W. Hoops still winless after record 11th straight loss

McCauley leaves the team for 'personal reasons.' The Penn women's basketball team's whirlwind losing streak is simply a matter of numbers. Only one player has reached double digits in scoring during the Quakers' winter break against two non-conference and three Ivy opponents. With four games on the road, Penn (0-11, 0-3 Ivy) didn't fare well -- even in game five against last-place Yale. Six opening losses was the previous worst start in Quakers' history. With 11 straight losses this year, Penn has not only broken the start-of-the-season futility record, but has surpassed the 10-year-old overall losing-streak record. In each of the matchups over winter break, Penn has not just been beaten, but slaughtered by a minimum of 13 points. Coach Julie Soriero said the chief problem is a lack of outside shooting, and the statistics more than reaffirm that notion. The three starting guards for Penn -- Amy Tarr, Colleen Kelly and Megan Evans -- are averaging a combined 14.2 points per game, leaving center Natasha Rezek (16.4 ppg) and forward Deana Lewis (10.6 ppg) to pick up the slack. But it is not fair to ask the frontcourt to carry the whole team. As if the poor statistics were not enough, starting point guard Erica McCauley left the team for personal reasons in December, leaving Kelly to take her place. Evans assumed the shooting guard role, with Tarr coming off the bench to be the small forward. Kelly's transition into the point-guard role has been rocky. "I'm trying to be a leader on the court as the point guard not necessarily as Erica or what her role was," Kelly said. "It's definitely something to be worked on." While only averaging nine points per game, the biggest loss due to McCauley's departure was in ball handling and her strong perimeter shooting. "Without McCauley, it's hard for the guards because no one is practiced at it yet," Rezek said. "You can lose a forward and deal with it, but with the loss of a floor leader, it's tough." This weekend wrapped up the Red and Blue's pre-semester games with an Ivy weekend on the road against Brown and Yale. On paper, Brown was the better of the two teams, while Yale has been widely slated to finish last. Penn's defense met their goal of holding the two teams to 65 points. But the offense could not produce nearly enough to come through in two blowouts. The Quakers' two steady performers, Rezek and Lewis, were held to only 16 points combined. In addition, in a defensive effort on the boards, Lewis took an elbow to her eyebrow. She suffered a concussion, making her unavailable for the Yale game. Kelly had her most impressive game since taking over for McCauley, nailing 38 percent of her three-pointers and scoring 12 points on the night. Saturday against Yale, the Quakers' defense once again did their task in the 65-34 slaughter, limiting the Elis to only 25 percent shooting from the floor, including eight percent of their three pointers. Penn's 34 points, however, were just two off the school's all-time low and were not nearly enough to beat even lowly Yale. With only 14 points in the first half and 20 in the second, the Quakers also set new season lows. After losing two Big 5 games on the road in December, the Red and Blue went on a four week hiatus and took to the road for a rematch with Loyola. One month and one day after losing 67-60 to the Greyhounds at the Northwestern Tournament in Evanston, Ill., Penn was simply hammered, losing by a 21-point margin. Three days later, the Quakers opened their Ivy season at Princeton, only to continue their poor outside shooting in draining only 18 percent of their three-pointers. Meanwhile, the Tigers nailed 75 percent of their charity shots and 44 percent of their field goals en route to an easy 71-53 victory. Penn hosted Marist for its only home game of the new year thus far and went in with high expectations. But after hanging around to force a 30-30 tie at halftime, the Quakers were outscored by 13 points in the second half in what would be their best overall shooting performance over the break. The Quakers remain optimistic, however, hoping that the win will come eventually. "We have 15 games left and that's more than half the season," Kelly said. "We have wins ahead of us. We just have to be on the same page at the same time."