PHILADELPHIA – Penn came into Saturday's game against the Yale women's basketball team at The Palestra still fighting for a spot in the Ivy League Tournament, and the Quakers got the win that they needed. Three Quakers scored in double digits, led by 22 from Mataya Gayle, and Penn came away with a 68-52 victory. With three games left in the regular season, the Quakers will remain within two games of the two teams tied for third in the Ivy League standings (Brown and Harvard, whose games started later on Saturday). Senior forward
Kiley Capstraw, Yale's captain, led the Bulldogs with a career-high 12 rebounds. She added six assists.
Yale led briefly (5-3) following a three-pointer by junior forward
Luisa Vydrova at 7:27 of the first. Penn rallied and eventually took an 11 point lead, 24-13, with the first basket of the second quarter. The Bulldogs answered with a 6-0 run that included five points from sophomore guard
Ciniya Moore. But Penn had the final run of the first half, outscoring Yale 12-4 in the final 5:43 to go into halftime up 36-23.
The Quakers built their lead to as many as 17 (50-33) in the third. The Bulldogs trailed 55-41 heading into the fourth, and got no closer than 13 the rest of the way.
Yale falls to 6-18 (2-9 Ivy League) while Penn improves to 15-9 (5-6 Ivy League).
STATISTICAL LEADERS
- Sophomore guard Ciniya Moore led Yale in points with 19.
- Senior forward Kiley Capstraw led Yale in rebounds with 12 and assists with six.
KEY STAT
- Penn committed a season-low seven turnovers, including just one turnover in the first half.
NOTES
- Capstraw's 12 rebounds were a career high.
- The Bulldogs had shot just .245 against Penn when the teams met Jan. 24. They improved on that, by 130 percentage points to .375, in Saturday's game.
- Yale had a 28-26 advantage in points in the paint.
- Junior forward Luisa Vydrova finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. She has scored in double digits in four straight games and nine of the last 12 games.
- Moore was 4-for-4 on free throws. That is the ninth time she has been perfect from the line (minimum four attempts) in a game this season.
AROUND THE IVY LEAGUE
- Columbia 81, Dartmouth 42
- Brown at Princeton, 5:30 p.m.
- Cornell at Harvard, 4:00 p.m.
UP NEXT
- Yale hosts Columbia Friday at 6:00 p.m.
