Gritty Performance, But Big Green Fall in Final Minutes at Penn

Saturday, March 2

Philadelphia, PA.

6:00 PM

Dartmouth College

12-13

Penn

20-5

Dartmouth

Penn

Photo by: Bryan LaFountaine

Gritty Performance, But Big Green Fall in Final Minutes at Penn

3/2/2019 7:57:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Dartmouth stayed with Penn the entire game, but came up short at the end

By: Mike Miezejeski

PHILADELPHIA – Dartmouth played a gritty brand of basketball, battling the entire game and had its chances in the final minutes, but fell short to Penn at The Palestra, 56-52.

Coupled with a Yale win at Columbia, the Big Green (12-13, 5-7 Ivy) fall into fifth place in the Ivy League standings but are still very much alive in the tournament hunt with two games left to play. The Quakers (20-5, 10-2 Ivy) are still tied for first place with Princeton in the standings.

Islays Quinones led the Big Green with 13 points, scoring nine of them in the fourth quarter, and five rebounds. Kealy Brown was in double figures as well with 10 points to go along with three rebounds and two assists. Katie Douglas finished with nine points, while Paula Lenart and Anna Luce each had six and Lenart added nine rebounds.

"Very proud of our team's effort and ability to bounce back from last night," said Belle Koclanes, the Gail Koziara Boudreaux '82 and Family Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "The team played really well together for 40 minutes. We talked about playing like a championship team against a championship team and tonight is exactly what March basketball should look like. One of the two teams is going to make a play to win the game and unfortunately it didn't go our way, but it was a battle."

"I have tremendous respect for Mike [Mclaughlin] and his program. This is the most competitive that we've played against Penn since 2013, so we are getting better, and it was an important weekend to propel us into our final weekend." Koclanes continued.

Dartmouth started the game with an early 4-2 lead in the first two minutes after baskets by Brown and Elle Louie. The Quakers then found their stroke and rattled off nine straight points over the next three minutes to build their lead to 11-4 with 5:15 on the clock. Brown put an end to the Penn run with a deep 3-pointer that beat the shot clock buzzer, starting a 10-3 Dartmouth run to close the first. Douglas kept it going with a triple and Quinones hit a jumper. After the Quaker three, it was Quinones again who got a basket to go, tying the game at 14 at the end of the first.

Offensive momentum was a struggle for both teams in the early going of the second. Douglas scored the first points of the quarter with a 3-pointer with 7:33 on the clock, giving Dartmouth a 17-14 lead. Penn then scored the next three, but once again it was Douglas who made her third three of the half to keep the Big Green ahead. Emily Dryden extended the lead to four with 3:35 to go, but the Quakers finished the half on an 8-2 run to take a 26-24 lead after two.

Dartmouth and Penn traded baskets over the first five minutes of the third and the Quakers held onto a 32-30 advantage with 5:28 left in the quarter. Penn scored four straight points with a free throw and a triple to extend its lead to 36-30 at the 4:51 mark. Brown made a big 3-pointer to cut the deficit to three, but the Quakers scored the next six points to go ahead by nine. With time winding down, Louie found Luce for a three at the buzzer to make it just a six-point game heading to the fourth.

Quinones and Luce made back-to-back 3-pointers and Louie scored a basket underneath to give the Big Green a 44-43 lead with 7:05 to go. Neither team scored for the next three minutes as defense took over. Penn retook the lead and consecutive baskets by Quinones made it a 51-50 Quaker lead with two minutes left in regulation. Dartmouth had chances down the stretch but could not score and Penn made its free throws as the clock ticked down.

Dartmouth is now in fifth place in the Ivy League standings, one game behind Yale. Next week will decide who slides into the fourth and final spot in the tournament. The Big Green are at Leede Arena to face Columbia Friday at 7 p.m. and Cornell Saturday for senior night at 5 p.m.