PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team battled back from a slow first-quarter start to take a one-point lead into halftime, but ultimately fell short to Columbia, 74-59, in the Ivy League opener Saturday at The Palestra.
Penn falls to 9-5 overall and 0-1 in Ivy play, while Columbia improves to 10-4 and begins conference action with a victory.
Quaker Notemeal
*The Lions won their fourth consecutive game against the Quakers, their longest streak all-time in the series. Penn remains in front record-wise, 52-24.
*Three Penn players notched double figures led by
Simone Sawyer's 14 points on four three-pointers.
Mataya Gayle added 11 points, while
Katie Collins finished with 10 points and nine rebounds, adding three blocks.
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Stina Almqvist managed just nine points and seven boards in 38 minutes, her double-digit point streak coming to an end at 20 straight games.
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Saniah Caldwell had a productive 35 minutes off the bench, scoring eight points with a team-high tying four assists.
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Lizzy Groetsch had a season-high four points with two rebounds, providing a spark off the bench in the loss.
*The Quakers shot just 37.5 percent (21-for-56) from the field and 38.1 percent (8-for-21) from beyond-the-arc. Penn converted nine of its 12 free-throw attempts (75.0 percent).
*Perri Page led the Lions with 17 points and nine rebounds, going 8-for-12 from the field. Riley Weiss added 16 points, four rebounds, and four assists with a trio of three-pointers.
*Penn held Columbia to just 34.6 percent (9-for-26) from deep and 69.2 percent (9-for-13) from the charity stripe.
How It Happened
Both teams were unable to find the cup to open the contest, but Columbia struck first. The Lions began the game on a 7-0 run, prompting
Mike McLaughlin to spend an early timeout.
The Quakers missed their first nine shots of the afternoon before
Stina Almqvist found
Saniah Caldwell underneath for a layup, making it 9-2.
Columbia's lead became 12 until Almqvist drove for a layup, drew the foul, and converted at the foul line to make it a 14-5 game.
Penn began chipping away at the CU lead late in the first quarter after three-pointers from both
Simone Sawyer and Caldwell. The Quakers trimmed the deficit to nine points to end the frame on Almqvist's layup.
The Quakers began the second quarter on a 7-0 run and got the game back to two points at 22-20 on a Sawyer trey and a second-chance layup from
Katie Collins.
It was a 24-20 game at the under-5 media timeout with 5:00 to go in the half.
The momentum certainly shifted in that final five minutes as Penn scored seven in a row thanks to baskets for
Lizzy Groetsch and then a five-point swing from Gayle to take a 29-28 lead with 27 seconds to play. The Quakers' defense forced a late turnover to take a one-point advantage into the locker room.
Gayle began the third the way she ended the second—with a triple—to extend the Penn lead to four points.
Columbia got back in front in the middle stages of the third, leading 41-40 at the under-5 media timeout with 3:50 to play.
The Lions ended the quarter with a 49-44 edge after controlling the remainder of the period.
Kicking off the fourth strong, Columbia opened the period on an 8-1 push to go up, 57-45, before Sawyer responded with a three-pointer to make it a nine-point game again.
The Quakers got as close as seven points with 2:44 remaining via a Collins layup and then again with 1:04 remaining on another Sawyer triple but the Lions scored the final eight points and pulled away for a 74-59 win.
Up Next
Penn remains at home to face Dartmouth next Saturday at 2 p.m. for Alumnae Day. The Big Green are coming off a 64-48 victory at Brown earlier today. The matchup will be streamed live on ESPN+.
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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