W. HOOPS NOTEBOOK: W. Hoops plays spoiler

With only two weeks left in its season, the Penn women's basketball team finds itself in a familiar situation. For the past three seasons, Penn has effectively been eliminated from an opportunity to win the Ivy League crown come the latter portion of the season. The Quakers have not broken double digits in wins the past two seasons, posting a 9-17 record during the 1991-92 campaign and an 8-18 mark in '92-93. In addition, Penn has managed a disappointing 6-8 Ivy League record in each of the past two seasons. This year, the Quakers (7-14, 3-6 Ivy League) head into the home stretch finding themselves in an all-too-familiar scenario. "Where we are now is not where I expected us to be," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "At the beginning of the season, when I looked at the schedule, I thought that these games coming up this weekend would be the pivotal games for an Ivy title. I say that with a sense of disappointment because I think what really put us behind was the Columbia-Cornell weekend -- it lead us into a downward spiral. You take away that weekend, and this may be a pivotal weekend." Many factors have contributed to the current state of affairs for the Quakers. Penn has lost four of its last six conference games, including the important road sweep two weeks ago at the hands of the Lions and Big Red. Inconsistent play has been the fatal flaw for the Quakers this year. They have been unable to create momentum, and have lost to the bottom three teams in the Ivy League, while at the same time they have beaten two of the top three teams, and almost made it three with a near win over powerhouse Brown. Although they have looked impressive at times, the Quakers also have looked equally unimpressive the next night out. Penn's longest winning streak this season has been two, and it has yet to win two games in a row in league play. "We need to work on trying to put back-to-back wins together," Soriero said. "That's sort of been our story. We play well one night and then we fizzle the next night." The Quakers have performed their best Jekyll and Hyde impersonation this season, many times playing the higher caliber teams tougher than the weaker ones. Consistency in the form of wins is the top objective for the remainder of the season. "What we are looking for, as far as the rest of the season is concerned, is consistency," Soriero said. "I think every team in the Ivy League really respects us and our ability to play, and they are probably fearful of our inconsistency. We're frustrated by it, but I think the rest of the league is fearful of it. It's nice to know that no one is chalking us up in the win column or in the loss column. There is still a lot we can prove to the other Ivy League teams and to ourselves." One thing that keeps the Quaker fires burning is the role they can play in the Ivies for the remainder of the campaign, and the possibility of winning their final five contests to finish with 12 wins on the season. Penn has found it can have an impact on the final outcome in the Ivy League race if not as a contender, then as a spoiler. "We have been quite the spoiler to this point with wins over Yale, Dartmouth and a near win over Brown," Soriero said. "We would like to keep that same thing going. We're in a position to change the entire picture in the Ivy league race. If we can't win, this is sort of a nice spot to be in." · Senior forward Julie Gabriel made the Ivy League Honor Roll with her performance last weekend against Dartmouth and Harvard. Gabriel poured in 22 points, grabbed 20 rebounds, had seven assists and seven steals.