Jan. 13, 4:04 p.m.
When women's basketball senior captain Carrie Biemer sees her team show flashes of exceptional play to stake an early lead, she senses that her team is on the verge of turning the corner. But suddenly - and without explanation - the Quakers revert to their wildly inconsistent ways.
Penn held second-half leads in four out of their five games over winter break, but -largely thanks to extended scoring droughts, it was only able to finish one win, a 62-49 victory at St. Francis on New Year's Eve.
After leading at halftime against Drexel on Dec. 19, it took the Red and Blue over ten minutes to record a field goal in the second half, allowing the Dragons to seal their 62-52 victory with a 21-1 run.
Against Big 5 foes Temple and La Salle on Jan. 2 and Jan. 5, respectively, it was more of the same story. Temple used an 18-9 run to take the lead for good with 5:17 left to play, then padded the lead late for an 81-70 win.
La Salle trailed 58-49 with less than three minutes to play, but the Explorers scored the game's final 12 points to pull off the shocking 61-58 win, ensuring that Penn's class of 2009 will graduate without ever winning a Big 5 game.
In the Ivy League opener against Princeton on Saturday, Penn reversed its previous trend -- but not in a good way. The Quakers failed to record a field goal in the first 8:51 and trailed 18-3. That proved to be the final margin of victory, as Penn fell 64-49. For the fourth consecutive season, the Quakers (3-10, 0-1 Ivy) lost their first conference game.
"We need to be able to respond better after missing three, four, five shots in a row, not to get ourselves frantic and let that affect the next play," Biemer said of the team's penchant for scoring droughts. "I think that just comes from maturity."
See Wednesday's Daily Pennsylvanian for more information.
