W. Hoops suffers loss at Towson

After trailing by just five at halftime, the Penn women's basketball team lost by 17 points. Showing similar intensity as Penn did in its home opener, Towson started its season with a 74-51 win over the Penn women's basketball team. Meanwhile, the Quakers (0-2) went from one end of the intensity spectrum to the other. Since it was the Tigers' home opener, it was easy for their players to get mentally psyched for the game. "You want to show people what you can do from the beginning," Penn freshman guard Julie Epton said about home openers. "You also want to start your season with high intensity, so you can keep it at that level during the season. [Today] we weren't mentally into the game." Unfortunately the Quakers were unable to sustain their intensity from their Villanova home opener. Notwithstanding, Penn kept the game close for a half and traded leads with Towson (1-0) throughout the first twenty minutes. With the game tied 15 minutes into it, Penn coach Julie Soriero called timeout to discuss making a run to get a lead before halftime. Nevertheless, it was the Tigers who broke the tie and entered the intermission with a five point lead. Down only by the score of 32-27, Penn was easily within striking distance entering the second half. However, Towson converted three consecutive Penn turnovers into a 13 point lead, only two minutes into the second session. This proved to be Penn's backbreaker -- four minutes later the Towson lead increased to 19 -- as the Quakers were unable to get back into the game. For both Penn and Towson, the best performances of the day came off the bench. In only 15 minutes of action, Epton shot 4-of-5 from the floor and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe -- good for 10 points in the game. Only sophomore forward Diana Caramanico and junior guard Mandy West scored more, each scoring 12. Moreover, Epton had four defensive rebounds and five total boards, second only to center Jessica Allen, who had a total of six. Epton also added to Penn's defensive effort with two steals. "I wanted to help us step up the intensity," Epton said. "Also, I wanted to give quality minutes off the bench to give our players some rest." Epton wasn't the only player in last night's game to provide productive minutes off the bench. For Towson the player of the game was sophomore back-up guard Jill McGowan. McGowan led the Tigers with 17 points. Not only did she shoot 6-of-11 from the floor, but she shot 3-of-5 from behind the arc. Two of the three-pointers came in timely fashion at the end of the first half to give Towson its five point lead. "She just stepped into her shots and let them fly," Soriero said. "We gave her too many good looks." Fellow sophomore guard Mylisa Pilione also hit three treys in the game for the Tigers. Pilione led the second half outburst for Towson, by scoring 12 of her career-high 15 points after halftime. Junior forward Shniece Perry and sophomore center Jess Gordon were the other two Tigers to reach double digits in the point column -- Perry with 13 and Gordon with 16. Overall the Tigers had a three-point field goal percentage of .568 and a total field goal percentage of .483, whereas Penn's percentages were .364 and .358 respectively. On defense, junior forward Shniece Perry paved the way for Towson. She accumulated eight rebounds, six of which were on the defensive glass, four steals and one block. Although the Red and Blue were beaten on both ends of the court, yesterday's loss is not a reason to be concerned. "We're still a young team," Soriero said. "There needs to be a level of patience." Even though the Quakers don't play at the Palestra until December 5, when they host La Salle, they shouldn't have trouble getting up for their next game in North Philadelphia against Big Five rival Temple.

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