As the end of the season approaches, the Penn women's basketball team controls its own destiny. Five games away from a potential Ivy League championship, the Quakers (14-8, 8-1 Ivy) headed to Ithaca, N.Y., last night ahead of games against Cornell tonight and Columbia tomorrow night.
The proximity of the brass ring might have been what gave the team's final practice of the week a bit of an extra edge, with the decibel level on the court particularly high as the players worked on passing and shooting drills.
"That's how we are a lot at practice," Penn coach Kelly Greenberg said. "It's got to be -- the way we win a championship is here at practice. The two games should be so much easier than it is here."
Senior forward Jewel Clark, who was a freshman the last time the Red and Blue won the Ivy League, made the team's goals for the weekend quite clear.
"Staying focused and playing hard and playing for ourselves," she said. "We've gotten this far so for us to give up anything right now would be foolish."
The Quakers still remember that their games against the Big Red (8-15, 3-7) and the Lions (10-12, 4-6) earlier in the season at the Palestra were closer than necessary. Although Penn beat Columbia by 11 points and Cornell by 10, neither game was truly decided until late.
"We know we didn't play well in either game and we still pulled it out," Greenberg said. "So we just know that at their place -- and both teams have seniors that it's their last time they play Penn -- they know they can knock us off, make us be tied for first or whatever."
To that end, Greenberg had the team focus on what she called "two-tempo basketball" yesterday.
"Being able to push the ball, primary break, get quick shots, and also recognizing when that's not working and running half-court offense," Greenberg explained.
The Quakers will look to junior guard Maria DiDonato to repeat her three-point shooting performance from last weekend, during which she hit three of six treys against Brown and Yale. The Glenolden, Pa., native had a hot hand at yesterday's practice, easily making most of her long-range attempts.
"Maria's a shooter, she's a flat out shooter," Greenberg said. "The other night at Yale, she hit a much deeper 'NBA' three -- I mean it was just from way out."
"And their coach just kind of went like this [Greenberg sighed and frowned], and that was the game."
For her part, DiDonato knows that her accuracy from beyond the arc -- particularly when coming off the bench -- has played a key role in the Quakers attaining the top spot in the Ancient Eight.
"I think that when I go in, I look for the three a lot more than any other shot," she said. "But I don't really go in with the mentality like, 'I need to take a certain amount of threes or get off a certain amount of shots.'"
Greenberg expects as much, not only from DiDonato but from the rest of her backcourt as well.
"All of our guards know that -- Mik [Austin], Karen [Habrukowich], if you're open, you'd better shoot it," Greenberg said. "You might not get a better shot."
Although the bus ride to Ithaca is generally regarded as one of the less fun trips in Ivy League sports, Clark was forthright in stating that the order of games this weekend "doesn't matter as much because you have to play both teams no matter what."
"If you could pick your order, that would be nice, but it comes down to being ready to play two games Friday and Saturday back-to-back."
The Quakers will try to cut down on distractions this weekend by coming back to Philadelphia tonight after the Cornell game, then heading to New York City Saturday afternoon for a 7 p.m. tipoff against the Lions.
"It's really not that bad," Greenberg said. "If anything it's nice because [the players] get to sleep in their own rooms."
