When women's basketball senior captain Carrie Biemer sees her team show flashes of exceptional play to stake an early lead, she senses that they are 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 (N.Y.) 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 team's seniors 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."
Against Princeton (6-9, 1-0), Penn coach Pat Knapp said the Quakers were doomed by a lack of ball movement and poor execution against the zone defense in the opening minutes, as well as 18 turnovers on the game.
It didn't help that junior guard Sarah Bucar missed the last three games with a foot injury, which will keep her out at least until the Jan. 26 match against Seton Hall.
"We miss her maturity on the court and her leadership," Biemer said.
With Bucar's absence, senior Kelly Scott picked up the slack, scoring 20 points per game in the middle three games. But Princeton was able to deny her the ball, and with sophomore Erin Power limited by a bout of the flu, Penn was simply overmatched.
"We're going to be looking for that third scorer somewhere," Knapp said. "We've been minus that offensive gun, and we need to get it from somebody else."
Young players such as freshman guards Tyler Cumbo and Sara Ely have seen increased minutes of late, but nobody has stepped up as a polished offensive threat.
"As a team, we need more than two people to take the majority of the shots," Biemer said.
On the plus side, Knapp has seen improvement on the inside with sophomore Caroline Nicholson and senior Katarina Lackner. The Quakers won the battle of the boards in three of the five games over break, and against Temple and St. Francis they were only outrebounded by one board per game.
If the Big 5 is a litmus test for the Ivy season, the Quakers may be on the right track even though they failed to win a game. This season, Penn lost to Big 5 opponents by an average of 5.50 points per game compared to a 22.75 average margin of defeat last season.
Although the opening Ivy loss was not ideal, Knapp said it is far from crippling due to the perceived parity in the league this year. Historically, teams have lost a game or two early in the Ivy season before bouncing back to take a share of the Ancient Eight crown.
Penn will have a 13-day rest and one more non-conference test against Seton Hall before a home matchup with Harvard on Jan. 30.
The Quakers will need to shake off the rust - and the scoring droughts that have haunted them - if they hope to bounce back during the Ivy League schedule.
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