Penn - 56 Harvard - 76
Coughing up the ball 26 times wasn't exactly written into the game plan for last Saturday night.
But the Penn women's basketball team did just that en route to a 76-56 loss to Harvard at the Palestra.
"After they jumped on us early, we got over-anxious," said Penn coach Kelly Greenberg, whose team usually averages only 16 turnovers per game. "Instead of just keeping the ball and making the simple play, we were trying to make things happen that just weren't there."
The Crimson jumped out to a 20-9 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game on the strength of their outside shooting.
"Everyone's game plan against us is [to] pack it in, and that's what Penn did early on with the 2-3 zone," Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. "No one wants our forwards to get the ball inside, because they're pretty talented in there."
Harvard capitalized on Penn's defensive strategy and buried the open outside shots in the early going. Two of the Crimson's five three-pointers in the first half came from sophomore sensation Hana Peljto, who finished with a team-high 19 points.
Penn was able to fight back behind the play of junior forward Jenn Jones. The native of Cheltenham, Pa., scored all seven of the Quakers' points during a 7-2 run to bring the Red and Blue within six at 22-16.
But Penn would get no closer. After the teams exchanged several baskets to make the score 31-24, Harvard reignited its offense with a 7-0 run and took a 38-24 lead into the break.
"We were really focusing on our own game," Delaney-Smith said. "We have confidence in our system and our players, such that if we pay attention to what we were doing, we'll be all right."
The Crimson continued to pay attention in the second half, opening with a 14-5 run that basically put the game out of reach at 52-29.
The Quakers' offense, on the other hand, continued to struggle. While Penn sophomore guard Jewel Clark had another show-stopping performance with a game-high 25 points on 8-of-13 from the field to go along with 14 rebounds and six steals, the rest of Penn's starting five combined for just nine points on 3-of-20 shooting.
"We tried to stop Jewel Clark, and we failed miserably," Delaney-Smith said. "She got her 100 points, so to speak, but we were able to shut everyone else down."
Turnovers continued to plague the Quakers in the second half. On almost every occasion that Penn looked to be gaining momentum, an errant pass out-of-bounds or a Harvard steal quickly dashed any hopes of a comeback.
"We play an aggressive, up-tempo game," Penn junior point guard Tara Twomey said. "When you're a running team, you have to play smarter than a half-court offense team, because your chances of having a turnover are much higher. We just have to be smarter with the passes we're making."
Despite the fact that Penn had little chance of coming back with 3:08 remaining in the game and the score standing at 70-47, the Quakers continued to compete as if the game were closer.
Greenberg utilized several players on her bench to give the team a lift. The Quakers mustered a 9-2 run during a 90-second stretch to cut the lead to 16, before giving way to the Crimson, 76-56.
"I think our team realized, 'Hey, we're down. There's a new five on the court. We have to be there for them,'" Greenberg said. "That's what we want this program to be about -- energy and being good teammates for each other -- and I think we showed that towards the end."
