Despite hitting a season-high 14 three-pointers on the night, the Quakers fell one trey short in their bid to upset the Crimson.

Trailing by three with just seconds remaining, Penn guard Cat Makarewich had her three-point attempt bounce off the front of the rim. Harvard junior forward Tricia Tubridy pulled down the rebound to secure the Crimson’s victory.

The game marked the second time in as many weeks that Harvard had squandered a second-half lead only to come away with a win in the final minutes.

Last weekend, Cornell drew even with the Crimson in the final minutes of play after trailing by as many as 17 in the second half. Harvard relied on the clutch shooting of Peljto and Cserny to pull out the win.

It was again Cserny who came through for Harvard on Friday. The Crimson center tallied two of her game-high 27 points after the Quakers had cut Harvard’s 14-point lead to just one with 39 seconds remaining.

“We designed a play to spread the floor and isolate Reka inside and she executed perfectly,” Ides said.

The game was marked by swings in momentum that created dramatic runs for each team. Ahead 40-32 after a solid first half, the Crimson extended its lead to 15 over the opening seven minutes of the second half.

But Penn responded with its own rally, cutting the Harvard lead to four with just under 10 minutes remaining.

The Crimson gradually built its advantage back to 14 over the next five minutes, but the Quakers used four three-pointers over the final 3:40 to cut the lead to one before Cserny’s basket.

“[Penn’s] Jewel Clark is the type of player who has the ability to singlehandedly take a game on her shoulders and she did that towards the end of the game,” Moore said. “We needed to do a better job of stopping her.”

Mikaelyn Austin led Penn with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting from behind the arc, while Clark, the second-leading scorer in the league behind Peljto, added 16 points and pulled down 12 boards in the loss.

Despite the momentum changes of the second half, Harvard managed a very balanced offensive effort throughout the contest.

Tubridy and Peljto finished the game with 15 points and 10 rebounds apiece, while Moore netted 10 points and dished out three assists.

“Penn is a tough team to play on the road and we showed a lot of poise at the end of the game to come away with the win,” Moore said.

—Staff writer Kathryn J. Hodel can be reached at hodel@fas.harvard.edu.