Penn looks to N.Y. for antidote

The Penn women's basketball team has incurred an eight-game losing disease, which the Quakers hope will be remedied against Cornell and Columbia. If "losing is a disease," as the New York Knights' team psychiatrist suggests in The Natural, consider the Penn women's basketball team's current eight-game losing streak an illness. Penn has gotten the usual advice from the doctor: "Take two of these and call me in the morning." For Penn, the two are the Cornell Big Red and the Columbia Lions -- this weekend's opponents. "We have a lot to prove to ourselves," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "Historically, we've always finished [seasons] strong." The Quakers visit Ithaca, N.Y., tonight for a 7 p.m. matchup against the Big Red. Cornell limps into this game with its own metaphorical injury -- a seven-game losing streak. Their last win came almost a month ago at the Palestra, when the Big Red escaped with a hard-fought 69-66 victory. Cornell is led by junior guard Kim Ruck who is third in Ivy League scoring at 16.3 points per game. "She played much better than we anticipated," Soriero said of Ruck's 30-point performance against the Quakers in their first meeting. Soriero hopes that freshman point guard Chelsea Hathaway will be able to prevent Ruck from even touching the ball. "If we take Kim Ruck out of the picture, the problem is that Kacee English may step up her game," Soriero said. English, a senior guard who averages 10 points and five assists per game, is the Big Red's only other legitimate offensive threat. Cornell looks for mostly defense out of its other players. Kelly Jackson is second in the Ivy League in blocks per game with 1.38, however, Cornell is an inauspicious next-to-last in rebounding margin. "Our inside people can handle their inside people without a problem," Soriero said. "I think we need to focus on playing both aspects of the game, offense and defense," Penn co-captain Amy Tarr added. "We can't have one just one great defensive game or one good offensive game." Against Princeton last Tuesday night at the Palestra, Penn fell into that trap. While they held the Tigers to just 48 points, the Quakers were able to ring up only 45 points of their own. In that game, Penn's leading scorers, Michelle Maldonado and Colleen Kelly, combined to shoot just 21 percent. "My shooting's been off. If I have open shots I can correct my shooting percentage, which I'll try to do," Maldonado said. On Saturday, the Quakers head to the rematch against the Lions in New York City, where Hathaway played her high school basketball at Christ the King High School. "A lot of my friends are coming," Hathaway said. "I can't wait to go back." Facing Hathaway and the Quakers will be a much-improved team from the one Penn manhandled, 65-44 at home. Since then, the Lions have upset Dartmouth and Yale, and are now tied with Penn with two Ivy League wins. "We handled them very easily at home last time," Soriero said. "But they are certainly not a team to be overlooked. "They're going to play with a lot of emotion -- it's their last game." The Quakers will have to take better care of the ball on Saturday. In their win over Columbia, the Quakers coughed up the ball 26 times. "We have to stop turning the ball over. We keep giving the ball back to them," co-captain Deana Lewis said. Penn will count heavily on Lewis and Maldonado to duplicate the huge rebounding margin (20) from their first matchup. The Quakers did not allow any Lions player to score in double digits, which Soriero emphasized must be a goal again. The Lions are led by forward Leslie Zahm, who averages just 11 points per game. Once again, though, Penn must concentrate on its own performance. "It hasn't been about what the other team is doing, it's what we're not doing to help ourselves," Soriero said. "Losing just gets old really quickly, and we want to go out on a good note," Lewis added. The Quakers would welcome the conclusion offered by the Knights' team psychiatrist about losing. "Ah, but curable."