Although the lion's share of attention to Big 5 basketball may go to the men, the women's version is also important to the schools involved. Tonight, Penn starts intra-city play with a trip to La Salle at 7 p.m., with the intention of making a statement to its neighbors.
"We've got a lot of area girls on our team and they know what it's all about, a Big 5 game," Penn coach Kelly Greenberg said.
"We want to do some damage within the city and La Salle's our first step to do that."
But Greenberg admits that the Explorers (1-1) will pose a tough challenge to Penn's dreams of Philadelphia supremacy.
"The one thing with La Salle is that they have so many different types of players," she said. "We've got to be ready to play for 40 minutes against them."
One newfound weapon that the Quakers (1-1) will have at their disposal is freshman Joey Rhoads, who was impressive coming off the bench at this weekend's Retriever Classic at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
Against the hosts on Saturday, Rhoads scored 10 points on 4-9 shooting, then had nine points on 3-for-5 shooting in Sunday's championship game against Delaware State.
"Joey's like a junior on the court," Greenberg said. "Most people down in Maryland couldn't believe she was a freshman."
Although this will be Penn's third game in four days, junior guard Cat Makarewich does not expect fatigue to be too much of a factor tomorrow night -- especially since La Salle also played two games over the weekend.
"It's tough a little bit, mentally and physically," she said. "We're both in the same situation and I guess whoever reacts better will come out on top."
The Explorers defeated Texas A&M;, 67-62, and lost to the University of Florida, 90-65, in the Boston University Invitational over the weekend.
As much as the Big 5 may hold sway in Penn's hearts, however, the Ivy League is what really matters.
Greenberg believes that a schedule this packed is good preparation for Ancient Eight play, where two games each weekend is the norm.
"I think early in the year you want that because of the Ivy League, where you have to go back-to-back so often," she said. "One day to prepare for La Salle is not ideal because they do do a lot of things. But it makes us have to be mentally tough."
Makarewich also sees this game as another step in the process of preparing for conference play.
"I am sure we're going to do a lot of bad things, but we're going to do a lot of good things, too," she said, adding that the team should "know that we're all taking steps together."
