Women's Basketball Tops Yale, 65-48

Courtesy: Tim Flynn, Athletic Communications Assistant

03/03/2006

PHILADELPHIA - Junior Joey Rhoads scored a game-high 18
points, including going 10-of-10 at the foul line, to
lead the Penn women's basketball team over Yale, 65-48,
Friday evening at The Palestra.

The Quakers (5-20, 3-10 Ivy League) never trailed in
the game, and ran away from the Bulldogs (3-23, 2-11
Ivy League) in the second half after a tight first
stanza.

After starting the game on fire with an 11-2 run, the
Quakers relinquished the momentum to the Elis, who drew
within two points after a 6-0 run halfway through the
period. While Penn never gave up the lead, Yale kept
it within six points for the remainder of the half,
heading into the half down 32-28.

Both teams had a sluggish start to the second half,
combining for all of nine points in the first six and a
half minutes, including a four-minute scoreless span. But
the Quakers turned it on after that, hitting seven
straight points to extend the lead to 10 points after a
long-range two and a three-pointer from Monica Naltner.
Penn's lead ballooned to as much as 17 at the end of the
game.

Rhoads, despite shooting a relatively cold 4-of-14 from
the field, was a flawless 10-of-10 at the line, and ended
up with 18 points, four steals and three assists.
Jennifer Fleischer posted a double-double with 15 points
and 12 boards, and had three blocks. The Quakers as a
team capitalized on 18 Eli turnovers, scoring 24 points
on possession changes.

Chinenye Okafor paced Yale with 12 points on 6-of-17
shooting, and had 10 boards, while Sara McCollum also
had 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

The Quakers will wrap up their home slate Saturday
evening with a game against Brown at The Palestra at
7 p.m. The Bears will be playing for at least a share of
the Ivy League title after their loss to Princeton Friday
evening and Dartmouth's overtime win over Columbia.