PHILADELPHIA – The Cornell women's basketball team (7-12, 2-6 Ivy) hung with Penn over the course of the contest, but despite its persistence and refusal to back down, Penn (8-12, 3-5 Ivy) outlasted the Big Red for a 71-61 victory on Saturday at The Palestra.
Junior guard Shannon Mulroy paced three Cornell scorers in double figures with 16 points, marking the second time in the last three games that the Big Red has had three players amass double digits. Mulroy was on fire from downtown in the contest, draining a season-best 4-of-5 from behind the arc and accounting for four of Cornell's six 3-pointers in the contest. Senior forward Theresa Grace Mbanefo (12) and junior guard Ania McNicholas (11) joined Mulroy in double figures. Mbanefo added six boards and a pair of blocks, while McNicholas contributed three rebounds and a pair of assists and steals. Senior guard Samantha Will pulled down a team-high eight boards.
Sophomore guards Kaya Ingram and Mia Beam chipped in eight points apiece, combining to shoot seven-of-eight from the charity stripe in the contest. Beam was a perfect 2-of-2 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the free throw line en route to a career-high eight points in just under 10 minutes of action, with five of those points coming consecutively during a pivotal fourth quarter run that gave Cornell a chance to claw its way back in late.
It was evident from the early going that Saturday's battle between the Big Red and Quakers would be gritty, with Penn establishing the first notable lead, 15-11, after piecing together an 8-1 run over a two minute and 20 second span running to the 3:40 mark in the first quarter. Mulroy responded with a 6-0 run of her own, knocking down two 3-pointers in the final minute of the quarter, including one as time was expiring, to give Cornell a 17-15 lead.
The second quarter was another back-and-forth affair, with the first half totaling five ties and nine lead changes. With Penn claiming a five-point lead, 32-27, junior forward Anna Hovis scored back-to-back buckets to pull Cornell within one, 32-31. The four points for Hovis marked her first collegiate field goals and a career-high.
Despite the Big Red shooting .464 from the field and .429 from behind the arc in the first half as compared to Penn's .367 from the floor, the Quakers led by five at the half, 36-31. Penn made up the difference in two areas, shooting a perfect 9-of-9 from the charity stripe and outrebounding the Big Red 20-15, including 11-7 on the offensive glass.
Penn pulled away in the third quarter, however, and after scoring the last four points of the first half and the first seven of the second half, used an 11-0 run to extend its lead to 12, 43-31. The Big Red kept its nose to the grindstone, however, and after making just two field goals over the first 8:43 of the third quarter, Cornell went on a 7-0 run over the next minute to cut the deficit to nine, 52-43. An Ingram 3-pointer on a cross court overhead pass from freshman guard Lexi Green and a Beam 3-point play highlighted the run.
Cornell found itself trailing, 54-43, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and Penn once again created separation, opening the final frame on a 9-2 run to build the Quakers' biggest lead of the game, 63-45, with 5:25 remaining in the contest. The Big Red wasn't done yet, however, as Mulroy's fourth 3-pointer of the contest sparked a 14-4 run for Cornell over the next four minutes. Beam scored five-straight points after Mulroy's trey, and Cornell ultimately got within eight, 67-59, with 1:14 left in the game. It's as close as Cornell would get, however, as Penn would go on to the 71-61 victory.
The Cornell women's basketball team will be back in action next weekend when it goes head-to-head with Brown at 2 p.m. at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, R.I.
