Most Ivy League basketball players are lucky enough if they play a game west of the Rocky Mountains at some point during their college careers. Brown senior Holly Robertson, however, got to travel quite a bit farther than that.
In 2003, the Bears center was selected to the Canadian Development Women's Basketball Team for the World University Games in Daegu, South Korea.
Although Robertson didn't play much -- she averaged 2.2 points and 2.5 rebounds in 6.8 minutes per game -- wearing her country's jersey allowed her to dream of something even bigger.
"Playing for Canada has always been one of my long term goals," she said yesterday. "I hope to play for the senior national team this summer."
Robertson was one of only four players on the roster not attending a Canadian university or high school at the time of the 2003 tournament-- the other three came from Vermont, Illinois State and Washington.
As a result, Robertson was able to get a good idea of where the Ivy League stands relative to schools not only in the U.S. but in her native country as well.
"I would say that the Ivy League is comparable to Canadian schools -- the majority of the really good athletes that really want to play get American full-ride scholarships," she said. "The Canadian universities and the Ivy League are drawing out of the same pool, if that makes sense, because they can't offer complete financial assistance to the athletes."
That led the Cochrane, Alberta, native to draw another comparison -- this one between her hometown and the one which she has adopted in recent years.
"Brown playing the University of Calgary Dinos would play a good match," she said.
Of more pressing concern, though, is the match which Robertson will have to deal with tonight against Penn. Brown comes to the Palestra in second place in the Ancient Eight, still riding high after beating Harvard, 78-63, a week ago in Boston.
"The coaches prepared us well for the game," Robertson said. "We shot well, we defended well ... everything came together in the Harvard game."
Against Penn, Robertson is relishing her last chance to play against Quakers center Jennifer Fleischer. But Robertson tried to play down the individual matchup as a factor in the game.
"She's definitely proven herself -- she's an excellent rebounder and we're going to be focused on that as a team," she said. "But I think we're just going to focus in on her on defense and make sure that we gather the rebounds and come together as a team."
Dealing with Fleischer will likely take Robertson's mind off something else which she has been focused on of late -- the demise of the National Hockey League, including her beloved Calgary Flames. It is a subject which she and many of her friends and family have taken quite personally.
"I'm absolutely disappointed, especially because my hometown team [was] in the Stanley Cup last year and they ended up losing," she said.
And while Robertson said that "it was heartbreaking to hear that they weren't going to go through with the season," she also acknowledged that "in the long run it was inevitable."
It still wasn't easy news to take.
"My mom told me today that in my hometown paper, there was a picture of Wayne Gretzky with the headline 'It's a Crying Shame,'" she said, referring to the front page of yesterday's Calgary Herald.
As Robertson arrives to play in another hockey-crazed city, she can console herself the same way many Philadelphians have this winter -- by turning to the Palestra's storied floor.
