Can W. Hoops finish January above .500?

If the Quakers sweep Columbia and Cornell, they can take a winning record into February. The New York Giants had just won Super Bowl XXV, and the Persian Gulf War was still ongoing in 1991. That's how long it has been since the Penn women's basketball team has taken a winning overall record into the month of February. This weekend, the Quakers (7-8, 2-1 Ivy League) have a chance to pass that milestone when they take a journey through the state of New York. Penn begins the remainder of its schedule with an 11-game Ivy League stretch run. The Quakers (7-8, 2-1 Ivy League) first travel to New York City to take on last-place Columbia (4-11, 0-4). Penn will have to pay close attention to Lions forward Shawnee Pickney, who apparently has been the only shining light on a team that has opened 1998 with five straight losses. Its average margin of defeat over that stretch is 21.8 points. Pickney averages 6.6 rebounds a game and has earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors three times this season. Quakers forward Diana Caramanico is the only player to earn more Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors. The second half of this road trip takes the Red and Blue through the Catskills to Ithaca, N.Y., for a matchup against Cornell (5-11, 2-2). The last meeting between both teams proved to be a heartbreaker for Penn when Big Red guard Sarah Maggi scored the winning bucket with two seconds remaining to pull off a 65-63 victory. Yet, that result is not even a memory to most of the team, and the non-freshman players have kept their focus on the present. "There's definitely no focus on the past with basically a completely new team," Penn guard Sue Van Stone said. "This year has been a fresh start for us, and right now our focus is on getting our first away Ivy weekend done and done successfully. " Standing in the way is Cornell, led by guard/forward Kim Ruck, guard Kristie Riccio and center Kelly Jackson. Ruck averages 12.9 points per game, and Riccio leads all Ivy League players in three-point shooting at 46.7 percent. Jackson is third in field goal shooting and fourth in rebounding among players in the Ivies, but trails Caramanico in both categories. That matchup is not the only area in which the Big Red face problems. "In particular, Cornell particularly struggles slightly offensively," Maldonado said. "They're really going to try and crack down their defense on us and see if they can create some easy shots and get layups off their defensive play." It will be interesting to see how the Quakers handle what is a lengthy and taxing road trip. There's no way of knowing in what kind of shape the Quakers will be after Penn logs one game and 305 miles by bus before stepping onto the court against the Big Red. However, playing two nights in a row is not a foreign concept to the Quakers. Penn won back-to-back games over Thanksgiving break in Wilmington, N.C. But Penn lost to Yale in the tail end of back-to-back games earlier this month. "With the Yale/Brown weekend, all of us know about the fatigue factor; everyone knows what to expect," Maldonado said. The last time Penn finished with a winning record was the fateful year of 1991. However, the Quakers have loftier goals in mind as they focus on staying in contention for first place. Two wins place them above a break-even overall record, as well as in good striking distance of conference leader Harvard with two games against the Crimson still ahead "We're in a great position. We have a chance to be either first or second in the Ivies," Maldonado said. "Losing puts us tied for fourth or fifth. Sweeping both away games is such a big deal. It's a big weekend for us." The upcoming trip will be the first of five straight weekends that will determine whether or not the Quakers possess the wherewithal to compete in the Ivy League.