Penn Women Look To Stay Perfect In Ivy Play At Columbia

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team will spend the weekend in New York state with a pair of Ivy League match-ups. On Friday night, the Quakers visit Columbia and then they travel to Ithaca to match-up with Cornell on Saturday.

Penn is on a roll. The Quakers are leading the Ancient 8 with a 5-0 league record (12-6 overall) and they are coming off a weekend sweep of Harvard and Dartmouth where they allowed a total of 81 points in the two games.

"We really (have) responded well in the league," Penn head coach Mike McLaughlin tells KYW Newsradio. "We had the benefit of playing the last four at home, which we got comfortable with and played really well on our floor. Now the challenge is going on the road, we have four in a row on the road, back-to-back nights, Friday, Saturday. Challenging, but playing well, the confidence level is high. We're starting to get contributions from the bench that we weren't getting earlier in the year. So we're in a good spot."

Listen to the entire interview with Penn head coach Mike McLaughlin

The Columbia team that Penn will play first is 12-7 overall and 2-4 in the Ivy League. The Lions are led by junior guard/forward Camille Zimmerman who leads the Ancient 8 in scoring (21.8 ppg) and rebounding (10.1 rpg).

"They transition the ball, structured, but like to run up and down the floor," McLaughlin says.

"They really rebound the ball, top five team in the country as a plus rebounding team. Definitely a challenge on the glass."

Penn and Columbia will get underway at 7:00pm on Friday in New York City.

Penn's game on Saturday at Cornell gets underway at 5:00pm.