Penn 78, Harvard 76
In Friday's battle for first place in Ivy League women's basketball, Penn (15-6, 6-1) came out the victor by a single field goal, leaving Harvard (13-6, 6-1) to play host to Princeton with its first Ivy loss.
The game was close all the way through, with neither team able to sustain a large margin over the other. Harvard started out with an 8-0 scoring run, but a subsequent 14-4 run by the Quakers set the tone of this back-and-forth game.
At halftime, a last-second layup by Penn senior Mandy West put the Quakers up by one point.
The second half was just as exciting. Penn exploded early, gaining a 16-point lead.
Harvard battled back, coming within one point several times. Behind by two in the last possession of the game, the Crimson went for the win with an ill-fated three-point attempt that hit the side of the rim and gave the Quakers the win.
Penn junior Diana Caramanico had the only double double of the game, recording a game-high 33 points and 11 rebounds. Harvard was led by senior Laela Sturdy, who scored 24 points in the game.
Yale 69, Cornell 59
Cornell (11-9, 3-5) visited Yale (9-12, 5-3) for this middle-of-the-pack Ivy match-up on Friday, but wasn't able to gain an Ivy win.
Yale's superior shooting skills brought them a halftime lead, 23-31, though the game was close throughout.
The fouling on the part of the Big Red may have cost them the game, as the Bulldogs went to the free throw line 33 times during play and made 78.8 percent of the charity shots.
Freshman Helene Schutrumpf led Yale to victory with 14 points, while sophomore Deborah Stevens chipped in a game-high 20 points for the Big Red.
Columbia 64, Brown 63
The Columbia Lions (4-16, 3-5) edged out the Brown Bears (5-17, 0-8) in Providence this Friday.
Columbia outplayed the Bears in the first half and took a 34-25 lead into the halftime break.
In the second half, things heated up when the Bears went on a 9-0 scoring run which tied up the game with five minutes left to play.
Columbia took the lead again, but not for long as the Bears evened things up. A free throw by Columbia's Shawnee Pickney, a junior, put the Lions ahead for good.
Pickney led her team with a double-double of 21 points and 14 rebounds. Brown freshman Barbara Maloni led scoring with 23 points.
Harvard 73, Princeton 67
The Princeton Tigers (4-17, 1-6) made a trip to Massachusetts on Saturday, only to leave with a loss to the Harvard Crimson.
Harvard dominated the first half of play, leading by as many as 15 points. The Crimson took a stable 43-34 lead into the second frame.
The Tigers would not be beaten easily, as they went on an 11-3 run with 12 minutes left to play, shaving Harvard's lead down to a paltry 57-54. The final minutes of the game were close, but it was the Crimson who emerged victorious, thanks in part to their making four of seven free throws in the last minute of play.
Sturdy led the Crimson once again with 19 points, and was one of four players in the double digits. The Tigers also had four double-digit scorers, including their top scorer, senior Maggie Langlas, who contributed 16 points.
Yale 64, Columbia 60
The Bulldogs earned their second win of the weekend over the Columbia Lions this Saturday in New Haven.
Yale played well during the first frame, shooting 56.5 percent from the field. They led by a 20-37 margin going into the second half.
Columbia trailed by as much as 20 points in the second half, but they managed to pull off a rally, tying the game at a score of 42-42. However, the Lions could not keep up the level of play, and the Bulldogs built up a lead that they never gave up.
Alyson Miller, a Yale junior, led her team and the game with 18 points. For the Lions, freshman Shaunte Edmonds scored 16 points for a team high.
Cornell 74, Brown 71
Last-place Brown was not able to hold onto the win on Saturday in Providence as Cornell took home the close victory.
The two teams were even during the first half, and they ended the frame in a 37-37 tie.
In the second half, the lead changed hands six times before the score was tied at 57 with 7:27 left to play. Cornell then took control of the game, going on an 8-0 run that cemented their lead and the win.
Cornell's Stevens, senior Jumana Salti, junior Jennifer Linker each chipped in 12 points for the team. Brown's Maloni scored a game- and career-high 30 points in the matchup.
The first place spot in the league is now in a three-way tie between Dartmouth, UPenn, and Harvard. Dartmouth faces UPenn again on Feb. 25, and Harvard plays the Quakers the very next day.
Next weekend, Harvard and Dartmouth are on the road again, with Harvard facing Brown on Friday and Yale on Saturday. Dartmouth faces Yale on Friday and Brown on Saturday.
Princeton and UPenn are traveling as well, as Princeton faces Columbia on Friday and Cornell on Saturday and UPenn plays Cornell on Friday and Columbia on Saturday.
