Digging into the bag of tricks

On December 30, the last time the Penn women's basketball team played at home, the Quakers held Air Force to 42 points for the whole game. Last night, Drexel put 43 on the board in the first half alone. The two games bore absolutely no similarity to one another, except for the final result -- a Penn victory. The Quakers have won nine straight games now, a team record. They wrapped up January with a perfect 7-0 record last night by scoring a season-high 91 points against the Dragons at the Palestra. The Red and Blue's streak has not been a celebration of any particular style -- Penn has had a different way to win each game. The Quakers are now 2-0 in the Ivy League, with only league games remaining, so they have every reason to be confident about their future in the Ancient Eight. "It's definitely a good sign [that we've won in varying ways]," said Penn forward Diana Caramanico, who already had a double-double by halftime last night. "I think that when we get down the stretch in the Ivy League, we're going to be very well prepared for anything that comes our way. We've blown teams out, we've had close games, we've had leads and let them get away. We've won every possible way. We've been down and come back, too." Penn has won over the course of this streak by as few as three on January 13 at Cornell and by as many as 18 against Air Force. The game against the Falcons was all about defense. In the first half, Air Force only scored 10 points, on two three-pointers and four free throws. Penn cruised to a 60-42 triumph in a surreal game that drew only 43 souls to the Palestra in a snowstorm. Last night, a bipartisan crowd was treated to a first half that may have been even more astounding than Penn's first half against Air Force. "I thought neither team played defense," Penn coach Kelly Greenberg said. "That certainly helped. The first half, we shot 74 percent. I saw that at halftime, and I went and asked the table, 'Are you kidding me?'" But they weren't kidding. Penn's astounding first half last night had the crowd at the Palestra thinking about cheesesteaks for a time. Caramanico's 11 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists had others thinking about the possibility of a triple-double. Obviously, things are very different now from the way they were when Penn opened the season by losing 5-of-6 games. "After the break we were determined that the five games we had lost, they were just games we lost, nothing else," said freshman guard Jewel Clark, who scored a career-high 26 points in her first career start last night. "It was time to start our second season, if you want to call it that, and start it the right way. We were starting a new year as well, and wanted to start it right... start it with winning." Penn beat Stony Brook, 68-56, in their first game back from a 16-day holiday layoff on December 28, and the Quakers haven't looked back. Greenberg has also made some changes since the rocky start which have worked out well for her team, both in strategy and with the lineup. "When you play back-to-back games in the Ivy League, you can't go into both games pressing," Greenberg said. "In a lot of games, we've said let's not press. Against Siena, we didn't press because they were a better team. You don't want to be predictable, and I think we've done a nice job of it." As for the lineup, the biggest change has been in the frontcourt, where Julie Epton has parlayed her mobility into a starting job. Also, Greenberg put freshman Jackie Froatz in for her first collegiate action in the first half against Stony Brook. Froatz has appeared in every game since then, and Penn hasn't lost. Froatz was the only Penn bench player to score last night, as she tallied six points in 13 minutes. The Quakers have found every way to win imaginable on their nine-game winning streak, playing stellar offense sometimes, excellent defense at others. With the changes that they have made since their 1-5 start, the Red and Blue do indeed have every reason to be confident about their remaining 12 Ivy League games.

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