ITHACA, N.Y. — Alyssa Baron lit up the scoreboard two nights in a row, but for better or worse, that’s become expected of her.
As the Red and Blue know all too well, big numbers from Baron don’t guarantee a ‘W.’
That was the case this weekend as Penn fell to both Columbia and Cornell, teams they had beaten handily at the Palestra earlier in the season.
Both games slipped away late from the Quakers, who were hoping to sweep their last road trip of the season.
Friday, Columbia junior guard Melissa Shafer helped lead a balanced scoring effort, something the Quakers have struggled to achieve all season.
The game turned on Columbia’s second-half 16-1 run highlighted by six points from sophomore forward Tyler Simpson.
“I think they are pretty balanced generally,” coach Mike McLaughlin said. “Simpson is the one who really hurt us. She beat us off the dribble too much, and I think she broke us down.”
The Lions were energized by three-pointers and later worked the ball inside effectively to Simpson.
However, the game ultimately came down to turnovers, as the Quakers gave the ball away 21 times, while the Lions turned the ball over on just 10 occasions. As McLaughlin knows, losing the turnover battle on the road often leads to losses.
At Cornell for the Big Red’s Pink Zone game and senior night, Penn never led, falling behind 11-2 in the early minutes.
“The rim sort of had a lid on it for us in the beginning,” junior captain Jess Knapp said.
Knapp, the second-leading rebounder in the Ivy League, scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half.
But down the stretch the Quakers came alive.
With a minute to go, sophomore guard Brianna Bradford tied the game with a three-pointer off a Baron assist.
“We didn’t really turn it up until we looked up and saw that we only had five minutes left,” Knapp said. “That’s something that we’re working on a lot: valuing every possession every single play and not taking a play off.”
The Quakers were also repeatedly victimized by the trey as Cornell shooters hit from distance a total of seven times on 19 attempts. Penn was just 3-for-12 from behind the arc.
The Big Red played a consistent game over 40 minutes, displaying a fire that was lacking when they were held to just 33 points at the Palestra on Feb. 11.
After deftly defeating the two teams earlier this season, the Quakers were left with the bad taste of missed opportunities.
“Our kids wanted this real bad. They’re hurting right now,” McLaughlin said. “We played well at times but not well enough to win both of these games.”
