Ahead by three points with four seconds to go in regulation, the Yale women's basketball team committed a potentially fatal error.
To compensate, they dominated the five minutes of overtime play en route to a 74-64 victory over the Quakers at the Palestra on Saturday night.
Seconds before the second-half buzzer, Yale (5-18, 2-8 Ivy) left one of the league's strongest sharp-shooters open just beyond the three-point arc. Senior Karen Habrukowich sank her shot and tied the score at 61, sending the game to overtime.
The Elis soon killed any momentum Habrukowich's shot had created as they pounded the Red and Blue (12-9, 5-3) for the next five minutes. Yale scored 13 points and allowed Penn only three, none of which came in the first four minutes.
"We just couldn't put the ball in the basket [in overtime]," Habrukowich said. "Defensively, we didn't stop them when we needed to and offensively we weren't putting it in."
Though it became especially clear during the extra session, Penn's difficulty began early on. Three minutes into the first half senior Cat Makarewich fell to the floor with an injured ankle. She soon took up a spot on the bench next to fellow senior Amanda Kammes, who was sitting out with a head injury sustained against Brown on Friday night. Still, the Quakers were confident in the strength of their reserves.
"We don't want anybody hurt, we don't want anybody missing," Penn coach Patrick Knapp said. "There are a lot of minutes and a lot of experience there that didn't play tonight. I definitely believe that we should beat Yale anyways."
In the absence of two starters, Penn was forced to rely more heavily on its bench, which answered with quality points and minutes. Guard Joey Rhoads led all Quakers with 16 points, followed by Habrukowich and forward Monica Naltner, who each tallied 14.
Senior Maria DiDonato, who had not played more than 12 minutes in a game this year, contributed a solid performance. She had five points in 35 minutes off the bench.
She admitted feeling "a little bit nervous at first, but once you get out there it is just basketball. I was ready to go."
Despite the solid contributions from its bench, Penn hit only 31 percent of its field goals and shot 28.1 percent from three-point range. The Quakers trailed 26-25 at the end of the first half.
A revived squad took the court for second half, though, and the Quakers quickly took control of the game. However, an 11-point run, which began with five minutes remaining, put Yale ahead 57-51 with just over a minute left.
Even a frantic final minute of regulation that earned the team a second chance in overtime could not spark the sinking Quakers.
"It is a very disappointing weekend -- that is an understatement," Knapp said.
"These guys feel terrible."
