The Penn women's basketball team gave a free-throw shooting clinic last night at the Palestra.
The students just happened to be the Drexel Dragons, whom the Quakers beat, 81-77, on a night in which Penn went to the free-throw line 40 times.
Junior Jewel Clark led the way for the Red and Blue with 20 points in 38 minutes. Sixteen of those points were from the charity stripe, breaking her own Penn single-game record for free-throws.
"I wasn't thinking about it when I stepped to the line," Clark said.
Coming off a season-high of 33 points against Temple in Penn's opener, the Quakers went to Clark from the outset of the game.
Drexel "had to foul her; they can't play with her," head coach Kelly Greenberg said. "When a team goes to the line 40 times, we're doing something right."
In addition to her 20 points, Clark had seven rebounds and three assists, spending 38 of the game's 40 minutes on the floor.
"You can't get tired when playing basketball," Clark said.
Sophomore Katie Kilker contribued 19 points and two assists to Penn's effort. She also led the team with nine rebounds on the night.
"Katie definitely has to be our inside presence," Greenberg said. "You could tell [Drexel] knew we wanted to get it in to her and they were being physical with her early."
Sophomore Karen Habrukowich led the Quakers in scoring with 24 points in 31 minutes, shooting 6-for-10 from the field and making 10-of-13 free-throws.
"I wanted to get out there and do what I had to do for the team," Habrukowich said.
Despite Clark and Kilkers' performances, Drexel kept the game close. Penn twice led by 10 points but that was the largest lead either team had. Drexel's Katrina Martin and Steph Frysinger kept the Dragons in the game all night, with 19 and 17 points respectively.
The Dragons controlled much of the first half, with Martin shooting 6-for-9 and grabbing six rebounds in 16 minutes. The Dragons held Clark scoreless and went into the halftime break up 33-28.
However, the second half saw the Quakers surge ahead on the stength of a 15-2 run with 10 minutes left. This surge culminated in two steals in the Drexel backcourt, both of which led to easy layups.
"I don't really think it's anything that I say [at halftime]," said Greenberg. "I think it's the toughness of our players. "Maybe I point it out to them, but they all know individually that they can pick it up."
Greenberg also stressed throughout the night that the team had to "go and put this away," a slight reference to the men's game versus Drexel on Monday night.
Penn's coach placed significance on a win over a Philadelphia rival.
It's "definitely [important] with them being right next door to us," she said.
But she was quick to add that "every game is important for us."
Penn's main deficiency on the night was rebounding. Drexel outrebounded the Quakers 39-20, including 20 offensive boards for the Dragons.
"That's someting that we know as a team we can control a little bit more," Greenberg said. "It's going to be a high priority when we return [from Thanksgiving Break]."
