W. Hoops shooting for third place

The last time the Penn women's basketball team took on Cornell, it underestimated the Big Red's Mary LaMacchia and paid for its defensive lapse with a resounding 67-45 loss. "LaMacchia took us at will," senior guard Shelly Bowers said. "We didn't do the job defensively, and she killed us. We can't sag on her." Tomorrow night the Quakers (8-14, 5-5 Ivy League) take on the Big Red (9-13, 5-5) at the Palestra. After learning its lesson the hard way, Penn is aiming to turn up the heat on Cornell's star guard and clinch a third-place league finish. "Finishing third would be the best finish since I've been at Penn," Bowers said. "That would be a big step up in terms of the program. Finishing in the top three is one of our goals every year. Now that we can't be one or two, that's what we're shooting for." Harvard and Dartmouth are battling it out for the top spots after they both defeated Penn last weekend. In each of those games, the Quakers dragged themselves back from a large deficit, paralleling what they have been doing all season. Penn had brought itself back from a 1-10 start to a five-game winning streak in the Ivies. That is why the recent lack of confidence is frustrating coach Julie Soriero. "It is to be expected, but it doesn't have to be accepted," Soriero said. "We were very focused for a very long time, then literally overnight it slipped away from us." Confidence is what the Quakers will have to muster if they are going to even attempt to contain LaMacchia. In the last contest between the two, LaMacchia scored 30 points. If LaMacchia is not enough to handle, Penn also has to deal with Big Red forward Keri Farley, who had 36 points and 17 rebounds in two games last weekend. "We lacked defensive intensity up there the last time," Bowers said. "We didn't get back in transition, and we didn't get out on their shooters." Soriero is planning to make several changes in the overall defensive strategy. She intends to take Bowers off LaMacchia and put her on point guard Casey English. Soriero is hoping Bowers' six-inch height advantage on the ball will prevent English from finding LaMacchia even if she comes free off screens. Penn is also planning to extend its defense to three-quarters court, hoping that Cornell won't have time to run LaMacchia off the screens. Tonight Penn will warm up against Columbia (0-22, 0-10). Although the Lions are the perennial losers of the league, the Quakers were not satisfied with the way they played against Columbia Feb. 11 and plan on taking the game seriously.