Cramming for Ivy midterms

With a matchup against Yale now just one week away, Penn women’s basketball is doing everything it can to prepare for a strong start to the meat of Ivy League play.

The Quakers (1-13, 0-3 Big 5) will have one more opportunity to tweak their game plan tomorrow when they host a surging Temple squad to close out the non-conference schedule.

The Owls (13-5, 1-1) enter the matchup fresh off of three-straight conference victories, and now sit at 3-1 in the Atlantic 10. Despite suffering losses to No. 6 Duke, No. 11 Xavier and No. 15 Florida State in the last three weeks, Temple has fared well through the rest of its schedule — losing only to Hartford and Villanova.

Penn will have its hands full trying to contain the Temple front court, led by Kristen McCarthy. The sophomore forward has led the team over the three-game winning streak, averaging better than 12 points per game.

Guards BJ Williams and Qwedia Wallace have stepped up to join McCarthy in double figures of late, providing a formidable threat from the perimeter. On the season the Owls have put up an average of 62.1 points per game.

Penn coach Mike McLaughlin is well aware that keeping up with the Temple offense will be no easy task. The Quakers themselves give up 62 points per game yet have not scored more than 58 points all season.

“We have to control the pace of the game,” he said. “They’re very athletic, and they can score. For us to get a chance, we’re going to have to keep the score low.”

But McLaughlin admitted his team is realistic about its chances against a superior squad, and the majority of effort in practice has been geared towards league play.

“We certainly have our eye on the Ivy schedule,” he said. “So we’re looking to see what we can implement in the Temple game that could help us as we go forward.”

Don’t expect major changes though. McLaughlin is looking at the big picture and understands that the team’s improvement will come from the players.

“I asked each player today to do a little bit more,” he said. “For some kids, that means to get two more rebounds, to another to get an extra loose ball, or finish around the basket, or make an open shot. Each player has a role and if they can do a little bit more in their role, we’ll see an improvement.”

It seems forward Jess Knapp has already heeded her coach’s advice. The steady development of the sophomore — who missed all of last season due to injury — has been one of the bright spots during the 2009-10 campaign. Knapp has led the Quakers in rebounding in each of the last four games.

It all seems to fit into McLaughlin’s preseason mission to slowly restore success to the women’s program.

“Where we’re at is small steps,” he said. “And small steps may not turn into winning a lot of games at this point. But as I tell the players all the time, success comes in a lot of ways. When we leave each day and we feel like we succeeded as a team, that steps in the right direction.”

And if the Quakers are in fact heading in the right direction, success may be measured by wins sooner rather than later.

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