NEW YORK, N.Y. – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team got their hearts broken on Valentines Day, falling to Columbia in New York, 69-56.

Penn fell to 14-9 overall, 4-6 in Ivy League play; Columbia improved to 17-6, 8-2 in Ivy League play.

Quaker Notemeal
* Katie Collins led the Quakers with a career-high 22 points on five threes.

* Penn shot 50 percent from behind the arc, eight of 16.

* The Quakers had 14 points off the bench, 10 coming from Abby Sharpe.

* Columbia was tenacious on the glass, coming down with 18 offensive rebounds.

* The Lions outscored the Quakers 32-20 in points in the paint.

* Columbia recorded 24 points off of 23 Penn turnovers.

* Tina Njike finished with 12 points and eight rebounds for the Quakers.

How It Happened
The contest began with a pair of misses and turnovers from both teams as they entered the contest on the latter ends of back-to-backs.

Columbia looked to stay hot after a strong second half performance against Princeton on Friday night en route to their second win over the Tigers this season.

Penn entered after gutting out a win against Cornell in overtime, looking to come away with two wins on the road trip.

As both teams began to warm up offensively, Columbia's Marija Avlijas and Simone Sawyer traded buckets to start the game.

Fatigue seemed to play a role in the slow start for both teams as both began the game shooting just 25 percent from the floor.

The Quakers were able to take their first lead, at 5-4, on a Mataya Gayle fastbreak layup from Saniah Caldwell.

However, that was the only time Penn led for the rest of the game.

Columbia responded with back-to-back three-pointers from Mia Broom and Riley Weiss as the Lions went up five.

But, Katie Collins did not allow Columbia to extend the lead as she responded with a turnaround jumpshot for her first basket of the evening.

A few minutes later, Weiss pulled up again and drained a midrange jumper and added a pair of free throws for the Lions as Columbia went up by seven.

Broom hit another three at the end of the first quarter as the Lions had a 17-7 advantage on a 7-0 run.

The second quarter began with a second chance layup for Fliss Henderson and another three from Weiss as Columbia led 22-7.

The Quakers struggled offensively, turning the ball over at an alarming rate and held scoreless for over six minutes of the second quarter.

Columbia found their groove offensively, going up by 20 as Head Coach Mike McLaughlin was forced to call a timeout.

Abby Sharpe finally ended the Quakers scoring drought with a driving layup with under four minutes left in the first half.

Sharpe went on to convert from behind the arc for the next Penn basket as the junior attempted to help her team cut into the lead.

Collins closed out the first half with a three from the top of the key as Penn trailed 30-15 heading into the break.

Despite both teams shooting inefficiently, the Quakers coughed up 13 turnovers in the first half, turning into 12 Columbia points.

The Lions opened the second half on a 6-0 run as they took their largest lead of the game at 21.

Simone Sawyer answered with a three for the Quakers first basket of the second half, which led to a Caldwell layup.

Penn began the second half converting three of their first five shot attempts as they began to warm up on offense.

However, Columbia's lead still felt insurmountable as the Lions went up 40-22 before the media timeout.

The Quakers entered another cold spell offensively, recording no field goals in four minutes before Collins ended the third with another three-pointer.

The Quakers trailed by 15 heading into the fourth quarter.

Collins continued to flourish offensively with her fourth and fifth three-pointers of the game at the start of the fourth quarter.

But Columbia went back up by 14 on another three from Broom as a media timeout occurred.

After the timeout, Sawyer knocked down a pair of free throws and added a layup to cut the lead to 10 with six minutes left to play.

Collins hit a pair from the charity stripe for her 21st and career high 22nd points as the Quakers trailed by just eight.

But the Lions went back to Weiss who extended the lead back to double digits with a corner three.

Brooke Suttle and Henderson traded buckets for both teams as it became a track meet in the final minutes.

Sharpe hit another driving layup as Penn got the lead back to single digits with under three minutes as McLaughlin called timeout.

But back-to-back threes from Weiss and Broom helped propel Columbia to their 17th win of the year, getting revenge on the Quakers after last time out.

Up Next
The Quakers will be back at home to take on Yale next Saturday at the Palestra.

Tip-off is slated for 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.