For the Penn women's basketball team, spring break started with a bang, but the careers of coach Pat Knapp and the team's four seniors ended with a whimper.
The Red and Blue followed an uplifting weekend sweep of Cornell and Columbia with a disappointing 72-55 loss to Princeton in the season finale.
After starting the season with a 3-15 record, the Quakers (9-19, 6-8 Ivy) won six of their final 10 games to finish in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Ivy League with the Big Red and Lions.
That finish was not enough to inspire Athletics director Steve Bilsky, who chose to search for a new coach rather than renew Knapp's contract.
"We are disappointed that we did not attain the levels of success we anticipated," Bilsky said in a press release, referencing Knapp's .348 winning percentage in five seasons.
Perhaps the lone bright spot this season was senior captain Carrie Biemer, who won the league scoring title, was named first team All-Ivy and became the fifth player in Penn history to score 500 points in a season.
Against Cornell (10-16, 6-8 Ivy), Penn used a 16-2 run to end the first half and turn a nine-point deficit into a five-point lead. The Quakers maintained that momentum in the second half, when they held the Big Red to 21.2 percent shooting, to finish off the 62-50 victory.
On senior night against Columbia (13-15, 6-8), Penn came out even more torrid, starting the game on a 29-9 run and withstanding the Lions' roaring charge to hold on, 72-64.
"I think [senior night] definitely gave everyone an extra pump," Biemer said. "We really started out on fire."
After Biemer had stated in practice that the Quakers would never again shoot roughly 75 percent in a half, as they did in the second frame against Cornell a month ago, the seniors channeled "whatever the opposite of a jinx is" to shoot 68 percent in the first half against the Lions.
On the weekend, Penn managed an even 30 assists and 30 turnovers, a strong showing considering the team's season-long penchant for coughing up the ball, and they used six "press-breakers" to neutralize Columbia's full-court pressure.
"Our kids played not overburdened, not overthinking," Knapp said. "They played aggressively."
Limiting turnovers was especially key against Columbia in order to offset the extra possessions afforded by forward Judie Lomax, who totaled 18 rebounds, including 11 on the offensive glass.
"If you ever watch a Big East men's game, when the ball goes up in the air, nothing gets called," Knapp said. "It's like a war; it's called a war of the boards. And it was physical - hands, feet, elbows, everything's flying - and Lomax gets her share of them."
The totals weren't out of line for the star sophomore, who led all of Division I with an average of 14.3 rebounds and 6.3 offensive boards per game.
"She is probably the strongest person and is incapable of being moved," Biemer said. "She just digs in and [has a] low center of gravity."
Penn was also efficient offensively against the Tigers (14-14, 9-5), as the Quakers totaled 16 assists to only 10 turnovers, but Biemer's 21 points were not enough to overcome Princeton's 9-for-21 shooting from three-point range.
For Penn's seniors, the signs of life at the end of the season were a disappointing testament to the team's inability to reach its potential throughout the season.
"We can play that well," senior guard Kelly Scott said. "It's too bad that it came this late in the season."
