Penn Takes Home 62-57 Victory Over Princeton

Saturday, January 7

Princeton, N.J.

4:00 p.m.

Princeton University

6-8, 0-1Ivy

Penn.

7-4, 1-0Ivy

Penn

Princeton

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

January 07, 2017 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PRINCETON, N.J. – The Penn Quakers used a double-double from Michelle Nwokedi (13 points, 13 rebounds) as they defeated the Princeton Tigers, 62-57, at Jadwin Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon in each team's Ivy League opener.

Freshman Bella Alarie had a team-high 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting (63.6 percent) for the Tigers. Junior Leslie Robinson just missed a double-double finishing with 10 points, nine rebounds along with five assists. Sophomore Gabrielle Rush had a career-high 15 points in the loss.

The Quakers started off quickly, racing out to a 10-2 lead, making four of their first six shots. Princeton rallied, as a three-pointer by Rush was sandwiched between buckets from Robinson, put the home squad in front, 13-12. Following a timeout, the Quakers retook the lead on a trey from Anna Ross. The two teams went back and forth before a layup from Penn's Princess Aghayere put the Quakers ahead 19-17 after the first quarter.

As the second quarter went on, another long-distance basket from Rush tied the contest at 24-all with 4:55 left in the half. On the next trip down the floor, sophomore Caroline Davis' layup put the Tigers back ahead for the first time since the 2:38 mark of the previous quarter. After a three-pointer from Nwokedi, Princeton went on a 7-1 spurt to take a 33-28 into the intermission.

Four straight points from Alarie out of the locker room gave Princeton its largest lead, 37-30, just 1:18 into the stanza. The Quakers responded with seven of the next nine to cut its disadvantage to two (39-37), but Rush's third basket from beyond the arc would keep defending Ivy League champions at bay. Penn got within one during the quarter, but the Tigers maintained a 44-41 lead as the final 10 minutes got underway.

During the fourth stanza, a six-point outburst by Penn's Beth Brzowoski gave the Quakers' its first lead (51-48) since the second quarter leading to a Princeton timeout as the clock ticked near five minutes to go. A mid-range jumper from Alarie tied the Ivy League duel for a sixth time (51-51), but Brzowoski's third three-pointer on the next possession put the Quakers back on top.

Trailing by five, Alarie went on the attack as she hit a jumper, blocked a shot on the other end, then followed with a layup, making it a one-point game (58-57) with 26 seconds remaining. Penn sank four from the charity stripe as the contest went on while Princeton couldn't get on the board, giving the road squad a hard-fought victory.

Nwokedi finished with four blocks. Anna Ross (11 points) and Sydney Stipanovich (10 points) were the other Quakers in double figures. Kasey Chambers had seven points, a game-high eight assists and four steals in the win.

No team led by more than five points over the last 16 minutes. Each team held a lead during 44 percent of game time. The average margin of victory during Penn's three-game winning streak over Princeton has been three points.

Princeton dropped to 6-8 overall and 0-1 in the Ivy League while Penn improved to 7-4 and 1-0 in conference. Head coach Courtney Banghart's unit will welcome Brown (Jan. 13) and Yale (Jan. 14) to Jadwin next weekend. Tip-off for each game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.