Class of 2005 finishes home career with win

Saturday night's 58-52 win over Columbia at The Palestra was the last for the five seniors who make up the lifeblood of the current Quakers squad.

For Karen Habrukowich, Katie Kilker, Cat Makarewich, Maria DiDonato and Amanda Kammes, a loss to Columbia on Senior Night would have been nothing short of unacceptable.

The five seniors started together, marking the first three minutes and 23 seconds the five members of the Class of '05 have ever been on the court at the same time. But, the emotional high of the pregame ceremonies, in which each player was given a framed photograph, was quickly cut short.

"To be honest with you, I knew -- and I'm sure I'm gonna take flak for it -- but I knew these ceremonies would be a bad thing," Penn coach Patrick Knapp said. "They're just emotional and we all want so much good for our seniors and it's emotional for them."

The five seniors accounted for no field goals when in the lineup together and for all but the last seven minutes of the game, Penn played like a team whose head was somewhere else.

"For 33 minutes, the game went bad," Knapp said. "It went bad, everybody we put in made a mistake, we left them open for shots."

With five minutes and 20 seconds left in the first half, Columbia guard Sue Altman made a fast-break layup off of a Penn turnover to give the Lions a commanding 26-11 lead.

"In the first half, you saw a team that had a lot of composure," Columbia coach Tory Verdi said. "Saw a team that executed offensively, saw a team that was confident and aggressive offensively."

Penn trailed 30-20 at the half and the stats told the story.

In the first half, Penn was 8-for-24 from the field (good for 33.3 percent), was outrebounded 18-13, had already turned the ball over 10 times (good for 15 Columbia points) and had only two points in the paint compared to the undersized Lions' 12.

And in the beginning of the second half it seemed as if nothing had changed. Penn consistently trailed Columbia by between six and 10 points and it seemed as if the seniors' last home game would be a loss.

But with five minutes left, Penn finally took control of the game. Habrukowich -- who moved into fifth place in Ivy League history for three-pointers made -- had 10 points in the last five minutes of the game and seven of the Quakers' last 11, as Penn's press overwhelmed the Lions attack.

"I knew we had to win, so someone had to step up," Habrukowich said. "So it was my last game in the Palestra and I wanted to win so bad, so whatever I could do, I got the ball and did what I could."

Columbia simply buckled as Penn's Jennifer Fleischer scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half.

"With five minutes left, Karen started making some shots, they started getting Fleisch involved and we didn't have an answer for that; we panicked," Verdi said.

"We made mistakes and turned the ball over and the whole momentum of the game changed and that's where we need to have composure. ... It's just disappointing because we worked so hard and gave it right back to them."

The Quakers helped Columbia do it. Penn made free throws down the stretch, forced big turnovers, held the Lions scoreless for the last two minutes of the game and made sure their last game at the Palestra ended on a high note.

"These guys kept plugging, kept plugging, which is you know the story of these guys all year," Knapp said, clearly thinking about his six months with the seniors who meant so much to his team. "I mean it's fitting, it's the only way the game could end."

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