The Harvard women's basketball team needed a win against Penn at the Palestra on Friday night to prevent the Quakers from pulling away from the pack in the Ivy race, but the Crimson found mostly frustration in Philadelphia.

The Crimson (8-12, 5-2 Ivy) shot just 21.4 percent and scored just 13 points in the first half against Penn. Trailing 48-30 partway through the second, Harvard got back in the game with a furious 16-2 run that cut the deficit to four, but the Quakers held on for the 65-51 win.

The Crimson's Ivy title hopes appeared to take another turn for the worse on Saturday when the team found itself trailing by 12 at the half to Princeton--this year's consensus pick for the Ivy cellar. But on this night, Harvard mounted a successful comeback with a 23-2 run and held on for a 64-58 win.

"We started off slow, but our team has the tendency to pick it up with a sense of urgency when we fall behind," said freshman forward Hana Peljto. "In one night it worked, and the other night it didn't."

Halfway through the Ivy season the Crimson now stands firmly in second thanks to the weekend struggles of Brown (10-11, 5-3), but trails Penn (15-5, 6-0) by two games. Harvard will get a second chance against the Quakers when they visit Lavietes in two weeks.

Harvard 64, Princeton 58

A 16-game losing streak to start the season had left Princeton (1-18, 1-5) with little to hope on any given day. But on Saturday, which was National Girls and Women and Sports Day, the hapless Tigers drew a team-record crowd of 2,192. For at least one half, Princeton thought it could compete with Harvard.

"I definitely think the crowd gave them some motivation," Peljto said.