Penn women fall to Princeton in Ivy League tournament semifinals, 60-47

PRINCETON, N.J. — Penn’s women’s basketball team fell into a huge hole in the first quarter it never could recover from, losing to Ivy League co-champion Princeton, 60-47, in the semifinals of the Ivy League tournament at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym.

With Collingswood-born WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert among the crowd, Princeton scored the game’s first 16 points, while Penn missed its first eight field goal attempts.

Mandy McGurk ended the Quakers’ drought on a layup with 2 minutes, 14 seconds go in the first quarter, but that was the their only basket of the frame. At the buzzer, the visitors were just 1-for-13 from the field and trailed, 19-2.

» READ MORE: Kayla Padilla doesn’t know where she’ll land after Penn. Right now, she doesn’t want to think about it.

Penn cut the deficit to 32-21 at halftime, thanks in part to McGurk’s buzzer-beating heave from halfcourt. Then the visitors started the second half scoring five straight points, making it 32-26. But Tigers star Kaitlyn Chen, the Ivy League player of the year, stopped the momentum with a 5-0 run of her own.

The closest Penn got the rest of the way was 46-40 at the end of the third quarter. The Quakers went cold again in the fourth, making just three of 12 field-goal attempts.

When you land on the losing end of a 19-2 quarter, that one obviously trumps everything else. But that McGurk heave was Penn’s only made three-pointer of the first half.

Princeton shot at least 45% from the floor in each of the first three quarters, including 7-for-14 in the third quarter when they re-established momentum.

Penn star guard Kayla Padilla led the Quakers with 20 points, five rebounds, and two steals. Chen was dominant once again for Princeton, pouring in 24 points and grabbing six boards. Madison St. Rose had 12 points, and Ellie Mitchell had a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Padilla’s scoring haul gave her Penn’s single-season record for made three-pointers with 79. The senior holds the program’s single-season, single-game (nine last season), and career (208) records for made threes in just three seasons on the court.

“Throughout the season we’ve been in positions like that many times. So, just staying together … not worrying about the score, just keep playing, execute. A lot of our offense comes from our defense, so just playing good, solid defense and just not worrying about the score.”

— Penn forward Jordan Obi on the conversation among players at the end of the first quarter.

“This team should be in the WNIT. I think this team, playing in this league, they deserve to play again. Their NET’s there, their RPI’s there, they won 17 basketball games. … Penn’s a special place, and they are up front with everything, and they would love to have a game at the Palestra.”

— Penn head coach Mike McLaughlin lobbies the WNIT organizers for an at-large bid.

As McLaughlin said and a separate source confirmed, Penn has bid to host a game in the women’s NIT. If the team is invited to the tournament, it would allow Padilla to continue her time at the Palestra before playing elsewhere next season as a graduate transfer.

The Quakers also have three other seniors: guards McGurk and Sydnei Caldwell, forward Silke Milliman, and center Faye Parker. The Ivy League does not permit graduate students to play varsity sports, a rule with roots in the era of the military draft.

Princeton advanced to Saturday’s tournament final, where it will face third-place Harvard. The Crimson pulled off a 72-65 overtime upset of co-champion Columbia, which had won its first Ivy League women’s baskeball title in school history.

Had the Lions reached the final, the Ivy League would have stood a fair chance of getting two NCAA Tournament bids for the first time since 2016, and just the second time ever. The odds are now much slimmer.

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