Two weeks later, are they any better?

Boy did the women's basketball team need that break.

After stumbling through a horrendous December and first half of January, during which Penn lost ten straight games, the Quakers (3-13, 0-1 Ivy) are wrapping up their two-week layoff. And the team had no shortage of things it needed to improve.

"I'm really pleased about how we've practiced these past couple of weeks," sophomore Sarah Bucar said. "These last four days, we've strung four good practices together, and that has not happened at all."

Unfortunately for the Quakers, their game tonight at Harvard (8-8, 1-1 Ivy) marks the start of the tough two-game road trips that are a hallmark of the conference schedule. After taking on the Crimson, the Red and Blue make the two-hour drive to Hanover, N.H. to face the Big Green (4-12, 0-1 Ivy) on Saturday.

Penn will unveil a new-look, a faster-paced offense, this weekend.

"We've been working a lot on . being aggressive with scoring and our running game, which we're good at," junior Maggie Burgess said.

Thus far, the Quakers' have been plagued by their anemic offense, averaging 50.9 points per game.

"I would like to see some better offensive decisions," Penn coach Patrick Knapp said.

He would be fine, he said, if good shots were not falling for his team, but Penn's offensive woes have stemmed from not sharing the ball well and not executing. The Red and Blue have the worst turnover margin in the Ivy League.

Besides allowing the team to work on its offensive game plan and basketball fundamentals, the break has also allowed the team to recover from some of its many injuries. Captain Kim Franklin is done for the year with knee surgery. But two people who were expected to contribute, junior Kelly Scott and freshman Kim Adams, are now back and healthy, something that the team could not claim during at the start of the season.

"We get additional scoring power at guard [from Scott and Adams]," Knapp said.

The team has received good news about the status of freshman Erin Power, whose recovery has been quicker than expected. She has been participating in some parts of practice, and may be able to return this season.

With Ivy League play just kicking off, the team feels that all of the squads in the conference are still getting their "traction," as Knapp described it.

Therefore, despite their disastrous non-conference performances, the players believe that the Ivy League crown is still within reach for all eight teams.

"Now we get a chance to take the lessons we've learned . plus fire in our belly, and take it into the Ivy League play - string some W's together here," Knapp said.

In fact, the Quakers do have some positives from the last few games on which they hope to build. In their last outing against Seton Hall, Penn outscored a very good club on the road in the second half, 34-26.

"We played ten times better against a quality opponent than we had in the past month," Knapp said.

But the Quakers will have to play even better tonight if they hope to avoid their longest losing streak in a decade.

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