ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red women's basketball team used stout defense, tough rebounding, and some timely shooting to hand Penn its first Ivy League loss of the season, 51-46, tonight in Newman Arena. With the win, Cornell improves to 14-11 overall (6-4 Ivy), while the Quakers slip to 20-4 (9-1 Ivy).
 
Junior forward Nicholle Aston finished with 16 points, including eight of Cornell's nine points in the final quarter, to lead the Big Red. Classmate Nia Marshall filled out the stat line with 13 points, nine rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block, while senior Maddie Campbell had a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with five points. Junior point guard Megan LeDuc posted a career-high 10 assists, with no turnovers, to go along with six points and five rebounds, while Kerri Moran finished with nine points, six rebounds and two assists.
 
Penn was led by Sydney Stipanovich's 16 points and eight rebounds, but she was held to just four points after halftime. Anna Ross also reached double digits (12) and chipped in one assist, one steal and one block.
 
Cornell held the 41-35 advantage in rebounding on a night when neither team shot particularly well. The Big Red connected on just .345 overall (19-55) and .375 from 3-point range (3-8), while Penn shot just .362 overall (21-58) and a meager .133 from beyond the arc (2-15).
 
COACH SMITH'S QUOTES
I'm just so happy and proud of the team. It was a gutsy performance. This night [Play 4Kay] means a lot to us. We talked about it before the game. Each of us have someone we wanted to dedicate this game to that's been effected by cancer. Just now in the locker room I told them that whoever they named before the game, they made them proud. It was a great team effort.
 
Penn is a very good defensive team. We wanted to move the ball quickly and hit a couple early threes to make the zone extend out and not collapse in the high post ... and we weren't hitting those shots early. We missed some shots. We had a lot of open looks that we could have knocked down but didn't. I think our defense really stirred our energy and got us focused on what we needed to do.  
 
TURNING POINT
The teams battled through four ties in a back-and-forth effort before the Big Red used a 7-1 run late in the second quarter to snatch a lead it would not relinquish. With the game tied at 20-20 following a layup from Ross, the Big Red came up with a stop and a quick outlet pass from LeDuc led to a jumper in transition from Moran. On Cornell's next possession, the duo teamed up again, this time with Moran hitting LeDuc for a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The Big Red completed the run after a turnover from Stipanovich led to jumper from Aston to make it a 27-21 game.
 
HOW IT ENDED
Penn cut Cornell's lead down to one-point twice in the fourth quarter, but each time Aston had the answer. A layup from Ross made it a 44-43 contest with 5:31 to play, but after trading turnovers, Moran used a brilliant pass to find Aston at the foul line and the junior forward converted.
 
Just under three minutes later, Ross again made it a one-point game (47-46) with a 3-pointer with 2:24 to play. Both teams had ample opportunities to score, but it took nearly two minutes before Aston knocked down a jumper from just inside the 3-point line to put the home team back up by three, 49-46, with 42 seconds to play.
 
Cornell's defense was outstanding on Penn's final possession and Marshall cut off Michelle Nwokedi's drive to the basket, and then pulled down the rebound off the miss, forcing the Quakers to foul. Aston knocked down both shots to account for the 51-46 final.  
 
UP NEXT
The Big Red will celebrate Senior Night tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 27 vs. Princeton, as Maddie Campbell will play her final game at Newman Arena. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m.