W. Hoops | And the streak continues.

Two more games, two more losses. The streak now stands at 14 for the women's basketball team.

Despite playing at home, Penn lost 70-61 to the Lions (7-13, 4-2 Ivy) on Friday and 80-56 to the Big Red (13-6, 5-1) on Saturday.

In both games, the Quakers (3-17, 0-5 Ivy) came out sluggish, down 25-12 at one point against Columbia and 27-14 against Cornell. The difference, however, was how the Quakers responded.

Against the Lions, Penn came roaring back, closing the gap to 27-23 by halftime.

"Halftime came at a good time for our team," Columbia coach Paul Nixon said. "It gave us a chance to regroup and refocus on the game plan."

It was a seesaw battle in the second half, but when it mattered, the Quakers went cold and were scoreless in the final two minutes of play.

"I think we played some good points tonight; other times we lost our focus," junior Kelly Scott said.

Against the Lions, Penn was forced to play mainly man-to-man defense against the Lions' four-guard lineup.

When the Quakers did try a 3-2 zone, Michele Gage made them pay, scoring 20 points on 8-for-15 shooting.

"We were using less ball-screen action against the zone," Nixon said. "We run a lot of ball screens against the man-to-man."

The Lions were using a four-guard lineup because sophomore Chelsea Frazier was out with a dislocated shoulder.

"We can press a little more with a four-guard lineup," Nixon said. "It gives us an extra shooter on the perimeter."

Carrie Biemer had a field day against the defense, scoring 28 points.

"My team looked for me," Biemer said. "I had a guard on me when they had four guards in the game, so I tried to take advantage of that."

One day later, however, faced with a similar situation against Cornell, the Quakers folded.

Knapp was highly disappointed in the defense, which allowed more points against the Big Red than against any Ivy League opponent so far.

"Our defense was horrible," Knapp said. "We didn't guard anybody. We didn't guard the pick-and-roll. They scored way too easily."

Cornell's shooting was highly efficient. The Big Red were 7-for-16 from beyond the arc, and 21-for-21 from the line.

Furthermore, the Big Red had open jumpers from around the key that the team readily drained.

"I don't think we were emotionally ready to play," Knapp said. "We had our head in our hands from the night before."

Knapp did not make any players available for comment after the game.

Another theme in both games was the free-throw discrepancy. Columbia and Cornell combined for 47 free throw attempts, while Penn had only 19.

After the Columbia game, Knapp noted that Penn sometimes did a poor job on defense, but the frustration got to him after the Cornell game.

"I don't think we fouled too much, but the stats will show that there was an outrageous free-throw discrepancy," Knapp fumed. "We play the same game, and we're getting to the foul line significantly less."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.