CAMBRIDGE, MASS. – The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team fell to Harvard on Friday night in Cambridge, 60-46.

Penn dropped to 15-10 overall, 5-7 in Ivy League play; Harvard improved to 16-9, 9-3 in Ivy League play.

Quaker Notemeal
* Tina Njike led the Quakers in scoring with 16 points, while adding seven rebounds and a pair of blocks.

* Simone Sawyer (11) and Katie Collins (12) also scored in double figures for the Red and Blue.

* Collins hit four three-pointers and snatched four steals.

* Penn's starters scored all but three points.

* Penn never led in the game, trailing by as much as 18.

* Both teams combined for a total of 41 turnovers,

* Harvard won the rebound battle, 34-27.

* Penn is now eliminated from Ivy League tournament contention.

How It Happened
After a couple of misses from both teams, the Crimson struck first as Katie Krupa got an elbow jumper to go. Harvard began to pull away early on as Karlee White added a mid-range jump shot and Saniyah Glenn hit back-to-back threes. The Quakers were off to a slow start offensively as they missed their first five shots from the floor before Head Coach Mike McLaughlin called his first timeout down 10-0.
White extended the Crimson's lead to 13 as she stepped up and hit a three from the top of the key. Penn went six minutes without a point until Tina Njike finally ended the scoring drought with a post hook with 3:40 left in the opening quarter. The Crimson continued to flourish offensively as leading scorer Abigail Wright converted on a foul line jumper to take a 17-3 lead with under two minutes left. But Collins nailed her first shot from behind the arc off of a Simone Sawyer assist to close out the first quarter as Penn trailed 17-6.

After shooting just two of 11 in the first quarter, the Quakers were eager to find any sort of offensive consistency in the second quarter. Sawyer swerved through the defense for a layup to begin the second quarter as Penn cut the lead back to single digits. But Glenn responded with another three, and Wright added a layup off the glass for Harvard as they went up 22-8. Penn continued to struggle with taking care of the ball as Krupa stole the ball and went coast to coast for a layup leading to another timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Suttle and Wright traded baskets as Harvard continued to respond by any Quaker attack. However, the Quakers kept battling as a pair of Mataya Gayle free throws and a three by Sawyer helped the offense find a spark at the end of the first half. Collins beat the buzzer on a sidestep three-pointer to end the first half as the Quakers entered the locker room with some momentum, but still had some ground to make up trailing by 12.

The second half began with a Collins steal which led to a pair of free throws from Njike as Penn cut the lead to 10. Olivia Jones responded by knocking down a pair of free throws of her own for the Crimson.
The Quakers continued to go to Collins and Njike on the offensive end, as they knocked down back-to-back threes in the opening minutes of the second quarter as Penn trailed by just six. Sawyer poured in another three for the Quakers following a Wright hook shot as Penn began to heat up from downtown. A few minutes later, Njike laid it up for two as Penn had it to within three as Harvard called timeout. The Quakers kept finding Njike inside the paint as she converted on an and-1 layup a few minutes later as the Harvard lead was just one. But the Crimson went on a 10-0 run to end the third quarter, leading by 11 heading into the fourth.

Harvard went back to their leading scorer in Wright to begin the final period as she laid it up off another Penn turnover. Gayle tried to will her team back into the game with a step back elbow jumper for the Quakers. But the Harvard defense continued to make it difficult for the Quaker offense to string together consistent offensive possessions. Penn went without a field goal for the final four minutes as the Crimson emerged victorious and clinched an Ivy League tournament berth.

Up Next
The Quakers will head to Hanover, New Hampshire to take on Dartmouth tomorrow night at 5 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.