Soriero's new assistant key to rise of W. Hoops

The new faces on the Penn women's basketball team are one reason the Quakers, at 6-10, have already doubled last year's win total. Freshmen Chelsea Hathaway, Shelly Fogarty and Jen Houser have played pivotal roles in several of Penn's victories. But two other fresh faces who deserve credit for their contributions are the Quakers first-year assistant coaches, Renate' Costner and Devonna Williams, who have replaced dismissed assistants Tina Costello and Sue Bly. "We may have gotten to a point [last year] where everything about our team was stale," Penn junior guard Hope Smith said. "They've brought positive attitudes and a new outlook." Costner and Williams also brought experience and energy to a basketball program that sorely needed both. Costner comes to Penn from Robert Morris, where she served as the head coach for the past five years. After high school, she was a four-year starter at point guard for Elon (N.C.) College. Williams also played at Emmanuel College before her first coaching job as an assistant at Salem State. Williams then went on to coaching Minnechaug Regional High School and last year worked assisting Springfield (Mass.) College. "I liked Renate's experience, and I think her commitment and intensity are what I was impressed with," Penn head coach Julie Soriero said. "I liked Devonna's desire to learn about coaching. She was hungry to learn." "One of the reasons we were brought in is because we are both very eager. We both, as well as Julie, want all the same things -- to have a top-notch team," Williams said. Neither Costner nor Williams found the transition to Penn to be difficult because of the support of the Penn community. Soriero joked that the hardest part initially was understanding their accents -- Costner's Southern twang and Williams' New England style. "There's a lot of commitment here," Costner said "The coaching staff, beyond women's basketball, is very helpful. I think everyone is on the same page as far as expectations." During practices, Soriero trusts Costner and Williams to run drills when the team is separated by position. The two complement each other. Costner typically works with the guards, while Williams concentrates on the forwards. Soriero praised the ability of her assistants to utilize drills which focus on aspects of the game plan. Both demand intensity and hard work from the players. "Renate' does a good job of getting people to hustle and stay intense the whole practice," Quakers sophomore guard Sue Van Stone said. "It rubs off on the rest of the team." "Renate' is a really good motivator," Smith said. "Devonna does a lot of the little things. I don't know if [the players] show it, but we definitely appreciate the things she does. She's always the one to pick us up out of anything." Costner and Williams share a common goal of improving the program. To do so, they serve two very important behind-the-scenes duties -- scouting and recruiting. Each week, the assistants are responsible for reviewing game film to learn tendencies and devise counters. They also must search for young women in high school who fulfill the high academic requirements for Penn, yet have the talent to play Division I basketball. For now, the two assistants are concentrating on helping this year's Quakers improve. "We need to become consistent, in practice and games. We also need to learn how to control the mental aspects of our games," Costner said. "We have to bring our focus up. We have some young ladies who are doing that, but we have to get there as a team." Costner and Williams are more than just assistants for the Penn women's basketball program. They are important keys to the program's efforts to reach out to the community. Williams especially enjoys working with children in the Penn Pals Club, in which Quakers players correspond with young boys and girls. Both Costner and Williams are enjoying their every moment at Penn. Costner hopes to coach for another five years before pursuing a senior women's administration position. Williams would like to try head coaching. "To have the players take some of the things we teach the them on the court and take them off the court as a learning and lifelong experience is one of my most fulfilling reasons I wanted to be coach," Williams said.