W. Hoops to seek charity at the stripe

The Penn women's baskeball team hopes to increase its success by drawing more fouls in the paint. The Penn women's basketball team is beginning to get frustrated. The Quakers own a 3-12 record but feel that they could and should have won a few more. They head to Lafayette (2-11) in five days to start a three-game non-conference swing that they hope to use as a method for getting back into the swing of the Ivy League season. In its last game, Penn squandered a 7-point halftime lead to lose by five points to Brown. "Because we're not getting blown out by huge amounts of numbers, we're confident," Penn guard Mandy West said. "We know we're in the games -- most of the games we're actually up, and then we wind up losing. It's discouraging when you lose by five, six points -- especially when you were up by eleven or twelve in the second half." · There is not much concern around the team about keeping spirits up right now, though. The Quakers know that good feelings will come with winning. The focus for Penn right now is on actually recording victories. "I've talked to them about being a little tougher mentally," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "So that when the game's on the line, and we do need to make a big defensive stop, that we step up and do that, and do it consistently." · Caramanico, whose two straight 30-plus-point games boosted her scoring average to 19.9 points, is more concerned with the offense than the defense right now. "I'm sure we'll work on defense a lot, because it's one of the most important parts of the game," Caramanico said. "But at crucial points in the game, we've just thrown the ball away." · West, meanwhile, has struggled to shake off the rust of a year's absence from competitive basketball. If Penn is to be successful, it's important that her shot selection improve. "It's frustrating, but a lot of times, with the time ticking off the shot clock, it's not necessarily a shot that I want to take," the junior transfer said. "At this point, I would definitely have to say that if Diana and I don't both have an average or a better-than-average game, it seems that we usually lose." The best way that West can help her team, however, is by getting to the free-throw line. In the win at Yale, the Quakers guard shot 5-for-6 from the charity stripe, but she didn't manage to get to the line at all in Providence. "I need to be a little bit more aggressive," said West, who is scoring 18.8 points per game. "I need to drive and penetrate a little bit more, because [foul shooting] is one of my stronger strengths." · Getting to the foul line has also helped Caramanico to become a scoring machine of late. Soriero sat down with Caramanico and the two watched tapes to try to pinpoint how the Red and Blue's 1998 MVP could improve. "Early in the season, Diana had a tendency to change her shot, to shoot over people as big as her," the Penn coach said. "I talked to her about being stronger, that instead of trying to change her shot from the [outside], to throw a fake and drive to the basket." It's working for Caramanico. If West can build on the next three games, too, the Quakers may surprise a few Ivy League opponents later this season.