PHILADELPHIA – Penn's hot shooting in the first half put the Cornell women's basketball team in a hole that it was unable to dig out of, as the Big Red fell to the Quakers, 63-41, on Saturday night at The Palestra in Philadelphia. With the loss, Cornell drops to 9-9 on the season and 2-4 in Ivy League play.
The Quakers did most of its damage in the first quarter, shooting 10-of-16 (62.5%) from the floor and 4-of-7 from behind the arc. Overall, Penn shot an impressive 51.7% from the floor in the first half while holding Cornell to just a 25.7 shooting percentage.
Penn's Phoebe Sterba had Cornell's number all night long, pouring in a game-high 22 points, including six 3-point field goals, and providing the Quakers with the foundation it needed to build a lead on the Big Red early on. Penn jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead on Cornell in the first quarter, with Sterba's first three coming just seconds after the opening tip. From here, Sterba racked up points fast, sinking three 3-pointers in the opening three and a half minutes of play and four in the opening period.
With the lead at 11-2 in favor of the Quakers, Cornell took a timeout to regroup, and was able to knock down a few buckets on the ensuing possessions out of the timeout. Laura Bagwell-Katalinich, Theresa Grace Mbanefo, and Samantha Widmann all put points on the board, building a mini 6-2 run that would pull Cornell within seven, 15-8, at the 3:30 mark in the first. However, Penn closed the quarter on a 9-2 run of its own, holding a 24-10 lead over the Big Red after 10 minutes of play.
Cornell settled down in the second quarter, and Halley Miklos provided the Big Red with the burst of energy that it needed to challenge the Quakers mid-way through the quarter. Miklos was a menace on the offensive glass, and after pulling down an offensive board, Samantha Will made the most of Cornell's second chance, converting a bank-shot in the lane with 6:21 remaining in the second. Several possessions later, Shannon Mulroy knocked down a 3-pointer to cut Penn's once-17 point lead down to 13 at 32-19. However, Penn scored five of the last seven points of the quarter, and after a Kendall Grasela 3-pointer, Cornell went into the locker room down 37-21.
The Big Red played evenly with the Quakers in the third, once again getting within 13 points toward the end of the period after going on an 8-2 run from the 3:04 mark in the third to 35 seconds remaining in the quarter. Perhaps the highlight of the run was Widmann's step-through transition lay-up, which helped Cornell cut its deficit to 48-35. However, Sterba hit two more 3-pointers in the third quarter, preventing the Big Red from gaining the momentum it needed to get any closer.
After entering the fourth quarter of play trailing 50-35, Penn outscored Cornell, 13-6, in the fourth quarter, rolling to a 63-41 victory over the Big Red.
Cornell was led by Bagwell-Katalinich and Miklos, who scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds apiece. Miklos' point total matched a season-high and she finished the contest with a team-high four offensive rebounds. The junior also notched a career-high two blocks.
Widmann tallied statistics in multiple categories, notching a team-high four assists, four points, five rebounds, and three steals.
In addition to Sterba, Penn's Eleah Parker (13) and Tori Crawford (10) both scored in double figures. The trio also pulled down seven, eight, and nine rebounds, respectively.
The Cornell women's basketball team will return to Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y. next weekend when it hosts Harvard on Friday, Feb. 14 at 6 p.m. and Dartmouth on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 5 p.m.
