Sweet 16: W. Hoops finally earns win

The streak is finally over.

After a disheartening loss at Brown on Friday, 72-59, the women's basketball team stormed back for a surprise 75-67 victory over Yale Saturday in New Haven, Conn.

It was the Quakers first victory since Nov. 28, a 15-game stretch.

"This win will help us progress through the rest of the season," said sophomore Sarah Bucar, who had a double-double against Yale. "We have everyone coming back next year, so it's definitely a building block."

Coach Pat Knapp voiced similar thoughts but emphasized that "this is just a start." He still believes that the Quakers (4-18, 1-6 Ivy) can continue to win this year, if they work on three facets of their game: rebounding, free-throw shooting and taking care of the ball.

Penn still topped the Bulldogs (6-15, 4-4) despite failing on two of those aspects.

At the charity stripe, the Quakers sunk just 22 of 34 attempts.

"We missed too many free throws this weekend, and I think our players need proper shooting form so they can get better," Knapp said.

The referees called the game very tightly, with Yale also going to the line early and often. Both coaches were given technical fouls for arguing with the referees.

The Red and Blue also turned the ball over 19 times, a number that Knapp said was inexcusable going forward.

But a combination of hot shooting, stingy defense and clutch rebounding allowed them to celebrate for the first time in 11 weeks.

The Quakers went into the locker room at half down 41-32. But they were a different team after the break. They shot a blistering 55 percent from the field in the second - up from 36 percent in the first - and scored 43 points, good enough for a season-high 75 for the game.

Meanwhile, they held Yale to 28-percent shooting in the second and prevented any second chance opportunities by crashing the boards effectively.

"I think our rebounding was a lot more clutch in the last ten minutes than in the first half," Knapp said.

The game against Brown the night before was almost a mirror image of the one against Yale. The Quakers turned the ball over frequently, racking up 17 turnovers, and they held the Bears (2-20, 1-7) to 38 percent shooting.

The only difference was that on Friday, Penn's attempts did not find their way into the hoop.

"If we would have shot 40 percent against Brown, we would have won," Knapp said. "We had many of the same shots. They fell against Yale, but not against Brown."

Penn went an abysmal 30 percent from the field, including 1-for-19 from three-point range. Bucar blamed the poor performance on the Quakers' "lack of a sense of urgency" early in the game.

The Bears - who also rode a 14-game losing streak into Friday night's battle - appeared to be the easiest opponent of the season, with an RPI ranking of 313 and an Ivy-worst -22-point scoring margin. Instead, it was Yale and its 266 RPI that proved to be less challenging.

Freshman Kim Adams continued her strong play since returning from an injury. On the two-game road trip, she racked up 13 points against the Bulldogs and 17 against the Bears.

"She has been taking the ball to the basket and her offensive contribution is tremendous for us," Knapp said.

Penn will need Adams and her teammates to match their offensive performance of Saturday if the Quakers don't want to wait another 15 games for their next victory.

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