Although the Ivy title had long been out of reach for the women’s basketball team, they maintained one hope going into Tuesday’s season-ending match against top-ranked Princeton: win their seniors' last game. A win would also be the difference between a fourth place and sixth place finish in conference.
On Jan. 8, the Quakers had only lost by 11 points to the same Princeton team, so after two months of steady improvement, their final goal seemed to be in reach.
However, after holding the Tigers scoreless for the first three minutes of the game, the Red and Blue were decimated, 78-27.
The Quakers (11-17, 5-9 Ivy) were essentially overpowered from start to finish. The Ivy League champion Tigers (24-4, 13-1) shot 53 percent in the first half, while connecting on half of their three-point attempts.
While Princeton made five three pointers in the first half, the Quakers only made five total shots on the other end of the floor. Out of the nine three pointers they attempted, only one fell.
Coach Mike McLaughlin could not be reached for comment.
After the intermission, the Quakers couldn’t get back on track. They shot an abysmal eight percent in the half and missed all 11 of the three-point shots they tried.
On the defensive end, the Quakers’ normally stingy defense had already gone on spring break. They were outrebounded 56-31 and only forced 16 turnovers, a relatively low number for a team that prides itself on its defense.
Of those 16 turnovers, only five came from Penn steals, indicating that the majority of Princeton’s errors were self-induced.
Junior forward Jess Knapp, who the Quakers have relied on all season long to anchor the team on both sides of the floor, struggled, tallying the same amount of turnovers — three — as assists, blocks and steals combined.
In her final stand, senior captain Erin Power was unable to score, finishing 0-for-4 with one assist in 31 minutes. Fellow senior Jerin Smith was also held scoreless, finishing 0-7 in 18 minutes.
A bright spot came from senior Caroline Nicholson, who contributed four points and a team-leading six rebounds.
On a positive note looking forward, freshman guard Alyssa Baron, who earned her seventh Rookie of the Week honor this week, scored a team-high 12 points. The Quakers will look to her and fellow freshman starter Meghan McCullough to begin to lead the team for the next three years. Baron finished the season as the League's leading scorer with 16.6 points per game and is a likely candidate for Rookie of the Year.
Despite a sour ending, this season has been a success for the Quakers. Their nine-win improvement from last season is the largest in school history, and beating La Salle gave them their first Big 5 victory in six years. Baron also became the first freshman in over 30 years to win the scoring title.
