Jewel Clark and Mikaelyn Austin were freshmen the last time the Penn women's basketball team won an Ivy League championship. They know how it feels to cut down the nets at the Palestra and play in the NCAA Tournament. So I'll let them do the talking, because having taken their team so close to another title, they deserve to be heard.
"A lot of people told me before the year started, 'It's like you all did it when you were freshmen and now you have an opportunity to do it as a senior, kind of make it a full circle," Clark said after scoring 28 points last night in a victory over Princeton. "Right now, we've got one more game before that circle is complete."
For Austin, the journey has been from the bench freshman year to a starting role now, and she is relishing every minute of her time under the bright lights.
"I guess I kind of a little forgot how it feels the last two years, because halfway through the season [last year] we were down and out," she said. "This year I felt like we've been on top all year long and it's amazing, it's great."
Of course, they weren't the only ones talking about how far Penn is headed this season. As the clock ticked toward the Quakers' 10th Ivy League win of the season, the conversations on press row went from whether Penn would hold on to win the game to whether the team would be taking a bus, a plane or a subway car to the Big Dance in two-and-a- half weeks.
Admittedly, there weren't as many of us discussing tournament possibilities as there were when the Penn and Princeton men met here at Jadwin Gym last month. But there were enough of us that we couldn't all fit on press row, which is as good an indicator as any that people are starting to pay attention to the Penn women.
To be fair, you shouldn't rush over to the bookstore to get your subway tokens for a ride to the East subregional at Temple just yet. There are still two games left in the season and they will be far from easy. Harvard and Dartmouth would like nothing more than to knock the Quakers off their lofty perch, and will bring everything they have to the Palestra this weekend.
But so will Clark, Austin, Jennifer Fleischer and everyone else. Which is why they and their teammates have been wearing T-shirts bearing a picture of their home floor throughout the grueling five-game road trip they have just completed.
"We love the Palestra -- it's the greatest venue in the world," Penn coach Kelly Greenberg said. "Because of the tradition of the Palestra, we wanted to take it with us on the road."
Words well spoken when considering the oddly-shaped geodesic dome under which her team played last night.
"No comment," Greenberg said.
To all the ghosts, banners, trophies and plaques which adorn college basketball' s most historic gym, the Quakers would like to add a few fans this weekend. Yes, it's going to be spring break. But Greenberg might not have been overstating things when she called Friday's game "probably the biggest game in the history of our program."
The considerable number of Penn fans who came to Jadwin last night are well aware of that. But I'm not so sure the students here are. So if you, like me, aren't going to be sitting on a beach in Mexico come this weekend, you might want to head down to 33rd Street to watch some basketball.
"Having the fans makes such a difference in the game," Clark said. "I think for the women's game especially, it can get to the other team, and I think that's because people aren't used to having a lot of people at our games."
I know that a few people managed to stick around for the men's games last year when they could have been other places. The Penn women are equally deserving of that kind of support this year.
Not to mention a seat atop the Palestra's west basket with a cut-down net in hand.
