The Penn women’s basketball team fell, 61-49, to Dartmouth Saturday at the Palestra, ending a 19-game winning streak against the Big Green.
Penn (9-6, 0-2 Ivy League) struggled to findnsive its identity on much offense outside of senior forward Stina Almqvist, who finished with 21 points to go with seven rebounds. Notably, the Quakers were outrebounded, 47-31, as Dartmouth’s physicality was the deciding factor.
“Dartmouth came in here, they were the better team today,” said Quakers coach Mike McLaughlin. “I thought they outperformed us. Think they outworked us, they executed on us. Just didn’t think we played good basketball at all from start to finish. Very disappointed in today’s performance, and that’s probably actually being nice.”.
For Dartmouth (8-7, 2-0 Ivy), Saturday’s victory marked the first time since the 2008-09 season that Big Green had won its first two road Ivy League matchups. Dartmouth has won five of its last six games.
Here are some takeaways from the Palestra:
All Almqvist, all day
It was a sloppy start for both teams.
Through the game’s first five minutes, Penn and Dartmouth shot a combined 3-for-18 from the floor. By the end of the first quarter, they combined for seven turnovers and Dartmouth led, 12-9.
Penn got some luck by feeding Almqvist in the second quarter. Almqvist, who recorded a season-low nine points in Penn’s last outing against Columbia, looked like her usual self, scoring 10 of Penn’s 15 second-quarter points.
Sophomore guard Mataya Gayle struggled to find the basket through the first half,when she shot just 1-for-7 from the field and recorded a single assist. She ended her day with eight points, five rebounds, three steals, and two assists.
“I think [Gayle is] taking too many hard-guarded shots,” said McLaughlin, “and there’s no doubt she has the ability to make some. But it’s just difficult to live with every shot being contested.”
Meanwhile, guard Victoria Page led the way for Dartmouth in the first half with 12 points, going 5-for-9 from the floor, as the Big Green went into the locker room with a 31-24 lead. Page finished with a team-high 26 points.
Big green, big problems
After an impressive first half, Almqvist went 0-for-5 from the floor in the third quarter as Dartmouth defenders consistently outmuscled her in the paint. Sarah Miller’s five points led Penn in the quarter, during which the Big Green extended its lead to 46-32.
At the 4:50 mark in the final period, the Quakers briefly cut the lead to single digits, following an and-one by Gayle. From that point on, the Quakers were outscored 7-3.
Homecoming for Meyer
Dartmouth junior forward Clare Meyer, a Germantown Friends graduate, made her return to Philadelphia on Saturday.
“It’s amazing, my whole high school team came back,” Meyer said. “It’s just a great feeling to have my friends and family here in what is really a monumental win for this program.”
She finished with 14 points and eight rebounds while leaving a greater impact on defense. The 6-foot-3 Meyer was tasked with guarding Penn freshman center Katie Collins on most of Penn’s possessions.
Collins, who has garnered four Ivy Rookie of the Week awards and entered Saturday’s game averaging 9.1 points, was shut down by the Philly native. She notched only one point while shooting 0-for-8 from the floor, along with seven rebounds, three steals, and two blocks.
“I thought [Collins] was really struggling on the offensive side,” McLaughlin said. “She was trying to fight against a good post player, but she didn’t bury her looks. She didn’t pull away. When she did pull away, she wasn’t ready to score.”
Up next
The Quakers will visit Cornell next Saturday (1 p.m., ESPN+).