W. Hoops ends season with a loss

(Penn - 65, Princeton - 66)

Princeton forward Maureen Lane dominated the Penn women's basketball team last night like few others have this season.

She connected on 11 of her 19 field goal attempts.

She shot 6 for 12 from behind the three-point line.

But it would have all gone for naught had she not scored her easiest two points of the night at the free-throw line with 5.9 seconds remaining in the game.

Lane completed her 30-point performance at the line following a controversial foul call to lift the Tigers (11-16, 5-9 Ivy League) over the Quakers (12-15, 8-6), 66-65.

The devastating nature of the loss was compounded by the fact that this was the Red and Blue's final game of the 2001-2002 season.

After being eliminated two weeks ago from title contention, Penn rededicated itself to running the table so that it would finish in sole possession of second place. But with last night's defeat at Jadwin Gymnasium, the Quakers were forced to share the distinction with Cornell.

"It came down to defense tonight," Penn junior tri-captain Jenn Jones said. "They got some big threes off of us, and we had a couple turnovers that made a difference."

Princeton took an early stranglehold in the first half before the Quakers were able to make some headway. The Tigers led 27-19 with 9:47 left in the first half, but Penn cut the deficit to one, 39-38, at the break.

Jones did much of the damage for the Red and Blue in the early stages, scoring 11 first-half points.

"Everything was falling," she said. "Everyone has to step up at different times."

The Penn momentum continued coming out of the locker room. On a Jewel Clark jumper, Penn grabbed the lead, 54-52, at the 13:07 mark.

This was the beginning of an 11-2 Red and Blue run, which yielded Penn's largest lead of the game, 63-54.

With just over seven minutes left to play, it certainly appeared that the Quakers would atone for their Jan. 4 loss to the Tigers at the Palestra -- a contest that many on the team frequently called their worst game of the year.

But shoddy defense and some careless play let Princeton crawl right back. And with 5.9 seconds remaining, Jones was whistled for a foul as she rebounded a Tigers' miss.

The call enraged the Quakers, and Jones said later that she honestly did not know how she committed any kind of infraction.

With Penn over the limit, Lane went to the line and calmly hit both of her free throws, eerily reminiscent of Saturday night's Penn-Cornell game in which Clark won it for the Quakers in the same fashion with 4.3 seconds left.

The loss was particularly tough for Penn senior tri-captain Julie Epton, the team's lone senior.

"It's extremely frustrating," Epton said. "It's hard to express not only for myself but for the team. But I can't and won't forget about all the great times I've had with this second family of mine."

Epton finished last night's game with 11 points on 4 of 9 shooting. She was one of four Penn players to score in double figures, but she knows that the team lacked the drive it needed.

"I just wish we had played a better game," Epton said. "I can't tell you how much I'd give to be able to go back and do this over again."

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