chen, but it was Ellie Mitchell (12 rebounds) and Chet Nweke (10) who were the monsters on Friday, 12 of their combined 22 boards coming on the offensive glass. As a team, the Tigers had a 17-3 advantage on the offensive glass and outscored Penn 13-1 on second-chance points.
How It Happened
Friday's first semifinal got out to a slow start, the teams tied at the first media timeout, 6-6. Gayle started to get it going with the next four points, the start of an 8-0 run that put the Quakers in front, 14-6. Princeton scored the next nine points—five to end the first quarter, four to start the second—to take a 15-14 lead, but an Obi trey and a
Floor Toonders bucket put Penn back in front, 19-15.
Princeton used a 7-0 run late in the second quarter to turn a 21-19 deficit into a five-point lead, but Gayle bookended baskets in a 9-2 Quakers run that ended the half and sent them to the locker room up 30-28.
Princeton came out business-like in the third, scoring the first six points before an Obi layup got Penn on the board more than three minutes in. Princeton maintained its lead to the media timeout, but out of the stoppage Almqvist converted in the lane to tie things at 36-36.
A third-chance trey put Princeton up 39-36, then an and-1 in the lane made it 42-36. However, Gayle fed Sawyer nicely through traffic for a layup, then Almqvist turned a steal into a free throw to get the game back to a possession difference. Mitchell and Chen sandwiched baskets around a Gayle trey, and Princeton took a 46-42 lead into the final quarter.
That lead held through the final 10 minutes, but not without plenty of drama.
It was 52-46 with less than five minutes left when Almqvist finished a nice pass from Gayle for an and-1 FT, converting it to get Penn within a possession with 4:30 to play, 52-49. St. Rose drained a trey from the top to get the margin back to six, 55-49, and then Nweke blocked a Gayle shot and St. Rose turned it into another bucket at the other end for a 57-49 lead with 3:42 left.
Princeton wouldn't score again until just 11 seconds were left, and Penn took advantage.
Obi made it 57-51 with 1:15 to play with a turnaround in the lane, and then a Princeton bucket was wiped off the board by a charging call. As the clock went inside, Obi coolly drained a trey that made the score 57-54 and had the sizable Penn contingent at full throat.
Princeton took a timeout to advance the ball, then ran the clock before a Skye Belker jumper missed. However, Nweke grabbed the offensive rebound—her seventh of the night—and the Tigers took another timeout with 22.4 on the game clock and 20 on the shot clock. Princeton inbounded and quickly called time when its player was cornered, and then on the next inbounds Sawyer got the steal and called a timeout. Penn advanced the ball and inbounded on the left side, inbounding to Toonders who found Obi on the right side. The three wasn't there, so Obi drove to the basket and went up for a successful layup as a Princeton player slid in underneath her. The charge was called, nullifying the basket.
Princeton called a timeout to advance the ball, but it looked like the Quakers might get still another chance to tie when Obi picked off Parker Hill's pass. However, the Penn senior was ruled out of bounds before she could shuffle the ball to a teammate, and Penn was forced to foul. St. Rose made both of her shots with 11.6 seconds left, and that set the final score as a final Gayle three-point attempt was off the mark in the dying seconds.
For the latest on Penn women's basketball, follow @PennWBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
#FightOnPenn
