If Penn women’s basketball is serious about turning its program around after a 9-19 (6-8 Ivy) season, hiring the coach with the highest winning percentage in any division of the NCAA — men’s or women’s — is a good start.
The arrival of an entirely new coaching staff marks the beginning of a new era, as Mike McLaughlin leads the Quakers into the 2009-10 season looking to reestablish pride and success in Penn women’s basketball.
But McLaughlin will be without the leadership of several graduated seniors. Among them is first-team All-Ivy and All-Big 5 standout forward Carrie Biemer, though Kelly Scott, Anca Popovici, and Katarina Lackner all played large parts in the Quakers’ 2008-09 campaign.
All in all, those four who got their diplomas in May took with them 61 percent of last season’s scoring and 37 percent of last year’s rebounding.
“We have a lot to replace, scoring-wise,” McLaughlin said. “We’re returning about 15 points from that whole roster. But we’re not hiding from the challenge. We’re not going to accept it and say we can’t do it. But we certainly have laid it out, that this is the challenge every day.”
The Quakers will get help filling that void with sophomores Jess Knapp and Jourdan Banks who, as highly-touted freshman last year, both fell victim to season-ending injuries.
But the balanced attack that will come as a result of the scoring losses could be a positive rather than a negative.
“We have players that can average anywhere from eight to 12 points,” senior co-captain Sarah Bucar said, “and if we can get that from all over the court, that’s when you start seeing teams having trouble guarding us.”
But the offense is the least of McLaughlin’s concerns. As he did in 14 straight 25-win seasons at Holy Family University, he will institute a system based on relentless, intense, hard-nosed defense.
“We’re not a team that’s going to score 70 points a game,” Bucar admitted. “So our defense is going to be our identity. Our defensive intensity has been the main focus of our practices.”
Bucar’s co-captain and fellow senior Caitlin Slover echoed her coach’s motto as she simply stated, “Defense is our main concern.”
McLaughlin has made it clear that this season is about turning around the program.
“I asked them to take ownership in this program, and they’ve done that.
“I know that’s not a matter of winning or losing, but it’s a foundation of a program that’s going to be really successful over time. I need this core group right now to help this program get better in a lot of ways. It’s not just on the court. It’s everywhere.”
Leading that core group are Bucar and Slover, who vow that this team is going to play from the tipoff to the last horn.
“We’re always going to bring it,” Bucar said, “and compete. Win or lose, we’re going to leave it all on the floor. We have picked a few words to live by. One is tenacity, the other is resilience and the last is more — because there’s always more room for improvement.”
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