W. Hoops prevails after slow start

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- In a building designed to look like a classic gothic cathedral, the Penn women's basketball team won a very ugly game Friday night at Yale. After leading the Elis by only 19-15 at halftime, the Quakers (8-6, 1-0 Ivy League) pulled away in the second half and prevailed, 53-40, in front of a sparse but vocal crowd at the John J. Lee Amphitheater and a television audience on the YES Network. The low score was due to abysmal shooting by both teams. Each made only five field goals in the first half and 13 in the game, with Penn (8-6, 1-0 Ivy) attempting 43 shots to Yale's 41. Penn shot 2-of-8 from three-point range on the night, while Yale (3-13, 0-3 Ivy) shot 5-of-19. Many of those misses were open shots, and caused plenty of consternation in a game which was fairly close throughout. "We set basketball back a little bit today," Penn coach Patrick Knapp said after the game. "I don't know what happened ... I thought we made silly-and I will underline silly for lack of another word-mistakes." Penn was led on offense by junior center Jennifer Fleischer, whose 15 points included 7-of-12 shooting from the free-throw line. Sophomore forward Monica Naltner was also impressive from the charity stripe, shooting a perfect 6-for-6 and hitting three clutch jumpers for 12 total points. Overall, Penn shot 25-of-37 from the free throw line, benefiting from the 26 total fouls committed by Yale - 11 in the first half and 15 in the second. Six Elis finished the game with three or more personal fouls. "We just came out, we weren't real fluid," said Penn senior guard Karen Habrukowich, who hit a clutch three-pointer with 6:11 to go in the game and shot 5-of-8 from the free throw line. "Maybe it's just first-game Ivy League jitters, but that's really no excuse." Yale was certainly complicit in its third loss of this Ivy League season, and not just because of its shooting. The Elis allowed Penn to steal the ball 12 times and committed 24 turnovers, including 10 by senior guard and team captain Morgan Richards. "We're plagued by turnovers, and not giving ourselves an opportunity to score when we have possession of the ball," Yale coach Amy Backus said. "That's been our issue the entire year." In the end, Knapp was more than happy to board the bus after the game and get ready to face Brown. "We've got to throw it in the trash can and move on," he said. "We don't have any time to moan about it."

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