Ivy League pair battles W. Hoops at the Palestra

The Penn women's basketball team is no stranger to adversity, particularly in the early stages of a season.

Even in last year's championship run, the Quakers opened with a 1-5 record.

This season, the Red and Blue (3-8, 0-1 Ivy League) are off to a similarly poor start as they prepare for their first Ivy weekend of the campaign.

Now is the time, at least according to coach Kelly Greenberg, to turn the corner.

But it will not be easy.

Penn will welcome two of its toughest opponents of the season to the Palestra for 7 p.m. games this weekend, in Dartmouth (4-7, 0-1) tonight and Harvard (9-4, 1-0) tomorrow.

"People say your season doesn't come down to a weekend. I'm going to beg to differ there. It does come down to this weekend," Greenberg said.

"These are the dominant teams year in, year out. If we can't get up for these games and play with some fire, then there's a problem. It's a huge weekend for us."

Following a lackluster effort in a 66-56 defeat on 33rd Street to Princeton on Jan. 4, the Quakers were understandably disappointed, but feel that they have learned valuable lessons.

For one, many on the team reiterated the fact that the intensity level must be raised for each game. Penn is no longer good enough to flip a switch late in the second half to erase a ten-point deficit.

"You can always learn from your losses," Penn senior captain Julie Epton said. "It's always our goal to, whether we win or lose, be a better team for it."

Epton indicated that the Red and Blue seem to have applied what they have learned in practices during the past week.

"This has been a great week of practice," she said. "We've played with a lot of fire, a lot of intensity, and I think it'll show this weekend. And it has to show for us to win."

Epton also explained that this is an ideal opportunity for Penn to exhibit the talent it has and finally realize the significant potential that has disturbingly gone unfulfilled for much of the year.

"We need to come out and prove ourselves to ourselves and to the Ivy League," Epton said. "We're not going to let Dartmouth and Harvard come in here and run all over us. We want to prove all the doubters wrong."

The Quakers will need to overcome some tremendous individual firepower featured by both visiting teams this weekend.

More than half of Dartmouth's average scoring output comes from forward Katherine Hanks and point guard Keri Downs.

Meanwhile, Harvard sophomore sensation Hana Peljto, who was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2000-2001, is averaging 21.9 points per game.

Peljto tallied a season-high 36 in her last performance, ironically an 88-77 victory in Boston over Dartmouth on Jan. 5.

"We've really concentrated on Hanks and Downs from Dartmouth because they're not only the scoring leaders, but also the emotional leaders," Epton said.

Completely shutting down Hanks, Downs and Peltjo is unrealistic, so the key for Penn will be limiting them and preventing their teammates from having big outings.

"Dartmouth and Harvard both have extremely talented players on their teams and we've focused on a few of them," Penn junior captain Tara Twomey said. "We know what their capabilities are."

Still, the Quakers know the most essential task is the actual execution of the game plan, which requires an intensity that Penn has not brought to recent contests.

"I think after this weekend, I'll be very happy if we leave saying we're a high energy team with a lot of fire," Greenberg said. "That's my goal right now."

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