ITHACA, N.Y. – The Penn women's basketball team ended the second and began the third quarter with a 16-2 run to blow open what had been a four-point game, and then held off a fourth quarter surge by the Big Red to earn the 59-46 victory this evening in Newman Arena. The contest was another in a long line of defensive battles between the two teams, marking the 11th time in the last 16 meetings that one team was held below 50 points.
 
Cornell junior Laura Bagwell-Katalinich was outstanding, reaching double-digits in her 10th straight game as she led the home team with 20 points to go along with six rebounds, three steals and two assists. Caitlyn Smith came off the bench and scored nine points, all during the fourth quarter, and Samantha Widmann pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.  
 
Penn improved to 12-3 overall and 2-0 in the Ivy League on the strength of Eleah Parker's 26-point, 12-rebound double-double. She also blocked six shots and finished with two assists and one steal. Phoebe Sterba (11) and Princess Aghayere (10) both finished in double-digits.
 
Neither team shot particularly well, with the Quakers hitting just .371 percent overall (26-70) and a mere .167 from 3-point range (5-30), while Cornell connected on .308 percent from the floor (16-52) and .182 from beyond the arc (2-11).
 
Both teams finished with 41 rebounds, but Cornell turned the ball over 21 times to just 13 miscues by the visitors.
 
The game started as a back-and-forth battle featuring five ties and four lead changes. Both Bagwell-Katalinich and Parker finished the quarter with six points for their respective teams and the squads entered the first break tied at 12-12.
 
Penn's Kendall Grasela hit a trey to open the second quarter, but Cornell responded immediately with an offensive putback from Halley Miklos. The Big Red kept within striking distance, as a jumper from Kate Sramac made it a 22-18 game before the Quakers embarked on their decisive run.
 
The visitors took their largest lead, 46-23, with 2:12 to play in the third quarter, before a layup by Bagwell-Katalinich opened up a 10-2 Big Red run that spanned the end of the third and start of the fourth quarter. Cornell eventually got the Penn lead down to 13 points (52-39) with 3:33 to play, but that was as good as it would get.
 
Cornell (7-7, 1-2 Ivy) is back in action tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 2, when it welcomes Princeton for a contest at 5 p.m.