The fans at Drexel University's Daskalakis Athletic Center could have easily mistaken last night's Penn-Drexel women's basketball game for one of the higher-profile City Series matchups down the street at the Palestra.
There was an arched roof over the court, it was hot enough in the stands to wear short sleeves and the two schools' bands spent 20 minutes or so before tipoff trying to outplay each other.
And, of course, the game was never over until the final buzzer.
This time, Drexel got the better of the University City border war, prevailing over the Quakers, 78-70.
Penn (6-6, 1-0 Ivy) made its first seven shots of the game, including four three-pointers, on the way to a 20-10 lead at the 12:30 mark of the first half. But the Dragons (5-7, 2-1 CAA ) tightened their defense from then on.
Despite narrowly avoiding a few shot clock violations, Drexel clawed its way to a 30-30 tie with 2:45 to go in the half on a Kim Lucas jump shot, and took a 37-34 lead into the halftime break.
Penn led only once in the second half, after senior guard Jewel Clark stole the ball from Drexel senior center Ola Snystina with 13:52 to go in the game to make the score 50-48. But Drexel went on to score the next seven points, and Penn coach Kelly Greenberg had to call a time-out after a Snystina layup at 9:08 to stop the Dragons' run.
Snystina led all scorers with 22 points, and Clark had 21 for the Red and Blue. And while Penn shot 57.7 percent for the game to Drexel's 42.4 percent, the home side had 14 more attempts. Drexel also took 17 foul shots to Penn's five.
Clark attributed Penn's inability to keep up its early hot shooting pace to a lack of intensity later in the game.
"We may have gotten too satisfied," she said. "If you're up by 10 like we were, our next goal, go up by 20, after that, go up by 30."
Seemingly, the greatest difference between the two teams last night was in offensive rebounding, as Drexel pulled down 17 boards in its own end to Penn's seven.
"When [Drexel] made their run in the first half, it was because of offensive rebounding," Greenberg said. "We've got to make sure everyone's keeping people off the glass."
Although Penn sophomore center Jennifer Fleischer had 11 rebounds in only 19 minutes of play, junior guard Amanda Kammes felt that the rest of the team didn't contribute its fair share.
"I think if we're going to be a good rebounding team, it's going to take all five of us," she said. "[Drexel] didn't really have a big center presence inside, everyone pretty much can play a bunch of different spots. And when that happens, everyone has to contribute, box out, and get some boards."
Kammes did contribute 10 assists and played a large role in moving the ball around for the Red and Blue, which Greenberg noted after the game.
"I thought she played a great floor game, played with everything she had, heart and soul," the Penn coach said. "She made great decisions with the ball."
This is not the first time Penn and Drexel have played a close game in recent years, as the Quakers prevailed last season, 81-77, at the Palestra.
"I never really think we're out of it," Greenberg said.
She also attributed the tight scoreline to the closeness of the players during the rest of the year.
"I think a lot of our players are friends with their players and they play a lot of pickup in the offseason," Greenberg said. "I think it's a natural thing to want to beat your friends -- they got the best of us this year."
Ivy League Notes: Although Dartmouth's stunning 93-88 overtime win over two-time defending champion Harvard last Saturday changed the Ivy League title race dramatically, Kammes said that Penn won't be distracted as the main part of league play approaches.
"It's a dogfight every year," she said. "It's nice that Harvard has one loss in the loss column but it really doesn't mean anything."
