1993-94 IVY LEAGUE W. HOOPS STANDINGS:

W. Hoops falls flat at Princeton, 68-55 PRINCETON, N.J. -- In a game in which the Penn women's basketball team had an opportunity to emerge as a true contender for the Ivy title, it let it slip away. Instead of the improving Quakers establishing themselves as an Ivy force, Princeton showed the team just how much better it has to get. The Tigers were clearly the aggressors Saturday, as they completely dominated the game. Princeton jumped ahead of Penn early and was never really threatened. The Quakers failed to mount any kind of a run. In stark contrast to the way Penn had been playing, the Quakers appeared flat and sluggish, while the Tigers used depth and fresh legs to wear Penn down. The Quakers shot a miserable 34 percent from the field, while Princeton repeatedly knocked down the open jumper. The result was a convincing 68-55 Tiger victory in Jadwin Gym. "This loss hurts us," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "Their players who had to step up, stepped up. We just got outplayed in virtually every element. They outrebounded us, they outshot us, and they did a better job on defense. They deserved to win." When Princeton's Tina Smith dropped in a layup just four minutes, 10 seconds into the contest to give the Tigers a 7-6 lead, Princeton never looked back. By the half, the Tigers had pulled away to a 37-29 advantage and were in control of the outcome. Keyed by the performance of senior co-captain Katarina Poulsen, Penn (4-10, 1-2 Ivy League) was able to keep the contest relatively close, but could never break the Princeton stronghold. Every time it seemed the Quakers had a chance to make a game of it, Smith, along with senior captain Laura Leacy, steadily hit clutch shots. "I thought we played really smart to maintain the lead," Princeton coach Joan Kowalik said. "We had a couple scoring droughts, but when the lead seemed to get down to that 10-point mark, someone would hit a big shot. When we go to the bench a lot of different people can contribute." The play of the teams' benches was quite a disparity. Princeton (9-6, 2-1) had four players come off the bench, each of whom received significant playing time. Meanwhile, Penn only went two deep, with freshmen Erica McCauley and Amy Tarr being the only Quaker reserves who saw action. The Tiger bench outscored Penn's 18-5, the exact same margin by which the Quakers lost the game. When junior point guard Shelly Bowers picked up her fourth foul with more than 16 minutes to play in the game, Soriero was forced to replace her with freshmen for key stretches of the contest. "It had a big effect," Soriero said of the foul trouble. "In a big game, I'd rather have people with experience in there rather than freshmen. That's not to discount their abilities, but you want someone who's been there before." The one Penn player who demonstrated her experience was Poulsen. In addition to grabbing 10 rebounds, the powerful post player poured home 16 of her 22 points in the second half. Princeton had nobody who could contain her, and the Quakers' only regret was that they had not given the ball to their center more in the opening half. "We just have to get the job done," Poulsen said. "In the second half, I just asked for the ball a lot more. I have to take the shots when I have them." While Poulsen was able to slash away at will through the Tiger defense, the other Quakers were not. Penn's backcourt shot a combined 4 for 20 from the field, which will not win many ball games. Senior co-captain Julie Gabriel, who has been on an incredible roll, was finally neutralized. Gabriel was the focus of a defense which succeeded in holding her to only five shots from the field and five points. A large factor in Penn's poor shooting was the pressure applied by the tenacious Tiger defense. "Their guards extended out and pushed our offense up really high," sophomore guard Katina Banks said. "They made it difficult for us to run our offense. Our offense wasn't able to flow." A possible explanation for the Quakers' lack of flow could have been the 10-day layoff Penn suffered between contests, or the fatigue that resulted from the starters playing more minutes. The Quakers were quick to dismiss either of these possible excuses and realized they simply have to play better if they are going to compete for an Ivy League championship. "Penn's got a very good team," Kowalik said. "They've played the most difficult schedule in the Ivy League and they haven't backed down to anybody. That's just going to make them stronger in Ivy play." Now is exactly the time when Penn has to take the experience gained from its tough out-of-conference schedule and turn it into victories. · Today is definitely not the time for the Quakers to morn this most recent loss to the Tigers. Tonight (Palestra, 7 p.m.) Penn hosts Lehigh. The Quakers need to quickly rebound from this weekend's poor shooting. Returning home could be just what the doctor ordered for Penn.