Quakers hope to wrangle the Broncs

They’re still waiting for a win.

The 0-7 Penn women’s basketball team is off to its worst start since the 1995-96 season. With a Saturday showdown with Rider rapidly approaching, the Quakers are looking to finally break their losing streak.

“I think we are all definitely ready for a win — we’ve been ready,” sophomore forward Jess Knapp said. “We haven’t been happy with the outcomes … but we’ve been happy with our effort.”

Yet according to first-year coach Mike McLaughlin, the team needs to apply even more effort towards correcting all aspects of its game if it hopes to come away with a win against the Broncs (2-7).

“All the little things,” McLaughlin said, “the rebounding, the taking care of the ball, to making shots — a lot of them have to come into play for us to have a chance.”

While Rider is coming off a five-game losing streak of its own, the Broncs come to Saturday’s matchup with a slightly stronger offense than the Quakers. Rider has recorded a .360 field goal percentage this season, while Penn enters this weekend’s contest shooting only 32.5 percent.

Rider owes this offensive advantage to junior guard Cintella Spotwood, who averages 12.9 points per game.

Spotwood is also a threat from three point territory, averaging a .341 shooting percentage beyond the arc.

To counter Spotwood’s strong shooting, McLaughlin is looking for his squad’s defensive ability to carry over onto the offensive side of the court.

Although the Quakers’ defense has surrendered an average of 61.5 points to their opponents, it has also averaged 23.4 defensive rebounds and 6.3 steals per game, which will be helpful against a Rider squad that averages 26.4 turnovers per game.

“When teams have gone [on] a little bit of a run — 6-0, 8-0 advantage — we haven’t translated back into a good offensive team if they made some shots on us,” the coach said.

With one of the team’s leading scorers, Jerin Smith, out with an injury, McLaughlin will be looking to senior co-captain Caitlin Slover to put the ball in the net.

“I think she has done a great job all around,” he said. “She’s played the game really hard, we’re asking her now to step up.”

Defensively, Slover will have to contend with Rider’s Sarah Homan. The sophomore center has established her position as the Broncs top blocker with an astounding 11 blocks on the season.

According to McLaughlin, junior guard Kim Adams is on a steady path to improvement and will be an integral part of the team’s offense as well.

In order to put points up on the scoreboard, however, the offensive talent will need to exercise discipline and aggression on both sides of the ball.

“We’re going to come out aggressive, the more aggressive we can play the better a chance we have,” he said. “Every time we’ve been aggressive, it’s translated down on the offensive end.”

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