W. Hoops falters in 2nd half in loss to Explorers

Quakers let eight-point lead disappear For the Penn women's basketball team, last night's 65-57 loss to La Salle in a Big 5 doubleheader at Villanova was like two games in one. The first half was a sloppy, low-scoring affair – which Penn (0-2) won 19-17. In the second half, though, the Quakers couldn't handle the Explorers' (1-0) defensive pressure and were outscored 48-38, blowing an eight-point lead in the process. Penn built that lead early in the second half by pounding the ball inside to senior center Katrina Poulsen, who had a game-high 19 points. When the Quakers got it inside to her, she was fairly consistent, shooting 8 of 15 from the field. That also set up the outside shot, usually by junior guards Shelly Bowers (11 points, 1-8 on 3-pointers) and Katina Banks (14 points), who was 3 of 4 from long range and 5 of 12 from the field. The fact is, though, that Penn wasn't able to get it inside often enough, turning the ball over four times right after intermission as it tried to force it inside. "[La Salle's] post players were in foul trouble," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "Our intent was to attack inside. Unfortunately, I think we forced it a little bit." In addition, every time the Quakers would build up a lead, La Salle would destroy it with a quick run. "They grabbed the momentum with a couple big three pointers," Soriero said. "We got kind of rattled with that. They hit a couple shots with the shot clock running down. After playing good defense, that takes a lot of steam out of you." Turnovers also plagued the Quakers throughout the entire second half, especially against La Salle's pressure, as Penn saw its lead dissipate in a four-minute period. Point guard Bowers dismissed fatigue as a possible factor, despite the fact that Penn went only two deep off the bench. "I don't think we were getting worn down," Bowers said. "I just think we lost our poise a little bit towards the end of the game. I think we broke the press pretty well the majority of the game and then we panicked a little bit at the end when we had to get the lead back." The Quakers had the opportunities, taking 75 shots to La Salle's 59, but they shot only 32 percent for the game. That cold shooting was especially evident in the frontcourt, where senior co-captain Julie Gabriel was 0 for 10 from the floor while junior Shelly Dieterle was 3 for 13. "We didn't get into the flow of the game," Bowers said. "We had a few good plays but we never really got anything going." Penn had its first chance to retake the lead when it whittled La Salle's six-point advantage down to two with 4:47 to play. The Quakers, though, turned the ball over twice and committed three fouls while the Explorers were able to run their offense to increase the lead back to six. Later, down four with just over a minute to play, Penn called a time out with the ball in the frontcourt, and both Dieterle and Poulsen had chances to score during a 45-second possession before La Salle ran the floor off a defensive rebound and hit a layup with 17 seconds left to seal the victory. The high scoring of the second half contrasted with the low-percentage play of the first. Penn shot 26.7 percent, while La Salle shot 27.5. "I think when the game starts like that it tends to stay sloppy and that's pretty much how the game went," Gabriel said. "It was very ugly." If anything, though, the sloppy first half was encouraging for the Quakers, especially because they had the lead. "We thought that both teams were playing sloppy," Bowers said. "But we still had the lead. We needed to step our game up [in the second half]. We needed to clean it up." Another encouraging aspect of the first half was the play of freshman guard Erica McCauley, who scored five points and took a pounding while drawing two charges in the paint. She also played a crucial role in breaking the Explorers' pressure. "Erica came in and hit some big buckets," Soriero said. "Then they tightened up on her and she got a little frustrated. She needs a little bit more experience in those situations." Soriero used McCauley sparingly in the second half, preferring the more experienced Bowers and Banks in the backcourt. Soriero, though, was not overly pleased with the play of her veterans. "We needed to go with players with a little more experience," she said. "Our upperclassmen have to step up and want the ball and get the job done." That didn't happen last night, and Soriero saw little merit in her team's play. "It's interesting to go into a Big 5 game with expectations of winning," she said. "But when you have an eight-point lead and the win doesn't happen, it's disappointing."