The Law of Conservation of Energy was formally declared by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1847. The Penn women’s basketball team hopes that 162 years later, the same concept will apply to the team’s new mantra of “positive energy.”
Junior Erin Power and sophomore Julie Becker are leaving the team, but their departures are balanced by the return of two familiar faces — junior guard Kim Adams and senior forward Amy Donovan — who are looking to preserve the team’s new attitude since the hiring of coach Mike McLaughlin in April.
“I feel like I kind of lost a little bit of passion for the game and just spending some time away from it really helps refuel that fire,” said Adams, who quit the team after a blowout 83-52 loss to Lehigh in last year’s opener. “This new beginning for everyone has really been a great opportunity and has really helped to rebuild that passion that may have been lost in the past.”
As a freshman, the sharpshooting Adams shot 52 percent from beyond the arc, was second on the Quakers with nine points per game, and was named to the Ivy League All-Rookie team.
Donovan, who played in 28 games as a sophomore before being cut by ex-coach Pat Knapp, will look to bolster a frontcourt that struggled last year against some of the league’s stronger forwards and is still short in more than just depth. At six feet tall, Donovan is the third-tallest player on the team.
“Obviously we’re small both in numbers and in size,” Donovan said. “There’s really only five of us who are working on the post.”
But the news is not all positive, as the Quakers will lose significant production as well. Although Power was hardly a prolific scorer as a guard-forward hybrid, she was an integral distributor who led the team with 5.8 rebounds per game last season and a 97-54 assist-to-turnover ratio. By comparison, the rest of the team combined to compile a sickly 221-433 ratio.
McLaughlin said that Power, who did not respond to interview requests, decided to leave the team in July because of the burden of switching from Wharton to a pre-med track, while Becker hurt her back before the team’s first workout and questioned her commitment to the team.
Power “felt the academic load, the transition, was going to be very hard for her to do,” Mclaughlin said. “Julie’s [decision] was more about her passion for the sport. I know she said she didn’t feel the 100 percent commitment that I asked her to be able to give.
The seldom-used Becker played in only seven games last season but won a silver medal at the World Maccabiah Games in July playing for the US team.
Neither Adams nor Donovan would comment on the past, citing a desire to move on. But reading between the lines, Knapp’s firing has been beneficial as a fresh start for both. Adams said she was not enjoying playing last year and praised the personalities and positive atmosphere of the new coaching staff.
“I think at this point, that’s even more important than the advice or the skills they can offer us on the court,” she said.
Both players approached McLaughlin when he was hired in the spring, and he outlined guidelines for them to walk on to the team. Before being reinstated this fall, they each participated in the team’s summer workout program, and Adams, who left the team of her own volition, talked to all of the returning players to make sure they supported her return.
“We went through a lot of checks and balances with Kim,” McLaughlin said. “We asked her to commit to this program fully [and the] new coaching staff, new positive attitude we’re trying to create.”
And it seems like Adams is buying into it already.
“I worked harder at basketball this summer than I’ve really worked towards anything in my life, and I think that’s carried over to the fall,” Adams said. “And I also think that’s true for everyone on our team.”
