Women's Basketball Completes Weekend Sweep

The Harvard women’s basketball team continued to scale the Ivy League rankings, taking down Penn, 67-54, on Saturday night at Lavietes Pavilion. The victory, which comes just a day after the Crimson (17-8, 8-3 Ivy) halted Princeton’s 33-game league win streak, lifts the squad to a tie with the Quakers (15-10, 8-3) for second place in the Ancient Eight.

For Harvard, it was a chance to exact revenge upon a team that had defeated it, 77-72, in a tricky road contest on Feb. 15.

Junior guard Christine Clark ran the floor with a game-high 18 points and seven rebounds. Clark was trailed by sophomore forward Temi Fagbenle, who also had seven boards and added 14 points.

It was a solid night for the Crimson’s senior class, which was honored in a special pre-game ceremony. Miriam Rutzen, Elle Hagedorn and Victoria Lippert, the three veterans to suit up for the contest, combined for 21 points, 18 rebounds and eight assists.

Harvard opened the contest with stifling defense that held Penn to 1-of-18 shooting from the field until Penn senior guard Alyssa Baron knocked down a three at 5:32 in the first frame, the first long-range make of the game for her team.

But Baron, who put up 13 points through the game, was unable to close in further on the Crimson. Layups from Rutzen and Clark, combined with a pair of Fagbenle foul shots, gave Harvard a 20-point advantage, 33-13.

From there, despite efforts from freshman guard Keiera Ray, who had a team-high 14 points, Harvard continued to hold a commanding lead and play a clean game, with just four fouls in the closing stanza.

—Staff writer Cordelia F. Mendez can be reached at cordeliamendez@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @CrimsonCordelia.

—Check thecrimson.com for updates.