COLUMN: W. Hoops start is slow only in numbers

From Kent Malmros's, "The Mark of a Golden Pen" But the polls didn't rank non-league expectations. And in some eyes, this season's 1-5 record has already fallen short of preseason visions. The Penn women's basketball team went into halftime of last Saturday's game at La Salle down by 12 points against a team that beat the Quakers 80-31 last season. Then the Quakers simply outplayed La Salle in the second half, outscoring the Explorers 41-37. But the comeback effort wasn't enough to earn a victory, and Julie Soriero's youth troop marked down loss number five. Many would say that a team with its star player returning and a top transfer entering the rotation should have more than one win to show for its first six games. "In time it is going to come through for them," 1997-98 co-captain Michelle Maldonado said. "They are playing excellently. They just aren't being consistent." People tend to forget -- the team included -- that last year the team similarly broke for Christmas at 2-6. One can look to the November 21 match-up against Big Five foe Temple as a mark of both the struggles of the young season and the improvements. The Quakers went into the half with an 18-point lead but failed to maintain the margin, sputtering to an 81-75 loss. Moral victories don't normally count for much, but a 10-point loss to Villanova is a far cry from the 44-point massacre that took place last season on the Main Line. "This team is very talented, and they'll be fine," Maldonado said. "I wish I could still be playing with this group." The "progress" has only resulted in one win. But the difference in the losses is astronomical. Through the same point last season, the Quakers' losses were by an average of 30.2 points per game, while this year the margin of loss is only 11 ppg, including three losses of nine or less. "I think our non-conference schedule is the toughest in the Ivy League," Soriero said. "I think that playing our Big Five opponents early presents a special challenge to us." The record isn't important as a barometer for league play. This team's progress last year came during the second half of the season -- during the Ivy schedule. Lost this season in the excitement of such a talented returning team was the fact that replacements would have to be found for the heart and soul of last year's team. For this team to be successful, someone is still needed to fill the void left by the absence of Maldonado and Colleen Kelly. The Quakers will be able to replace their production of 27.5 points a game -- especially with Mandy West scoring over 20 points in the last five games and Diana Caramanico still providing consistent offense. But the overall leadership and understanding of playing in a tight situation, and the experience of playing under Ivy League pressure was lost. Sophomore Jessica Allen and West only account for three starts last season, all by Allen. "When I think about last year, and what personified last year's team, it was Michelle's grittiness," Soriero said. "Michelle understood that an 18-point lead can disappear quickly. We don't have that leadership out on the floor yet." It seems like Caramanico and Erin Ladley should be playing like seniors, because they were forced to grow up on the court last year. Transfer Mandy West was supposed to replace the maturity of departed captains Maldonado and Kelly. "Tied into our immaturity, we sometimes as a team don't know how to get momentum back," Soriero said. "Part of it is trying to put Mandy into the mix as a leader and a floor captain and a go-to kid. She wasn't out on the floor with those kids last year." West has certainly shown the fearless qualities of a leader. She displayed a shooter's mentality in hoisting up 31 shots while making just eight (2-of-12 three-pointers) against the Explorers. Caramanico, meanwhile, was limited to just eight points on 10 shots from the field. The team's success will be gauged over the course of the Ivy season. The season starts over when Princeton comes to the Palestra on January 4. Starting then, moral victories won't count.