W. Hoops stymies Harvard with full-court defensive pressure

Penn women's basketball coach Kelly Greenberg pulled out her trump card early in the Quakers' 79-66 home win over Harvard Saturday night. The payoff was almost immediate. With Harvard's star point guard and Ivy League assist leader Jennifer Monti on the bench nursing an ankle injury at tipoff, Greenberg ordered the Quakers to begin a tenacious full-court press just minutes into the game. Greenberg had hoped that the added defensive pressure might rattle the nerves of Harvard's less-experienced ball handlers. "None of the guards, because Monti was kind of injured, really like to handle the ball," Greenberg said. "We thought that if we got pressure on them it would really bother them." Her hopes became reality five minutes into the first half, after Penn forward Diana Caramanico hit a free throw to tie the score at nine. Immediately following the shot, the Quakers quickly set themselves into their full-court defense. With the Penn forwards -- including sophomore Julie Epton -- positioned near midcourt, Penn guard Erin Ladley discreetly set herself up behind Harvard guard Lisa Kowal, the target of Crimson guard Bree Kelley's inbounds pass. When the ball was thrown in, Ladley quickly jumped around the unsuspecting Kowal and picked off the ball for the Quakers' first forced turnover of the night off the full-court press. This trend-setting steal was soon thereafter made even more lucrative when a quickly advancing Epton tipped in Ladley's missed layup to put Penn up by two. Nearing the end of the half, the Red and Blue could credit their full-court press with five Harvard turnovers -- including a pair of consecutive backcourt steals in the stanza's final minute, resulting in two unanswered Quakers baskets. "They didn't know what to do against it, and it really got us going," said Penn guard Mandy West, who had two first-half steals in the full-court set up. "It completely changed the momentum, because they couldn't do anything they wanted." The momentum gained for the Quakers by the press -- which helped give them a healthy, 12-point lead at halftime -- also rolled into the second half. Harvard committed four more turnovers in the trap in the second half, for a total of nine in the game. Overall, Harvard made 25 turnovers, and Penn made eight. The press played special importance in the Red and Blue recovering from a 7-0 Crimson run five minutes into the second half that brought Harvard within four points of Penn. After Ladley hit a bank shot midway through the half to end the Crimson run and put Penn up, 53-47, she immediately made a backcourt steal. Unfortunately for the Quakers, though, Ladley's steal did not result in any baskets. It did, however, throw off Harvard's scoring rhythm, and after a minute-long scoring drought for both teams, West ripped the ball from the hands of a Harvard guard in the press, then nailed a fade-away on the baseline to put Penn up 55-47 with 9:06 remaining in the game. Harvard wasn't able to muster another comeback for the rest of the game, instead letting Penn pull away to a 13-point advantage by the end of the game. "I don't think we ever caught a great rhythm," said Monti, who logged in 21 minutes for the Crimson despite her hurt ankle. The success of the full-court press against Harvard prompted questions in the mind of Greenberg whether the defensive tool would have been useful in Penn's 75-71 loss to Dartmouth the previous night. The Quakers' press was virtually non-existent against the speedy Big Green Friday, partly due to the mistakes made in Penn's 89-71 thrashing at the hands of Dartmouth on the road earlier this month. "At Dartmouth we did try to press early, and it gave up wide open layups," Greenberg said. "In the first three minutes we had to get out of it. We learned from that. I don't think we could have pressed again." Big Green coach Chris Weilgus also thought Greenberg was wise to avoid the press against her team on Friday. "I actually like when people press us, because we get a lot of easy shots off the press," she said. This past weekend, the events of which, have placed Penn back in the heat of the Ivy title hunt with three games remaining, has shown Greenberg and her team that their press can definitely be deadly for opponents, but must be used with caution against teams that have the speed and experience to get through the trap. Harvard had neither of these traits when Monti was on the bench, and the Crimson were decidedly overwhelmed by the trump card in the Quakers' strong deck Saturday.