PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team had the game tied up at 13-13 to end the first quarter but were worn out by Harvard's dominant second half in a 73-44 loss Monday afternoon at The Palestra.
The Quakers fall to 1-3 to begin Ivy play, a 10-7 overall record heading into the first long road trip of the season, while the Crimson improve to 3-1 in conference, 14-2 overall.
Quaker Notemeal
*
Stina Almqvist finished with a team-high 14 points, adding six rebounds and four assists. She's currently sitting at 924 career points, 76 away from becoming the 26th Penn player to reach 1,000 points.
*
Katie Collins also finished in double figures, scoring 11 points with six rebounds and two blocks.
*Penn held Harvard to just 21.7 percent (5-for-23) from deep.
How It Happened
Harvard won the opening tip and scored the game's first points on a triple.
Stina Almqvist almost immediately responded with a layup to make it a 3-2 game.
The Crimson looked strong from beyond-the-arc to take a 9-2 lead before a three-pointer from
Simone Sawyer and a layup from
Katie Collins cut the deficit to 9-7 over the first four minutes of game time.
Saniah Caldwell gave the Quakers their first lead of the game on a corner three-pointer right before the U5 media timeout.
The game was 11-11 for nearly three minutes, neither team giving an inch.
Mataya Gayle converted on a silky-smooth mid-range jumper to keep the game close with the score tied 13-13 at the end of the first stanza.
Harvard managed to notch the first four points of the second quarter to take a 17-13 lead, in which
Mike McLaughlin took a timeout with 7:10 remaining.
After the timeout,
Abby Sharpe hit a layup to trim the deficit back to two points, but the Crimson scored twice to make it a six-point advantage again.
Penn never got closer than four points after Gayle's second-chance layup with 1:57 remaining, as Harvard scored two more buckets to close the half leading 31-23.
Harvard began the second half on a 17-1 run and kept the momentum going to lead by 22 points, 54-32, to end the third.
The Crimson continued that upward trajectory, completely owning the fourth quarter, never letting the Quakers get closer than 24 points on Collins' driving layup. Harvard ended up winning by 29, a 73-44 victory.
Up Next
Penn begins a four-game road trip in New York City, taking on Columbia Saturday at 2 p.m.
For the latest on Penn women's basketball, follow @PennWBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
#FightOnPenn
