After winning three straight games, the Quakers fell short in their Ivy opener against Princeton Saturday, losing, 56-45.
Tied at halftime, Penn had a shot at ending the Tigers’ 15-game home winning streak and 19-game Ivy win streak. But it took nearly 10 minutes for the women to get on the board in the second half.
With less than two minutes remaining in the game, Princeton’s lead was cut to just seven, but it was too late for the Quakers to come back. Turnovers and easy baskets allowed the game to get out of reach, coach Mike McLaughlin said.
Sophomore Brianna Bradford was a bright spot for the Quakers, scoring 14 points in 15 minutes of play and keeping her team in the game.
“She was the key to our second half run,” McLaughlin said. “She’s the one that really deserves a lot of credit today.”
In its two games against Princeton last season, the team lost by a combined score of 138-90, so McLaughlin and his players are excited about the improvement thus far and are looking forward to the rest of the Ivy schedule.
“We’re going to carry what we just did,” McLaughlin said. “We came up short, but as we go through league play, every game we’re going to believe that we can win.”
“Even though we lost, we’re still very confident that we’re going to come out and play everyone as hard as we can,” Bradford echoed. “We ran with Princeton very well, and I think we’re going to do the same with everybody else.”
