In this least predictable of Ivy women’s basketball seasons, it only makes sense that a fired-up Penn team would bounce back from a loss to Cornell to topple Columbia, 64-55, on Saturday in West Philly.
After all, it was just a day since Cornell had shot the lights out at the Palestra to beat Penn for the first time since the oldest of its players were in middle school. And Columbia was up the road in Princeton, giving the Tigers their first Ivy defeat of the season (and just their second overall). So Penn turned around for the win after six straight losses to Columbia, also breaking Columbia’s best-in-the-nation winning streak of 16 straight road games.
What’s more, Penn didn’t win through any sort of Columbia collapse or post-Princeton letdown. The Quakers kept pace with the Lions, maintained defensive pressure, worked the ball for good shots and played a complete game.
They won by hitting 40% of their shots, to the Lions’ 32%, and by working the ball inside instead of relying largely on threes. Columbia took a profligate 34 shots from downtown, sinking just seven (21%). Penn sank six threes of its 19 attempts (32%).
But it was hard, at first, to judge whether either team was capable of winning. A series of missed shots, turnovers and blocks produced zero points in the first two and a half minutes before Penn guard Mataya Gayle snagged an offensive rebound and fed center Tina Njike for a turnaround jumper. The two teams traded baskets and misses, with neither side leading by more than two points, and that was the difference in Columbia’s favor after the first quarter. In the second quarter, Columbia built as much as a five-point lead, but Penn forward Katie Collins erased that in the final minute of the half with an offensive rebound and layup, soon followed by a three for a halftime tie.
The back-and-forth continued through the third quarter and into the fourth. Riley Weiss kept Columbia close with clutch threes. Weiss finished with a game-high 23 points on 8-for-23 shooting as well as seven rebounds and four steals. Perri Page had 10 points and five rebounds for the Tigers. And Columbia stayed in the game with success on the offensive boards – a whopping 21 of them (compared with Penn’s 12).
But Penn took the lead back a minute into the fourth quarter and never gave it up, building a cushion of as much as 10 points and preventing a Columbia comeback.
Gayle was one of four Quakers in double figures, with 16 points on 6-for-13 shooting plus seven assists. Njike had a double-double, with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Brooke Suttle had 11 points, and Simone Sawyer had 10.
With half the Ivy season still to go, it’s hard to say that this was a must win for Penn, but 3-4 in the conference looks a lot better than 2-5 would with seven games to go. Penn goes to Princeton (18-2,6-1 Ivies) on Feb. 6. Columbia (14-6, 5-2) plays Cornell (8-12, 3-4).