Big Easy a tough task for W. Hoops

The Penn women's basketball team will take to the air today for the first time since Mar. 16, 2001, when the Quakers traveled to Texas Tech to compete in the NCAA tournament.

In the first round of the NCAAs, the Lady Raiders demolished Penn that night in Lubbock, winning 100-51.

When the Red and Blue arrive at their destination late this morning, another potential mismatch awaits them.

The Quakers (2-5) will battle Tulane (7-1) at Fogelman Arena in New Orleans tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. The Green Wave is currently ranked 25th in the nation by the Associated Press poll.

"Tulane is the type of team that, on the men's side, is like going to play Kansas or Kentucky," Penn coach Kelly Greenberg said. "They're just always good."

Although the Quakers will finalize a game plan against Tulane during an afternoon shootaround in the Crescent City, Penn has dedicated all of its preparation time thus far to improving its own play.

In particular, Greenberg has placed an emphasis on better offensive play, since the team hasn't scored enough to defeat Stony Brook and George Mason -- much less a ranked club.

Penn has not cracked the 60-point barrier since losing at La Salle, 74-69, on Nov. 20.

"We've all realized that offense seems to be our problem," Penn junior point guard Tara Twomey said. "So we started breaking things down to the basics, the fundamentals that we've been doing since we started playing basketball when we were 8 or 9 years old.

"We've really been focusing on running our offense the way it's supposed to be run."

Sophomore guard Mikaelyn Austin has become a potent shooting threat off the bench, while freshmen Karen Habrukowich and Katie Kilker have also sparked the team at times.

Yet, getting everyone to perform well offensively at the same time has proven difficult in the early stages of the season.

"We haven't even talked about Tulane yet," Greenberg said. "We're just thinking about Penn and what we need to do to get better -- to get better shots, to be more aggressive offensively, and I think it looks good [in practice]."

Tulane represents the biggest team the Quakers will likely see this year.

Six-foot-three junior Teana McKiver, who is averaging 19 points per game on 73 percent shooting, will lead a front line much larger than Penn's tomorrow -- Penn's tallest starter Julie Epton stands three inches shorter than McKiver.

Greenberg understands that although her backcourt has shown some great scoring flashes this year, it must also play an integral role in getting the forwards to contribute if Penn is to pose a significant challenge to the Green Wave.

"We don't have that inside presence right now," Greenberg said. "We still have people who can score inside, but we're just not getting it in there."

If the Red and Blue are able to do what they have successfully practiced over the last few days, the third-year coach says she feels that her team is capable of pulling off the upset.

"I still think we can win [tomorrow]," Greenberg said. "I know they're bigger, I know they're a lot more talented, I know they're more experienced, but that's why you play the game."

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