Caramanico trots the Globe

Penn women's basketball superstar forward Diana Caramanico isn't the flashiest hoopster you'll ever see. No, the Quakers all-time leading scorer gets most of her points by posting up, banging hard underneath the basket and positioning herself for the tough rebounds. But just because she doesn't spend her games on the perimeter doing ball tricks and making her opponents look foolish doesn't mean she's not a "Globetrotter." A mere five days after finals ended in May, Caramanico flew to Colorado Springs, Colo., where she participated in the USA Women's Summer Basketball Camp/R. William Jones Cup Team Trials. The attendees were competing for a chance to play in a tournament in Taiwan and to "warm up" the U.S. national team just before it departs for the Olympics in Sydney in the fall. Caramanico followed that trip by joining another team of collegiate all-stars on a whirlwind basketball tour of Greece, where she participated in seven games in 10 days. "I'm still not back on schedule," a jet-lagged Caramanico said just three days after returning home. "But I'm glad I did it, I'll never really get another chance like [that trip]." Caramanico was especially proud of her performance in Colorado Springs, an experience she characterized as "just like camp," with position drills in the mornings and afternoons and 40-minute games at night. This, though, was no ordinary camp. It can't be when 50 of the collegiate game's top athletes compete for a mere 12 spots. "They told us on the last day, and I didn't make the final 12," Caramanico said. "But I held my own when I was there. I wasn't the best of the best of the best, but I got a lot out of it." The camp was split into four teams. Over the camp's five days, the teams played five games, and Caramanico's team went 4-1. "We just lost at the wrong time," she said. "The team that we beat by 40 on the first night managed to beat us in the semis." Each team was guided by a well-known NCAA coach and had a sprinkling of some of the biggest names in women's collegiate basketball. For instance, Caramanico played with Southwest Missouri State's Jackie Stiles, who led the nation in scoring, finishing ahead of the second-place Penn star. Also in attendance were UConn's Shea Ralph and Sue Bird, as well as Tennessee's Michelle Snow. With St. Joe's coach Stephanie Gaitley at the helm of her team, Caramanico was a little more at ease playing with all these media darlings. "Since [Gaitley] is somebody that I know, I was a little more comfortable playing for her," Caramanico said

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