On Saturday afternoon, the women’s basketball team (16-10, 8-6 Ivy) dropped their final regular game of the season 69-56 against Penn (17-10, 7-7 Ivy) at the Palestra in Philadelphia. But before play started in Philly, the Bears had already solidified their position in the Ivy Madness Tournament.
“I think we can play better, and we’ve shown that we have the ability to do so,” Alyssa Moreland ’26 wrote in an email to The Herald. “There are definitely areas to improve, but we are grateful to have another week to do so.”
The opening tip-off saw Olivia Young ’27 win possession of the ball. Brown took to the offensive but a travel call resulted in an early turnover.
Despite Bruno’s aggressive play, it was Penn who nabbed the first basket when the Quakers’ Simone Sawyer dashed past Young and executed a perfect layup. Soon after, Ada Anamekwe ’26 made a clever pass to Moreland who leveled the score at 2-2.
Bruno soon found themselves in a deficit, but Charlotte Adams-Lopez ’29 rallied back with the first successful 3-pointer of the game. For the next couple of minutes, back-and-forth play continued and it seemed that neither side would take a substantial lead.
Up 9-8 with just seconds left in the first quarter, Grace Arnolie ’26 searched desperately for a break in the defense to rack up one more basket. Seeing none, Arnolie launched a three. The ball arced through the air and swished cleanly through the net as time expired, earning Brown a 12-8 lead going into the second quarter.
Just under 5 minutes into the quarter, Brown managed to secure a 21-15 lead. Unfortunately, this would mark their largest lead for the rest of the game, as Penn’s comeback was jumpstarted seconds later when the Quakers’ Mataya Gayle sank a three.
After a series of back-and-forth baskets, Brown led by just one point with under two minutes left in the quarter.
When Gayle went for a layup, Beth Nelson ’26 attempted to stop her but inadvertently fouled to give Penn two bagged free throws. And with about 40 seconds left in the half, Nelson fouled again, allowing Sawyer to boost Penn’s lead to five points.
“Overall, this game was not our best effort and did not reflect how we usually play,” Young wrote in an email to The Herald. “Our defense usually wins us games because of elite communication and a team effort to contain the ball, but we didn’t show up how we needed to last Saturday.”
“I thought our performance, both individually and as a team, was disappointing because of this,” Young added.
After Quaker Tina Njike’s layup made it a 7-point lead for Penn just 10 seconds into the third quarter, it looked like Penn was about to pull away. But Nelson earned redemption after a quick pass found her behind the 3-point line. Nelson smoothly finished the contested three to end Penn’s streak and Anamekwe followed in her footsteps with a layup, encroaching on Penn’s lead.
The Bears took the lead 38-37 following two free throws and a layup from Moreland, but Penn soon took full control of the game. Penn went on a 15-5 run, leaving Bruno trailing as the third quarter ended 43-52.
“We had some positive runs, but overall we could not close the gap and finish the game,” Moreland wrote.
Brown kicked off the final quarter taking charge in an effort to close the 9-point deficit. After a missed attempt by Arnolie gave possession to Penn, the Quakers reignited their offense. The Quakers were soon up by a dozen points, and by the last two minutes of the quarter, their lead was a staggering 67-53.
Sawyer saw an opportunity to widen this gap as she drove past Sela Klein ’28 and bagged a layup, bringing Penn’s lead to 16 points.
Bruno tallied the last hoop when Charlotte Climenhage ’27 found Mady Calhoun ’26 for a three. But with 23 seconds left on the clock, Brown had no time to make up Penn’s lead, and the final score rested at 56-69.
“Penn came out very intense, and we didn’t adjust as well as we should have early on,” Moreland wrote. “We could have executed our game plan better, which we will do so moving on.”
The loss bore no impact on Brown’s position in the playoffs. The Bears will face Princeton in the Ivy Madness semifinals this Friday in Ithaca, looking to secure a spot in the finals of the tournament for the first time ever.
“We have the potential and belief that we can pull off a big upset as the 4 seed,” Young wrote. “Cleaning up our defensive communication will put us in a much better position to win our next game against Princeton, and that, coupled with better offensive execution, will be important keys to winning our next game.”
Rahul Sameer is a staff writer from Singapore. He plans to concentrate in Applied Mathematics. In his free time, he plays tennis and Mahjong.
