PRINCETON, N.J.
'Shooter, shooter!"
The cry rang out from the Princeton bench and across the arena as Penn player after Penn player touched the ball. After a weekend of poor shooting from the outside, the Quakers finally lived up to the call.
The rims of Jadwin Gym were very good to the Red and Blue in their double-overtime win last night. Penn opened the game with a Cat Makarewich three-pointer from the left corner and never stopped shooting.
"I'll be honest with you," Penn coach Patrick Knapp said. "When the ball got in the basket I was saying a prayer."
After a weekend in which the Quakers were horrific from downtown and relied on Jennifer Fleischer's inside presence, Knapp's prayers were finally answered.
"This weekend we had some trouble," Penn guard Karen Habrukowich said. "But we came back and hopefully for this weekend we'll be shooting well too."
Penn scored its first 18 points from beyond the arc. The Red and Blue relied so much on the trifecta that its first two-point field goal didn't come until 12 minutes into the game when Amanda Kammes found a lane, got fouled and made the ensuing free throw -- so even that was a three-point play.
The three-point barrage continued throughout the half. Again and again, Penn found no luck on the inside, but the Quakers shooters kept getting open looks.
Joey Rhoads hit two threes on back-to-back possessions, and Habrukowich hit three from downtown in the first half.
In that period Fleischer was0-for-3 from the floor and forward Monica Naltner was 0-for-5, but the Quakers were still keeping it close, down only 32-27.
The Red and Blue finished the first half shooting an incredible 87.5 percent (7-for-8) from deep.
In a game in which senior center Becky Brown and the Princeton defense held Penn post players Fleischer and Katie Kilker scoreless, the Quakers shooters were there to lead the Penn offensive attack.
"I knew somebody needed to step up tonight," Habrukowich said. "So I was just hitting my shots."
Habrukowich led all scorers with 21 points, including hitting a sensational 5-for-7 from downtown.
Rhoads and Makarewich were both 3-of-5 from beyond the three-point line, scoring 12 and 13 points respectively.
Of Penn's 21 field goals, 11 were threes, and those three-pointers accounted for 33 of its 61 points. Most importantly, when the Quakers needed a basket, their shooters delivered.
Penn opened the second half with a long Naltner two and then yet another Makarewich three-pointer to pull even. Then, after playing nearly two overtimes in which Penn did nothing from the outside, Habrukowich buried a clutch three with 1:11 left to take a two-point lead for good.
When Meagan Cowher's first free throw banged off the back of the rim, the Quakers shooting performance was rewarded with a victory in the standings.
"I think it shows how much of a team we are," Rhoads said. "When teams are looking at Cat and Karen and our shooters, it's easier to go inside, but if they double down we can knock them down."
The Quakers will need that hot shooting as they return to the Palestra for two more tough Ivy League games this weekend, Friday night against Yale and Saturday night against Dartmouth.
A weekend in which the inside game carried the team to two wins and another win in which the guards led the way showed that Penn will do whatever it takes to win. And yesterday, it took two overtimes and 11 three-pointers, so that's what the Quakers delivered.
Jeff Fisher is a sophomore politicalscience major from Marietta, Ga.His e-mail address is fisherjh@sas.upenn.edu.
