W. Hoops collapses under Lehigh's pressure

Quakers mistakes lead to 68-53 defeat As the Penn women's basketball team prepared to begin its 1995-96 campaign, coach Julie Soriero glowed when talking about the players she returned from last year's squad -- specifically fifth-year center Natasha Rezek and junior point guard Erica McCauley. The inside-outside combination is one of the Ivy League's best. In last night's 68-53 loss to Lehigh, it was not Rezek or McCauley who were the problem, but the players who did not return. Last year, with Shelly Bowers playing off guard and Katina Bowers at the three spot, Soriero had two capable ball handlers to go along with McCauley. Last night, with a group of inexperienced players stepping into featured roles, that steady offense turned into a 40-minute mess of turnovers, failed inbound attempts and poor passing. The Engineers dared the younger Quakers (0-2) to set the tempo, forcing the ball out of McCauley's hands with a constant full-court press. The result was 32 turnovers by Penn, which led to numerous easy Lehigh fast-break scores. "We weren't making the best decisions," McCauley said. "We didn't make the transition from breaking the press into regular offensive sets." Penn actually jumped ahead 7-0 in the game's opening minutes behind five points by McCauley. But the Quakers only scored two baskets over the next 12 minutes, 26 seconds, and the Engineers jumped ahead 24-14. A McCauley three-pointer with 7.4 seconds left in the half cut the Lehigh lead to 30-24 heading into intermission. The Engineers steadily increased that lead in the second half with a series of mini-spurts. Lehigh center Kim Behrens came on strong, scoring five points on an 8-0 Engineers run five minutes into the half. The lead had grown to 15 points. Penn and Lehigh traded shots until about the seven-minute mark, when Soriero gave McCauley a much-deserved rest. With the Quakers' floor leader and primary ball-handler on the bench, the Engineers, who finished just 3-24 last season, put the finishing touches on the upset victory, going on a 10-4 run. With Penn down 66-44 with just 3:18 remaining, Soriero decided to give McCauley the rest of the night off. "I planned on giving her just a one-minute breather," Soriero said. "But Lehigh went on a run, and the game got out of hand." Other than McCauley, no one on the Quakers roster seemed capable of breaking the Engineers press. Lehigh point guard Jessica Mudry created havoc on defense, collecting 10 steals, more than the whole Penn team combined. Mudry was equally adept running the Engineers offense -- which turned out to be nothing more than a series of fast-break points, with a few actual offensive sets thrown in for good measure. Mudry ended the game with 10 points and four rebounds. But the story on the Lehigh side was not really that of one player, but instead of an overall team effort. The Engineers finished with four players in double digits, lead by Behrens with 15. That was in stark contrast to the Penn offense, which was all Rezek scoring down low off offensive rebounds, at the free-throw line and on turnaround baseline jumpers. As has become a habit dating back to last season, Rezek ended the game with a double-double -- 22 points and 17 boards. Sophomore off guard Colleen Kelly showed off some moves taking the ball to the hole. Kelly, who was expected to step into Bowers' role as three-point ace, hit only one of seven trifectas. And it was her game-high eight turnovers that drew more notice than her 11 points. "It's never the defense. We've got to be able to beat the press," McCauley said. "We have to be confident with whoever is handling the ball."