W. Basketball Notebook: Bendel named to Hall of Fame

Penn graduate Kristen Bendel, the 1991 Big 5 Women's Player of the Year, was recently inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame. Bendel is the Quakers' all-time leading scorer with 1,656 points. In the 1990-91 season, Bendel averaged 24.3 points per game en route to earning Ivy League Player of the Year honors. Bendel is also the second leading rebounder in Quakers history. The Hall of Famer grabbed 847 balls off the glass, averaging a personal best 11.0 rebounds per game in 1990-1991. While Bendel's scoring records are well intact, her rebounding records are in danger of being surpassed. Penn junior forward Michelle Maldonado's 11.7 boards per game places her sixth in the nation in that category. This season, Maldonado has more than tripled her career average of 3.8 boards per game. Offensively, Maldonado is the Quakers' leading scorer, averaging 15.1 points per game and shooting 52.4 percent from the field. · Defensively, Penn point guard Chelsea Hathaway and shooting guard Colleen Kelly are each averaging 2.0 steals per game. At this pace, both guards will finish the season with 52 thefts. Last season, Kelly led the Quakers in steals with 46. But in 1995-96, the Quakers got just 17 steals from the other guard slot. With Hathaway at the point and Kelly shifting to shooting guard, the Red and Blue have two solid ball-handlers on the court at all times. "Colleen plays an awesome role at the two," Hathaway said of her backcourt mate. "We always have someone else who can handle the ball in the backcourt." · Penn coach Julie Soriero did not turn to her bench until four minutes into the second half of Tuesday's Penn-Villanova game. When asked why she did not use her bench more, Penn coach Julie Soriero said, "I thought the kids who were in the game were playing especially tough defense." But the subs' 29.9 percent field-goal percentage may have also had an impact on Soriero's decision. All of the five Quakers starters are averaging 30-plus minutes per game (Kelly 35.8, Hathaway 35.6, Maldonado 35.5, Deana Lewis 34.5, Shelly Fogarty 30.3). Reserve guard Hope Smith is shooting an outstanding 87.5 percent from the line (7-for-8). Only sophomore guard Miranda Berge is shooting a higher percentage (2-2). But from the field, Smith is just 7-for-29 from the field (24.1 percent). Help should be on the way for the Quakers bench. Penn freshman Jen Houser made her debut for the Red and Blue during winter break. After missing the early part of the season with an injury, Houser has made an immediate impact off the bench. In just four games, Houser has become the Penn leader off the bench in field goals made (eight), free throws made (seven), offensive rebounds (six), points (23), and scoring average (5.8). 6-foot-2 center Karen Lewis has been up and down between the varsity and JV teams, and is still yet to see a minute of playing time. Although Lewis is awaiting the chance to block her first shot in basketball, she is not unfamiliar to blocks. This fall she ranked third on the Penn volleyball team in that same category. Center Deana Lewis currently leads the Quakers with three blocks through the first 12 games. · Penn has eight days off between Tuesday's 60-51 loss to Villanova and their next game, January 23, at home against Loyola (Md.) This is the second-longest break that the Quakers have this season. The longest spanned December 9 to December 21. After the layoff, the Red and Blue lost a heartbreaker to Temple, 72-69. With a win in any one of the next three games -- versus Loyola, Lafayette, or Columbia -- the Quakers would secure three wins for the month of January. This is a vast improvement from a year ago when Penn won just three games in a four-month season.