In the last moments of the first quarter in Tuesday’s match, women’s basketball (2-3, 0-0 Ivy) trailed 17-0 behind Bryant (5-1, 0-0 AmEast). With a minute and a half on the clock, senior forward Summer Parker-Hall put the Red on the board, creating momentum that allowed Cornell to outscore Bryant in the second and third quarters. Despite taking the lead in the final quarter, the Red couldn’t keep up the fight and fell to the Bulldogs 60-53.
The game began with a 17-point run for the Bulldogs, with Nia Scott netting six points and Martina Boba contributing five to catapult Bryant to an early lead. Parker-Hall’s free throws broke the Red out of its scoreless rut, and she followed up with a driving layup soon after, the only successful field goal of the Red’s 12 first-quarter attempts.
“We weren’t fully ready to go [in the first quarter],” said head coach Emily Garner. “We just had a lid on the basket. We didn’t hit our shots.”
Despite allowing Bryant to widen its lead to 18 points in the beginning of the second quarter, the Red went on a six-point run in the last three minutes to outscore the Bulldogs 14-12 for the quarter, chipping away at Bryant’s lead. Cornell returned from halftime reinvigorated, and both Parker-Hall and junior forward Emily Pape netted nine to lead the Red to a 24-17 quarter, with a buzzer-beating layup by Pape putting Cornell in just a 46-42 deficit.
“We knew we were in a hole, and thinking about the hole does nothing for us during the game,” Garner said. “With this group, we never feel like we’re out of the game. Obviously 17 [points] is a big hole, but it’s not impossible. They keep working, and as long as we’re working, we have a shot.”
In the second minute of the high-intensity fourth quarter, a jump shot by Pape and two free throws from Parker-Hall tied the match. Seconds later, Parker-Hall returned to the net for a layup that gave the Red its first lead of the game.
The game got away from the Red mere minutes from the final buzzer, as an eight-point run by the Bulldogs put them up 59-51. After a fast-break layup by Parker-Hall with 22 seconds remaining, Bryant’s Mia Mancini drew a foul for a free throw to widen the gap to 60-53. Mancini then drew an offensive foul on the Red’s final possession, allowing the Bulldogs to run out the clock.
Parker-Hall’s 19-point game was a career high, and her aggressive play earned her seven drawn fouls. Pape followed behind in points with 13. The Bulldogs saw more breadth among top scorers, with Maranda Nyborg leading the pack with 19, Scott scoring 10 and Boba and Mancini both earning nine.
“Summer [Parker-Hall] did a great job in the interior,” Garner said. “She’s calm, steady and always does the dirty work on the inside for us. She’s got a tough job, and we just didn’t have the depth of post that [Bryant] did.”
Women’s basketball next takes on Quinnipiac for a Thursday-night road match on November 21. The Bobcats are currently undefeated with one exhibition match and three regular-season wins, including victories over Harvard and Princeton, under their belt. The game will be the first-ever meeting of the two teams.