Penn women's basketball looks to embrace a fresh start

It’s almost like starting the season over again.

Not that Penn women’s basketball would particularly like to start over given the way the team started the season.

Yet that’s how many on the team view the Ivy League portion of the schedule.

“The competition in [the Ivy League] is great, the camaraderie between the teams is there and the respect for each other is there,” coach Mike McLaughlin said. “The players are excited, they’re ready to go.” This weekend the Quakers (10-5, 0-1 Ivy) will host Dartmouth (3-13, 0-2) and Harvard (12-4, 2-0) on Friday and Saturday, respectively, to kick off the true Ancient Eight campaign.

For the Red and Blue, it’s been a much-needed time of rest this week since their demolition of NJIT last weekend. The team has taken advantage of the time off and focused not only on its upcoming opponents but also on itself.

“We’ve been able to focus on our team some more instead of just having game, scout, game, scout, game,” junior forward Katy Allen said. “It’s really nice to come back and become individually better and better as a team. We’re fired to play this weekend after this break.”

And fired up is exactly how these Quakers should be, given their recent hot streak and potential for major success in the Ivy League this season.

Though its only conference contest this season was a blowout loss to Princeton, 84-53, Penn has played well recently, with its only other losses since Nov. 23 having come against Big Five rivals and RPI top-50 schools in Villanova and Saint Joseph’s.

Now it’s time for the team to show the Ivy League how its been hardened by a tough nonconference slate. Penn’s success will — as it often has this season — need to spring from the Ivy League’s best defense, which is allowing a mere 59.3 points per game.

Both of the Quakers’ opponents pose unique challenges in that regard, with each possessing one of the Ivy League’s top three scorers in Dartmouth guard Fanni Szabo (16.5 points per game) and Harvard guard Christine Clark (16.4).

“[Szabo] is a good young player in our league, she’s going to score a lot of points. And [Clark] is just a very balanced player, going to score the ball multiple ways,” McLaughlin said. “Defensively, we’ll stay the course of what we’ve done and change up our defenses based on the situation.”

Against Harvard, the Quakers will also have to deal with the presence of the Ivy League’s leading rebounder, Temi Fagbenle. Freshman center Sydney Stipanovich will be looked upon to continue to anchor the inside and prevent Fagbenle from changing the course of the game

“[Fagbenle] is certainly going to impact the game. She’ll score the ball, she’ll rebound, she’ll change shots,” McLaughlin said. “It’s going to be a good challenge, Sydney [Stipanovich] and her will be a good matchup.”

On the offensive end, Penn will look to continue it’s productive inside attack, as both Stipanovich and junior forward Kara Bonenberger look to continue their hot streaks from the past week.

“[Stipanovich] was huge [this past week]. She’s starting now, that gives us the chance to play her more minutes and she’s responding well,” McLaughlin said. “She’s changing the game on both ends.”

So even though it’s like the season is begun anew, this is not the same Penn team that opened the season nearly three months ago.

This isn’t even the same Penn team that lost to Princeton just two weeks ago.

“I think we’ve made a lot of progress in what we’ve done [this season], we’re ready for [this weekend],” McLaughlin said. “It’s time to respond.”

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