ITHACA, N.Y. – Penn turned up the heat on defense, and the Cornell women's basketball team struggled to derail the Quakers' defensive schemes, falling on Friday night, 67-46, at Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y.
Everywhere the Big Red looked on the floor, a Quaker seemed to be there, both in the half court and the full court. Penn applied relentless pressure on Cornell, and the Big Red were unable to play at its desired pace of play. The Quakers sped up the Big Red and forced Cornell into 24 turnovers, diminishing the Big Red's chances of getting into a rhythm on offense. Penn made the Big Red pay for its miscues, scoring 23 points off of Cornell's turnovers. A large portion of these were in transition, a category in which the Quakers dominated the stat sheet. Penn scored 20 fast break points while holding Cornell scoreless in transition, completely shutting down the Big Red's ability to run the floor.
This, combined with Penn's solid shooting from the floor and ability to piece together runs, led to the Big Red's demise. After shooting 46.7% from the floor (7-of-15) in the opening quarter of play, including 4-of-9 from behind the arc, Penn built a 20-9 lead through 10 minutes of play. The Quakers ended the quarter on a 10-2 run which included a pair of Phoebe Sterba 3-pointers. Cornell shot just 23.1% from the floor in the first quarter, making it difficult to keep up with Penn.
The Big Red showed fight in the second quarter, cutting the Quaker lead down to six, 24-18, with 6:03 remaining in the first half. Kate Sramac, Stephanie Umeh, and Theresa Grace Mbanefo all knocked down buckets in the opening four minutes of the second quarter to help keep Cornell within striking distance. However, Penn once again went on a scoring streak, scoring the next 10 points of the contest over a three-minute span to extend its lead back to 16, 34-18. The Quakers would enter the locker room with a 15 point lead over the Big Red, 39-24.
The Quakers opened the second half just as it did the first, shooting hot in the third quarter. Penn went 6-of-11 (56.5%) from the field in the third while limiting Cornell to just 15.4% (2-of-13) shooting from the floor. Penn built a 25-point lead, 56-31, by the end of the third quarter and closed out the game in the fourth, going on to secure a 67-46 victory.
The boards were a bright spot for Cornell on Friday night, as the Big Red out-rebounded the Quakers, 34-18, including 12-7 on the offensive glass. Mbanefo was the catalyst behind this effort, pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds while chipping in a team-high six points.
Three other Big Red student-athletes scored six points for Cornell, including Samantha Widmann, Shannon Mulroy, and Samantha Will. After tonight, Widmann is just three points away from moving into 12th all-time in Cornell history in career points. Sramac and Widmann each tallied three assists in the loss, while Danielle Jorgenson recorded two helpers and a team-high four steals. Jorgenson single-handedly accounted for half of Cornell's steals as a team (8).
Penn was led by Eleah Parker and Kayla Padilla who each scored a game-high 16 points. Kennedy Suttle paced the Quakers on the boards, notching a team-high seven rebounds to go along with nine points. Kendall Grasela was awfully close to posting a point-assist double-double, finishing the contest with nine points and a game-high nine assists.
The Cornell women's basketball team will play its final contest of the season tomorrow against No. 21 Princeton at 5 p.m. at Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y. Prior to the game, the Big Red will take time to honor its six seniors – Laura Bagwell-Katalinich, Dylan Higgins, Danielle Jorgenson, Reena Olsen, Stephanie Umeh, and Samantha Widmann.
