PROVIDENCE, R.I. — It was the type of game Penn women’s basketball wanted, but not the outcome it needed.
On Friday, the Quakers’ season came to an end in the Ivy Madness semifinals, marking the third-straight season that the Quakers have fallen in the tournament’s penultimate round. In a matchup against top-seeded Columbia, Penn used a strong defensive effort and stretches of timely shooting to trim Columbia’s lead to as few as six in the final minutes. But in the end, Columbia’s clutch execution was enough to send the Red and Blue home 60-54.
“I thought for us to have a chance, it would’ve been low 60s. We got that number, we had a chance,” Penn coach Mike McLaughlin said of the team’s game plan. “Defensively, I don’t know if we could ask any more from our players. … The score was right where we needed to be. Just couldn’t score enough.”
“I thought Penn played great tonight,” Columbia coach Megan Griffith said. “This is March, right? This is why you play. … Credit to them for getting to this point and giving us their best.”
The Lions (23-5, 13-1 Ivy), who entered the day with just one loss in conference play, will advance to the championship game on Saturday to face the winner of Princeton vs. Harvard. That trio has led the pack throughout the Ancient Eight’s season, with some experts indicating that all three could earn berths to the NCAA tournament.
Penn (15-13, 6-8) was able to hang with Columbia thanks to a strong defensive effort that slowed the Lions’ league-leading offense. The Lions shot just 36% from the field in the first half and turned the ball over 10 times, while Columbia’s All-Ivy guard trio of Kitty Henderson, Riley Weiss, and Cecelia Collins shot just 9-of-28 on the day. But offense came at a premium for both teams, with Penn struggling to generate quality looks after sophomore guard Mataya Gayle picked up three early fouls.
Columbia roared to begin the second half, converting its first six field goals en route to a 42-25 lead. But the Quakers hung in, aided by strong efforts from senior guard Stina Almqvist and Gayle, who finished with 17 and 12 points, respectively. After a scoreless first quarter, Almqvist, a recent All-Ivy first team honoree, came alive down the stretch to help Penn weather Columbia’s runs.
“I was just trying to rely on, ‘It’s gonna open up at some point. I’m not forcing anything,’” Almqvist said. “Just let the game come to me. … I think people were a little nervous [early on], and then as soon as that was over, we have nothing to lose here. I think we showed that Penn is a team that can compete with these top three teams.”
A pair of free throws from freshman guard Brooke Suttle brought Penn within six with 3:12 to play, but from there, the Quakers’ offense was unable to gain additional ground. Clutch free-throw shooting from the Lions and a string of misses from the Red and Blue ultimately sealed the win, ending Penn’s Ivy League title hopes.
Qualifying for Ivy Madness required a significant turnaround from a Penn team that started the conference slate 1-5. From that point on, the Quakers won five of their next six games to put themselves in the driver’s seat for the tournament’s fourth and final bid, a reversal McLaughlin credited to the way the team “matured” throughout the year.
Now, as the team looks to surpass the semifinal hump in future seasons, McLaughlin believes the tournament experience will be invaluable to his players’ development.
“I think it takes players like Stina — that her growth allowed us to have a senior player who was really good. If you looked at her as a sophomore, you probably wouldn’t say the same thing,” McLaughlin said. Almqvist averaged just 11 minutes per game as a sophomore before leading the team in scoring as a junior.
“We were in the locker room showing our gratitude toward our seniors for what they’ve done for our program. But I also did challenge our younger players going forward: This is the level that you have to prepare, it’s the level you have to train, because you have to be able to play in this game. … When they see it at the next level, in this environment, I think we’re gonna find a Stina out of this group,” McLaughlin said.
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