Penn women's basketball's perfect run through Ivy play ends at Cornell

ITHACA — This was certainly a situation they aren’t used to. For the first time in Ivy play, Penn women’s basketball found itself trailing at the half, down, 29-25, at Cornell on Friday. And they just couldn’t come back.

After a series of late go-ahead baskets wouldn’t fall, the Quakers dropped their first conference game of the year, 51-46, to the Big Red.

A team used to jumping out to early leads got a taste of its own medicine. Despite holding Cornell (14-11, 6-5 Ivy) scoreless for the first four minutes of play, back-to-back threes for the Big Red turned what had become a 6-6 tie into a six-point lead all too quickly.

While the Red and Blue struggled to score early, they were kept in the game by junior forward Sydney Stipanovich, who made six of her first seven shots, eventually finishing with a team-high 16 points. Adding eight rebounds to her total, the St. Louis native became just the sixth player in program history to log 1,000 points and 700 rebounds in a career, eclipsing both milestones one the night.

A 7-2 run brought the Quakers (20-4, 9-1) within one after a three from sophomore guard Anna Ross, trailing 14-13. Each squad recorded one more basket in the opening frame, resuming play with Cornell holding a 16-15 advantage.

"I think they just came out strong and it just shocked us in the beginning," Ross said. "It got us out of our usual flow and we didn't come back as strong in the first half."

From there, neither side seemed to be able to maintain much of an edge. A free throw from sophomore forward Michelle Nwokedi was the only point either side was able to record in the first three minutes of the second half.

"We just never could get into rhythm," Penn coach Mike McLaughlin explained. "We really struggled in early offense and transition and never got anything going on that end, which forced us to play in half court the whole time."

After spending the next three minutes trading baskets, the Big Red found a little bit of separation, heading into the break up, 29-25.

The second half didn’t start off all that well either. Although Nwokedi got her first basket of the game, Cornell found it’s stroke, nailing a string of jumpers before Big Red forward Nia Marshall converted on an old-fashioned three-point play to make it 38-29.

Penn closed the gap slightly, but the Big Red brought it right back nine at 42-33. Unlike past games, where McLaughlin’s squad seemed to be on a rotation where different players would start getting hot, no one managed to take control of the game for the Red and Blue.

They would enter the final frame with a nine-point deficit, and it just proved too much for the Quakers. Penn’s defense returned to form in the quarter, holding the Big Red scoreless for the first six minutes as the offense found the basket four times to pull within one.

A basket for Cornell made it 46-43 before a questionable foul called on Nwokedi brought Cornell forward Nia Marshall to the line. She split her attempts before Ross drained a huge three with two minutes to play. Down 47-46, McLaughlin’s squad would not score again.

"In the second half, we didn't have control of the game," Ross noted. "We were playing catch-up the whole time. You want to be aggressive when you can, and when you miss, maybe get rebounds."

After a series of missed shots, Cornell’s Nicholle Aston drained a jumper with 40 seconds to play to bring the lead to three. Nwokedi’s layup attempt at the other end didn’t fall, and from there, Penn’s ability to stay out of foul trouble cut the other way.

Having only committed two fouls for the first nine minutes of the quarter, the Red and Blue had to waste precious time to bring their total to five and the Big Red to the line. Aston would eventually hit a pair of free throws with 7.8 seconds to play, and the Quakers just couldn’t come back.

"I thought we were getting some momentum," McLaughlin said of the late run. "They scored late in the clock to put them back up three. I liked their shots at the end, unfortunately they just have to make them. We got pretty good shots around the basket, they just didn't go our way."

Although the dream of a perfect run through Ivy play ended in Ithaca, Penn still controls its own destiny. At 9-1 in the conference, the Quakers are tied atop the leaderboard with Princeton. Each squad has three games to go before they face off again on March 8.

It looks like the road to an NCAA Tournament will once again have to run through Princeton.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.