Last weekend, Harvard and Penn received a golden opportunity to reclaim first place in the Ivy League -- which Dartmouth took over two weeks ago -- after the Big Green lost at Princeton on Saturday.
But Penn lost its Friday match-up with Dartmouth and then on Saturday defeated the Crimson, who had earlier beaten Princeton, giving all three of the League's top teams a 1-1 weekend and maintaining the standings with the Big Green still leading by a game.
Harvard 47, Princeton 43
The Harvard women's basketball team (15-8, 8-3 Ivy) narrowly avoided a significant upset Friday to retain second place in the Ivy League with a victory at Princeton (7-18, 4-7).
The two teams played closely throughout, with six ties and six lead changes. Despite five consecutive field goals by the Crimson to open the game, the Tigers were able to hang in and only trailed 25-22 at the half.
The game see-sawed back and forth and the two teams found themselves in a 41-41 stalemate with less than two minutes remaining. The Crimson emerged with the victory, though, thanks to three critical free throws in the final minute.
Laela Sturdy had 12 points and eight rebounds for Harvard while Hillary Roser added 11 in the losing effort.
Yale 53, Columbia 65
Columbia (6-18, 5-7) tied a team record for wins Friday night with a victory over Yale (10-15, 6-6).
The Lions led for most of the contest until Yale fought back and tied the game at 47-47 with just over six minutes remaining. Catherine Tubridy nailed a three-pointer with 2:45 left to give Columbia a 56-53 lead, and the Bulldogs couldn't draw any closer the remainder of the game.
Shawnee Picknet came off the Lions' bench to lead all scorers with 18 points.
Brown 70, Cornell 64
Thanks to Barbara Maloni's 27 points, Brown (8-18, 3-9) emerged with a victory at Cornell (11-13, 3-9) on Friday.
After a close first half ended with a 33-26 Bears advantage, Brown exploded with an 11-2 run to open the second half and increase its lead to 16, the biggest of the game. The Big Red reorganized, and countered with a 15-2 run that brought the score to 49-47. Brown was overwhelming, however, and responded with an 8-3 run that sealed the victory.
Katie Romey came off the bench to lead Cornell with a career-high 19 points on seven-for-10 shooting from the field.
Penn 79, Harvard 66
Penn (17-8, 8-3) kept the conference race exciting with its second victory of the season against Harvard Saturday night, just one day after being swept itself by Dartmouth. With the victory, Penn set a school record for wins in a season with 17.
The Quakers came out firing and blew open the game, taking a 26-13 lead. They held a 41-29 advantage at halftime.
The Crimson mounted a 16-7 run midway through the second half to bring the game to within four, but Penn immediately countered to increase its lead to 10.
The Quakers were able to close out the win thanks to 13-for-16 shooting from the free throw line in the final two minutes. Diana Caramanico led all scorers with 31 points and added 10 rebounds to earn her 10th consecutive double-double. Mandy West added 23 points.
Bree Kelley led the Crimson with 19 points. The victory moved the Quakers into a tie with Harvard for second in the Ivies, one game behind Dartmouth.
Yale 58, Cornell 53
Lily Glick scored a team-high 14 points to lead Yale to a win Saturday night in Ithaca.
Early on, it looked as if the game would be a blowout as Yale jumped to a 34-15 halftime lead thanks in part to six-for-22 shooting (27.3 percent) from the field by the Big Red.
In the opening moments of the second period, the Bulldogs climbed to a 20-point lead, the biggest of the game, before Cornell mustered a valiant 20-4 run over a seven-minute span. The Big Red got as close as 51-49 with two minutes remaining before Yale pulled away at the end on seven-for-eight shooting.
Kristie Riccio led Cornell with 16 points.
Brown 70, Columbia 65
After starting Ivy League play with eight consecutive losses, Brown won the third out of its last four conference games with a victory at Columbia Saturday evening.
Columbia raced out to an early lead and at the close of the half, held a slim 31-26 advantage. The Bears caught on fire in the second half, however, and ignited a crippling 10-2 run to take the lead and keep it.
Brown's Barbara Maloni led all scorers with 27 points. Columbia was led by Shaunte Edmonds who scored 18 points and added five blocks.
Brown led by as many as 12 points in the game.
