W. Hoops thankful for first win

Freshman Diana Caramanico led the Quakers with 32 points. Put one in the victory column for the Penn women's basketball team. The Quakers won their consolation game against East Tennessee State Sunday to take third place in Holiday Beach Blast tournament, behind host UNC-Wilmington and Ball State. Penn (1-3) never led in its opening-round game against UNC-Wilmington, but freshman Diana Caramanico and co-captains Michelle Maldonado and Colleen Kelly kept them close in the first half. Kelly hit three treys for nine points and Caramanico and Maldonado chipped in with six and seven, respectively. Wilmington guards Katy Walters and Chandra Watkins combined for 18 points to help the Seahawk Women take a 31-27 lead into the locker room. In the second half, a three-pointer by Wilmington's Tonya Winfield ended two opening scoreless minutes and extended the Seahawks' lead to seven. Penn's Sue Van Stone countered with a three of her own to cut it back to four, but that was the closest the Quakers got. Following a Maldonado jumper at 15:27, Penn went scoreless until Caramanico's layup at 13:38, making for a 12-point deficit. "The first minutes of the second half are the most important," Kelly said, "especially to a young team because if they make a run, it's a lot harder to bounce back." And run the Seahawk Women did. By the time Maldonado stepped to the free throw line at 10:49, the Quakers had been struck from all angles. The Seahawks' unanswered three-pointers, jumpers,and foul shots spelled a 20-point Wilmington lead. Penn kept fighting, but 10 more Maldonado points and contributions by Caramanico, Kelly, and freshmen Chandra Nelson and Jessica Allen couldn't close the gap, as the Seahawks won, 85-70. "We never could really put a run together to respond to Wilmington or get any momentum in the game," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "We just sort of traded baskets and never pulled the game over to our side." Maldonado cited rebounding as the major Penn weakness in the loss. A failure to box out resulted in a 49-32 Seahawks advantage in that category. "That was the only difference between us and them," Maldonado said. Caramanico agreed. "All the stats were even -- turnovers, steals and stuff like that," she said. "But when it came down to who got more rebounds and more second chances, they won that one." The freshman forward had 17 points, in the contest to go along with Maldonado's 19 and Kelly's 18. Wilmington's Watkins and Walters had 15 and 13, respectively and Dee Dee Toon came off the bench to score 14. In the consolation round against East Tennessee State, two Penn freshmen did not act their age. Caramanico and Erin Ladley came up big for the Quakers, showing much poise in the close contest. Caramanico scored 13 of Penn's first 28 points to help build a 13-point Quakers lead with 6:26 remaining in the half. But Penn could not relax for long, as the Buccaneers closed the half with a 14-5 run to cut the lead to four. But according to Soriero, East Tennessee State's run did not faze the Quakers. "They chipped away at our lead but we never really collapsed," she said. "We did a really good job down the stretch in the second half." East Tennessee State's Heather Edmondson's three-pointer with 16:42 remaining gave the Buccaneers their first lead since the first half's 12:37 mark. Caramanico's 11 points helped the Quakers to pull back ahead by 11, but once again the Buccaneers stormed back, going on a 17-5 run to take a one-point lead with 6:42 left in the game. For the next three and half minutes, the teams traded field goals, reaching a 68-all tie with three minutes left. Then the free throw contest began. Of the 16 points scored in the last three minutes, 10 were from the line. The Buccaneers connected on only three while Penn hit seven from the charity stripe. "Erin Ladley had a couple really good free throws," Soriero said of her five in the final minutes. "And Colleen Kelly made some big-time free throws. That's what sealed the victory." Caramanico finished the game with 32 points to break the tournament's scoring record. The freshman was selected for the all-tournament team and was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week for her performance. "She's deceptively strong and quick," Soriero said of the freshman. "She's sort of an unknown entity right now because everyone is keying on Michelle [Maldonado]. It's nice to see that she can step up and make them pay the price by pointing points up and getting some rebounds." Kelly had 22 points in the game, connecting on seven of 10 field goal attempts, including five three-pointers. Ladley finished with 11, making seven of eight free throws, and Maldonado had nine. The Quakers tournament play showed significant improvement over last week's loss to St. Joseph's. "We were more aggressive in running our offense and a lot smarter with our passes," Kelly said. "We played a totally different game." The Quakers will look to continue their improvement when they take on Lehigh at 7:30 tonight in the first home game of the season. To win, they will need to stop guards Danielle Baldwin (12.8 ppg) and Kelly Collins (15.8 ppg) and respond well to the full court pressure most teams exert on a young squad.