Quakers now 0-22 vs. St. Joe's

St. Joseph's coach Stephanie Gaitley didn't appear happy with her team's first-half performance yesterday. Gaitley roamed the court in the half's closing seconds, screaming like the female counterpart to Bobby Knight. Her Hawks had won their 21 previous meetings against the Quakers. But the streak appeared in jeopardy at halftime, with St. Joe's clinging to a narrow 26-24 lead. "I was frustrated with our team's effort," Gaitley said. "We had to put more pressure on their guards." In the second half, the Hawks mix of full- and half-court presses made it difficult for Penn guards Chelsea Hathaway, Colleen Kelly and Hope Smith to set plays for forwards Michelle Maldonado and Deanna Lewis down low. Maldonado was called upon to step away from the paint to help the guards break the press. As a result, her second-half offensive contribution was reduced to two medium-range jumpers and a pair of foul shots. Without Maldonado posting up and crashing the boards, St. Joe's slowly began to pull away from Penn. And after Maldonado fouled out with just three minutes, 40 seconds left, a Megan Compain three-pointer put the finishing touches on the Hawks' 69-58 victory. In prior seasons, the Hawks defense had little problem stopping the Quakers offense by neutralizing Penn's all-Ivy center Natasha Rezek. Last night, however, St. Joseph's power forward Maureen Costello and 6-foot-4 center Jana Lichnerova were as clueless as Alicia Silverstone about how to stop the combination of Penn's two-person game on the low post. At the break, Maldonado had 14 of Penn's 24 first-half points, shooting six-for-eight from the field. Lewis added six points, hitting two jump hooks -- one lefty and one righty -- and added points two from the line. When the defense collapsed down low on the Maldonado and Lewis, the duo had the knack of finding Kelly wide open behind the three point stripe. "I think Penn uses different players and different looks [this season]," Gaitley said, "and that makes them more difficult to defend." Maldonado and Lewis were also the heart and soul of the Quakers' first-half defense, holding Costello and Lichnerova to a combined 3-for-14 first-half shooting. As a team, the Hawks shot just above 25 percent from the field in the first half. "One of the things that we did not let happen was letting St. Joseph's get on a huge run," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. While the Hawks never did go on one of their patented double-figure scoring run against Penn, they were able to slowly build a second-half lead on the shorter team. Down the stretch, it seemed as if every time Compain would drive to the hoop, she would knock over a Penn defender and manage to pick up a blocking foul. For Compain, the foul line truly was a charity stripe, as she cashed in for 11 points from the line on 12 tries. Compain also added 11 boards, seven of which were on the offensive end. Compain also added one of her two shots from behind the arc just after Maldonado fouled out. Even though Hathaway drilled a three for Penn on the other end, Compain's bomb proved to be the nail in the coffin. "I didn't shoot close to anywhere I could all night," Compain said. "I felt that if it went in, it was good, but if it didn't it was alright; we would get it back on defense." In the books, yesterday evening's meeting at the Palestra will go down as loss No. 22 in the long line of Penn defeats at the hands of their bigger and stronger Big 5 opponent. For the Quakers, however, holding the score to a single-digit loss against St. Joe's until the closing minutes only symbolizes how far Penn has come from their one-woman show that was demolished by the Hawks a year ago, 86-48. "The thing about our team this year is that no one expects one player to be the star," Maldonado said. "[Scoring] is balanced between Deana and I. All five spots on the court can score."

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