W. Hoops faces toughest test of Ivy season on the road

The Penn women's basketball travels to face traditional Ivy powers Harvard and Dartmouth. It looks like we're not in the Palestra anymore. The yellow brick road that the Penn women's basketball team has skipped along to four straight Ivy League home wins will bend north this weekend, taking the Quakers to the dark and treacherous gyms of fellow league-leaders Harvard and Dartmouth. And in its first two-game road swing of the Ivy League season, it is going to take all the brains, heart and courage that Penn can muster for it to sweep the league's toughest teams on their own turf. Doing so, though, would give the Quakers (14-5, 5-0 Ivy League) some welcome elbow room in the race for their first-ever Ancient Eight title. "To go to their places and beat them will give us one up on them," Penn forward Julie Epton said. "If we do, then it will be harder for them to beat us the next time at home. I think these could be two of our biggest games this year." The weekend could not start any bigger for the Quakers than against Harvard. Heading into tonight's matchup in the Briggs Athletic Center, the Crimson (12-5, 5-0) share many things with Penn, including first place in the Ivies, an undefeated league record and a six-game win streak. The winner will end up holding sole possession of first place as well as keeping its Ivy record perfect and streak alive. The loser will have to relinquish it all. Penn coach Kelly Greenberg, though, does not want her players to dwell on what could be won or lost -- just with how they are going to play. "The players can't get caught up in all the hoopla about how big this weekend is," she said. "We need to be concerned with what we are doing and what we would like to do." And what the Quakers would like to do against the gangly Crimson is run. Four of Harvard's five starters measure over six-feet tall, including 6' 5" center Melissa Johnson, making the Crimson tough in the paint but vulnerable in the open court. If Epton and fellow Penn forward Diana Caramanico can grab defensive rebounds and use outlet passes to spark the Quakers' transition offense, then Greenberg thinks Harvard will not be able to keep up with Penn. "They're as big as any Ivy team ever," Greenberg said. "But with the big forwards, they can't run with Julie and Di. We need to try to get an up-tempo game and maintain it." Although it may be tough for the Quakers to establish a running game against the Crimson, there's no doubt that the ball will be racing up and down the court when Penn visits Dartmouth tomorrow. The second-place Big Green (12-6, 4-1) favor a fast-paced game similar to Penn's preferred style. This, ironically, could mean problems for the Quakers, given what should be a physically draining game the night before in Cambridge. "A lot's going to have to do with how we do Friday night, unfortunately," Greenberg said. "It's going to be a matter of getting up and going for it and having the legs to do it." Those legs will have to come not just from Penn's starters, but from its talented bench as well. Quakers guards Claire Cavanaugh, Jennifer Jones and Tara Twomey and forward Jessica Allen will all be in a frequent rotation to give Penn's starting five a rest from the run-and-gun game. This will also let them gain some valuable experience against a tough Big Green team. "This weekend they'll get legitimate shots to prove what they've been doing at practice every day," Greenberg said. Both tonight and tomorrow, the Quakers' reserves and starters alike will have to make sure they provide crucial support for Caramanico. Harvard and Dartmouth are both expected to put a lot of defensive pressure on Penn's leading scorer and the two-time reigning Ivy League Player of the Week, often using two or three defensive players to try to stop her. If her teammates can work to get open for passes and hit their shots, though, Caramanico will still be a factor in the games. Vital to this will be Epton and Allen, who will often be the players left unguarded while Caramanico has the ball and is getting the defense's attention. "When people are doubling or tripling on Di, they have to find the lanes and be open," Greenberg said of Epton and Allen this weekend. "They need to think of themselves as go-to players." Epton said she is ready to pick up the slack if Caramanico is shut off from the basket. "They'll definitely put pressure on her, and I'll try to get open for her to pass it to me," Epton said. "If I have the open shot, then I'll take it, and if I make those it will be a big plus."