When the five members of the Class of 2005 put on their white uniforms and take the court at the Palestra on Saturday to face Columbia, it will be for the last time. And they are determined to leave their mark.
Though the Penn women's basketball team is out of the running for an Ivy title, it maintains high standards for the remaining two weekends of conference play, especially for these last two home games against Cornell (2-21, 0-10 Ivy) and Columbia (11-12, 4-6).
"It is going to be an emotional weekend for all five of us for sure," senior Amanda Kammes said. "It is going to be sad leaving the Palestra and Penn basketball, but I would like to leave with two 'W's. ... Ivy League championship or not, we have to finish the season strong."
The Quakers (13-10, 6-4) swept their last encounters with the Lions and the Big Red two weeks ago, but not without facing strong resistance both nights. A lot has happened since then -- and not all to the team's advantage. Last weekend the Red and Blue suffered a set of devastating losses to Brown and Yale.
Then, an elated and revitalized team celebrated Tuesday's 58-50 victory over Princeton (12-11, 4-6) and a season sweep of the Orange and Black. The victory tasted sweet for the Quakers, especially since it was their first home win of the 2004-05 conference season.
"We need to carry over, from the Princeton game particularly, the defensive intensity and purpose that we brought into that game," coach Patrick Knapp said. "Cornell and Columbia are hungry teams, but Penn has to be hungrier."
In their last meeting, the Quakers successfully shut down the Lions with a 63-51 win largely because Columbia could not match the presence of Penn junior Jennifer Fleischer in the post. Fleischer capitalized on the lack of an inside force, scoring a career high of 25 points and grabbing 19 rebounds.
"Up there against Columbia Fleisch had a great game," Kammes said. "I don't think we are going to try to do anything different with that. We like to exploit people's weaknesses and obviously their lack of an inside presence is going to be a big thing for us and we are going to look to pound it into Fleisch on Saturday."
Even with their driving abilities, the Lions could not permeate a strong Penn defense.
"By shutting down [Columbia's] drives and their shooters, I am really confident in what we are going to do this weekend," senior center Katie Kilker said.
The next night at Cornell, the Red and Blue encountered unexpected competition from the Big Red, a team that is still winless in Ivy League play. Fleischer again dominated inside play, tallying a career-high 21 rebounds. A 15-0 run late in the second half almost earned a win for the Big Red; however, the Quakers held strong to secure a close but decisive 51-50 victory.
"They are a young, high energy team," Kammes said of Cornell. "We had a lot of problems with their press last time up there and I think we've done some things since then to improve upon breaking presses and hopefully we won't have such a problem with it this time."
With the experience of past encounters with Columbia and Cornell, the Quakers are determined to complete the season sweep of both schools. Focusing on defense as a key to victory, the team, especially the five seniors, are planning to leave their mark on the Palestra with a weekend of success.
