The Penn women's basketball team lost its first game of the University of Colorado/Coors Classic Friday night, falling to the host Buffaloes, 69-49, in Boulder.
After taking an early 5-2 lead, the Quakers fell behind, 18-14, with 14 minutes to go in the first half. A layup by sophomore Jennifer Fleischer, who had a team-high seven rebounds, brought the deficit to 18-17, but Colorado pulled away from there and led at halftime, 29-24. The home team found its shooting touch in the second half, hitting 16 of 27 field goals, and ended up with a decisive win.
Senior guard Cat Makarewich was Penn's leading scorer with nine points, all of which came from three-point range. Colorado guard Leslie Howard led all scorers with a career-high 14 points and also had eight rebounds.
Penn will play No. 22 Maryland on Saturday night in the consolation game at 9 p.m. EST. The Terrapins fell to No. 2 Louisiana State, 64-51, thanks to Tigers freshman Sylvia Fowles' 18 points and 18 rebounds. LSU star Seimone Augustus had 23 points. Laura Harper was Maryland's top scorer with 17 points and 16 rebounds.
