Trio of Ivies in contention for second place, Princeton wins tenth consecutive game

Last weekend, Ivy women’s basketball had a little bit of everything, from overtime games and blowouts to milestone-reaching performances. Penn and Cornell battled to sneak into the top half of the standings, while Dartmouth tried to build a cushion between itself and last-place Columbia, and Harvard, Yale, and Brown battled for second place behind Princeton.

Princeton
Although the Tigers took a few minutes to get into their matchup with Dartmouth, a 17-4 run in the final 5:47 of the first half pushed the visitors to a 30-16 halftime lead, which they rode to a convincing 72-41 win. Senior center Devona Allgood efficiently posted 10 points and seven rebounds in only 19 minutes of work as 11 Tigers registered at least 10 minutes of playing time. The Tigers won their 10th straight game with a dominant 84-56 win in Cambridge, Mass. Junior forward Niveen Rasheed scored 24 points to reach 1,000 points for her college career, leading 11 different Tigers to register at least three points. The Tigers shot 55 percent and sported a 46-22 advantage in points in the paint.

Yale
The Bulldogs rode a strong long-distance shooting performance to a win over Cornell on Friday, keeping them in position for a top Ivy finish. Junior guard Megan Vasquez scored 25 points as she, sophomore guard Janna Graf, and junior guard Allie Messimer each connected four times from beyond the arc, part of Yale’s 16-of-30 performance from downtown. Yale led by 16 at halftime and loosened up in the second half. On Saturday, the Elis had a tougher time against Columbia than one might expect from the teams’ record, trailing as late as 10:46 of the second half but eventually managed a 73-59 win.

Harvard
The Crimson was up by the slimmest of margins heading into the second half but pulled away in the following 20 minutes against Penn, spurred by junior forward Victoria Lippert and senior guard Brogan Berry. Lippert scored 12 points and joined the 1,000-point club for Harvard, while Berry, already a member, moved into sixth on the Crimson’s all-time scoring list with a game-high 26 points. In a Saturday loss to Princeton, Berry scored 21 points and sophomore guard Christine Clark had 17 points and 11 rebounds as Harvard shot only 26.9 percent from the field.

Brown
The Bears were almost shocked by the Lions on Friday. The two teams were tied at 57 heading into overtime, but the hosts put together a strong overtime to win 72-63. Another late surge from Brown on Saturday was enough to catapult the Bears to a weekend sweep at home, as Brown defeated Cornell 60-49. Brown trailed by six at halftime thanks to 24 percent shooting but improved to shoot 65 percent in the second half. Junior guard Sheila Dixon scored 16 points to lead a quartet of Bears in double figures.

Penn
Although the Quakers were only down by one point heading into halftime against Harvard, the Crimson pulled away in the second half. Sophomore guard Alyssa Baron led the visitors with 18 points in the loss. Penn fared better the following evening against Dartmouth. Despite ceding a late run by Dartmouth to tie the game, the Quakers rebounded in overtime, posting 17 points in the extra session to win 73-63. Freshman forward Kara Bonenberger led the Quakers with 17 points and nine rebounds, and senior forward Jess Knapp added 11 boards. The biggest difference-maker in overtime was fouls, as Penn had 12 attempts from the charity stripe in only five minutes, making 10, while the host Big Green was only one-of-five.

Cornell
Sophomore guard Allyson DiMagno led the Big Red with 12 points and 11 rebounds and junior guard Taylor Flynn added 16 points, but Cornell shot under 30 percent from the field in its loss to Yale. Junior guard Spencer Lane led the Big Red with 18 points against Brown as Cornell was hanging in the game before the Bears went on their game-winning surge.

Dartmouth
Senior forward Sasha Dosenko led the Big Green with 15 points and 12 rebounds in a tough matchup with Princeton, but freshman center Tia Dawson was shut down, with only two points and one rebound. Although the Big Green was able to rally from down nine points in the final minutes to force overtimeagainst Penn, capped by senior center Sasha Dosenko’s basket with 22 seconds left, it fell in overtime. Junior guard Faziah Steen had 22 points and five steals in the loss.