W. Hoops leads throughout game

It was a simple statement at the bottom of the box score, but one that belies just how close last Monday night's 73-69 victory over Lehigh was for the Penn women's basketball team: Lehigh never led.. Although the Quakers (5-10) jumped out to double-digit leads a number of times during the game, they were never able to put the Engineers away. In fact, Lehigh (3-15) did manage to tie the game with two minutes remaining at 67, and the outcome was in doubt until freshman guard Erica McCauley hit two free throws with seven seconds on the clock to finally seal the non-conference victory. The fact the game was so close at the end was a testament to Lehigh's full-court pressure, which it used at the end of the first half and occasionally in the second half to engineer a comeback. "We're not happy with the way we played against the press," junior forward Julie Gabriel. "I think they took advantage of Erica's height [5-3] when she was in and we made some bad decisions, trying to dribble out of it instead of passing the ball." "We panicked against [the press]," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "Erica just needs to learn to pass, and that will come with experience." Despite some serious problems inbounding the ball, Penn was on the whole able to deal with the press largely due to the efforts of junior guard Shelly Bowers, who tallied 19 points on the evening while dishing out 11 assists and turning the ball over only once. That performance is almost 180 degrees away from her performance Saturday against Princeton. "Shelly had such a great night," Lehigh coach Jocelyn Beck said. "We wanted to keep Shelly from shooting the three, but when we tried to double down on her, she'd dish off." Bowers took 17 shots, but that large number was characteristic of almost all the Quaker starters because of Penn's problems finishing the play. Not only did the Quakers pile up 22 offensive rebounds, but they also had 24 second-chance points. "We missed a lot of shots in the paint," said Gabriel, who scored 14 points and grabbed 12 boards. "But we recovered a lot of our own rebounds." This dominance on the boards was partly the result of Penn's switch from a man defense to a zone in the second half. That change also showed up on the stat sheet as a drop in Penn's points off turnovers. The Quakers had 17 in the first half, but only four after intermission. The Quakers were forced into this change due to foul trouble by Poulsen and Dieterle in the first half. Dieterle was tagged for three fouls in three minutes, the third coming with just over 10 minutes to play in the half. Poulsen picked up her third with seven minutes left to play. Penn was able to overcome its early foul trouble because it opened the game with a 12-2 run on the strength of some tough defense that forced four Lehigh turnovers on its first five possessions. Penn eventually built a 21-10 lead with 11 minutes to play in the half, and coasted until the end of the half, despite late Lehigh pressure that caused three turnovers in two minutes and closed the gap to 39-32. Lehigh eventually closed that gap with more pressure late in the game and a 7-0 run keyed by five of Jennifer Gorak's 11 points. The Engineers knotted the game at 69 when Jessica Mundry drove the lane for a layup, but Mundry missed twice with less than 45 seconds left that would have tied the score at 71. Poulsen grabbed the second rebound and gave the ball to McCauley, who was fouled and sank the closing free throws to guarantee the Quaker victory. With the heart of the Ivy season coming up, Penn's problems against the press last night may mean a lot of pressure in the future. "The other Ivies were here scouting us tonight," Soriero said. "We'll probably see a lot of full-court man pressure now. But if you break it down, you've taken away their last ace and done what you needed to do." Perhaps more foreboding was the Quakers' problem hitting layups and short, open shots throughout the contest. "I don't want it to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, but we need a little more consistency," Soriero said. "We missed most of the layups early in the game when we were a little out of control trying to build our lead. At least we're taking it to the hoop and getting in position to miss those layups."