Can Eli women handle Penn star?

Meg Simpson, SY '02, didn't practice last week because of a sore shoulder, and Coach Amy Backus wasn't sure how much she could depend on the 6'0" power forward against league-leading Brown. With center Lily Glick, ES '01, unable to play many minutes because of the flu, Yale would be hard-pressed to contain 6'4" Bears junior center and leading scorer Rachael MacDonald '02 without Simp-son in the lineup to help out frontcourt mate Alyson Miller, JE '01.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH With two league match ups this weekend, the Bulldogs will aim for the first Ivy win.

But Simpson was ready. In 25 minutes, she outscored and out-rebounded the bigger MacDonald, recording 14 points and seven boards. With less than ten minutes to play, she retaliated to an elbow from MacDonald by pushing her with two hands to the floor, earning a technical—and her coach's respect. "I would never condone fighting, but I didn't really have a problem with the show of emotion from Meg," Backus said. "I think it helped bring the team together. We have been harpingall year on playing with more emotion and intensity, so in a sense that display is good to see."

Simpson, who had a bruise on her cheek after the Brown game from a subtly placed MacDonald kick during a scrum on the floor, was reluctant to talk about the incident. "It was just something where we were going back and forth, and I got caught up in it," she said. Simpson and Miller, who added 11 points and seven rebounds, helped keep Yale in the game. Though Brown managed to survive a comeback in the second half and a last-second three from guard Bonnie Smith, TD '04, to win 54-51, the Bulldogs now know they can hang with the best.

And that is exactly what is coming to town on Fri., Feb. 2 in the form of All-American candidate and two-time Ivy Player of the Year Diana Caramanico '01. The 6'2" power forward is averaging 22.1 points and 11.8 rebounds a game for University of Pennsylvania (10-5, 2-0 Ivy), good for ninth and fifth in the nation, respectively. Like Simpson, who will be relied on heavily to guard her, Caramanico scores the majority of her points on put-backs and short shots around the basket. "By the end of the game, she'll have 30 points, and you won't know how," Glick said. Backus hopes to contain Caramanico by throwing different looks at her, including a lot of zone defense to provide more help underneath the basket. "Her numbers are huge, and she's just relentless," she said. "She's not real pretty, but she's just a workhorse."

Caramanico is coming off a huge performance against Drexel, with 21 points, 17 rebounds, nine assists, two steals and two blocks. Meanwhile, the Quakers own a nine-game winning streak and are brimming with confidence. To win the game, Yale must slow down the run-and-gun, transition offense that Penn relies on for most of its points.

On offense, the Bulldogs have to keep the turnovers down—something they did well against Brown. "We handled the pressure that usually makes us panic," Glick said. "When our team does that, our shots go in because we're calm, and our decision-making improves." In the closing minutes, however, Yale was plagued by inopportune turnovers and bad passes. "We had two turnovers at the end of the Brown game, and that's what I'm talking about—poor decision-making down the stretch," Backus said.

Perhaps the best indicator for Yale's success in a game is field goal percentage. In their five wins, the Elis have shot 45.8 percent from the floor. In their 12 losses, they have shot an ice-cold 35.5 percent. Backus believes the team just needs to get consistent points production from more players. "Part of our problem is that we've got to consistently have three or four show up in the scoring column, instead of one or two," Backus said. Another key is free throw shooting. Against Brown, the team went 4-13 from the line.

Recent games between the Bulldogs and the Quakers have been memorable ones. Yale triumphed in a thriller at home last March, 82-81. A month earlier, the Quakers prevailed, 70-67, at Penn. "We always have matched up well with them," Glick said.

On Sat., Feb. 3, Princeton arrives at John J. Lee Amphitheater, sporting a dismal 0-15 overall record and the desperation of a team hungry for its first win. "That's a scary thing for any coach," Backus said. "Any team that comes in that hasn't won a game—at any moment, they could pull it together and get it done." The Tigers offer a stark contrast to the Quakers. Lacking a dominant inside presence, they run the famous Pete Carrill Princeton offense, relying on backdoor cuts and controlling the tempo of the game. "The key to that game is always making sure we don't fall asleep on defense and making sure everyone's playing good help defense," Bair said. "Their offense is really methodical, and they like to slow the pace down, so we need to run more and try to bring the tempo up and control the tempo."

Despite their 0-4 league record, the Bulldogs know the distance separating them from the Ivy elite is razor-thin. "There's not a whole lot of difference between the team at the top of the league and the bottom," Backus said. As for the morale of the team, Backus said the players are surprisingly upbeat. "We're all looking forward to a new month."

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