Penn takes two

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: With 15-point victories over Cornell and Columbia, W. Hoops has won 3 in row There was a time in the not-too-distant past when it was doubtful the Penn women's basketball team would win even one game. But after back-to-back-to-back wins over Dartmouth, Cornell and Columbia, the Quakers have suddenly become one of the hottest teams in the Ivy League. One week after recording its first win of the year against the Big Green, Penn added victories No. 2 and No. 3, beating the Lions, 73-58 on Friday, and topping the Big Red, 70-55, on Saturday. "It is sort of bittersweet that we are winning now," Quakers coach Julie Soriero said. "Part of me is relieved, but another part wishes that it happened sooner." But Penn (3-22, 3-10 Ivy League) was not about to speculate on what could have been when it took the court against Cornell Saturday at the Palestra. The Big Red (12-14, 7-7) had dominated the Quakers in their previous meeting and were prepared to follow the three-point shooting of guard Mary Lamacchia to another win. Penn quickly ended any delusions Cornell had of picking up an easy win by playing its best half of the season to open the game. "We decided to be more aggressive offensively," Soriero said. "We had a solid inside-outside game and the players were willing to take the outside shots." Cornell did not help itself as its 25 percent shooting from the field was as cold as its Ithaca, N.Y., campus in February. Penn keyed on the Big Red three-point shooters, taking the safe bet that Cornell's low post players would not be able to win the game on their own. "We stayed in a zone defense for most of the game," Penn captain Natasha Rezek said. "It was one of the most aggressive zones that we had all season. We swarmed the perimeter, and Cornell had no inside game." All of those missed shots led to plenty of rebounding opportunities for Rezek and her teammates as the Quakers outrebounded Cornell, 59-30. Rezek, who has become the Dennis Rodman of the Ivy League, led the way with 20 boards to go along with her 23 points. But the single biggest factor in Penn's turn-around has been the emergence of the players around Rezek. Saturday it was Michelle Maldonado's turn to have a breakthrough game with 16 points, 11 boards and 6 assists. "There is not one area that we've changed that's responsible for us winning," Rezek said. "Its just the fact that we now have 12 players contributing." The Cornell win was probably the most important for Penn so far this season, at least in terms of gaining respect from observers. "It would be easy to say that we beat Dartmouth because they had an off night," Soriero said. "Columbia is a young team, but Cornell is a solid team. The sequence of wins proved a lot." The Columbia win was expected, even though the Lions (2-23, 1-12) had defeated the Red and Blue earlier this season in New York. "We showed that we are able to beat the top and bottom in the league," Soriero said. "It would have been very discomforting if we would have lost to Columbia after beating Dartmouth." Against Columbia, the Quakers opened up a quick 12-2 lead before the Lions clawed their way back to make it a one-point halftime lead for Penn. "We came out strong, and then we just lapsed," Penn guard Colleen Kelly said. "Coach tried to pump us up during halftime to step up the 'D'." The Quakers concentrated on stopping the Columbia guards, especially freshmen Rose Jackson and Colleen Touey, both of whom hurt Penn off the dribble and from the perimeter in the first half. In the second half, Penn was able to shut down the Lions' offense, limiting Columbia to just 24 points in the final 20 minutes. "We were able to cut off their penetration by having two guards up top," Soriero said. "We also were able to get better rebounding position." Penn shut down Columbia completely on the boards in the second half. After getting out-rebounded in the first half, the Quakers grabbed 40 boards to the Lions' 20. Penn had three double-digit rebounders, Rezek with 16, Deana Lewis with 12 and Maldonado with 11. "Rebounding is just about working hard," Maldonado said. "There really is no excuse not to do it well." On offense, Rezek had one of her most dominating games of the year. She finished with 27 points, taking full advantage of the lack of double and triple teams that had been deployed against her continuously this year. "It was a dream for me out there," Rezek said. "It has a lot to do with their respect for our outside shooters in light of the Dartmouth game." Penn now has its eye on Tuesday's Princeton game. Playing before the much-anticipated men's showdown, the Quakers hope to capitalize on the atmosphere of excitement in what should be a very loud and crowded Palestra as they try to end with a four-game winning streak. "Winning four games is not enough for a solid season," Maldonado said. "But its all we can do."