La Salle crushes W. Hoops, 88-56

If the Penn women's basketball squad sunk 100 percent of its shots, they still would not have beaten a tough La Salle team Saturday at Villanova. The Quakers suffered their sixth-straight loss, a 88-56 drubbing by their Big 5 foe. As the winless Quakers took to the road to challenge four-time Big 5 champ La Salle, the team needed to raise its field goal percentage, which was mired below 40 percent. However, with star point guard Erica McCauley not suiting up for unknown reasons, Penn was not in good shape to reverse the trend. But shooting was not the problem for the Quakers against the Explorers. Penn hit about 48 percent of their shots -- 10 percent above its average. Led by Deana Lewis (16 points) and Colleen Kelly (18), the Quakers shot a stellar 52.4 percent in the second half. The problem for the Quakers was not hitting shots, but getting shots. With only 42 attempted field goals, and the Explorers shooting 53.7 percent for the game on 67 shots, the Red and Blue simply could not keep up. The greatest cause for Quaker concern was La Salle's substantial rebounding edge -- 43-23. In fact, opposing teams have snagged 47 more rebounds on the season over Penn. Six-foot-one Quakers center Natasha Rezek could not handle the Explorers deep frontcourt rotation, which boasts four players over 6-1. La Salle began the game by jumping out to a 4-0 lead on two quick Penn turnovers before the Quakers finally got on the board with a Kelly steal and layup. After that the Penn offense simply deteriorated. For the next eight minutes, the Red and Blue managed only 3 points. The Explorers took advantage of five more Penn turnovers, stetched their lead to 20-5 at the midpoint of the first half. The teams traded baskets for the next few minutes, until Penn broke the ten-point deficit barrier on Kelly's twenty-footer from the top of the key. As the half wound down, La Salle's lead was back to 12 points. Adding to Penn's troubles were six second-chance Explorers points. Whatever halftime adjustments the Quakers made failed to work. La Salle scored five quick points to open the half. After a Penn bucket, the Explorers went on a 7-0 run, bringing the lead to 22. At the 8:45 mark of the second half, La Salle's Chrissie Donahue put up a layup for her 1,000th career point as an Explorer. But by then, the game was already over. From there, La Salle cruised effortlessly en route to a 32-point landslide victory. The lack of early-season success isn't anything new to the Red and Blue. This is the fourth straight year Penn has lost at least five in a row to inaugurate the new year.