W. Hoops | W. Hoops shows two faces in NY

The Penn women's basketball team went to the Empire State to face Ivy League rivals Columbia and Cornell this weekend, but the two game results couldn't have been more different.

The Quakers that faced Columbia in New York City Friday looked as though they were not at all in contention for an Ivy League title, losing 77-57 to the Lions.

The next night, the Red and Blue pulled off a second-half comeback against Cornell in a 79-70 victory.

Senior captain Carrie Biemer, who had vowed to shut down Lions star forward Judie Lomax, did nothing of the sort. Biemer fouled out of the game only 13 minutes into the contest. Without Biemer in her way, Lomax grabbed 12 rebounds en route to setting a Lions' record of 262 rebounds in a season.

"She's very athletic and she's very patient with the ball and she is definitely one of the strongest players I've ever played against," Biemer said. "She goes hard and she is a great rebounder, and that's why I got into foul trouble."

With Biemer on the bench, teammate Kelly Scott was forced to pick up the offensive slack. Scott's 16 points were not enough to bring the Quakers (4-15, 1-4 Ivy) back from their double-digit deficit. Unable to establish their game on either side of the ball, the Quakers committed 26 offensive turnovers and allowed four Lions to score more than 10 points - three of which netted 15 or more.

When the Quakers arrived in Ithaca, N.Y., it seemed a repeat of the previous night was in the cards. In the first half, Cornell (7-10, 3-3) was 7-for-10 from the three-point line, with freshman Allison Abt connecting on three of her own. The Big Red's offensive explosion put them up by 11 points at halftime.

"I was very angry," coach Pat Knapp said. "We weren't defending people tightly enough, thus they got way more open shots than they should have."

But when the second half began, the Red and Blue were reborn, netting 73 percent of their shots after the break on their way to victory.

The tables were turned from the previous night - this time, the Quakers had four players go for more than 10 points. Erin Power had the first double-double of her career and the team's third of the season with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Senior Anca Popovici added a season-high 11 points. She was perfect from both the charity stripe (3-for-3) and the field (4-for-4). Fellow senior Katarina Lackner scored 10 points.

After the poor performance against the Lions (10-10, 3-3), Biemer redeemed herself against Cornell. She tallied 27 total points and tied her career high of five three-pointers.

"Teams leave me open, and I get rhythm going - once I get confident - and I feel like I can shoot all the time," Biemer said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.