'98 University of Pennsylvania Women's Basketball Team

An Eagle lands at the Palestra. She started the game and scored Penn's first ten points -- hitting a lay-up, a free throw, two running jumpers and a three pointer in the opening minutes. For fans who attended the Penn women's basketball team's exhibition game against Belarus, it didn't take long to notice there was something about Mandy. With eight players returning from the '97 squad (13-13), the Quakers' roster looks a lot like it did last year. But examining the team's court leaders revealed a striking difference -- junior captain Mandy West, who transferred to Penn from Boston College after her sophomore year. Having spent the '98 season on the Penn sidelines in accordance with NCAA regulations, she is now ready to contribute to the Quakers back-court. "We can use her as a shooting guard or a point guard, depending on where we need her," Penn coach Julie Soriero said. "But I think she may be more comfortable in the two-spot where she can get open to shoot easier." While the junior is most threatening from three-point land, the consensus among the Quakers, Soriero and anyone who's ever seen West play is that she can pretty much hit from anywhere. Ask Penn Hills High School coach Bill Lind who tried to stop her when his team regularly met hers in the western Pennsylvania AAAA finals. "I tried everything to try to stop her -- zone defenses, man-to-man and combinations," Lind said. "She was really aggressive offensively. She liked to slash and take it to the hoop, but she'd also fire up the threes. She was a complete player. "It's great when you can get a kid who runs the team well," Lind said. "And when you get one who can do that and also score in double figures, you've really got something." West's high school success at Upper St. Clair in Pittsburgh earned her Street & Smith's All-America honorable mention and WPIAL AAAA player-of-the-year honors both her junior and senior seasons. As a player at USC, she helped her team bring home two WPIAL AAAA titles and consistently placed them in state championship contention. By the time she graduated, her 2,089 career points, 321 steals and 267 three-point field goals had attracted a lot of collegiate attention. "When Mandy was in high school, we sent her information," Soriero said. "I think everyone knew who she was and what she could do, us in particular because she's from Pennsylvania." But in selecting a school, Penn did not top West's list of possibilities. While she considered other Ivy programs such as Harvard, her major decision was among large Division I schools. She seriously considered Penn State and Notre Dame before deciding on Boston College. "I was looking for somewhere that was academically strong and competitive in basketball," West said. "I liked BC when I visited, and I fit in well with the team. It seemed like a good combination of academics and Big East basketball." As a freshman for the Eagles, West picked up where she'd left off in high school. Her 8.1 points per game placed her third on the team's scoring list and her connection on 45-of-140 three-pointers was the fifth-best single-season performance ever by a BC player. By the end of the season, she'd earned a starting position and was selected for the All-Big East rookie team. But as West put it, "things went down hill after that." "She had a great freshman year and played really well," her former BC coach Cathy Anglese said. "But then I think she got a little bit frustrated." According to West, this frustration stemmed from a lack of playing time and some structural aspects of the BC program. "I wasn't playing much, and I wasn't playing well," she said. "It was a very structured system, and it was hard for me to play my game and fit into it. It really wasn't a good fit." Following her sophomore year, West had already enrolled in summer classes before she decided to transfer. With so little time to make her decision, her options were limited. Knowing that she wanted an academically strong school, she contacted several Ivy teams and William & Mary. "She contacted me over the summer, and we moved forward pretty quickly, knowing her talent and what she could bring to the program," Soriero said. In making her final decision, West felt Penn and Soriero's system was a better fit than BC -- academically challenging and conducive to her style of play. "[Soriero] tries to work the offense around our strengths rather than working our strengths around the offense," West said. "She has a lot of confidence in us as players and gives us freedom to do what we want. It's structured, but you can play your way and make your own decisions." While Anglese was sorry to lose a player like West, she too agreed that she could do well in a Quakers uniform. "Anyone with that kind of a shot, you want to keep on," she said. "But an Ivy league school should work for her because she was a super student," Anglese said. "She was conscientious on both ends -- school and basketball." Anglese also acknowledged that West could take on a larger leadership role for the Quakers. "She'll be a leader there which she may not have happened here," she said. "She was pretty much a role player here since it was her freshman and sophomore seasons, and I think she would have developed, but I think she had certain aspirations and wanted to be somewhere where she could have a major role." With the graduation of Colleen Kelly, last season's co-captain and three-point specialist, there is certainly room for West to assume that role in Penn's line-up. She was selected to co-captain the Quakers with senior guard Sue Van Stone. Although West is technically a newcomer, her teammates got to know her during last season, according to her back-court ally Erin Ladley. Ladley feels that West's arriving last season simultaneously with ten freshmen created strong bonds among them. Her teammate Diana Caramanico agreed. "She was part of the team last year, she just didn't get to put on a uniform. She practiced with us all the time. She was in the locker room with us, and she played pre-season with us," Caramanico said. "Plus, she has such a presence on the court that it's only natural that she should be captain. She's going to do a lot of great things, so I think it's the right decision." West expressed some regret at leaving the intense, exciting basketball environment at BC, but feels Penn also has a lot to offer her. "There are some things I miss," West said. "Playing at [the University of Connecticut] was incredible with the atmosphere and the crowd. But this is fun, too, and there were times at BC when it wasn't fun anymore." If "fun" is starting, playing buzzer to buzzer and putting up big numbers, then Penn's exhibition game was certainly a preview of amusement to come. West led the Quakers in minutes and was second to Caramanico in points. So if she sought to be an impact player, it seems she's come to the right place. "Right now I don't really care why she came here," Soriero said. "I'm just really glad that she did."