Last Friday against Harvard, Penn's leading scorer was held to four points in 30 minutes on 2-of-11 shooting. But coach Pat Knapp saw a bigger problem. "That's not the story of the weekend," he said when asked about Monica Naltner's season-low output. "The story of the weekend is how poorly we defended, particularly on the perimeter." The numbers in that department don't look any better. The Quakers conceded 157 points against Harvard and Dartmouth - their most porous defensive showing for an Ivy weekend in seven years. From three-point range, the starting guards of the Crimson and Big Green shot 86 and 60 percent, respectively. Overall, both opponents combined to shoot well over 50 percent, while Penn sputtered to clips of 32 and 43 percent. "When you let their team shoot 55 and 56 percent, then there's a lot of holes defensively in what we're doing," Knapp said. "And we've got to get better at it." Knapp and Naltner felt that the team did a poor job of making in-game adjustments on its opponents' best shooters. In both games, a single good shooter did the majority of the damage. Harvard's Niki Finelli had 26 points on 6-of-7 shooting from outside, while Dartmouth's Ashley Taylor hit 5 of 7 en route to 22 points on Friday. Together, the two accounted for 11 threes of the 16 given up by the Quakers. "You also need to recognize in the game exactly who you're playing, what their strength is, and how hot they are," the coach said. "Sometimes we don't recognize quickly enough." Against Dartmouth, the Quakers conceded 37 points by halftime and never really got back into the game. The Big Green used a lot of quick screens that made it difficult for the Quakers to stay with their defensive assignments. This week, Knapp will focus heavily on shoring up those defensive gaps. His team is last in the league in three-point defense, and has rematches with Dartmouth (the best three-point shooting team) and Harvard (the third-best) in less than two weeks. "You certainly do enough drills where you pressure the ball," he said. "You're emphasizing rotating." The goal is to build better awareness and communication within the defense, added Naltner. "I wouldn't say I was surprised [they shot so well]," the forward said. "We see their percentages throughout the year, from two-point and three-point [range]. "We just need to accept that they can shoot well, and make sure that they don't."
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