W. Hoops drops pair in L. I. tournament

Before heading to Stony Brook, Long Island to compete in the Holiday Inn Express Invitational, Penn women's basketball coach Kelly Greenberg vowed two wins for the Quakers.

Two victories would've made the 150 mile trip all the more enjoyable.

But the 24-hour stay turned out rather long and rocky, with the Quakers suffering two consecutive losses in the Empire State.

The Red and Blue fell prey to the host Seawolves Friday, 77-56 and were defeated by George Mason in a consolation game the next afternoon, 72-56.

"It was a bad weekend," senior center Julie Epton said. "We didn't play like we needed to play. We came out flat and lacking intensity."

In Friday night's opener against host Stony Brook, Penn (2-4) dominated first half play.

The Quakers shot a scorching 59 percent from the field in the first twenty minutes, while the Seawolves struggled to shoot an abysmal 32 percent clip.

The Red and Blue held as much as an eight-point lead --- leading 26-18 at the 4:12 mark -- before the Seawolves closed the gap to 28-25 at halftime.

The second half told quite a different story.

The lead shifted back and forth between the Quakers and Seawolves for the first six minutes of the second half, leaving the game knotted at 40 with 13:21 to play.

And then Stony Brook's Sherry Jordan took over.

The 5-foot-11 sophomore guard scored eight points in a 18-7 run that put the Seawolves ahead for good.

All in total, Jordan dropped twenty points on the Quakers in the second half, finishing with 30 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 steals to dominate the contest.

"She went on a run in the second half where we couldn't stop her," junior point guard Tara Twomey said. "We made a couple of adjustments, but she was just in a zone."

Jordan's performance painfully reminded the Quakers of her 27-point, 12-board showing last year at the Palestra.

Despite being victimized by a top scorer for the second straight game -- Temple's Athena Christoforakis ripped Penn for 27 points and 13 rebounds on Nov. 28 -- there were some positive signs for the Quakers on Friday night.

Rebounding from her 2-for-8 shooting performance against the Owls, Epton reasserted herself as a premier frontliner netting 17 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Freshman Karen Habrukowich also continued to blossom, adding 18 points, including three trifectas from behind the arc against the Seawolves. The freshman guard was also named to the All-Tournament Team.

Penn had a chance to atone for Friday night's loss in a Saturday afternoon battle with George Mason.

But the Quakers beat themselves in the consolation match, plagued by 30.5 percent shooting and 22 turnovers.

"We were stopping ourselves," Penn junior Jenn Jones said. "We weren't executing plays and getting shots we wanted to."

Penn's leading scorer, sophomore guard Jewel Clark, returned to form after a five-point, four turnover effort against Stony Brook and scored 23 points on Saturday, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Quakers' shooting woes.

Despite the disappointing showing in Stony Brook, the Quakers still have a positive outlook.

"We're using this weekend as a learning experience," Twomey said. "It made us open our eyes and see what we can do to get better. We're not giving up."

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