The Penn women's basketball team saw a little bit of everything over winter break, and enter second semester with a 6-5 record overall and a 1-0 record in the Ivy League. Here is a recap of the Quakers' games since the end of exams.
Penn 90, Dayton 69
(December 20)
In the opening game of the Wonder/Hostess Classic, the Quakers showed no post-exam fatigue and led the University of Dayton Flyers from start to finish, resulting in a 90-69 victory at Ohio State University's Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Penn raced out to a 29-14 lead with just over eight minutes to go in the first half, and went into the halftime break up 48-29 behind 11 points from senior guard Mikaelyn Austin. Freshman forward and Cincinnati native Monica Naltner expanded the lead to 73-50 with 6:15 to go in the game.
Dayton would cut the margin to 78-64 with three minutes to go, but would come no closer.
Freshman guard Joey Rhoads and senior forward Jewel Clark led the Red and Blue with 13 points apiece, and junior guard Cat Makarewich scored 12. Sophomore center Jennifer Fleischer had eight rebounds, nine points and two blocks.
Dayton also had four players record double figures, with Jennifer Strong leading the Flyers and all scorers with 17 points.
Penn shot 51.6 percent from the field, including 11-of-20 from three-point range. Makarewich hit 4-of-6 from beyond the arc for the Red and Blue.
"A great game for us," Penn coach Kelly Greenberg said. "Everyone was hitting, we played very exciting basketball and really just took it right to Dayton."
Penn 54, Ohio State 95
(December 21)
After the offensive explosion against Dayton, the Penn women's basketball team found itself on the other side of a rout against host Ohio State, falling to the Buckeyes, 95-54 in the championship game of the Wonder/Hostess Buckeye Classic.
Penn senior forward Clark led all scorers with 22 points and sophomore center Fleischer scored 13 for the Red and Blue to go with a team-high eight rebounds.
But the host Buckeyes shut down the rest of the Quakers' offense, limiting them to two three-pointers all game and scoring 60 points in the paint to Penn's 28.
Ohio State freshman guard Brandie Hoskins also scored 22 points, and was named the tournament's MVP. Clark and Hoskins were selected to the all-tournament team, along with Ohio State freshman center Jessica Davenport and junior forward Michelle Mu¤oz, and St. John's freshman forward Angie Clark.
The Red Storm defeated Dayton, 73-61, in the tournament's consolation game.
Penn 69, Northeastern 78
(January 3)
Penn stumbled into the new year with a 78-69 loss to the Northeastern Huskies in Boston. Despite leading for much of the first half, the Quakers were unable to hold on and fell behind for good with 6:33 to go. Northeastern would finish the game by hitting 10 of 12 free-throw attempts in the final 1:08.
Clark led all scorers with 27 points and also pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. Senior guard Joi Jefferson led the Huskies with 18 points. Penn shot 43 percent from the field and 25 percent from three-point range, but Clark contributed 12 of the team's 25 made baskets.
"That was an evenly matched game -- it could have went either way," Greenberg said. "Unfortunately we just didn't make shots. I think our shooters had a lot of open shots, a lot of opportunities, and we just didn't knock them down."
Penn 73, Lehigh 43
(January 6)
The Quakers played their first game at the Palestra in over a month and made the most of their home court, easily defeating Lehigh, 73-43. It was Penn's largest margin of victory since defeating Columbia by 36 points on Jan. 28, 2000.
The game was won largely on a 23-4 Penn run in a 9:48 span during the second half. Clark led a balanced offense with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while sophomore center Fleischer had 12 points and 12 rebounds. The Quakers held all Lehigh scorers under 10 points, as sophomore forward Jenny Callan led the Mountain Hawks with eight points.
Although both this game and the Dayton game were blowouts, Greenberg "thought we played better [against] Dayton."
"We were able to get everyone in, everyone scored, but I don't think it was one of our better games," she said.
Penn 65, Princeton 54
(January 9)
Penn got the Ivy League portion of its season off to a strong start with an 11-point victory over its traditional rival at the Palestra on Friday night.
Princeton scored the first six points of the game and held the Quakers without a basket for the first 5:14 on the way to establishing a 18-6 lead midway through the half. But Penn stormed back with a 24-10 run and led, 30-28, at the intermission.
Clark and Tigers forward Katy Digovich led all scorers with 20 points, and Penn's Jennifer Fleischer had a game-high 13 rebounds. Sophomore guard Karen Habrukowich also played a big role in the Quakers' offense, scoring all 12 of her points from three-point range.
"Early on they jumped on us, but it was just a matter of us start hitting some shots, and eventually that did happen," Greenberg said. "I thought defensively that was our best game all year -- I thought we played really good defense, on the ball and just really bothering them."
