NEW HAVEN, Conn., Feb. 14 - The magic surrounding Penn basketball hasn't been what it once was. But as a youthful team that has dealt with more than its fair share of struggles and setbacks, the Quakers will settle for a slightly humbler existence - one as world-class escape artists.

Heading into the season ranked No. 2, the women's squash team had its eyes on returning to the finals of the Howe Cup with dreams of winning the national championship. Unfortunately for the Quakers, they failed to reach that goal this weekend. Although Penn won 8-1 over Cornell in the first round, its run was stopped by Harvard in the semifinals Saturday in Cambridge, Mass.

Columbia's wrestling facilities may be much closer to the iconic building, but recently it has been the Cornell grapplers putting the "Empire" in "Empire State." Despite their name, the Lions (2-10, 0-4 EIWA) are much tamer than the Big Red (8-2, 1-0), who rank third nationally.

Forgive Brown coach Jesse Agel for sounding less than concerned about his backcourt. "We'll do our best to free our guys up," Agel said of his guards, waving off the question. Though Brown's dismal 0-6 Ivy record (6-14 overall) has a lot to do with how different the Bears' perimeter looks this year - Agel lost his All-Ivy guard duo of Mark McAndrew and Damon Huffman to graduation last spring - his squad's outside presence isn't what he'll need against Penn (5-13, 1-3 Ivy) tonight in Providence, R.

After beating Brown by 21 Friday, the Quakers went into New Haven, Conn., and hung tough for their third Ivy League win, 68-63, over Yale. Harrison Gaines was everywhere in the first half, racking up 14 points and four boards, two of which came on the offensive end on one possession that resulted in two made free throws.

Lately, the Temple-Saint Joseph's series has done wonders for the Owls' postseason prospects. The two teams met in the Atlantic-10 tournament finals last year, and Temple's dramatic victory earned it the league's automatic NCAA bid. Similarly, last night's matchup was less about Big 5 bragging rights than about the A-10 horse race.

If momentum is what the Quakers were looking for, they surely have it. Coming off a huge win over Cornell last Saturday, the Penn women's basketball team is looking to continue its confidence in this weekend's matchups. The Quakers (4-15, 1-4 Ivy) will host Brown tonight and Yale tomorrow.

There is no conference championship tournament in the Ivy League, but this weekend's ECAC Men's Tennis Championships - in which fourth-seeded Penn will take on fifth-seeded Cornell in the first round - sure seems like one. The 2009 version of the annual tournament, which will take place at Harvard's Murr Center today through Sunday, has an Ivy League flavor, with the entire Ancient Eight among the 10 teams invited.

Men's basketball blew out the woeful Brown Bears in Providence, R.I., tonight by a score of 73-52. Brown kept it close in the first frame, battling to a 21-21 tie with 7:04 left in the half, but a rare Brennan Votel three-pointer set the Quakers on a 9-0 run that also featured a Cam Lewis slam and lay-up.

Vengeance will be on the minds of the women's squash players when they step on the court this weekend. The nation's top college squash teams will convene in Cambridge, Mass., today through Sunday for the 2009 Howe Cup. It's also the Quakers' one last shot at redemption.

By JOE SANFILIPPO Staff Writer sanfilippo@dailypennsylvanian.com The men's squash team is looking for some love this Valentine's Day - nothing tawdry, just a win to close out the regular season. No. 7 Penn (7-5, 2-4 Ivy) heads to Rochester Saturday for a midday match with the up-and-coming Yellowjackets (9-5), currently No.

Behind senior captain Carrie Biemer's 28 points and third double-double of the year, the Penn women's basketball team took home its second straight Ivy League victory with a 66-49 win over Brown. The Quakers used an 18-2 run over eight and a half minutes in the first half to take a commanding lead.

Valentine's Day in New Haven. This Penn team just can't catch a break. But after a historically bad weekend in Philadelphia - in which the Quakers endured their first Ivy League weekend sweep at home since 1968 - Yale's cozy John J. Lee Amphitheater might not be as bad as it seems.

Almost a year to the date after Jeff Orleans announced that he'd step down as Ivy League executive director as of June 2009, the Council of Ivy Group Presidents announced yesterday that Robin Harris will replace Orleans effective July 1.

Just think of Rob Belcore as the Scottie Pippen to Zack Rosen's Michael Jordan. That is, if your Scottie was a slightly scruffy college freshman with a penchant for video games, and your Michael is his six-foot, carrot-top roommate from North Jersey. Yes, the analogy isn't a perfect fit for Belcore and the red-headed Rosen.

It was just another day in outfielder Gary Johnson's rollercoaster journey to Major League Baseball. Now an MBA candidate at Wharton, Johnson had nothing to hide when a man came to his AAA Salt Lake City clubhouse for random drug testing. He knew something was up, though, after he saw one of his teammates use the dugout bathroom instead of showing up for the test.

In a conference where dominant big men are scarce and big-time athletes are scarcer, consistent jump-shooting becomes all but a necessity. But it's no secret that Penn has been deficient from the perimeter over the past two seasons, and this year's Ivy League campaign has started no differently.