Junior center Jennifer Fleischer snatched the ball from above the hands of her opponents. She fell to the floor amidst a nest of desperate St. Joseph's players.
Still, she would not surrender the ball.
Time after time, the Red and Blue turned to this kind of scrappy resilience to edge out their opponents.
The strategy worked, as the Quakers defeated the Hawks, 64-57, at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse last night.
The victory marks the first time in history that the Quakers (3-2, 2-0 Big 5) have defeated St. Joe's (2-6, 0-1), shattering a 29-year streak of losses to their Big 5 rival.
"I think [the losing streak] did give us a little extra incentive to go out and really play hard," said Penn sophomore guard Joey Rhoads, who tallied 16 points for the Red and Blue. "We were just scrappy, we really wanted to get that win. Twenty-nine in a row is pretty bad."
Despite their history with St. Joe's, the Quakers stepped onto the court with optimism. The losses to St. Joe's were items of the past; with their new coach, the 2004-05 squad was confident that this year's contest would play out differently.
"We thought this was the year we had the best chance," Rhoads said. "We have a new coach, and we feel like we are playing really well, and they have some players hurt."
"It's a new game," said junior Jen Fleischer, who earned a career-high 21 points. "It doesn't matter what the record was in the past. Even if you've beaten them 30 times, you can't go out there thinking, 'oh we beat them 30 times and this is the 31st,' you always have to think of it as zero-zero and play that way."
The Hawks dominated much of the first half, leaving the Quakers struggling to chip away at the Hawks' lead. With 10 minutes left in the first half, the Red and Blue were trailing 18-9.
By the end of the half, however, the Quakers had cut the lead to one point, 26-25.
"We came out slow, and when we were down by 10 we just said this is not how it's going to go. We knew we had to pick it up and we did," Fleischer said.
Penn took its first lead of the game seven minutes into the second half. Shooting a blistering 73.7 percent from the court in the second frame, the Quakers stretched the margin to 10 points 10 minutes later.
After that, they never looked back.
"We went out and trapped them, we knew that we could pressure them a lot," Rhoads said. "We were going to do anything to win."
Though the Hawks continued to fight, they could not regain lost ground.
When the buzzer sounded, history was made.
"It's a Big 5 game and it's going to be a battle," Penn coach Pat Knapp said. "We were not at the top of our game either, so we really were slugging it out. It was a little sloppy at the end."
Though happy with the win, Knapp was quick to acknowledge the weaknesses in his team's performance last night.
"We beat St. Joe's, but we are not happy with the way we played," Knapp said. "We did not play smart defensively. And we let them get back in it. But I think our zone turned the game around. Joey, Lauren [Pears], the kids in the back line did a great job.
"We are going to break down the tape tomorrow and see how many lobs we threw out of bounds."
With the memory of tough battles against No. 22 Maryland and Colorado last weekend still in their minds, the Quakers were no stranger to the physical, intense play that pulled them ahead of their opponents last night.
"We know we have to play that hard, the way we played against Maryland ... you have to play that way against anybody. There is a physicality that has to be there no matter who we are playing," Knapp said. "If we don't play as hard and intense as we did against Maryland, we are going to lose big."
Remnants of the intensity felt against Maryland helped lead the Quakers to victory last night.
With such a win under their belts, have the Quakers begun a new chapter in their history?
"We better," Knapp said, "because I'm not waiting 29 years for the next one."
NOTES: For the first time in program history, the Quakers have won two Big 5 games. Amanda Kammes' buzzer-beater gave Penn a 51-49 win over La Salle last weekend.
"Congratulations to these kids," Knapp said. "In the past week, winning two Big 5 games, beating St. Joe's, and all that."
