Tigers and Quakers are mirror images

The Penn women's basketball team first faced Princeton in the 1974-75 season, when the Quakers lost a pair at the Jadwin Gymnasium, 44-35 and 43-39. Over the course of the past 22 years and 40 meetings, the Tigers have evolved from being just another Ivy League opponent into the Quakers' arch-rival and chief nemesis. Jadwin -- Princeton's home court -- is one of the few places where Penn coach Julie Soriero boasts a winning record (4-3). But over the years, the Tigers (6-19, 5-8 Ivy League) have pulled off their fair share of victories over Penn, including a 48-45 nailbiter last Tuesday at the Palestra. Penn trails 29-11 in the all-time series. This season, the rivalry between the two teams from opposite sides of the New Jersey Turnpike delves deeper than just conferences, location and past history. When Penn (6-19, 2-11) travels to Princeton tonight, the Quakers will meet a team that is nearly a mirror image of themselves. "I don't mind the challenge of playing a team like Princeton," Soriero said. "Even though they have five solid players, they are sporadic." Both the Quakers and the Tigers are young teams with unfulfilled expectations. At the season's start, Soriero hoped the Quakers would step things up to the .500 mark with the addition of Street and Smith Honorable Mention All-Americans Shelly Fogarty and Chelsea Hathaway to the starting line-up. But instead, Penn will need a win to match its three league wins of a year ago. Princeton coach Liz Feeley also thought her team could take it to the next level. The second-year Tigers coach recruited All-Ohio forward Erica Bowman and All-South Jersey center Leigh Washburn to Old Nassau with the hopes of building on last season's 9-5 league season. But instead the Tigers are just 5-8 this year, only good enough for sixth place in the Ancient Eight. The Tigers and Quakers are two of the Ivies most well-rounded teams. Both teams lack the one standout offensive force in a league dominated this season by individual performances. "It's for an element of pride and to shake off some frustrations," Soriero said. "Its not so much a must win but rather a chance to show that although we came up short, we've still come along way this year." Last Tuesday when these teams met, the Princeton full-court pressure gave the Quakers problems. But as the game progressed, the Tigers' pressure improved, and baskets became harder to come by for the Quakers, who shot just 26.8 percent from the field. "We worked on breaking the press a lot," Tarr said. "We expect them to come out with a full-court man-to-man press. It's not a hard press to break. we just have to take our time and make our cuts." This week in practice, the Quakers also worked on a press of their own. Rather than opening up with a traditional man-to-man defense, Penn will open in a three-quarter-court trap. The contest will also mark the end of the careers of Penn co-captains Tarr and Deana Lewis, the leaders of the Quakers team both on and off the court. But it won't be easy for the Quakers. Like her senior counterparts Tarr and Lewis, Princeton senior Kim Allen would like to end her career with a victory and will give it her best effort to avenge an 0-for-4 shooting effort last Tuesday.

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