W. Hoops falls just short of title in new coach's first year

Santa Fe High School '97

Alma, Mo.

The Penn women's basketball team finished its season with an 18-10 record, good for the most wins in the history of the program.

In that respect, the season was an unqualified success. However, it could have been so much more.

"It was in our hands, and we let it slip through," sophomore forward Julie Epton said.

The "it" to which she referred is the Ivy League Championship, which the Quakers were picked to win in a preseason coaches' poll.

The Quakers were on top of the Ancient Eight for much of the season, as they got off to a blistering 6-0 league start. That start came at the end of a stretch over which the Quakers won 11 of 12 games, their only loss during that span coming at the hands of Big 5 rival Villanova on January 13 on the Main Line.

"I definitely think [the season] was successful," senior guard Mandy West said. "We did well, even though we didn't reach our ultimate goal of winning the Ivy League."

West had a great deal of individual success this season, as she was unanimously named first team All-Ivy for the second straight year. She finished the season as the league's second-leading scorer.

West was beaten out for the top spot in league scoring by her very own teammate, junior forward Diana Caramanico, who was not only named to the first team, but was also the Ivy League's Player of the Year for the second straight season.

Caramanico not only led the Ancient Eight in scoring but most of the country as well. The honorable mention All-American finished second in the nation in scoring with 24.9 points per game. After only three years of wearing the Red and Blue, she is the top scorer in Penn women's basketball history. She was no slouch on the boards, either, ranking seventh in the country in rebounding, with 11.9 boards per game.

"It's exciting, a great honor," Caramanico said of her All-American status. "There are a lot of good players on that list, and it's an honor to be included."

As always, though, Caramanico is more concerned with team success than with any individual accolades.

"That wasn't the way we wanted our last Ivy weekend to go. It's just something we'll have to learn from," Caramanico said in March.

In their final weekend of the season, the Quakers dropped two nail-biters on the road, a 93-82 overtime loss to Brown and an 82-81 loss to Yale that the Quakers let slip away in the final seconds.

"Those two losses on the road really hurt," coach Kelly Greenberg said of the end of her first season pacing the Penn sideline. "I haven't thought about them much because the Princeton game followed, but I'm sure I will."

Greenberg was generally satisfied with not only her players' success on the court, but also with their development off of it.

"What we accomplished this year wasn't erased because of those losses," she said. "After a win or a loss, I'm proud to be in the locker room with those girls. That says a lot about a group that I didn't even know a year ago."

Greenberg's long-term goal is to build "a class program," but the immediate goal, of course, is an Ivy championship next season.

"We want to be No. 1 in the Ivy League and to improve and win even more than 18 [games]," Caramanico said. "And Mandy leaving is going to affect us, but the experience that [freshmen] Jen [Jones] and Tara [Twomey] gained this year is valuable, because they got so many quality minutes."

Jones and Twomey got very significant minutes as the top two members of the highly touted freshman class. Each of them averaged about 20 minutes per game.

"[Tara] gained a lot of experience, starting and getting a chance to play at all stages of the game," Caramanico said. "She's definitely a true point guard."

While Twomey usually got her minutes off the bench, Jones started every single game of her freshman campaign.

"It was harder than I thought, because the mental aspect of the game is so much more important than it is in high school," Jones said. "I'm really glad that I had the great opportunity to start as a freshman.

"I think we'll come back next year and have a better season."

West believes that, with the present coaching staff, the sky's the limit for her alma mater.

"I think coach Greenberg and her staff will certainly improve the program," West said. "They're awesome recruiters and great people to play for."

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