W Hoops finds bright spot in dreary game

On an otherwise bleak night for the Penn women's basketball team, the Quakers did an impressive job containing Temple center Candice Dupree.

The 6-foot-2 junior has been the Owls' leading scorer and rebounder this season, averaging 14.2 points and 8.8 rebounds per game coming into last night.

But although she pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds against the Quakers, Penn was able to limit her to only nine points on 4-of-13 shooting.

This was due in no small part to the defensive efforts of Quakers junior center Jennifer Fleischer. She had eight rebounds -- six of which came on the defensive end -- and one quite impressive block.

With 16:26 to go in the first half, Dupree drove hard to the basket, but ran straight into Fleischer. The 6-foot-3 New Hartford, N.Y., native put her arms straight up in the air and stopped the shot, barely moving her feet at all.

Temple coach Dawn Staley said that Penn "did a great job" containing Dupree when she had the ball.

Dupree "missed some easy buckets that she usually makes," Staley said. "But a player like that, you can't stop her from playing defense, you can't stop her from blocking shots, you can't stop her from rebounding the basketball."

The Owls also did a good job containing Fleischer, limiting her to four points.

"We know Fleischer," Staley said. "If she catches the ball low in the block, she's going to score. so we tried to make her a little bit uncomfortable by pushing her up to block a little bit, by not allowing her to catch the ball in front of her."

When Penn guard Amanda Kammes limped off the floor after getting hurt driving to the basket in the first half, the injury looked severe.

On the bench, Kammes grimaced as her foot was treated by Penn's medical staff. She spent the rest of the game with a bag of ice wrapped around it. But after the game, Quakers coach Patrick Knapp said the injury was simply a sprained ankle and was not as bad as it appeared.

"They said I could play her, no damage would be done," he said. "But then I saw her on the one breakaway kind of hobbling a little bit."

After that, Knapp took Kammes out for the rest of the game.

Knapp went on to praise the Wheaton, Ill., native's tenacity and enthusiasm -- both of which Kammes displayed while watching her teammates battle on without her.

"You know Amanda," he said. "Amanda's going to come in and play her heart out."

Penn concluded its Big 5 schedule for the season last night, finishing with a 2-2 record. But although it was the Quakers' best ever performance in the city series, Knapp insisted that it was not a success by his standards.

He said that this game and Penn's 69-44 loss to Villanova on Sunday "leave a bad taste in our mouth."

"I wouldn't expect it, to be honest with you, to be a success," he added.

He also argued that this was a time for looking forward to the rest of the campaign, instead of looking back.

"I think you reflect at the end of the year if you want to," he said. "But you know what we've got next. We've got some good non-conference games and we have the league to take care of."

Nonetheless, Knapp has accomplished in his first season what no other Penn coach has in the program's history -- win more than one Big 5 game.

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