For the Penn women's basketball team, the start of the home Ivy League season is a sigh of relief - and an opportunity to erase the memories of last week's disappointing loss to Seton Hall.
"This week was really about regrouping as a team, getting our minds right and preparing for what's ahead," guard Erin Power said.
The Quakers will host Harvard (8-7, 0-1 Ivy) at the Palestra tonight at 7 p.m., followed by Dartmouth (6-9, 1-0) at the same time tomorrow.
The Quakers' opponents faced off Jan. 10 in Boston, Mass. Despite a career day by Harvard freshman Brogan Berry, the Big Green came out on top, 59-55. Berry, a four-time Ivy Rookie of the Week, tallied 20 points at the Lavietes Pavilion, including four trifectas. The Quakers (3-12, 0-1) will have their hands full attempting to stop that kind of firepower.
"I think that Harvard can score from anywhere from the floor," Penn coach Pat Knapp said. "We've got to obviously play strong team defense."
It was Dartmouth's team defense that kept them alive against Berry's scoring streak. The Big Green scored 24 of their points off 25 Crimson turnovers.
Dartmouth sophomore Brittney Smith contributed solid defensive rebounding, pulling down 11 boards. Both Brittney and her sister Margaret will be on the Quakers' minds tomorrow.
"They have great post players in the Smith sisters," Knapp said "We have our hands full there."
Offensive execution will be key for the Quakers if they want to surpass .500 in the Ivy League. Senior forward and leading scorer Carrie Biemer was held to under ten points in last weekend's game against the Pirates.
"A lot of the focus has been on Kelly [Scott] and Carrie; they are our top two scorers," Power said. "But in order to help them out and help them get shots, players like myself, Anca [Popovici] and Kate [Lackner] need to step up and take some shots to take the pressure off."
Junior guard Sarah Bucar will likely be unable to help share that burden due to a foot injury that has forced her out of Penn's previous five games.
Bucar has been cleared to run in practice but is unlikely to play, according to an Athletic Communications spokesman.
Although Knapp has picked Harvard to top the Ivy League this year, he believes that the Crimson will not go without a few losses in the next few games.
If Penn can muster strong offensive movement and rebounding, one of those losses could come tonight.
