W. Hoops avenge past loss to Big Red

The Penn women's basketball team faced Columbia and Cornell at the Palestra this weekend with two goals in mind. The Quakers wanted an easy win Friday and some revenge Saturday. Penn found what it was looking for, destroying the hapless Lions 66-39 and pulling away from the Big Red 78-64. Friday's contest was slow-moving. Columbia (0-23, 0-11 Ivy League) took its only lead of the game on the first basket, a jumper by forward Jen Holub. It would be over two minutes before another point would be scored. The first half was messy, with both teams taking wild shots. Penn (10-15, 7-5) reaped the benefits, as senior center Natasha Rezek pulled down 11 rebounds in the opening period. Despite shooting only 28.6 percent in the half, the Quakers nearly doubled Columbia's point total. "We got off to a very slow start in the first half," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "We did a much better job in the second half, but I was disappointed in our performance from the free-throw line. We missed shots in the first half that if you shut your eyes and throw them up you should have more luck in getting them in." Senior guard Shelly Bowers started off the second half with a three-point basket, and Penn never looked back. The Quakers made Columbia pay dearly for its mistakes, picking up 15 points off rebounds and 14 from Lions' turnovers. "We let them do whatever they wanted in the first half," Bowers said. "We made adjustments and picked up the defense in the second half. That turned into good looks on offense too." Despite the blowout victory, the Quakers were disappointed by their performance against Columbia. "We just took it for granted that we could turn it on whenever we wanted," Rezek said. "We did in the second half, but it should have been done in the first half." With three players out for the year, the Lions have been shorthanded all season. Senior center Cathy Schunerman and guard Dawn Cox tried to pick up the slack, playing the entire game. Schunerman was Columbia's leading scorer, with 17 points, while Cox led the Lions with nine rebounds. Though Cox seemed to be all over the court, her efforts did not help Columbia, as she was held in check by Bowers and Banks. "We didn't annihilate like we could have," Bowers said. "It's something that's going to happen against a weaker team, because you tend to lapse a little bit. When you're up by 20, what's one more basket for them?" Before Penn faced Cornell (9-15, 5-7) Saturday night, the four Quakers seniors were honored for their dedication to the program. The emotion threatened to spill onto the court, as Penn turned the ball over five times in as many minutes. "We started out really slow," senior co-captain Katina Banks said. "It took us a while to get into our game. Once we did, we started to execute and play some really good defense to generate our offense." The Big Red took advantage of Penn's mistakes. Cornell led early, up by as many as six points. "Things were stagnant in the first half," Rezek said. "We were lax and really flat. It took us a whole half to get into sync." The Quakers did not give up, going on a 8-1 run to end the first half, capped by two free throws from freshman forward Michelle Maldonado. The Quakers took the lead there and would never trail again. It was a tale of two halves. Penn and the Big Red battled for the first five minutes of the second half before the Quakers took control of the contest. Bowers set Banks up for a 14-foot jumper that put Penn up 34-32, igniting a 17-6 Quakers run that put the seniors' final home game out of reach. Bowers' three-point jumper with 8:05 remaining capped the Penn rally. Sophomore guard Erica McCauley and the Quakers held Cornell's junior guard Mary LaMacchia, who had lit Penn up for 30 points in Ithaca, to only two Saturday night. Though Big Red senior forward Keri Farley led all scorers with 20, she too was contained by the tough Penn defense. The Quakers defeated both the Senior Night emotion and the Big Red. Rezek had her 12th double-double of the season, with 18 points and 18 rebounds. Senior forward Shelly Dieterle started in her final Palestra contest, scoring 4 points and pulling down 4 boards in 14 minutes of action. Bowers had an outstanding all-around game, with 15 points, six boards, seven assists and two steals. Banks scored nine points and had eight rebounds. In addition, her two steals tied her for the Penn career record of 205. "It's been a long season and a long career, and it's great to leave the Palestra on a good note," Banks said. "I have a lot of fond memories here. I'm glad I can add another to all of those I have. It feels good to go out with a bang."