PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team clinched a bid into the 2024 Ivy League Tournament in dramatic fashion on Saturday evening at The Palestra, outlasting Harvard in a back-and-forth battle and coming away with a 69-67 victory.
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The Quakers' win, coupled with Yale's 76-50 loss to Columbia, clinched the bid.
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Penn won its third game in a row and fourth in the last five to improve to 15-11 overall and 7-6 in Ivy League action. Harvard fell to 15-11 and is 8-5 in Ivy play.
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Quaker Notemeal
*Junior
Stina Almqvist led Penn with 17 points on Saturday, shooting 6-of-12 from the field and knocking down a pair of treys. She also had five rebounds, two blocked shots and a steal.
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*Senior
Jordan Obi filled the box score with 15 points, five rebounds and seven assists (which tied her season/career high).
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*Freshman
Ese Ogbevire was the revelation on Saturday, as she scored 14 points—just her third double-digit scoring game this season—and added three boards. She scored eight of her points in the fourth quarter, went 5-of-9 from the field. and knocked down two three-pointers.
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*Sophomore
Simone Sawyer was 4-of-5 from the field in scoring nine points, while junior
Lizzy Groetsch filled the box score with eight points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
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*Harvard had three players score in double figures: Harmoni Turner (19), Lola Mullaney (18) and Elena Rodrigeuz (12).
How It Happened
The Crimson got out to a quick start, taking a 16-5 lead before the game was six minutes old. The lead was still 10, at 19-9, when the Quakers finally made a move. Almqvist started the run with a three-pointer, added another a few minutes later, and when Groetsch nailed yet another triple Penn's run was 12-1 and the hosts had their first lead of the day as the quarter ended, at 21-20.
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Obi then opened the second-quarter scoring with still another shot from distance, and when Ogbevire knocked down the second of two free throws the Quakers' run was 16-1 and their lead was 25-20. Another Groetsch trey extended the advantage to seven, at which point Harvard went on a 10-3 run to draw back level at 33-33. Ogbevire put Penn back in front with a triple, and then after the Crimson scored four in a row to go back in front Ogbevire scored the final points of the period to give Penn a 38-37 lead at the break. Penn then scored the first ten points in the third quarter, Sawyer (7) and Almqvist (3) providing all of them as the Quakers' lead went to double digits at 48-37.
However, Harvard roared back in the back half of the quarter. The Crimson outscored Penn 14-1 over the final 4:21, Mullaney driving the train with the first eight of those points. As a result, Harvard led after three, 51-49.
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The Crimson held that lead until a little less than five minutes remained, when Almqvist scored in the lane on back-to-back possessions. Her turnaround in the lane on the second one put Penn back in front, 58-57.
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Rodriguez hit two foul shots to make it 59-58 Harvard, and then after each team had an empty possession Ogbevire drove the lane out of a Penn timeout and hit a lefty layup that gave Penn the 60-59 lead with 3:15 to play.
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Harvard's hustle got the Crimson three chances on a possession as the clock went inside two minutes, ending with Turner hitting one of two foul shots to tie things at 60-60 with 1:54 left. Harvard actually rebounded Turner's miss on the second shot, as well, but then got called for an illegal screen shortly afterward to give the ball back to Penn.
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Once again, Ogbevire made the play. This time she drove left and drew contact as she went up. The ball rolled around the rim, froze up there and—as the Palestra crowd held its collective breath—finally dropped through the net to set the old barn roaring. She then made the foul shot for the traditional three-point play, and Penn's lead was 63-60 with 1:19 left.
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Harvard called timeout, and out of the stoppage the Crimson quickly got the ball to Turner who drove the lane to make it a one-point game, but at the other end Obi was fouled as she went up with 36.0 on the clock. She made both foul shots and the game was again a three-point margin at 65-62.
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Harvard called its final timeout to advance the ball, and once again the Crimson called Turner's number as her drive made it 65-64.
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Harvard was forced to foul twice to get Penn to the line. The second foul was committed on Gayle, and the freshman coolly hit both of her shots with 21.2 left to make Penn's lead 67-64 Mullaney then missed a contested three from the left wing, Obi rebounded it and was fouled with 8.5 on the clock. She missed her first foul shot but made the second to get the game to a four-point margin, 68-64.
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Turner still had something left, her deep trey from up top getting Harvard back within one at 68-67 with 3.3 left. Penn took a timeout to advance the ball, then inbounded to Obi who was immediately fouled. With 2.3 left she made her first free throw before a violation nullified her second shot. Fortunately, Harvard could not advance the ball, and all the Crimson could do was hoist a prayer that was not answered.
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Up Next
Penn will conclude the regular season next Saturday at Princeton, tipping off with the Ivy League co-leader at 2 p.m. in Jadwin Gym.
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For the latest on Penn women's basketball, follow @PennWBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
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