Penn women's basketball gets ready for Ivy top dogs

This weekend, Penn women’s basketball is going to try to buck some trends.

The Quakers (10-9, 3-2 Ivy) go into Friday and Saturday as the fourth-place team in the Ivy League, and they get the chance to move up in the standings by facing two of the teams ahead of them, Harvard and Dartmouth.

But Friday night will be one of the Red and Blue’s toughest opponents yet this season, as Harvard (13-6, 4-1) is No. 83 in the RPI. The Crimson are the next in line among Penn’s vigorous tests at home, including Villanova and Virginia earlier in the season.

“They are probably closer to Virginia than Villanova because they look to really score the ball,” coach Mike McLaughlin said. “They can score with anyone.

“The concern with playing [Harvard] is that they are always going to have five people out there that can score the ball and they don’t show a whole lot of offensive weakness.”

Dartmouth (6-13, 4-1) provides another challenge entirely. The Big Green struggled early in the season but have bounced back in conference play, becoming the only team to defeat Harvard.

“They have played a really difficult non-league schedule,” McLaughlin said. “That is a good basketball team. Their guards are good, and they are one of the bigger teams we play this year.”

With these two teams standing in the Quakers way, Penn is focusing on trying to neutralize some of the strong parts in each team’s games. Harvard and Dartmouth rank No. 2 and No. 3 respectively in the Ancient Eight in rebounding margin.

“Coach always puts a stress on rebounding,” junior forward Courtney Wilson said. “This week in practice, we definitely rebounded and in the game, it is about making sure that all five of us block out.”

One advantage the Quakers have this week is familiarity. They have been on the road for two weeks and were forced to play in unusual circumstances during the storm last weekend. But Penn now returns home to the friendly confines of the Palestra.

“It is a lot easier when you get into the routine,” Wilson said. “You know you are going to get your eight hours of sleep. The sprinklers aren’t going to go off in the hotel, so it will great to be at home.”

While the Quakers will be at home, they don’t have too much margin for error starting the game.

The Red and Blue have put themselves behind early in many of their conference games this year, as they have been behind at the half in four of their five games.

“I think it is obviously important to get off to a good start,” McLaughlin said. “We have started halves well. We’ve started games well, but I think it is about being consistent for as many minutes as possible.”

Yet the Quakers are also taking pride in their ability to come back despite their weaker starts to Ivy games.

“Never count us out,” Wilson said. “We come every game to win. Even if we’re down at half, it just gives us extra incentive in the second half to say we’re not gonna give them an inch in the second half.”

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