Princeton Falls In Ivy League Regular Season Finale At Penn

Tuesday, March 7

Philadelphia, Pa.

7:00 p.m.

Princeton University

15-12, 9-5Ivy

Penn.

20-7, 13-1Ivy

Princeton

Penn

Photo by: Kobus Reyneke

Princeton Falls In Ivy League Regular Season Finale At Penn

March 07, 2017 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The Pennsylvania Quakers defeated the Princeton Tigers, 52-40, at The Palestra on Tuesday evening to finish the Ivy League regular season.

The Tigers will now turn their focus to the Ivy League Tournament. Princeton, the No. 2 seed, will take on Harvard, the No. 3 seed, in the second women's semifinal on Saturday at 6:30 p.m., at The Palestra. Penn., the No. 1 seed, battles, the No. 4 seed, Brown, at 11 a.m.

Bella Alarie finished with seven points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Her two swats give her 47 on the season, three shy of tying the program's single-season record. Leslie Robinson had eight points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists in the loss.

Trailing by two, Penn rattled off eight consecutive points to take a 11-5 advantage with 6:23 remaining in the first quarter. The Tigers got as close as two in the frame, but an 8-3 push by the Quakers set the score at 19-12 after 10 minutes. Alarie was perfect from floor, scoring five points.

Princeton's offense started quickly in the second quarter, ripping off eighth straight points, taking its first lead of the game, 20-19, with 7:36 to go. Penn's Michelle Nwokedi's trey put the home team back in front, 22-20, less than two minutes later. Despite only scoring one basket the rest of the stanza, the Tigers faced just a six-point deficit, 30-24, at halftime.

Vanessa Smith recorded the first basket of the second half to get the Tigers within four, but back-to-back three-pointers from Penn pushed its lead back to double-digits (36-26) as the clock ticked under seven minutes. Princeton trailed 45-32 after three stanzas.

In the final quarter, Princeton's defense held Penn to just one basket, but could only get as close as 11 with 2:49 to go in the game. Penn hit three free throws over the last 65 seconds to seal the victory. Anna Ross had a game-high 14 points while Michelle Nwokedi dropped in 13 for the Quakers in the victory.

Princeton drops to 15-12 overall and 9-5 in the Ivy League while Penn improved to 20-7 this season and 13-1 in the conference.