W. Hoops tops Lafayette for second straight win

At halftime, last Monday night's game was over. The Penn women's basketball team was down by 15 to Lafayette, a team that had lost only two games all year. The Leopards had controlled the lane and held the Quakers, who rely on the three, to only two shots from long range. To make matters even worse, Penn was unable to run its offense against Lafayette's relentless pressure, and the 28-13 score was entirely indicative of the play. At one point, the Leopards even extended their lead to 36-18. But it was a different Penn team that walked onto the Palestra hardwood after the break. These Quakers (4-8) blew out the Leopards (9-3) in the second half and took the game from them for good in overtime, 68-62. "In terms of character, this game ranks up there in my top 10," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "[Lafayette] did a great job defensively, especially in the first half. They got a little frustrated offensively in the second half, and I think that had an impact on their defense." Things changed immediately in the second half when junior guard Shelly Bowers dribbled behind her back to evade a steal attempt by Lafayette's Heidi Caruso, the NCAA all-time steal leader. Bowers stepped around Caruso, drove baseline and hit a layup. A block by Penn senior center Katarina Poulsen at the other end turned the defensive momentum -- and 15 minutes later Penn had its first lead of the game, 48-46, after a 25-8 second-half run. "We talked about the need to step it up," said Soriero of her halftime sermon. "Kat is a senior and we had to get it down to her. We also wanted the guards taking it to them more, to create some more scoring opportunities." With 1:25 to play, Lafayette missed two shots and the Quakers brought the ball across half court and called timeout. Senior forward Julie Gabriel ended up missing her shot, but Poulsen grabbed the rebound. After Poulsen's putback fell off the rim, junior guard Katina Banks slid underneath the hoop, knifing through the accumulated crowd, and snagged the board. She immediately went back up and was fouled with 25 seconds left. After Banks made both free throws, Lafayette's Chris Sieling (20 points, 10 rebounds) was fouled at the other end, and made both free throws to knot the game at 55-55 with five seconds to play. Gabriel (16 points, game-highs in offensive rebounds with 6 and total rebounds with 13) received the inbound pass and appeared to travel as she crossed halfcourt, but called timeout with three seconds to play. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Caruso stole the ball, but waited too long to shoot as time expired. The Quakers easily handled the demoralized Leopards in the overtime period, even after Banks, who had a game-high 11 steals in addition to16 points, fouled out. Banks, Penn's all-time steal leader, out-stole Caruso throughout the evening. Caruso only had four steals. The two halves, though, were almost polar opposites. The clearest example of this transformation was the performances of Poulsen and Sieling. Before the intermission, Poulsen (20 points, 12 rebounds) was manhandled by Sieling at both ends of the court. Sieling shot 7 of 11 from the field and grabbed six rebounds in the first half while Poulsen shot only 3 of 9 and had only four rebounds, none on the offensive end. Because she didn't have a first-half foul, Poulsen played Sieling more physically in the second half, and the difference showed. Poulsen had the advantage in the second half, shooting 6 of 12, but grabbed eight rebounds without permitting Sieling even one. Poulsen also attributed the difference to Penn's 2-3 zone, which freed her up in addition to taking the high post away from Sieling, where she had been deadly in the first half. The zone also kept Lafayette's shooting percentage below 22 percent in the second half and to 18.2 in overtime, as opposed to the 56.3 the Leopards shot in the first half. It also held Lafayette to eight points in the paint and only four second chance points in the second half. However, Penn ran into injury problems late when junior forward Shelly Dieterle pulled up with a leg injury. She reentered the game in overtime when Banks fouled out. In the interim, Soriero went with a three-guard lineup of Bowers, Banks and freshman Erica McCauley. The big injury came earlier, though, when just over 10 minutes into the first half, freshman center Deana Lewis went up for a shot and came down awkwardly on her left leg., incurring a season-ending injury to her left knee. But despite Lewis' potentially season-ending injury just when she had begun to make some tangible contributions, this win showed the potential of the Quakers, who have now won three of their last four. "We don't want to lose for the rest of the year," Bowers said. And if the Quakers play like they did in the second half last night, that lofty goal may not be as far off as it seems.