W. Hoops splits two Ivy road games

The Quakers defeated Yale to go to 1-1 in the Ivy League but came up short in a close game at Brown on Saturday. After ringing in the New Year and the Ivy League season with a disappointing loss to Princeton January 3, the Penn women's basketball team (3-9, 1-2 Ivy League) looked to rebound with road wins over Yale (5-8, 1-1) and Brown (5-8, 1-1) last weekend. The Quakers were on pace Friday night as they defeated the Elis 70-64, but could not put a streak together and lost 77-72 in Providence the following night. Penn traded baskets with Yale during the opening minutes until a three-pointer by Elis guard Kelly Denit at 13:30 broke a tie at 10 and ignited a 9-0 run. Trailing 19-10, the Quakers took a 20-second timeout to regroup with just under 10 minutes left in the half. When they came out of the huddle, they showed the grace under pressure that they lacked against the Tigers, according to Quakers coach Julie Soriero. "When Princeton made a run at us down the stretch, we got soft. We didn't dig deep and play defense," Soriero said. "But when Yale made a nice run, we didn't panic. We stayed aggressive on defense and executed on offense." According to sophomore forward Diana Caramanico, watching video tapes with Soriero revealed that she was "a little weak with the ball" against Princeton. After scoring 16 points against the Tigers, Caramanico upped her production to 30 points and 12 rebounds. With the Quakers down nine, Caramanico netted five straight points and junior guard Mandy West added two jumpers to tie the game at 25 less than five minutes before half-time. Following Penn's comeback, neither team could build a comfortable lead. Despite four points from Caramanico to bring her first-half total to 19 and contributions from West and senior Sue Van Stone, Penn could not pull away. With the scored tied at 32, it looked as if the Ivy League win was up for grabs as both teams went into the locker room. But the second half belonged to the Quakers. Caramanico's two free throws just 48 seconds into the half gave Penn a lead it would never surrender. The difference? After being held to five first-half points on a 2-11 shooting performance, Mandy West put 20 points on the board during the final 20 minutes. The junior captain was a triple threat -- hitting from the outside, driving the lane and assisting Caramanico with the 11 points she would add to her own total. "I thought she really elevated her game another notch," Yale assistant coach Mimi Walters said of West. "Our defense on her was pretty much the same from the first half to the second but she really just started coming up with big shots and nailing them." West's most important basket came with 41 seconds left in the game. After Caramanico's layup extended the Quakers' lead to six, 63-57, Yale guard Autumn Braddock hit a three. On the following possession, West responded with a trey of her own, giving Penn a 66-60 lead and forcing Yale to take its final time-out. The Elis ensuing chance to close the gap was stripped by Penn sophomore guard Erin Ladley's steal with 30 seconds remaining. Braddock hit two more free throws, but they were not enough as West also capitalized from the line, hitting four straight to give Penn an eight-point lead. The Elis struck one last time with a Christina Bertao jumper, making the final score 70-64 and marking the Quakers first victory over Yale in almost two years. But victory was not to be the theme of the road trip. In their next game against Brown, the Quakers stuck to their winning ways in the first half, building a lead as large as nine, only to see their hopes of victory crushed under Brown's 55-point second-half effort. "It was similar to a lot of our games," West said. "The game was in our hands and we had the ability to win but then we folded." Caramanico's 14 first-half points helped Penn build a 29-22 half-time lead. But, West said, the Bears began to exploit perimeter holes in Penn's zone defense during the second half. And when they were not hitting from long distances, the Bears were dominating in the paint, as freshman forward Rachel Macdonald, who scored all 12 of her points in the second half. "They really controlled the tempo and slowed it down," said West of Brown's zone press. "It took us a while to get over half court." According to West, the defense neutralized the Quakers who "didn't look terrible but just didn't do much." Caramanico was the exception, finishing with 37 points and 14 rebounds. In a crucial six-minute span, the Quakers were especially inactive, scoring just six points to Brown's 14 and digging themselves an eight point hole, 67-59 with three minutes left. Penn would get as close as three on West's trey with 13 seconds left, but Brown's Emilie Troupe answered with two foul shots to give Brown a five-point victory, 77-72. Losing to Brown doused the Quakers' spirits as they were expecting the tougher contest to come in New Haven. "We thought that Yale would be the more challenging team and then we beat them and lost to Brown," West said. "Everyone went home unhappy."