W. Hoops visits Big 5-rival Hawks

When the Philadelphia Big 5 inaugurated a women's round-robin in 1979, one of the main goals of the program was to boost the popularity of women's basketball through the media. In this unique non-sanctioned conference, secretary Dan Baker pledged to oversee television and radio exposure of the women's games in an effort to boost fan support for women's basketball in Philadelphia. At Penn, WXPN, followed the Big 5's lead and began airing women's basketball games in 1993. Although it is possible an impending Title IX suit, eventually filed in May of 1994, had some effect on the station's decision to air the games, Penn women's basketball's Big 5 contests are now aired regularly. "The Big 5 games are important, not only for our records, but its also about Philadelphia pride," forward Deana Lewis said. "The men don't have it going so well for them now, but the women do. It helps support women's basketball." "We get less than half the showing of the men's games -- granted we have to get our play better and our record up to draw more people. We'll take any extra support we can get," added center Natasha Rezek. When the Quakers face off at St. Joseph's tonight at 6, there will be more issues at stake than improving the popularity of women's basketball at Penn. With a disappointing four-game losing streak to start off their season, the Red and Blue will also be looking to shake their early-season problems. The team expected to be 3-1 at this point -- with a loss to Northwestern -- but problems with consistency have plagued the young team. "So far, our first halves haven't been real tight, and in the second half we'll step it up," Rezek said. "At that point, however, we're already down 10 or 15 points." Communication and patience on the court definitely need to be worked on. "Our defense is breaking down a lot -- we're not following through with the fundamentals," Lewis said. "We'll play great defense for 35 seconds and then go shoot a shot with 27 seconds left on the shot clock. We're just not patient with the ball." The game tonight at St. Joseph's will begin a brief two-game Big 5 stretch that will pose bigger challenges than the previous four games. Unfortunately for Penn, the Hawks have won each of the 20 games played between the two schools. St. Joseph's (1-2), however, has seen its share of problems in the early season. The backcourt, comprised of captains Nikki Jones at point and Kristen Sullivan at the two-guard, is only shooting at 32.4 percent. In addition, the Hawks' inside game lacks height. At 6 feet, 1 inch, Maureen Costello is the only St. Joseph's player to break the 6-foot barrier and see any playing time. She is also the only Hawk performing with any consistency, shooting just over 48 percent in three games. With limited three-point shots taken this season, the Hawks have had mild success, with Sullivan shooting 50 percent and forward Megan Compain shooting 44.4 percent. The Quakers are shooting a respectable 39.4 percent from the field, but they are allowing an average of 74 points per game. Meanwhile, the Quakers have been concentrating on game situations in practice. "We're working on our defense and patience in game situations, and hopefully it'll carry over to real games," Lewis said.