W. Hoops falls short in OT heartbreakers

A trip to the Windy City turned into a whirlwind of overtime disappointment this weekend for the Penn women's basketball team. Competing in the Roger L. White Invitational on the campus of Northwestern University, the Quakers (0-3) dropped their first game to the Wildcats (3-2) on Friday night by a 77-71 score in overtime. Penn then lost its consolation contest on Saturday against Northeastern (4-2) in double OT, 80-78. In the championship game, UNLV defeated Northwestern 84-74, after beating Northeastern, 62-58, the previous night. Though it was difficult to gauge how Penn could perform against such unfamiliar, out-of-conference opponents, the Quakers left the Midwest shaking their heads, firmly believing that they could have easily taken both games. The Northeastern matchup had seemed especially favorable to the Quakers, who felt they may have lost as a result of being too overconfident. "In the second game, we didn't really come ready [to play]," Penn senior co-captain Erin Ladley said. The Friday night battle with the Wildcats was more intriguing. Northwestern led Penn at the break, 37-29, before the Quakers staged a second-half comeback to force an extra period. In overtime, however, the Red and Blue appeared uncomfortable and ended up getting outscored by a 14-8 margin. "I thought that in the first game, we played very hard," Ladley said. "It came down to the last few seconds, and we just made stupid decisions." Ladley, who scored 13 points in the game against the Wildcats, also noted that the Quakers must work on performing better in pressure situations, such as overtime contests. Penn star forward Diana Caramanico led both teams with 23 points and also collected a team-high 11 rebounds against Northwestern. Yet it was the Wildcats' tandem of sophomore standouts that stole the show. Despite committing five turnovers, guard Emily Butler paced Northwestern with 22 points, while Leslie Dolland played a dominant game in the middle. Dolland, the sophomore center for the Wildcats, was the only player aside from Caramanico to finish with a double-double. She scored 16 points while ripping down 15 boards. Penn's offense looked solid in both of these games, but the Quakers were unable to get the defensive stops needed for victory. If the Northwestern game was frustrating however, the Northeastern game was demoralizing. Penn was sluggish coming out of the box, but the Quakers were again able to force an overtime after trailing 31-27 at the half. This time, it took two extra sessions to determine a winner -- but again it was the Quakers that came out on the losing end. Caramanico scored 24 and had 14 rebounds to lead Penn in each category, while Ladley recorded a career-high 22 points. But the Quakers would fall just short when Aisha Williams hit the game-winner with just 2.2 seconds remaining. Williams' buzzer-beater was the capper to a very disappointing weekend for the Red and Blue. Penn made its return flight to Philadelphia on Saturday night as a team still searching for its first victory. "[These were] definitely games that we should have won," said Penn sophomore forward Jennifer Jones. "I really don't have any excuses." Caramanico offered a similar rendition of what transpired in Evanston. "It was really disappointing," the senior forward said. "We made some mistakes down the stretch that caused us to lose -- these were winnable games." The Quakers will now have a couple of days in which they hope to work out the kinks in their play and shed any lingering rust that has hindered them so far. Penn will return to friendly confines when they square off against La Salle in its home opener on Thursday. The game will precede the men's contest against the Explorers as part of a doubleheader in conjunction with the grand re-opening of the Palestra.

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