W. Hoops buries Owls in second half

Diana Caramanico scored 30 points and grabbed 13 boards to fuel the quakers to their first Big 5 win since 1995. Kelly Greenberg, the new coach of the Penn women's basketball team, said that she had brought a run-and-gun offense to the Palestra this season. Apparently, the emphasis is on run. Over an 11:56 stretch in the second half of their season opener against Temple (0-1, 0-1 Big 5) on Saturday, the Quakers (1-0, 1-0) outscored the visiting Owls 27-6. Penn scored a whopping 50 points in the second half, while it took Temple a full 40 minutes to amass that total in the Quakers' 79-50 win. The win marked Penn's first Big 5 victory since it beat Temple on January 17, 1995. "We want to score points," Greenberg said. "My assistants were kidding me. I had down 'Hold the other team to 61 points' and [they said] that's not really holding. I said, 'It is holding if we're gonna score 80.' That's what we want to do." The Quakers were led by junior forward Diana Caramanico, who scored 30 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. In 53 career games for Penn, Caramanico has scored 30 or more points on eight occasions. This mark has only been achieved nine other times in Penn history. "That's the best 30 points I've ever seen because she did it in a very not flashy [way]," Greenberg said. "She did it as a blue-collar worker, got it off offensive rebounds. That's how we want her to get her points." Caramanico was 10-for-13 from both the floor and the free throw line. Even more impressively, she was a perfect 5-for-5 from each in the second half, when Penn rallied. The Quakers were down 15-4 early and 31-29 at the half but Caramanico's play keyed Penn's second-half drive. The power forward's 15 points were only four fewer than the 19 that the Owls scored in the second frame. Penn's two other tri-captains, Erin Ladley and Mandy West, added 15 points apiece in the victory. Both scored the bulk of their points in the second half, but in very different ways. West worked her way to the charity stripe, where she shot 8-for-10, all in the second half. Ladley sank four three pointers, converting on 3-of-4 from downtown after the intermission. "Coach said that I wasn't coming off the screens right, so I just focused on that a little more," said Ladley, who also dished out five assists. "And I took my time. I was rushing a little bit in the beginning, and I was just open, so I figured I would shoot. It was out of the offense, so I just shot it." The Quakers were able to get such good shots out of their offense because of their success in breaking Temple's press. Last season, the Owls used the press to their advantage, coming back from 18 down to defeat the visiting Quakers. But when Temple pressed this time, Penn had no problems. "As much as we don't dwell on last year, memories from last year definitely helped in that situation," Caramanico said. "If they pressed us, we were going to make them pay. Our eyes lit up when they pressed because we can handle it now." Temple did not help its cause by getting into foul trouble. Forward Kim Martin, who led the Owls in scoring a year ago, fouled out, as did center Lisa Jakubowicz, who scored 11 points and pulled down seven boards on Saturday. Jakubowicz was Temple's most effective player on the court but Penn drove her to the bench with just under four minutes remaining. "[Jakubowicz] is our scoring player inside," Temple coach Kristen Foley said. "We tried to rotate some different people in there and we certainly didn't get the go-to points or the clutch points that she gives us." The Owls didn't get much of anything from anybody after coming out of the gate flying. Temple shot just 23.1 percent in the second half as the Quakers took over. What's more, Penn forced the Owls into 27 turnovers. "Our goal is to force 23 or more and that's what we got," Greenberg said. "One of our goals this year will always be forcing turnovers and 27 turnovers is exactly where we want to be." West led the Penn defense with three steals, one short of her career high. In the game's final 20 minutes, the Quakers completely befuddled the Owls, forcing 18 second-half turnovers and numerous bad shots. "The only adjustment we really made [at halftime] was defensively," said Caramanico, who had two steals and a blocked shot. "We switched up our zone a little bit just to mold to what they were doing a little better and honestly they didn't have any idea what they were doing when we did that." Seven minutes into the game, Ladley drained her first three-pointer to break Temple's opening run and from there everything that Penn did went well. That shot started a 75-35 run that lasted the rest of the game. The Quakers had clearly shaken any opening-game jitters and nerves about the new offensive system. "It's a whole new system," Greenberg said. "They're gonna be a little unsure. They're not really sure if this new coach knows what the hell she's doing. [When they got] a little more comfortable, we kept doing the same things, and it started clicking." While every member of the Quakers played, two freshmen in particular saw significant playing time -- guards Jennifer Jones and Tara Twomey. "[After a cold start], Jen did get it going," Greenberg said. "Jen is going to be our best hustle-board person. A hustle-board is all those things -- rebounding, getting loose balls, deflections -- [and] that's what Jen Jones is going to give us. "Both of them brought a lot of energy. Jen started and she was nervous but Tara came in off the bench and brought some positive things for us." While Jones scored six points on 2-for-12 shooting from the floor, Twomey took only one shot, cashing in on a three-pointer from the top of the key with 15:10 to play that started a decisive 14-0 Penn run. The Quakers stay in the city for their next game as they head to La Salle tomorrow night and continue running for their first multi-win Big 5 season in 26 years.