Slow Second Half Dooms Women's Basketball at Penn

The Harvard women’s basketball team appeared to be carrying an immense amount of momentum coming into Saturday’s night’s game, but that impetus soon came to a screeching halt.

Less than 24 hours after defeating four-time reigning Ivy League champion Princeton at Jadwin Gymnasium, Harvard (13-5, 3-1 Ivy) fell flat at the hands of Penn (12-5, 2-1 Ivy) on Saturday night, losing to the Quakers at the Palestra, 67-38.

“It was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had [in my 40 years of coaching,” Crimson coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said.

Entering the second half with a seven-point deficit, the Crimson was within striking distance. But a 20-7 run to begin the second frame extended the Quakers lead to 20 with 12:28 left in the contest.

The 38-point output marks the lowest for the team on the season. Harvard struggled to score from the onset of the contest and could not find any rhythm from the field for the remainder of the game. The Crimson shot 18.3% from the field on the night, also a season low. No player registered more than two field goals.

“I’ve never experienced a team with all of the ability and ways to score … shoot 18 percent from the floor,” Delaney-Smith said. “[It is] inexplicable to me.”

Penn freshman center Sydney Stipanovich was part of the reason why Harvard was unable to regularly score on the night. The rookie blocked nine shots and grabbed nine rebounds in the tilt. Junior forward Kara Bonenberger was also integral to the Penn defense, recording 12 boards and 3 steals in the winning effort.

“[Syndey Stipanovich] is a great player,” freshman guard Grace Keane said. “We knew that she was going to give us a tough time, and she did. Next time, we’ll be more prepared for what she throws at us.”

The Quakers also exploited the advantage they gained on the night at the free-throw line. Penn reached the charity stripe 29 times compared to the Crimson’s 13 attempts and hit 14 more on the night, leaving Harvard with foul trouble and problems on the scoreboard.

The Quakers benefitted from a balanced attack on the night, with five players scoring in double figures, including a team-high 15 points from Stipanovich. Junior guard Renee Busch led the effort from the bench with 11 points.

Penn began to break away from the Crimson with 9:25 remaining in the first half. Down, 9-8, Busch hit three treys in the remainder of the half as part of a 13-2 run to bring its lead to 10 just before the close of the half. Harvard was never able to recover the lead.

“The threes that were hit by Busch is something that she doesn’t ordinarily do,” Delaney-Smith said. “She had a pretty decent defender running at her all three times.”

Senior guard Christine Clark was the only Crimson player to register double figure points, managing to record 10 points on a 2-for-13 shooting performance from the field. The fourth-year guard also notched a team-high nine rebounds in the losing effort.  The bench matched the output of the starters, with both groups putting up 19 points.

‘My criticism of the game was our rebounding effort,” Delaney-Smith said. “When you’re not shooting well, your rebounding effort has to better than ours [was].”

Harvard was unable to solve the Penn defense with the three-ball in order to avoid the inside presence of Stipanovich. Harvard only connected on five of its 28 attempts from beyond the arc, a conversion rate of only 17.9%. The Crimson did not fair too much better from within 20 feet, only going 8-for-43 in the range.

Harvard’s split on this weekend road trip matched its performance last year, but in reverse fashion.  The Crimson dropped its game to Princeton last year and won in the Palestra against Penn.

The loss is the first of the 2014 calendar year and also snaps a four-game winning streak for Harvard. The squad’s last defeat came at Fordham on Dec. 30 in team’s last game in 2013.

With the Crimson’s loss, no undefeated teams remain in the Ivy League. Five teams stand at one-loss in the Ancient Eight in the beginning of the race for the title that is the regular season.

“We’re in the exact same place as we were before the weekend,” coach Delaney-Smith said. “I’m walking away from this weekend knowing we can beat [Penn] at home.

—Staff writer Kurt T. Bullard can be reached at kurtbullard@college.harvard.edu.