After a four-game losing streak, it seems like all that the Penn women's basketball team needed to get back on track was a little vacation.
Two days after the end of finals, the Quakers returned to their winning ways, dispatching their West Philadelphia rival Drexel 54-50 on Dec. 23.
Then the Red and Blue rang in the new year in style when they traveled to nearby Lawrenceville, N.J., and beat Rider, 74-57, on Jan. 3.
With two more road games coming up before the Ivy League season opener at Yale Jan. 28, Penn has stabilized its record at 5-6 and has won on the road for the first time in coach Pat Knapp's short tenure.
In the win over Drexel (4-3), the Quakers were in front throughout most of the game. Penn was sparked by the play of sophomore point guard Joey Rhoads, who came off the bench to score a game-high 16 points. Junior center Jennifer Fleischer continued her physical presence in the low block adding seven rebounds.
The Quakers had a 25-19 halftime lead, but the Dragons cut the deficit to two at 30-28 about seven minutes into the half. But Penn buckled down on defense, holding Drexel scoreless for the next four minutes, and extended the lead to 10 points.
Despite a late Dragons charge, the Quakers were able to hold on for the win.
Senior Karen Habrukowich also had 13 points and five rebounds in the Penn victory.
After their shortened break, Penn beat the Rider Broncs (2-9) on the strength of a tremendous second-half surge. Trailing 30-28 at intermission, the Red and Blue regrouped offensively, unleashing 46 points in the final 20 minutes.
"We knew if we played our game, things would work out," Fleischer said.
The junior had a career-high 22 points, tying her as the game's high scorer with Rider guard Becky Hower. Fleischer also had a game-high 16 rebounds.
Knapp stressed that fouls in the first half were hurting Penn's momentum and offensive flow. The Quakers appeared to have gotten his message in the second half.
"I told them we were fouling too much," he said. They needed to "back off ... play defense with their feet."
Fleischer said that the team also was upset about their poor first-half play, and that they knew that if they played their game, then things would work out.
"We knew we didn't come back from the break early to play the way we were playing," she added.
After shooting only 42.3 percent from the field in the first half, the Quakers shot 61.5 percent in the second, including 55.6 percent from behind the three-point line. Meanwhile, after the Broncs shot 41.7 percent in the first half, they were held to just 29.4 percent in the second.
After Knapp's halftime lecture the the Red and Blue only committed five fouls compared to 10 in the first half.
In addition to Fleischer, Habrukowich scored 13 points, senior center Katie Kilker chipped in with 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting, and sophomore forward Monica Naltner also dropped 10 points on the strength of shooting 6-for-8 from the free-throw line.
Senior guard Cat Makarewich also had a game-high seven assists.
