Clark battles injury for W. Hoops

When she woke up on Friday morning, Penn junior Jewel Clark did not know if she would be able to play that night. She hadn't practiced in two days and was nursing a foot injury. Clark, the leading scorer of the Penn women's basketball team did play, and scored 16 points as the Quakers lost to Harvard, 84-80. She was back on the court Saturday night, leading the Red and Blue to a victory over Dartmouth, 58-53. Despite her injury, Clark was determined to be on the court. "I had a little pain," Clark said. "But it was nothing I couldn't handle. I wanted to play." Clark -- who played 34 of 40 minutes Friday night -- came out a little rusty in the beginning of the game. "I thought that she was a bit hesitant," Penn coach Kelly Greenberg said. "I don't know how comfortable she felt." Clark's teammates' play echoed many of Clark's hesitancies. Harvard (17-4, 9-0 Ivy)took an early lead, going up by as many as 14 points in the first 10 minutes of the game. The Quakers (11-11, 5-4) managed to cut Harvard's lead to eight at the half, but it was clear that Penn would have to improve its play in order to pull off the upset over the defending Ivy champs. And improve they did. The Quakers came out hot in the second half and were within seconds of handing the Crimson their first Ivy League loss in 21 games. With 13:19 remaining, Penn started a 10-0 run, coming within four points with 9:13 left. Harvard did not go down easily, though. The Crimson rebuilt their lead to 14 three minutes later, but Penn came right back. With only 39 seconds left in the game, the Quakers found themselves within one point after a Clark layup. Greenberg attributes this comeback to her team's defensive play. "I thought it had a lot to do with defense," she said. "We finally stopped some people and it gave us the opportunity to make some baskets and get back in the game." Penn's hopes were smashed when Harvard sophomore Reka Cserny netted a lay-up. With one second left, Tricia Tubridy hit a free throw to clinch the win. Though Penn was not able to pull off the upset, the team was still pleased with its efforts. "Every single one of them should just keep their head up because people stuck together," Greenberg said. "Things didn't go our way and we still stuck together." Penn junior Mikaelyn Austin led the Quakers in scoring with 18 points, coming on six three-pointers, tying her career high. Though threes may be her expertise, Austin does not purposely specialize in these shots. "I don't come out to shoot three pointers necessarily," she said. "It just so happens that three pointers are the hardest to guard a lot of the time." Coming into Saturday night's game, the Quakers were worried about Dartmouth's size and rebounding abilities, especially with sophomore center Katie Kilker having sat out of practice Thursday due to laryngitis. Kilker, however responded with 10 points in each of the weekend's games. Dartmouth's height advantage did not prove to be a problem for the Red and Blue. Penn outrebounded the Big Green 40-35, earning 19 offensive rebounds. "We outrebounded them, which doesn't happen too often for us," Greenberg said. "Nineteen offensive rebounds is huge, it gave us another opportunity to get another shot off." Penn was strong right from tip-off, building a 10-point lead in the first 10 minutes. "I thought right from the beginning of the game we were just attacking," Greenberg said. "We weren't waiting for things to happen, we were scoring." The Quakers began to lose momentum at the end of the half when Dartmouth (12-11, 6-4) went on a 10-0 run. But the Quakers would not relinquish the lead. The Quaker defense stepped up in the second half, holding Dartmouth's leading scorer Katherine Hanks to 14 points. "To be able to go out and win it a different way than scoring a lot of points is a sign of a good quality team with a lot of character," Greenberg said. "You can win in different ways."

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