On Friday, Penn women’s basketball struggled to find the basket. On Saturday, they seemed incapable of doing anything but. And yet both games they cruised to double-digit victories.

It was a tough test for the Quakers. And unfortunately, it wasn't curved. Penn basketball fell 79-58 to first-place Yale (18-6, 9-1 Ivy) on Saturday night at the Palestra.

Behind a career-best 25 points from senior guard Kasey Chambers and a first-half team offensive performance for the record books, the Red and Blue cruised to its ninth straight Ancient Eight victory, topping the Bulldogs 77-59

Well, this is a pleasant surprise. At halftime, Penn men’s basketball trails Ivy-League leading Yale by only five points as the Eli lead, 37-32.

This one was closer than it should have been. After struggling to gain separation early in the contest, Penn women’s basketball extended its perfect run through the Ivy League, defeating Brown on the road, 69-59, on Friday.

They say basketball is a team sport. Penn basketball proved that axiom true on Friday, as they downed Brown, 79-74, in a well-rounded effort that featured five different players scoring in double figures.

They say that the second time’s the charm.

Friday night, Columbia Athletics’ website featured the banner headline “Lions Become First Ivy Team To Score 50 Against Quakers Despite 71-51 Loss.” It was a pretty accurate summation of how the first half of Ivy play has gone for Penn women’s basketball.

Penn isn’t going to win the Ivy title. It was fairly apparent from before the season even started, and halfway through the Ivy slate it’s even more apparent.

ITHACA, N.Y. — Steve Donahue went back to Newman Arena on Saturday and walked away with another win — this time for a different team. The first-year Penn basketball coach returned to his old stomping grounds at Cornell as the Quakers handed the Big Red a 92-84 defeat just a day after falling at Columbia, 63-53.

Three Ivy League doubleheader weekends, three sweeps, and a win against each of the seven other Ivies. You can’t ask for a better start to conference play.

Three Ivy League doubleheader weekends, three sweeps, and a 7-0 record in conference play.

In the first-year Penn coach’s return to Cornell, where he coached for a decade, Penn defeated Cornell, 92-84, to give Donahue his first win against his former program.

In what was surely a must win for the Quakers, they did just that. On Friday night within the safe confines of the Palestra, Penn routed Columbia in a 71-51 showing.

NEW YORK – Midway through the second half on Friday, despite having gone down by 11 after halftime, Penn basketball managed to whittle its deficit against Columbia down to a single point. That’s as close as the Quakers would get.

There’s nothing quite like catching up with old friends. This weekend, Penn basketball coach Steve Donahue will face off against Cornell — a team he coached for a decade — part of a back-to-back road set also featuring a trip to Columbia, which will be the Quakers’ third Ivy weekend of the season.

Penn (16-3, 5-0 Ivy) will host Columbia (12-9, 1-5) on Friday night before welcoming Cornell (13-7, 5-1) to the Palestra on Saturday. The first-place Quakers will be taking on both their closest and most distant competition in the second-place Big Red and the last-place Lions.