Penn women’s basketball started from the bottom.
It was just four years ago that Mike McLaughlin took over as Penn coach and promptly fell to 2-26 his first season, with the Quakers clawing their way to a single Ivy victory.
A year later, they took sixth place in the league. Two years later, Penn saw its way to fifth place.
And then last season, the Quakers rose all the way to third place, hanging with Princeton in conference play before winning the first postseason games in program history in the Women’s Basketball Invitational.
But 2013-14 is about one thing: first place.
The Tigers have dominated the Ivy League for four years but with the graduation of Niveen Rasheed, the conference now seems a little more open.
And while Harvard was picked ahead of the Red and Blue in the Ivy Preseason Media Poll, there is no team better equipped to dethrone Princeton than the Quakers.
That’s because no one in the Ivies returns as many major contributors as Penn. Two-time All-Ivy selection Alyssa Baron? She’s back. Reliable junior forwards Kara Bonenberger and Katy Allen? Both back.
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McCullough ready to ‘leave it all on the floor’ for Penn women’s basketball
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I could continue reeling off the names of every starter from last year’s 18-13 Quakers squad, but the point is that this team has experience.
And even though last year’s freshman sensation Keiera Ray is out for the next month, Penn returns senior point guard Meghan McCullough, who joins Baron as one of the team’s captains after missing almost all of the 2012-13 season after undergoing knee surgery.
“Meghan has been great. You can’t even tell she had an ACL injury,” McLaughlin said after Penn’s Red & Blue Scrimmage on Oct. 26. “Same energy, same level of professional play. She just makes the right play at the right time.”
But so what? Penn wasn’t able to win the title last season with a similar group and other Ivy teams, especially Harvard, will have improved with another year of experience.
Yet McLaughlin has a trick up his sleeve: another strong recruiting class.
Each of McLaughlin’s recruiting classes has produced a consistent starter, whether it was Baron three years ago, Bonenberger two years ago or Ray last season.
And 2013-14 shouldn’t be any different, as freshman center Sydney Stipanovich will be a factor from the moment the Quakers tip off on Nov. 9.
In Penn’s scrimmage on Oct. 26, Stipanovich was turning heads with her solid mid-range jumper paired with a strong post presence.
“She can shoot the ball from the perimeter, she can score the ball around the rim,” McLaughlin said after the scrimmage. “She is very unselfish. I’m really happy where she has progressed right now.”
With Stipanovich joining Penn’s successful cast of players from last season, the Quakers will have a lineup that can matchup favorably with the rest of the Ivy League.
And by playing a strong nonconference schedule that includes 10 teams that played in the 2013 postseason — including a Final Four team in Notre Dame — the Red and Blue will face the type of stiff competition that should adequately prepare them for Ivy play.
Last year, the toughest challenge on Penn’s schedule came in the form of Princeton. But after losing to the Tigers for a second time on Mar. 12, Penn’s captain — Baron — saw that the Quakers were ready to make another leap this season.
“Coach was saying to us in the locker room that a couple years ago we were on the bottom of the league, and now we’re close to seeing the top,” she said after the loss. “It is definitely something to look forward to next year that we have taken strides in the right direction and next year, we’ll definitely be a team to look out for.”
So with the Quakers starting at the bottom a few years ago, they are now ready to reach the top.
STEVEN TYDINGS is a Wharton sophomore from Hopewell, N.J., and is a sports editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. He can be reached at tydings@thedp.com.
SEE ALSO
How Alyssa Baron changed Penn women’s basketball
McCullough ready to ‘leave it all on the floor’ for Penn women’s basketball
All hands on deck for Penn women’s basketball with Keiera Ray out
Star-studded 2013-2014 slate awaits Penn women’s basketball
Clutch shots and Ivy wins: Penn women’s basketball 2012-13’s top moments
Looking around the Ivies: Preventing Princeton’s five-peat in women’s basketball
SEE ALSO
How Alyssa Baron changed Penn women’s basketball
McCullough ready to ‘leave it all on the floor’ for Penn women’s basketball
All hands on deck for Penn women’s basketball with Keiera Ray out
Star-studded 2013-2014 slate awaits Penn women’s basketball
Clutch shots and Ivy wins: Penn women’s basketball 2012-13’s top moments
Looking around the Ivies: Preventing Princeton’s five-peat in women’s basketball
