PHILADELPHIA – On an emotional day celebrating the University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team's senior class, Penn was unable to get past Princeton in a 67-53 defeat Saturday afternoon at The Palestra, putting a bow on the regular season.
 
The Quakers fall to 15-12, 6-8 in Ivy play while the Tigers improve to 21-6, 12-2. Penn will learn its fate in qualifying for the Ivy League Tournament on Sunday morning after the release of the NCAA NET rankings.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn honored its senior class—Stina Almqvist, Lizzy Groetsch, and student manager Mabel Moosbrugger—with a special pre-game ceremony. Almqvist also received her commemorative ball for scoring her 1,000th-career point on Feb. 15 vs. Brown.

*Playing in her final game at the Cathedral of College Basketball, Almqvist led the Penn offense with 18 points and 10 rebounds, securing her team-leading seventh double-double of the year.

*Mataya Gayle also had double figures, scoring 13 points with four boards and five assists.

*Katie Collins struggled offensively, only managing to be 2-of-9 from the field, but had eight points, four rebounds and a team-high two steals, adding a block.

*Abby Sharpe led the bench with four points and two boards.

*Penn shot 37 percent (17-for-46) overall from the field and hit just two three-pointers. The Quakers were near-perfect from the charity stripe, converting 17 of their 18 attempts.

*The Red and Blue turned the ball over 16 times (14 times in the first half) and it led to 10 points for the Tigers.

*Penn only led for 13 seconds, scoring the first basket of the game, before the Tigers led for the remainder of the afternoon en route to victory.
 
How It Happened
Penn got the first bucket on Lizzy Groetsch's offensive board and layup, but Princeton quickly went on a 12-4 run at the under-5 media timeout.
 
The Tigers held the Quakers without a basket for the final three minutes of the period, as Princeton had a 25-10 lead after 10 minutes.
 
Baskets from Almqvist and Sawyer—which followed by shot at the line—helped the Quakers get within 10 at 28-18 at the under-5 media timeout of the second period.
 
Penn cut the deficit to single digits at seven points in the closing minutes of the second period, but three consecutive traveling violations—and eight turnovers total—on the Quakers' offense allowed Princeton to continue to extend its lead, up 31-22 with 30 seconds to go. The Tigers added two to their total to lead 33-22 at halftime.
 
Despite initially struggling to open the third stanza, the Quakers managed to trim the deficit back to nine points at 41-32 with 3:30 to play after Almqvist grabbed her eighth board and scored her 10th point of the day.
 
As the third continued to dwindle down, Penn sunk five straight field goals—capped by a driving layup from Gayle—to make it a seven point game at 47-40. Princeton hit a couple foul shots, leading 50-40 at the end of the period.
 
Both teams traded scoring possessions as the fourth quarter progressed, but a three-pointer from Gayle made it a nine-point Princeton edge with eight minutes remaining.
 
From there, Penn never got back within single digits the rest of the way as Princeton ballooned its lead to as many as 16 and settled for a 67-53 victory.
 
Up Next
After Brown's win over Yale around the same time as Penn's game went final, the hunt for the final spot in Ivy Madness comes down to NET rankings, which the NCAA will release on Sunday morning.
 
If the Quakers, currently ranked No. 162, can maintain their lead over the Bears (No. 184), Penn will play top seed Columbia in Providence on Friday at 4:30 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.