Stina Almqvist leads Penn women’s basketball past Cornell, 67-54

Stina Almqvist got a ESPN+ interview after Penn’s 67-54 win over Cornell at the Palestra Monday. (ESPN+)
Stina Almqvist’s career-high 26 points and 10 rebounds propelled the Penn women’s basketball team to a 67-54 Martin Luther King Jr. Day win over Cornell in the Quakers’ Ivy home opener.
Almqvist, the 6-foot-1 junior guard from Sweden, has made the jump this season from dependable role player — with 11 minutes a game last season — to leading scorer and constant presence (37 minutes on Monday). Penn has two other players averaging in double points, but on an afternoon when neither of them had a dominant performance, Almqvist came through, repeatedly weaving to the hoop through Cornell defenders and hitting 10 of 18 shots.
Penn senior forward Jordan Obi had 14 points and nine rebounds, but foul trouble limited her playing time. Junior guard Lizzy Groetsch helped fill the gap and scored 10 points on 3-for-4 shooting. And freshman point guard Mataya Gayle had half of Penn’s 14 assists on the afternoon but was uncharacteristically cold from the floor, shooting 1-for-9.
“Mataya’s awesome, so, like, even though she’s cold she’s such a playmaker,” Almqvist told Ivy Hoops Online afterward. “Even though the ball maybe didn’t go in today, she did so many great things for us. I’m confident every time she gets the ball.”
Cornell kept things close through the first half, leading 14-12 after the first quarter (its biggest lead) and staying close through the half on 10-of-30 shooting. But Penn had the hotter hand, shooting 9-for-23 in the first two periods to take a five-point lead into halftime, and the young Big Red team didn’t sink a three all day. Sophomore forward Summer Parker-Hall and junior guard Kaya Ingram led Cornell with 14 points apiece, and Parker-Hall had seven rebounds.
In the second half, the Quakers’ lead expanded to double digits, the Big Red began to harass them with a full-court press, and the Quakers repeatedly struggled to break it.
“I think we got a little stressed, but then we took some timeouts and we tried to figure it out,” Almqvist said.

In any case, the Big Red couldn’t capitalize on enough of Penn’s turnovers. Although Penn had more turnovers in the game (15 to Cornell’s 12), Penn had more points from turnovers (12 to 10).

Cornell (6-9, 0-3 Ivy) will host a strong Brown team (11-5, 2-1) on Saturday, while Penn (10-6, 2-1) hits the road again to play Harvard (9-7, 2-1).

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 77-60 loss at Cornell

There was nary a Cornell player within 10 feet of Tyler Perkins when the guard set up in the right corner for an open three-pointer as Penn looked to get into its offense down just 36-35 to the Big Red with 17:13 to play.

Junior Reese McMullen spotted Perkins as he crossed halfcourt and rifled a pass with his left hand … that bounced just past the freshman and out of bounds.

It was all downhill after that for Penn, which fell at Cornell, 77-60, after the Big Red unloaded for 49 points in the second half after trailing by three at halftime.

Cornell (12-3, 2-0 Ivy) hit 10 threes in the second half after a rough shooting start, and its pressure defense did the rest. Penn (9-8, 1-1) committed 17 turnovers over the course of the afternoon.

The Quakers have plenty to ponder ahead of a pivotal Palestra showdown with Harvard on Saturday. They can start with how …

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Columbia women’s basketball defeats Cornell to go 2-0 in Ivy League play

It wasn’t the prettiest game, but Columbia women’s basketball still cruised to an 82-53 victory over Cornell Saturday afternoon at Levien Gymnasium.

With the team’s ninth straight win, the Lions (11-4, 2-0 Ivy) are undefeated in league play and tied with Princeton and Brown at the top of the standings. Cornell (6-8, 0-2), meanwhile, is winless in the conference and knotted up with Yale and Dartmouth at the bottom of the table.

In last year’s regular season finale, Columbia clinched its first-ever Ivy League title at home but was kept on its heels by Cornell. The Lions had to go an extra five minutes for the historic victory. The difficult win dropped the Lions’ NET rating and moved them to the No. 2 seed in the Ivy League Tournament.

With a quick turnaround on Monday against Yale and a showdown at Princeton set for next Saturday, Columbia looked to avoid a repeat of last year’s Empire State battle.

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Nazir Williams leads Cornell men’s basketball to Ivy League-opening win over Columbia

Junior guard Nazir Williams led Cornell to a 91-79 win over Columbia Tuesday night. (Cornell Athletics)

ITHACA, N.Y. – For the first time this season, Brian Earl finally gave junior guard Nazir Williams the nod to start. After an offseason knee procedure, he had been coming off bench and playing fewer minutes than last year.

Naturally, he delivered.

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Three players to watch for Cornell men’s basketball heading into Ivy League play

Cornell men’s basketball huddles up at Baylor’s Foster Pavilion Tuesday. (Photo by Noah Weber)

Cornell men’s basketball headed into Tuesday night’s out-of-conference matchup against the No. 18 Baylor Bears with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The Big Red were sitting at 10-2 on the year and playing their best basketball of the season as of late. Heading into its matchup with Baylor, Cornell had won seven of its last eight games.

Although Cornell fell 98-79 at Baylor Tuesday, there is still plenty to be excited about if you’re a Big Red fan. Here are three players to watch heading into conference play: 

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Cornell men’s basketball handles Siena, 95-74

Cornell senior guard Chris Manon posted nine points and four rebounds in 12 minutes in the Big Red’s win at Siena Tuesday. (Photo by Nathan Solomon)

ALBANY, N.Y. — In its first game back from a two-week break, Cornell men’s basketball did what it does best – light up the box score.

Behind a scorching 54% effort from the field in the first half, the Big Red defeated lowly ranked Siena 95-74 on Tuesday at MVP Arena.

“It’s good to see shots going in a tough environment,” Cornell coach Brian Earl said. “In the beginning, we couldn’t get out and run as much as I had hoped. [Siena] did a good job sort of controlling things, and then it loosened up a little bit.

“Most of the game we played hard, which was fun to watch.”

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Cornell men’s basketball falls short to Syracuse, 81-70

Guess it will just have to wait at least one more year.

Cornell men’s basketball’s Mount Everest remained unscaled once again in the 2023 edition of their game against Syracuse, falling to the Orange 81-70 at the JMA Wireless Dome Tuesday.

But the game came down to the final minute. With 2:59 remaining, senior guard Isaiah Gray threw down a thunderous dunk over Syracuse redshirt sophomore guard Kyle Cuffe Jr. to cut it down to three. Sophomore guard J.J. Starling connected on a mid-range jumper shortly after, and four free throws and two late slams later, the Orange walked away with another double-digit victory over the visitors from East Hill.

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