Pity the Dartmouth women’s basketball team. It rolled into the Palestra against a bigger, faster Penn team that needed the win for a chance at the postseason, and it got flattened.
The Palestra
Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 87-81 loss to Cornell
Penn did just about everything right against Cornell on Friday night at the Palestra.
The Quakers came out with more energy despite having no postseason hopes, forcing eight turnovers in the game’s first eight minutes. They hit 15 three-pointers on 33 attempts. They built a 14-point lead in the second half.
It still wasn’t enough.
The Big Red staved off a Quakers upset bid thanks to the efforts of AK Okereke, who backed up into an uncontested go-ahead three-point jumper with 2:12 to go that put Cornell up for good in an 87-81 win. Okereke finished with a team-high 18 points for Cornell (21-5, 10-2 Ivy).
Penn (10-17, 2-10) got two clean three-point looks to tie from star freshmen Sam Brown and Tyler Perkins in the final two minutes, but neither went down. It’s been that kind of season for the Red and Blue.
What did Penn fans learn from a game effort against one of the best teams in the Ivy League?
Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 71-64 loss to Brown
PHILADELPHIA — Brown struck the coup de grace on any realistic hopes Penn had of a miracle run to Ivy Madness on Saturday night.
The death blow at the Palestra came in the form of a killer 13-2 run after the Quakers had tied the game at 47 with about eight minutes to go in the game. The Bears’ Kino Lilly Jr. capped it off with a dagger three-pointer to make it 60-49 with 3:14 to play. Penn showed a bit of late life, but it wasn’t enough in what wound up being a 71-64 loss to Brown (7-17, 3-6 Ivy).
It is hard to believe that Penn (9-15, 1-8) has collapsed like this after a nonconference campaign that included a signature win over Villanova and plenty of indicators that the team was heading in the right direction.
But this is the bed the Quakers have made for themselves.
What could Penn fans take away from a miserable evening?
Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 76-62 loss to Yale
PHILADELPHIA — For about 12 minutes in the first half, it looked like Penn and Yale were gearing up for another classic battle Friday at the Palestra.
Then the Bulldogs flipped the switch. Yale used an extended 25-4 run at the end of the first half to take control of the game and never let the hosts back in it in the second half. Final score: Yale 76, Penn 62.
The catalyst for the decisive run came right at the under-eight media timeout for Yale.
Penn junior Nick Spinoso was called for a foul while trying to defend a transition layup attempt from Ivy Player of the Year candidate Danny Wolf, then got a technical foul for arguing with the referees. Wolf and Yale junior guard John Poulakidas sank four free throws on the other side of the break to give the Bulldogs their first multi-possession lead of the game.
Yale (17-6, 8-0 Ivy) and Penn (9-14, 1-7) are two teams heading in opposite directions. Yale has now won 10 games in a row and looks like a team that is justifying every bit of its lofty preseason expectations. The Red and Blue have now lost seven straight, the worst losing streak of Steve Donahue’s coaching tenure at Penn.
There’s not much to say about another generally miserable affair, other than …
Four Quakeaways from Penn women’s basketball’s loss to No. 25 Princeton
My friends Steve Silverman and George “Toothless Tiger” Clark did a fine job covering No. 25 Princeton women’s basketball’s win at Penn, so (with apologies to Ian Wenik, the Quakeaways man), here are four Quakeaways from Saturday’s game:
Three Tiger Takeaways from No. 25 Princeton women’s basketball’s triumph at Penn
The No. 25 Princeton women’s basketball team fended off a furious Penn rally in the second half to win its 13th straight game, 67-54, at the Palestra on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers never trailed after taking a 4-3 lead off a layup by Madison St. Rose with just under eight minutes to play in the first quarter.
But don’t be fooled by the final score – this game was closely contested from the opening tip and the Tigers were fortunate to come out on top. Here are three Tiger Takeaways from Princeton’s 13th straight win:
LISTEN: Q&A with Carla Berube after No. 25 Princeton women’s basketball’s win at Penn
No. 25 Princeton women’s basketball notched a 67-54 win at archrival Penn Saturday. Tigers coach Carla Berube reflects on the clutch play of senior forward Ellie Mitchell, senior guard Chet Nweke’s emergence as a leader and more after the win for Princeton (18-3, 8-0 Ivy) over Penn (11-10, 3-5) with Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark:
Yale women’s basketball comes back for 74-68 overtime win at Penn
Reports of the death of the Yale women’s basketball season have been greatly exaggerated.
Columbia women’s basketball trounces Penn, 85-55
A week after falling short at Princeton, Columbia women’s basketball invaded the Palestra for an emphatic, wire-to-wire win Saturday over Penn, 85-55.
As she so often does, senior Abbey Hsu led the onslaught: 28 points on 10-for-17 shooting, including a deadly 6-for-10 on three-pointers, plus 10 rebounds. With 1,879 career points, she’s just a few games from becoming the first Columbia player — men’s or women’s — to hit 2,000.
Hsu told ESPN+ the focus leading up to the game — in fact, all season — has been on defense.
“We had lapses where, you know, it wasn’t Columbia basketball here, but I think overall we did make a huge step from last week, and that’s all you can ask for, is to get better every week,” Hsu said.
It wasn’t just Hsu.