Penn women’s basketball tops Cornell for first Ivy League win

The Penn women’s basketball team never trailed Saturday and took its first Ivy League win of the season at Cornell, 57-51.

Both sides had had a stumbling 0-2 start to conference play, so the math was clear: Somebody would get a W. Penn did it with three players in double figures and with better than abysmal shooting, but this wasn’t a thing of beauty for either side. The Quakers managed a respectable 39% shooting from deep but a less than impressive 37% from inside the arc. Facing a Big Red team diminished by the injury that has sidelined star senior forward Summer Parker-Hall, the Quakers built leads of as many as a dozen points but still had to stave off a comeback in the final minutes that drew Cornell to within two.

The Quakers relied on three of their most dependable players: senior Stina Almqvist, who played all 40 minutes, pulled down 10 rebounds and put in 17 points on 6-for-15 shooting; sophomore point guard Mataya Gayle, who also had a 17-point game on 6-for-13 shooting plus three steals; and freshman forward Katie Collins, who went 4-for-5 from the field for 10 points along with 10 rebounds and two blocks. The other Quakers had a 3-for-16 day from the field.

In Parker-Hall’s absence, the Big Red also relied heavily on three players: freshman guard Paige Engels for 14 points, and junior forward Emily Pape and sophomore swing player Rachel Kaus for 12 apiece. Cornell played Penn even off the boards but shot just 34% from the field, including 40% on threes. The presence of Almqvist and especially Collins inside on defense may have had something to do with Cornell’s struggles to sink shots up close.

This was a streaky performance on both sides. Penn built a 13-5 lead midway through the first half, seemingly on its way to a commanding victory, then missed all manner of shots until Cornell had tied the score in the second quarter. Penn retook the lead, built it to 12 in the third quarter, then scored just three points in the span of nearly five minutes. In the final quarter, a layup by Gayle pushed the Penn lead to 10 with 5:20 left, but a succession of misses allowed Cornell to come within two points with 1:14 left.
From that point, though, Cornell had to foul to get the ball back, and Penn built its winning margin at the charity stripe.
Penn (10-6, 1-2 Ivy) returns to the Palestra on Monday to host Harvard (13-2, 2-1), while Cornell (4-12, 0-3) hits the road to face Brown (7-9, 1-2).