Coming back from New England on Sunday, I passed by a seemingly infinite number of old buildings that have stood the tests of time and harsh Northeast winters.
The colonial houses and brick factories that border the twin spines of Interstate 95 and Amtrak's railroad corridor represent the earnest, hard-working spirit of this part of the country. The industrial glory days may have passed, but I couldn't help thinking that the Penn women's basketball team was channeling that spirit over the weekend.
Neither Quakers victory was pretty. In fact, both were pretty ugly. However, they were just efficient enough to win, and come next month, that is all that will matter.
I certainly don't want to excuse Penn's poor shooting over the weekend: 34.4 percent from the field and 25 percent from three-point range. Against Yale, senior guards and long-range sharpshooters Karen Habrukowich and Cat Makarewich combined to make only three of 11 attempts from the field and two of four three-point shots. The next night, they combined for a slightly more respectable 8-of-18 and 4-of-12 performance.
In both games the difference was sophomore center Jennifer Fleischer, who simply took over whenever the Red and Blue needed a lift. On Friday, she led the team in rebounding and scoring with nine boards and 15 points -- including 7-of-12 shooting from the free-throw line. The next night, Fleischer once again led the team with 16 rebounds and scored 15 points.
Her last rebound of the weekend was by far the most crucial, as it prevented Brown from tying the game and led to the free throws with which Penn sealed a 2-0 start to Ivy League play.
It was one of those plays in which, to borrow the phrase from Saint Joseph's men's head coach Phil Martelli, anybody in the post needed a hard hat to get up for the ball. There were three Brown players in the paint, and Fleischer simply overpowered all of them.
When asked what was going through her head on the play, Fleischer gave an impressively simple response.
"We need the ball -- we have to get the ball," she said. "It all comes down to the last few seconds, and there's a lot you can't control. But if you have the ball, it's always a good thing."
Fleischer might not admit it, but this weekend was her first statement in a candidacy for Ivy League Player of the Year. She was already dominant last year when Penn won the Ancient Eight title, but the individual honor went to Jewel Clark, as it should have.
This year, Fleischer is carrying more of the offensive burden and also has to serve as a distributor of the ball if there are open players on the perimeter.
"Fleisch doesn't stop, but I'd have liked her to check the defense and kick it out a bit more" against Brown, Penn coach Patrick Knapp said on Saturday. "But we go back to the rebounding -- that saved us."
Knapp has put considerable emphasis on defense and rebounding this season. After every game, he looks first at the rebound and turnover totals in the box score.
Despite the low scores from the weekend, I don't think Knapp or the players have much to worry about, on offense anyway. In addition to Fleischer and the two senior guards, sophomore forward Monica Naltner is a versatile starter who can drive inside just as easily as she can hit mid-range jumpers.
Penn also has tremendous strength in its numbers. Knapp regularly uses at least nine players in each game, and that number will likely rise now that junior forward Jenna Markoff has recovered from a stress fracture. Markoff and others can provide cover for Naltner when she needs a breather or picks up early fouls.
"We're looking for someone to come in at that four spot and get some points," Knapp said. "We could go back to Rachel [Wilson], it could be Ashley [Gray], it might be Jenna again."
Whoever it is will be another vital cog in the machine for the Red and Blue this season. The parts will have to be well-oiled for tonight's game at Princeton, as well as this weekend's big clashes with Harvard and Dartmouth. But if everything works according to plan, the end product will be a well-earned trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Jonathan Tannenwald is a junior Urban Studies major from Washington, D.C. His e-mail address is jtannenw@sas.upenn.edu.
