W. Hoops hopes Loyola doesn't rub some salt in their wounds

Health will be a major concern for the Penn women's basketball team tonight when they take on Loyola (4-11) at the Palestra. Since last Tuesday's 60-51 loss to Villanova, Penn (4-8) has been stricken by the injury bug. The starting backcourt of freshman Chelsea Hathaway and junior Colleen Kelly spent much of the week on the trainer's table. Other Quakers, for example freshman Jen Houser, also have missed time while recovering from nagging injuries. Penn's shortage of healthy bodies has limited any type of five-on-five drills in practice. "We've taken this period as a recovery time," senior co-captain Deana Lewis said. "We have so many injuries right now. We are doing a lot of shooting drills and defensive drills where you don't need all the people out there." Penn trainer Debbie Roberts is giving her best effort to have all of the Quakers healthy and ready to play by tonight. But if any of the squad members cannot take off their warm-ups, Penn coach Julie Soriero will count on co-captains Lewis and Amy Tarr -- two healthy players in the Quakers rotation -- to step up their play. Lewis is Penn's most accurate shooter at 53.7 percent (44-82) from the field, eight percentage points up from a year ago. The 6-foot-1 center also is Penn's best scorer in the paint, having both right- and left-handed hook-shots. If one or more of the Quakers' starters is unable to play tonight, Lewis will have to take on a leading role in the offense. Tarr has seen less playing time. Coming off the bench, the senior guard averages just seven minutes per game. But as the sixth player in the Penn line-up, Tarr has only once seen as much as 18 minutes of playing-time in a game this year. When the 5-foot-9 guard steps onto the court, she moves the ball well on offense and adds intensity on the defensive end. "I think that anyone who gets minutes off the bench will just have to work hard and finish what the starters have begun," Tarr said. Loyola rides into the Palestra fresh off a 79-59 victory over Niagara. Six-foot-one senior Lynn Albert led the way for the Greyhounds with 25 points on 12-17 shooting. Backup center Dawn Gedrich added eight points in just ten minutes off the bench. Loyola trailed by nine, 36-27, at the half to Niagara. But coach Pat Coyle's Greyhounds turned it around after the break, outscoring the Lady Eagles in the second half, 52-23. The Greyhounds employ the same offense as the Red and Blue. Therefore, assuming that Coyle has no tricks up his sleeve, Penn should know what to expect from Loyola's offensive scheme. Defensively, the Quakers will have to focus on Albert, but all the Greyhounds starters are willing to take the outside shot. Off the bench, Loyola looks to Gerdich and 5-foot-6 point guard Kristin Fraser to contribute. Fraser, the Greyhound's junior co-captain, proceeded Hathaway as the starting point guard at Christ the King High School in New York City. She averages just 2.9 points per game. Heading into tonight's game, Penn has dropped two straight contests. But Loyola is not as strong a team as either Brown or Villanova -- the two teams that have defeated the Quakers. Soriero has spent much time in practice working on offensive rebounding drills. And there is reason to believe that even despite injuries, the Quakers could defeat the Greyhounds. "I definitely think that can win each game [remaining]," Tarr said. "We just have to take it one game at a time."

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