PHILADELPHIA – The Big Red women's basketball team used a balanced offensive effort and a stifling defense to defeat Penn, 60-49, this evening at the Palestra. With the win, Cornell snaps a four-game losing streak to the Quakers improves to 13-6 on the season and 4-1 in Ivy League play. With the loss, Penn's first Ivy League home loss in more than a year, the Quakers slip to 11-7 overall and 2-2 in the conference.
 
Sophomore forward Nicholle Aston tallied her third double-double in four games, finishing with a game-high 17 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Aston hits 7-of-15 shots and filled out the stat line with two assists, two blocks and one steal. Sophomore guard Kerri Moran tallied 15 points, thanks in large part to a 6-of-8 performance from the foul line, grabbed a career-high eight rebounds, handed out three assists and had one steal. After a slow start, sophomore forward Nia Marshall finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, two steals, one block and one assist. Sophomore guard Megan LeDuc also had a solid game with nine points, five rebounds, a team-high four assists and three steals.
 
Cornell held the 43-38 edge in rebounds, including the advantage on the offensive boards (12-8), which led to 14 second chance points for the visitors. The Big Red also forced 14 Penn turnovers with nine steals, giving Cornell the 10-3 edge in points off turnovers. Cornell turned the ball over just five times, setting a school record for the fewest turnovers in a single game, besting the record of six which had previously been set twice before (at Penn in 2008; at Princeton on March 9, 1985).
 
Penn was led by Michelle Nwokedi's 11-point, 13-rebound double-double, while Kara Bonenberger and Kathleeen Roach chipped in 10 points each. Sydney Stipanovich, who averages 10.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per game was held to just five points and six rebounds while being harassed into six turnovers.
 
Cornell shot 41.2 percent from the floor (14-34) in the first half while holding the Quakers to just 36.4 percent overall (8-22). The Big Red used tough defense, which included forcing 10 Penn turnovers with five steals, to build a 31-20 halftime lead.
 
The Big Red's shooting dropped off significantly in the second half, as the visitors connected on just 33.3 percent overall to finish at 37.7 percent for the contest (23-61). The Quakers weren't able to take advantage, however, connecting on just 36.7 percent in the second half to finish at 36.5 for the game. Penn was able to take advantage of timely 3-point shooting in the second half to get back into the contest.    
 
Cornell led by as many as 18 points (38-20) early in the second half but saw the lead nearly evaporate as the Quakers used a 17-3 run to make it a four-point game (41-37) with just over nine minutes to play in the contest. But the Big Red fought back, using a running layup from Christine Kline, to jump start a 5-0 run and the home team never got back to within four points the rest of the way.
 
Both teams had their defensive schemes working in the early moments of the game but after a Stipanovich layup gave the home team an early 2-0 lead, Cornell responded with seven consecutive points to take a lead that it would not relinquish. LeDuc opened the scoring with a jumper in the paint before five consecutive points from Aston, including a traditional three-point play.
 
Melanie Locket ended the Cornell run, but Moran responded on Cornell's next possession with an elbow jumper as the shot clock expired. After another defensive stop by the Big Red, Aston hit a jumper in the paint to push Cornell's lead to 11-4. A single made free throw from Marshall capped a 12-2 run and put the visitors up, 12-4 with 12:35 on the clock.
 
Bonenberger hit a jumper from the elbow to cut Cornell's lead in half, 12-6, but Aston hit another big bucket, came up with a steal, and then hit Marshall for the baseline jumper to make it a 16-6 game.  The teams traded baskets to 20-10 with Aston and Moran scoring for the Big Red.
 
Penn got back into the game with six unanswered points after a layup from Bonenberger was followed by four straight points from Roche.
 
Another shot clock beater by Moran ended the Quaker run and consecutive jumpers by LeDuc and Aston pushed Cornell's lead back to double-digits 26-16 with less than three minutes to play in the half.
                                                                                                                                    
The teams battled back and forth for the rest of the half before LeDuc hit a trey at the buzzer to send Cornell into the intermission with the 31-20 lead. Aston went 5-of-6 from the floor to finish the first half with 11 points.
 
The Big Red opened the second half with seven unanswered points to make it a 38-20 game with 16:49 to play. Aston opened the run with a jumper before Marshall hit a foul line jumper and Moran nailed a trey.
 
Beth Brzozowski ended the Cornell run and started a 12-0 streak for the home team, a run that included three straight treys from three different Quakers to make it a 38-32 Big Red lead. Prior to that, Penn had gone 1-of-7 from beyond the arc.  
 
A single made free throw from Aston and a jumper from Marshall pushed Cornell's lead back to 41-32 with less than 12 minutes to play but the Quakers' Roche answered with another trey and a layup  from Nwokedi ended the 17-3 run.
 
After Kline's layup, the Big Red got a running layup from LeDuc, and a single made free throw from Aston to make it a 46-37 Big Red lead with just over four minutes to go in the contest.
 
The Quakers went on a 9-4 run to make it a two possession game (50-45) with 1:45 showing on the clock but a pair of made free throws from Kline ended the run. Penn's Nwokedi made it a five-point game once more when she hit two free throws with 1:25 to play, but Cornell used some tough defense and Moran hit four consecutive free throws on Cornell's next three possessions to help seal the victory for the Big Red.
 
The Big Red is back in action tomorrow evening when it travels to No. 18 Princeton take on the undefeated Tigers at Jadwin Gym at 6 p.m.