Ten minutes and six seconds into the first half of Penn's game at Dartmouth, Penn sophomore Monica Naltner scored the team's first field goal. Naltner soon accumulated a total of six points to bring the Quakers within one point of the Big Green with just less than seven minutes left in the half.
But the team's fate was sealed.
With the 64-49 loss, the Quakers, who had won three in a row, destroyed any lingering hopes of a shared Ivy League title. For that scenario to play out, Penn not only needed to sweep the weekend, but also needed help from a variety of other teams.
"It was a bad night tonight. It was an off, very poor, rushed, unbalanced night," Penn coach Patrick Knapp said. "It was the kind of game where you are not quite sure why players play the way they play."
The Quakers, who had prepared rigorously to defend against a formidable Dartmouth offense, encountered the most difficulty in their offensive zone. Penn hit just 17.2 percent from the field and shot 0-for-6 from three-point range in the first half. The resulting 16-point halftime deficit was simply too much for the Quakers to overcome.
"We have to put a lot of blame on how we played offensively," Knapp said. "I'm not going to blame our defense."
The team improved tremendously in the second half, connecting on 34.3 percent of its field goals and 41.7 percent of its three-pointers. But the early shooting drought had wounded Penn's chances beyond repair.
The next night, the Quakers fell once again, ending their season with a 92-71 loss to Harvard.
Harvard's 92 points were the most Penn has given up since Ohio State dropped 95 on Dec. 21, 2003.
With the win, the Crimson completed the season sweep of the Quakers, the defending Ivy League champions.
In her last game for the Quakers, senior guard Karen Habrukowich led the way with 19 points, and fellow senior Cat Makarewich added 16. Sophomore Joey Rhoads scored 12 for Penn, which finished the season with a 15-12 overall record and an 8-6 Ivy mark, good for fourth place in the league.
