PHILADELPHIA – The Cornell University women's basketball team jumped out to a nine-point lead midway through the first half of play, but couldn't rebound from a 13-0 scoring run by Penn, as the Quakers took a hard-fought 62-50 victory this evening at the Palestra.
Penn (8-18, 5-7) was led by Carrie Beimer's 16 points and eight rebounds. Sarah Bucar and Erin Power scored 12 and 10 points, respectively and pulled down seven rebounds apiece.
Both teams shot extremely well in the first half, with Cornell connecting on 46.7 percent from the floor and the Quakers shooting 43.8 percent, but the Big Red suffered from a cold spell in the second half, hitting just 21.2 percent overall to finish at 33.3 percent for the game. The Quakers, however, managed to hit 36.7 percent in the second half to finish at 40 percent for the game.
The Quakers held the slight advantage in rebounds, 42-40, and both teams turned the ball over 13 times.
The game was an evenly matched one for the first seven minutes, as Beimer and Scarselletta played a game of one-upmanship, with each player accounting for eight of its team's first 12 points.
After a jumper in the lane by Benson knotted the game at 12-12, Benson took a hard charge on the defensive end to give the ball back to Cornell. Fedorowicz responded on the next trip down the court and went onto score Cornell's next five points to make it a 19-12 game at the 11:25 mark. A brilliant inbounds play under the basket gave Vlasic her first points of the game and extended the Big Red lead to nine points before Power ended the five-minute Penn scoreless drought with an offensive putback.
Back-to-back buckets by Katarina Lackner and Caitlin Slover made it a five-point game, but Benson ended the run with a long two, and a baseline jumper by Vlasic made it a 27-18 game with 4:24 to go before the half.
Three straight 3-pointers from Slover, Bucar and Kelly Scott knotted the game, 27-27, with just under two minutes to play in the half. Benson ended the Cornell drought with a running jumper from the right elbow, but Lackner answered right back with a layup. A jumper by Bucar and a traditional three-point play by Power sent the home team into the intermission with the 33-29 lead.
After trading baskets to open the second half, Penn used an 8-0 scoring run to open up a 10-point lead, 43-33, at the 17:10 mark.
Once again, Benson ended the Quaker run, but back-to-back fast-break buckets and a single free throw by Power extended the Penn lead to 13 points, 48-35, with 12:25 to play. A long 3-pointer from the top of the key gave
Virginia McMunigal her first points of the game. Neither team managed any offense for the next four minutes before Vlasic connected on a long 2-pointer from just inside the arc to make it a 48-40 game, but Slover responded with a trey as the shot clock expired to return the Penn lead to double-digits.
The teams traded baskets for the next four minutes before Cornell was forced to foul in an attempt to cut into the lead. Penn manage to hit just 5-of-9 from the charity stripe down the stretch, but it was enough to hold on for the 62-50 victory.
The Big Red is back in action tomorrow evening as it wraps up the regular season at Princeton. Cornell and the Tigers will tip-off in Jadwin Gym at 6 p.m.
