Ivy Madness is still on the horizon for Penn, but the view after Saturday is a bit hazy

Penn dropped the fourth of its last five games on Saturday against No. 25 Princeton, but not without some late fanfare.

The Quakers clawed their way back from a 14-point deficit to cut it to four heading into the fourth quarter. But Princeton outscored Penn, 19-10, in the final period en route to a 67-54 win.

“Overall, I was really proud of the way we actually competed,” said Penn coach Mike McLaughlin. “Obviously, we’re sitting here because we didn’t win the game, but I did think we competed at a very high level against a really talented team.”

The loss sits Penn (11-10, 3-5 Ivy) a game behind Brown for fourth place in the Ivy League and the final spot for the Ivy tournament in March.

Penn shot 45.2% from the field and outrebounded the Tigers, 33-19. So how did the Quakers lose?

Frequent turnovers, particularly in the first half when Penn fell behind bt double digits, stifled its chances. Wayward passes and ball mishandling were rampant, and, on several occasions, Quakers didn’t seem cognizant of the shot clock ticking close to zero.

» READ MORE: How managing nine younger siblings prepared Mataya Gayle to run Penn’s offense

Penn accumulated 27 turnovers to Princeton’s seven. The 27 turnovers are the second-most the Quakers have had in a game this season. The Tigers scored 28 points off those turnovers, while Penn scored just two off Princeton’s.

“It’s obviously too many to give a good team,” McLaughlin said. “Some of the turnovers, we look at them, I think we had two shot clock violations, and I think we had probably four offensive fouls. So that obviously makes that 27 what it was. I thought after the first and second quarter, we did a pretty good job with the ball at times.”

Down 11 after a 17-turnover first half, Penn needed a spark. Freshman guard Mataya Gayle provided just that.

Gayle went down in the second quarter with what looked to be a lower-body injury and had to be helped off the floor. She returned just a minute into the second half, however.

“When Mataya came back, that was exciting for this group,” McLaughlin said. “They didn’t know she was going to come back. I honestly didn’t know she was going to come back.”

With Gayle back – even though, McLaughlin admits, she wasn’t 100% – the Quakers rallied. Gayle contributed six of her nine points in the third despite her injury.

Freshman Ese Ogbevire — who played just seven minutes in each of Penn’s last two games — played 23 on Saturday and scored a career-high 16 points, nine of which came from three.

“She [Ogbevire] can create a shot, she can make a shot,” McLaughlin said. “I thought she did a really good job when Mataya was out.”

Ogbevire started five games early in the season because of an injury in the starting five, and since then, has consistently played double-digit minutes off the bench. Senior forward Jordan Obi, meanwhile, kept Penn in the game early on with eight first-quarter points and finished with 17 points and nine rebounds.

“I thought Jordan just played such a professional game today,” McLaughlin said. “I mean, she’s a great teammate. She was easy to coach today, which she always is. But she really wanted this one. She was aggressive on the offensive side, and we were able to get her on and off the floor a little bit more than we’ve done.”

Penn is in the hunt for an Ivy tournament berth.

Though the Quakers kept it close against Princeton, the odds of them making it out of the Ivy League look slim. Princeton remains undefeated in the conference at 8-0, while Columbia sits close behind at 7-1 (one of those seven wins came two weeks ago in a 30-point trouncing of Penn at the Palestra).

Even with an Ivy Tournament berth — far from a guarantee at this point — Penn would likely have to take down both Princeton and Columbia (in Columbia’s home gym, no less) to make it out of the Ancient Eight and into the NCAA Tournament.