Women aim high

Quakers are optimistic with return of Natasha Rezek and new-found depth Penn's days of parking it in the paint are over. With the graduation of Katarina Poulsen, the Quakers' 6-foot-3 center and leading scorer in 1993-94, Penn women's basketball coach Julie Soriero no longer has the option of orbiting her offense around a dominating person in the middle. The new streamlined Quakers will be a smaller, quicker version of the 10-16 team of a season ago, featuring a three-guard set. Penn will abandon its traditionally cumbersome half-court game in favor of a pressure and transition attack. "We're going to look to press from the outset," Soriero said. "We think we can generate some offense off turnovers or by quickening the tempo, and I think we have the capability to do that this year because we're deeper. "Sometimes last year, we waited for Kat to get down the floor, and that was OK then. She was your 6-3 girl, and you got the ball to her. This year, we have a more balanced offensive look." That new balance begins with the return of senior center Natasha Rezek from Russia, giving the Quakers increased athleticism and greater mobility in the frontcourt. Rezek (13.9 ppg, 11.7 rpg in '92-93) finished 10th in the nation in rebounding as a sophomore before electing to spend last year in Moscow. With the departure of Poulsen and Julie Gabriel, Penn's leading rebounder last year, much of the Quakers' success will hinge on whether Rezek can return to sophomore form, and establish herself as a primary offensive threat in the paint. "Honestly, I didn't play much in Russia," Rezek said. "I wish I could have, but when you get to the Russian tundra, the people aren't going to be hooping it up. There's still a little more strength and a little bit more confidence I'd like to get before the season opener." Rezek's lone companion on the blocks will be senior forward Shelly Dieterle (6.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg in '93-94), Penn's Most Improved Player last season. Dieterle possesses outstanding quickness for a post player, and is as fine a finisher on the break as anyone in the Penn lineup. According to Soriero, Dieterle also has shown an ability to step out and bury the medium-range jumper in the half-court game. But while Dieterle excels facing the hoop, her post game is still suspect. "I would like to see Shelly get a little more confident with her back to the basket," Soriero said. "She needs to think a little more aggressively in that situation -- take the ball up strong and draw the three-point play." In the backcourt, Penn will exploit a surplus of talented guards by adopting a three-guard set. Senior Shelly Bowers, a mainstay at point guard during the past three seasons, will shift to her natural position at shooting guard to make room for sophomore Erica McCauley. Bowers (11.4 ppg, 4.5 apg), who struggled at times handling the ball last season, has the green light from behind the arc, and will be counted on to shoulder a greater portion of the scoring burden this season. "Shelly's first adjustment is to remember all of the things she used to do in high school," Soriero said. "She's a good shooter and she can give us a little relief in bringing the ball up the floor. "Right now, my concern with her is defensively. She's usually matched up on the other team's point guards, and she needs to move her feet a little better in her off-the-ball defense." McCauley (3.7 ppg, 80.6 free-throw percentage), who saw solid minutes coming off the bench last season in Penn's three-guard rotation, will take over as the floor leader in her second season. She has proven to be a capable ball handler, and can keep defenses honest by knocking down the open shot from the perimeter. But at 5-3, McCauley may become a defensively liability if opposing guards take her to the basket. "Erica has a special challenge in that she steps onto the floor as a sophomore and a leader in the point-guard spot with four seniors," Soriero said. "She has to feel confident that she is the leader out there. Right now, she's emerging that way, but she's not there yet." Senior Katina Banks emerged two years ago, and has been right where she needs to be -- that is, slicing through opposing defenses. In Banks (8.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg), the Quakers have a slasher with three-point range in the third guard slot, who specializes in getting out ahead on the break, and taking the ball to the rim with authority. Since Soriero is making the move to an up-tempo, baseline-to-baseline game, the Penn bench will play a much bigger role than it has in years past. Last season, the Quakers used a six-player rotation with only McCauley seeing significant minutes off the bench. "Our freshman forwards are going to step in and see time right away," Bowers said. "If we get in any kind of foul trouble, some of them are going to be in the game." Three Penn reserves will split time in the Quakers' frontcourt. While freshman Coleen Kelly will spell Bowers, Banks and McCauley, sophomore Amy Tarr, who has played well behind Rezek and Dieterle in the preseason, should join freshmen Michelle Maldonado and Hope Smith in Soriero's low-post rotation. Sophomore forward Deana Lewis is still recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered last season, but should return in a reserve role sometime after Christmas. Though Soriero likes the athleticism of her bench, Penn's reserves suffer from an acute case of inexperience. The first four Quakers off the bench have played a combined total of 163 collegiate minutes. "They're going to have to get used to getting minutes," Bowers said. "I'm very fortunate because when I came in as a freshman, I got a lot minutes right off the bat. Last year, we didn't use as many people, so I think we have a weakness in that we're going to have to get our players used to coming into the game. I think it's going to be real important to get the rotation down." If Penn has any designs for challenging preseason favorites Dartmouth and Brown for Ivy League supremacy, it will take more than just quality play off the bench. No matter how Soriero reshuffles her lineup, Penn is still undersized, and will have difficulty matching up against big-time centers like Brown's 6-5 All-America candidate Martina Jerant. Of the Quakers' starting five, only Rezek, at 6-1, stands above the six-foot mark. Poulsen, who was 10th in the nation in blocked shots last season, is no longer around to give Penn a defensive presence in the paint. Rezek and Dieterle inherit the daunting task of keeping Jerant or Harvard's Tammy Butler off the boards. "We cannot give the ball back to the other team," Soriero said. "We have to be smart about taking good shots and smart about handling the ball. Not being as big as we were, we can't turn around and give the ball back to Brown and Jerant." Penn also must decide who it will look to offensively with the game on the line. Bowers, Banks or Rezek could be that player, but none has emerged yet as the go-to-scorer. Despite the loss of their leading scorer and rebounder of a year ago, the Quakers believe their new system and new personnel will carry them further than Poulsen or Gabriel. "We're deeper, more athletic and more competitive day in and day out," Soriero said. "I think in the long run, that will make us better as we get into Ivy League play."