Little things haunt Quakers

Given the Penn women's basketball team's lack of size this year, it knew it would be susceptible to opponents with a big frontcourt presence.

That's why the Quakers need to focus on all the so-called little things in each and every game to compensate for what they lack.

But that concentration level was just not there in the Red and Blue's lost weekend at Stony Brook on Long Island.

What made the Friday defeat especially disturbing was that Stony Brook should not have been one of those teams to exploit the size issue.

"They are actually pretty small. What happened was a surprise," junior tri-captain Jennifer Jones said. "We weren't anticipating this at all."

In Friday's contest, some of the little things were actually big things, such as rebounding. The Sea Wolves outrebounded the Quakers by a 39-27 margin.

The statistics suggest a grim picture. The story behind them is worse.

"There were only a couple of girls out there who were rebounding," said senior tri-captain Julie Epton, who scored 17 points, but collected only two boards. "We were just flat and felt that way almost the entire time."

Jones, who did not reel in any rebounds in her 13 minutes of play, agreed that her team needed to perform with greater intensity -- another one of those little things that the players talked about a great deal after returning from New York.

"We need to realize that rebounding is a team effort and that we're at a disadvantage if only two of our five players are doing it," Jones said.

"There's no secret remedy."

One player who did demonstrate a fierce tenacity on the court over the weekend was Stony Brook's Sherry Jordan, a 5-foot-11 swing player, who splits her time between the guard and forward spots.

Jordan, who lit up the scoreboard with 29 points in a loss to the Red and Blue last December, poured in 30 on Friday to go along with 11 rebounds.

"During the second half, she just got into the zone and was not missing," Penn junior tri-captain Tara Twomey said. "She's a great player and we just couldn't contain her."

While the Quaker acknowledged that the Stone Mountain, Ga., native is in an elite class, she also highlighted another fault that may be plaguing Penn --ÿa lack of physical play.

"You have to give her credit, but we just didn't step up and handle it," Epton said. "In defending her, you have to feel, 'You're going to remember the next time you take the ball at me.'"

Epton said that there should be no intent to injure, but merely to act tougher and better contest shots.

Penn still has some work to do before it can work out all of its little things, but it looks like the Quakers are moving in the right direction. After meeting on Friday night, Penn did detect progress in Saturday's 72-56 loss to George Mason in the consolation game.

"It was a huge improvement," Epton said. "We were excited about what we were doing, but they just made their shots."

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