La Salle's second-half run dooms W. Hoops

There were no secrets going into last night's women's Big 5 matchup between Penn and La Salle last night. Explorer coach John Miller did not believe the Quakers' makeshift backcourt of Shelly Bowers and Katina Banks could handle his man-to-man press for a full 40 minutes, and that was exactly what Miller was going to deliver. Penn coach Julie Soriero knew it. Bowers and Banks knew it. Even the nuns chanting from the bleachers knew it. It would come down to a war of attrition, and with Penn guards Erica McCauley and Colleen Kelly sidelined by injury and illness, it was a fight the Quakers were ill-fated to win. But when Penn took a 42-38 lead two minutes into the second half, it appeared as if Bowers and Banks just might weather the storm. In spite of 14 first-half turnovers, the Quakers had broken down the La Salle defense with an exquisite mix of dribble penetration and deft interior passing to shoot nearly 58 percent for the opening period. And then it was over. For the next six and a half minutes, the Quakers degenerated into a high school version of the team that had ripped the Explorers' defense for 38 first-half points. Bowers chose to neglect the offense altogether, and sent consecutive long-range bombs clanking off the rim. Banks dribbled the ball off her foot out of bounds. A traveling call, a three-second violation, a charge in the paint -- suddenly a four-point lead had become a 12-point deficit. "I think we just go flustered," Bowers said. "We let their defensive pressure get to us, and we took it down on the offensive end, too. We started rushing our shots, taking them out of the flow of the offense. The shot clock was down at times, almost to 15 seconds by the time we set into an offense. Then we'd make a couple of passes and we'd be rushing to get off a shot. I think we just lost our composure." All told the Quakers committed eight turnovers during the stretch, while La Salle ran off 16 unanswered points. The Penn post players did not handle the ball on any possession, and only Banks and Bowers attempted a field goal -- going a combined 0 for 5. The backcourt duo finished the game with 15 turnovers between them. "We didn't shoot the ball that well in the second half because we never really got into the offense," Soriero said. "We had trouble advancing the ball in transition. La Salle did a nice job shifting and trapping. I also think we got a little sloppy with the ball." The Quakers' ball-handling woes may not end soon. McCauley will not return until mid-January after suffering a broken wrist, and Kelly will likely be weakened for at least another two weeks with mononucleosis. Until then, Bowers and Banks will be forced to battle fatigue and relentless defensive pressure as opposing coaches will exploit Penn's ailing backcourt until it proves it can handle the pressure. If Bowers and Banks' first-half performance was any indication, a rested Penn backcourt has the potential to dismantle pressure man-to-man defenses with a sharp inside-outside game. The question remains whether the Quakers guards have the patience to run the offense consistently, and avoid the kind of sustained lapses in concentration that cost Penn a victory last night. "They were beat, and that's our Achilles heel right now," Soriero said. "Everyone else we can spell, but those kids we can't. My worry right now for my team is that they don't get down in these three weeks and think we're not a good team. We have a few pieces of the puzzle missing right now."