Somewhere in the back of its mind, the Penn women's basketball team may have known that it wouldn't finish the Ivy League schedule undefeated.
Still, the Quakers were disappointed after splitting their weekend road trip against Brown and Yale. The Bears handed the Red and Blue their first league loss, 85-75, Friday night in Providence, R.I.
Although the Quakers rallied to defeat the Elis, 76-56, the following night, they did not get rid of the sting of being outplayed for the first time in the Ancient Eight.
"Friday, we just didn't bring it on defense," Penn coach Kelly Greenberg said. "We let 'em score a lot of uncontested points in the second half. We respected their speed too much and weren't coming after them enough."
Senior Jewel Clark and junior Karen Habrukowich led the Red and Blue offensively in both games. Habrukowich posted an 18-point effort against the Bears (13-10, 6-4 Ivy), including four threes, and followed that performance with 13 against Yale Saturday night.
Clark's 23 points and 10 rebounds against the Elis were overshadowed by her monster numbers against Brown -- 29 points, 17 rebounds -- but, like most of her teammates, she was not as successful on the defensive end.
"Jewel would be the first to tell you that she didn't have a good game defensively," Greenberg said.
Indeed, the Quakers (14-8, 8-1) allowed Brown to shoot 55.6 percent in the second half, tallying 54 points and expanding its 31-24 halftime lead. Bears forward Nyema Mitchell, who was contained in the first meeting between the two teams, lit up the Red and Blue this time around with 25 points and five blocks.
Mitchell was one of four Brown players with at least fourteen points.
"We didn't really think about how much harder we'd have to work to beat these teams in the second half," Clark said. "Everybody wants to be the ones to beat us."
But one good thing about the Ivy League schedule: if you're not satisfied with your performance of Friday night, there's always an opponent to take out your frustrations on the following night.
Enter Yale. The Elis (5-18, 2-8) had won their last two contests in dramatic fashion, beating two-time defending league champion Harvard and topping Princeton in overtime. But the Quakers quickly dashed any Yale hopes of a third straight upset.
Using an up-tempo style, Penn hit five first-half threes and shot 48.4 percent from the field in building a 42-32 halftime lead.
"Saturday, we came after them offensively and defensively," Greenberg said. "You wouldn't even believe that they had a shot clock, because I don't think we ran one halfcourt set the entire first half."
The pace at which the Quakers came out against the Elis matched their level of confidence. Greenberg was proud of the way her team shook off the Brown game and refocused.
"Our team spirit was to forget last night and come out with a sense of urgency," Greenberg said. "And we did. When the team came out, I was like 'Wow,' you could really see it."
Sophomore center Jennifer Fleischer bounced back from a subpar game against Brown to post 12 points and 10 rebounds. Led by Fleischer and Clark, who both recorded double-doubles, the Red and Blue posted a 46-35 rebounding edge.
Sixteen of those rebounds went to the Quakers' guards, a fact not lost on Greenberg nor Clark.
"When it comes to rebounding, our guards have been talking to each other, getting each other fired up," Greenberg said. "I was pretty pleased with how they helped our forwards."
But rebounding in the backcourt has plagued Penn all season.
Clark saw rebounding as a big reason why the Quakers came up short against the Bears, and called for continued emphasis on this problem.
"We just weren't aggressive enough," Clark said. "We probably rebounded better the first time [against Brown]. We really need our guards to get involved in the rebounding."
The good news for Clark and the others is that Penn continues to hold a one-game lead over second-place Dartmouth with five games to go.
"We're tired, yes. But we're deep, and have an Ivy League championship ahead of us," Greenberg said. "So we can't make excuses.
"Fatigue can't make us cowards."
