Palestra starts rocking, but W. Hoops can only earn a split with Lions, Big Red

The Palestra was rocking this weekend with Penn women's basketball. Friday night was the Quakers' home opener in the league. Columbia (3-14, 0-5 Ivy League) came to town, and the Red and Blue sent the Lions packing with a 65-44 shellacking -- the Lions' seventh consecutive loss on Penn's home court. Saturday night the Red and Blue hoped to do the same to Cornell (10-7, 5-1). After falling behind in the first half 35-22, the chances of a Penn (6-10, 2-2) victory looked slim. But the Quakers fought back behind junior guard Colleen Kelly's 29 points -- including an all-time Quakers record seven three-point baskets. With just 26.3 seconds left in regulation, Kelly stepped up to the arc and drilled her seventh trifecta, tying the game up at 66, and bringing the crowd to its feet. "I like steals and assists just as much as points," Kelly said. "But since they were doing a great job on the post double- and triple-teaming Michelle [Maldonado] and Deana [Lewis], I had no choice but to keep shooting." A Maldonado block deflected by forward Shelly Fogarty off the leg of a Cornell player gave the ball back to Penn with an option of holding for a final shot. But instead Penn coach Julie Soriero devised a quick play for a feed down low to Maldonado. With the onslaught of the Big Red triple team on her tail, the 5-foot-10 forward made a power move in the paint. But, her shot was too hard off the backboard. And a victory was not to be for the Quakers, as Big Red guard Kim Ruck took the ball down the length of the court, drew a foul and hit one from the line for her game-high 30th point. Cornell forward Cheran Cordell added two more from the line, as the Big Red held on for a narrow 69-66 victory. "As a team we were not satisfied," Penn co-captain Amy Tarr said. "We had a chance to win, but we didn't. Our aim was to get two Ivy wins." Early on, it did not look as if the Quakers would be within reach in the closing minutes. Cornell's 5-foot-2 point guard, Kacee English, took control of the game's flow from the opening minute when she drove through the Quakers defense, and then on the other end drew an offensive charge foul on Quakers point guard Chelsea Hathaway. English's defensive pressure on Hathaway often forced her to pick up her dribble beyond the three-point line, altering the flow of Penn's offense. "I have to go up against the big girls in practice," English said. "So, I'm used to it come the games." But in the second half, Soriero substituted co-captain Amy Tarr into the game to run the point. The reserve guard showed some ability to penetrate past English, and Kelly and Fogarty caught fire. Fogarty found the shooting touch, finishing with 15 points, including a three-point bucket on a feed from Hathaway with 36.3 seconds to go. The shot brought Penn within one. Defensively, Maldonado patrolled the boards, preventing the Big Red from seeing many second-half shots. Despite a difficult night shooting the ball, Maldonado kept Penn close with 15 of her 21 boards coming on the defensive end. The 5-foot-10 junior now ranks fourth in the nation in rebounds with 12.2 boards per game. "We came back nicely," Soriero said. "It would have been nice if we could have pulled it out." Friday night was a different story, however, for Penn as 11 Quakers saw playing time in the blowout victory of Columbia. Maldonado led the way with 15 points and nine rebounds in 23 minutes. Kelly added 12 points and six steals. Even though the Quakers could not sweep their home weekend series with Columbia and Cornell as they did a year ago, this weekend was a step in the right direction for Penn. The team is starting to play a more cohesive brand of basketball. Their exciting brand of basketball has translated into closer games and better crowd turnouts. "Last year we lost here, so we knew how good they could be," English said. "But, they improved a tremendous amount. They've got a lot of confidence this year." The Daily Pennsylvanian's Tom Magee contributed to this story.