The Princeton women's basketball team has seen its share of success lately: the Tigers are 10-4 for the season, and two of those losses were from a meeting with No. 1 Tennessee and a strong showing against No. 6 Rutgers.
But a high point of the Tigers' season so far must be Saturday's 73-55 victory at the Palestra against Penn in both teams' Ivy League opener.
"Penn is always a huge game for us," Princeton senior center Becky Brown said. "There's always a lot of emotion. There's a lot of history there."
Meanwhile, the Quakers (1-10, 0-1 Ivy) had even more reason to play tough against their arch-rivals -- to snap a ten-game losing streak dating back to the second game of the season.
Penn held its own for much of the contest. Throughout the first half, the lead changed eight times, and neither team had an advantage of more than five points.
Much of Penn's relative success in the half was the result of fairly strong defense and rebounding. The Quakers capitalized on 12 Princeton turnovers, and outrebounded the Tigers 18-14, including 8-2 on the offensive glass.
However, Penn struggled with its inside presence, as it attempted only two layups during the first frame, both from senior center Jennifer Fleischer. Neither shot was successful.
As a result of their ineffectiveness in the paint, the Red and Blue was forced to turn to outside shooting to put points on the board, and the shots simply were not falling. Penn shot 8-for-29 in the first half, although they did hit five of 12 from beyond the arc. Junior Joey Rhoads scored 11 in the half, finishing the game with a strong 19-point total.
The second half was another matter entirely. Brown, who was held to four points in the first half, led off the second frame with 11 straight points, en route to 22 for the half.
For the first 15 minutes, the Red and Blue continued to stick with the Tigers, leading by as many as three points before the eight-minute mark.
Things fell apart for the Quakers, however, beginning with 6:36 left in the game. With the score tied at 47, Princeton junior Casey Lockwood hit a jumper and the Tigers never looked back.
The previously solid defense buckled, and the growing deficit just seemed to frustrate the Quakers even more.
"When they took a six point lead, we gave up three easy baskets," coach Patrick Knapp said. "We did not defend properly; we did not communicate properly."
Over the next four and a half minutes, Princeton went on a 14-1 run, putting Penn in a hole from which they would not recover. With just over a minute left on the clock, Penn closed the gap to nine, but was unable to get any closer.
One major factor in the Quakers' loss was the woeful shooting of junior Monica Naltner. She hit a three-pointer early in the game but ended up 1-for-12.
However, there were some bright spots for Penn. Senior forward Rachel Wilson and freshman guard Kelly Scott scored 10 each. Fleischer pulled down 11 rebounds, moving her ahead of Diane DiBonaventuro for sixth place on Penn's all-time list, with 701 for her career.
Despite the loss, this game does mark an improvement for Penn, holding tough against a successful team in a big game.
"We still have a little while to go, but we're getting there," Rhoads said.
The Quakers may now hold the dubious distinction of a ten-game losing streak, but if Saturday's game was any indication, better times may be on the way.
