Turnovers doom W. Hoops in loss

Penn - 58 Delaware - 79

Looking at the Penn women's basketball team's offensive statistics last night, it would seem like the Quakers cruised to an easy victory.

The Red and Blue shot 47 percent -- 17-for-36 -- from the field and nailed 50 percent of their three-point attempts -- 7-for-14.

The final score: Delaware 79, Penn 58.

The reason -- turnovers. Twenty-nine of them to be exact.

"That's the story of the game," Penn coach Kelly Greenberg said. "They had a three quarter court trap and we just couldn't handle it."

The turnover woes started early in the matchup for the Quakers.

Penn (5-11) turned the ball over six times in the first seven minutes, allowing the Blue Hens (14-4) to race out to a 20-5 lead with 13:13 remaining in the first half.

To make matters worse, Penn's leading scorer, sophomore Jewel Clark, was forced to the bench after picking up two fouls in the first 5:30.

"She got into foul trouble real early and that really hurt us," Greenberg said.

The lone bright spot in an otherwise lackluster first 20 minutes was the play of freshman guard Catherine Makarewich.

Despite entering last night's contest averaging 1.0 points per game, Makarewich became the latest Penn freshman -- following the likes of Karen Habrukowich and Katie Kilker -- to explode for a big game.

Lethal from downtown last night, the six-foot rookie went 3-for-3 from behind the arc, totaling nine first half points.

Makarewich continued to fire away from long range in the second half, converting 2-of-3 shots. She finished the contest with 15 points in 31 minutes.

"She played awesome," Penn tri-captain Julie Epton said. "She didn't hesitate when she was open and was just knocking down shots."

Trailing by 11 points, 39-28, at halftime, the Quakers opened up the second half on a tear and cut the Blue Hens' lead to seven before the first media timeout.

But seven points would be as close as Penn would get, as Delaware reversed its slow second half start out of the timeout.

"We had been playing well and were getting good looks," Greenberg said. "But then they came out and pressed, and we turned it over three times in a row."

Though the three turnovers only led to five Delaware points, the real effect of Penn's miscues came more in the way of a momentum shift.

The Quakers ineffective offense sapped their defensive intensity, and Penn stopped collecting boards on the defensive glass.

Actively attacking the offensive boards, the Blue Hens were able to grab five offensive rebounds -- three by Christina Rible and two by Julie Sailer -- in the next four minutes, which led to a number of second-chance opportunities.

By the next media timeout, Delaware had increased its lead to 11.

"Everybody should be crashing the boards," Penn guard Tara Twomey said. "It's not the taller team that should be getting the rebounds, it's the tougher team."

And last night Penn, outrebounded 38-30 -- including 19 offensive rebounds by the Blue Hens -- was clearly not the tougher team.

"We knew that they were a team that hit the boards hard, and we just stood around and let them get their rebounds," Epton said.

The Blue Hens' chief board work was done by their potent frontcourt tandem of Rible and senior forward Lindsay Davis.

While Rible grabbed 12 rebounds to go along with 10 rebounds en route to her eighth double-double of the season, Davis -- more of an outside threat -- still snatched five boards along with her game-high 21 points.

Davis "is six-feet, and she was just able to get shots and grabs boards over us because she has size on us," Greenberg said.

Last night's game concluded the Quakers non-conference schedule.

The Red and Blue will next be in action when they travel to the Empire State to take on Cornell and Columbia this weekend.

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