W. Hoops shines in rare Big 5 win

Thanks to a fast start last evening, the Penn women's basketball team was able to notch its first Big 5 win in two years, 63-55, at the expense of Temple at McGonigle Hall last night. The Quakers (3-8 overall, 1-2 Big 5) started the game with a 16-0 run against the same Temple team that had blown it out last year by 39 points. Penn was able to attain this advantage by successfully controlling both sides of the floor for more than seven minutes to begin the game. Defensively, the Quakers contested every shot and played with great intensity. In that stretch, the Penn guards stole the show -- registering four steals, two each by junior guards Katina Banks and Shelly Bowers. Senior forward Julie Gabriel (17 points, nine rebounds, four steals) supplied almost all the firepower as she scored eight of Penn's first 10 points, including two three-pointers. In response to the Quaker offense, Temple decided to employ full-court pressure, which Penn handled with ease on its way to the 16-0 advantage. "It felt great to jump out to that lead," Gabriel said. "I hit some outside shots and that opened up the inside game." The Quakers were also aided by some poor play from the Owls, who were sloppy with the ball and unwise in their shot selection. Temple (3-6, 0-3) admitted not being completely prepared for the beginning stretch of the contest, which proved to be instrumental in Penn's victory. "I thought Penn played a lot harder than we did at the beginning, which caused us to dig ourselves a deep hole," Temple coach Charlene Curtis said. "They played aggressive defense and we just were caught off our game." Following a Temple timeout, the Owls went on a streak of their own, reeling off 12 straight points and drawing within four. The Quakers were unable to sustain any offense during the run, thanks to the intense full-court pressure Temple applied. The Quakers' problems increased when senior center Katarina Poulsen went to the bench with foul trouble and was replaced by freshman center Deana Lewis. Lewis proved to be a much needed infusion for Penn, pouring in 10 points in only 10 minutes to keep the Quakers ahead at the half, 34-27. Five minutes into the second half, Penn did its best Houston-Oiler-playoff-game-against-the-Buffalo-Bills impression by allowing the Owls to take its first lead, 37-36. Following a Penn timeout, Poulsen made amends for her poor first-half performance. She contributed 11 points, grabbed six boards and swatted five shots after the break as Penn pulled away from the surging Owls. "They made a great run to come back, but we didn't fold during that run," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "We continued to stay tough with them and continued to respond. We bent, but we didn't break." The Quakers attribute their victory and confidence in the face of the Temple threat to the team leadership and maturity which helped stabilize and propel Penn during crunch time. "I think this year we're playing with a lot more confidence," Gabriel said. "We made that run at the beginning and they came back, but we didn't get frustrated, and we didn't get down -- we hung tough." Penn proudly admits it accomplished everything it had set out to, and realizes the results were achieved because of the successfully-implemented game plan. "We were pretty confident coming into the game," Poulsen said. "We knew if we did what we had to do we could win the game. We just had to play our game and we did."