W. Hoops slams UMBC, falls to Drexel

The Penn women's basketball team is off to its best start since 1990-91. That doesn't mean that the Quakers are happy, however, especially after dropping a 66-64 decision to Drexel on Sunday afternoon in Baltimore, Md. After thrashing Maryland-Baltimore County by 21 points in the opener of the Conference Challenge on Saturday, the Quakers (4-4) came out flat early against the Dragons (4-3). The Red and Blue trailed their West Philadelphia rivals throughout the entire game. "Drexel came out almost with an anger that they wanted to beat their next-door neighbor to prove something," Penn coach Kelly Greenberg said. "They wanted the game more than we did. We had to play some catch-up." Despite Penn's weak opening, the battle between the across-the-street rivals came down to the final ticks. With eight seconds remaining, the Quakers trailed by two points. Following a missed foul shot by Drexel, Penn worked the ball to senior guard Mandy West for a final shot to try to send the game to overtime. West's bid to become the fourth Quaker in the game to get into double figures and to tie the game at 66 failed, and Drexel escaped from Baltimore with a two-point victory. West may or may not have been fouled on the play, but the result stood. "Mandy got a good shot up to send it to overtime," Greenberg said. "Most of us felt she got hit, but it wasn't called. We executed very well [in the closing minutes]. But we're not going to win games when we're outrebounded by 17." Drexel grabbed 50 boards on the afternoon, while Penn managed to corral only 33 off the glass. The Quakers had this deficit despite a game-high 12 rebounds from Penn forward Diana Caramanico, who scored 22 points to lead all scorers. "We're a better team," Penn guard Tara Twomey said. "We should have won the game. We went up and down, we didn't play a solid game." Nevertheless, the Quakers' effort after the game's shaky opening was impressive. Despite the rocky start, Penn did not fold up its tent the way it did in its previous loss to St. Joseph's. "We were just making some gut-check plays, crashing the boards and getting offensive boards," Greenberg said. "When we did get down we didn't fold. We stayed with it and I thought showed character. We did everything but seal the victory." On a brighter note for the Quakers, Penn had no trouble sealing the victory against Maryland-Baltimore County on Saturday. The game was in hand early on, as Greenberg's squad raced to a 43-29 halftime lead. In Saturday's game, the Quakers registered their first victory of the season without Caramanico scoring 30 or more points. The junior tri-captain was still stellar, however, pouring in 25 points and grabbing 12 rebounds to lead the Red and Blue to an 81-60 triumph over the Retrievers. West had 14 points and four assists against UMBC, but perhaps the most positive performance for Penn was turned in by its freshmen. Jennifer Jones scored 15 points with six rebounds, while Tara Twomey scored six points and dished out a team-high five assists. "We just seemed really ready to play and maybe it was because of [the loss in the previous game to] St. Joe's and that we wanted to prove something," Greenberg said. "We were just ready to play." Despite a pleasurable trouncing of the Retrievers, Penn did not bring the same energy to Sunday's fight with the Dragons, befuddling their coach. "I wish I had the answer," Greenberg said. The poor second-day performance against Drexel does not bode well for Penn's upcoming conference schedule -- the Ivy League season places Penn in six two-game weekends over the course of the season. "I always think when you play real well the first game, it's easy to not do that the second game," Greenberg said. "We have to get used to playing back-to-back games."