If the Penn women's basketball team manages to derail defending champion Harvard this winter, much of it will have to do with the Quakers' super sophomore Karen Habrukowich.
That's because last season, in her rookie campaign, the 5-foot-9 Habrukowich blossomed from a serviceable reserve into one of the most important players on the young Penn roster.
It didn't take long for the guard Habrukowich to make her presence felt. The Philadelphia-area native made an immediate impact in the season opener against Hofstra, sinking three three-pointers off the bench en route to an solid 11-point performance.
She went on to score in double figures in 15 more games -- complementing leading-scorer Jewel Clark as a formidable offensive counter-punch.
Habrukowich was impressive as a reserve for coach Kelly Greenberg in the early going, making contributions for the Quakers on both sides of the ball.
"She's as solid a defender as we have," Greenberg said. "She understands the defensive side of the game extremely well."
But as her minutes increased, Greenberg took further notice.
"She continued to improve throughout the season. You can see it in the stats. After the first few games, she started pretty much the rest of the season."
After a Dec. 1 loss to George Mason -- Habrukowich's first career start -- she found herself in the starting lineup for the final 22 games of the season. She was the only freshman in the first line.
"It was really exciting," said Habrukowich, of her mid-season promotion. "I was nervous at first, but as the year went on and I got more experience, I began to feel more comfortable."
Habrukowich's 11 points per game average was good for second on the team, and her 92 rebounds was tops for guards. In helping lead the largely inexperienced Quakers to a 12-15 overall record and a second-place finish in the Ivy League, she was named the Philadelphia Big 5 Rookie of the Year -- an honor which she said "totally shocked" her.
"It meant a lot to me, and it was a great honor," Habrukowich said. "But I didn't expect it at all."
After running the table in the Ivy League during a legendary 2000-2001 campaign -- the Quakers won an incredible 21 consecutive games while building a 14-0 league mark -- the program graduated four highly-talented seniors.
But despite a mediocre overall record in 2002, the Quakers surged to a second-place finish in the Ivy League.
One year wiser, that corps of underclassmen is poised to give the Crimson -- picked unanimously by the media to repeat as Ivy League champions -- a serious challenge for the title. And it's Habrukowich who stands at the head of Greenberg's youth movement.
The secret of Habrukowich's sudden success? According to Greenberg, she complements a strong athleticism with a intelligent mind for the game.
"The biggest thing with Karen is that she plays so hard and so smart all of the time," she said. "From a coach's perspective, when you have somebody out there who does all of those things all of the time, it's hard not to keep her out there."
This year, Greenberg will look to Habrukowich to step to the forefront, defensively as well as on offense.
"She's a consistent basketball player and a consistent person" Greenberg said. "She's definitely going to be one of our go-to players."
Quite a burden for sophomore shoulders, but with Friday's season-opener against Big 5 rival Temple fast approaching, Habrukowich is up for the challenge.
"Going into my sophomore year," Habrukowich said."I'm glad that I have that year of experience under my belt.
"It's going to be exciting."
