Quakers Nip Big Green, 56-53

Saturday, February 24

Philadelphia, Pa.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

Penn

Taylor Named Ivy Player of the Year, Three Others Earn All-Ivy Honors

2/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

Philadelphia ? Penn's Ashley Gray hauled in an offensive rebound and hit two free-throws with just four seconds remaining to ice a dramatic 56-53 win for her team at the Palestra tonight.

Dartmouth falls to 13-12 (7-4 Ivy) while Penn improves to 10-14 (5-6 Ivy).

Dartmouth senior Ashley Taylor (Cookeville, Tenn.) scored 20 points including 14 in the second half in a gutsy performance. The Big Green shot only 38.6 percent from the floor while Penn was a solid 47.8 percent, including six costly triples.

Penn opened the game with a triple from senior Monica Naltner to get her squad rolling. The Big Green rallied and held a modest 6-5 lead after a Taylor triple at 15:32, but the visitors would not lead again for the rest of the half.

The Quakers answered with back-to-back threes to go up 11-6 at 14:07 before junior Sydney Scott (Houston, Texas) pulled Dartmouth back in it with six-straight points. Kimberly Franklin banked in a three at 3:15 to put Penn up 26-19. The Big Green buckled down defensively and went on a 6-0 run before a big offensive rebound and putback by Gray gave Penn a 28-25 halftime lead.

Poor shooting plagued the Big Green in the first half, as the squad connected on just 36 percent of its shots, and only 20 percent from three-point range while the Quakers shot a sizzling 52.5 percent from the floor.

Dartmouth started the second half with a jumper by Kristen Craft (Marshalltown, Iowa), which began a back-and forth opening of the period. Taylor jumpstarted a 14-6 Big Green run with a triple at 14:09 that would give her team its largest lead, up 49-40 at 6:19.

Penn would not back down, however, and went on a 14-0 tear to gain a 54-49 advantage with just 36 seconds left in the contest. Craft then hit a clutch triple with 23 seconds left to pull the Big Green within two before her team forced a five-second violation on the Quakers' ensuing inbounds play. Dartmouth was unable to capitalize and forced to foul Penn's Lauren Pears, who missed the front end of a one-and-one and Dartmouth grabbed the board.

The Big Green got the ball back down the court and Taylor was fouled by Naltner. Taylor hit one of two free-throws to take it to 54-53, Penn with six seconds left. Dartmouth had a glimmer of hope when Naltner missed the first free-throw of a one-and-one but Gray got the offensive board and hit two free-throws to seal it for Penn.

Taylor added four assists, four rebounds, one block and one steal to her 20-point effort. Scott was Dartmouth's second leading scorer with 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

Naltner finished with 12 points and seven boards and Pears had 10 points and six assists for Penn.

The Big Green will be back in action on Friday when it hosts Columbia at 7:00 p.m. at Leede Arena.