Women Cruise In 91-32 Romp

The Harvard women's basketball team has outscored its opponents, 164-51, in its last two games, and it's enjoyed every minute of its sudden super-dominance.

Fresh from Friday night's 73-19 blowout of Holy Cross, the women took a three-hour pilgrimage to Lewiston, Marine, and feated on an inexperienced Bates team, registering a 91-32 romp Saturday night.

The 59-point margin of victory established a new team record, erasing the previous 54-point record set Friday night. The 91-point total also represents the highest final tally in the women's history.

The Crimson women established their dominance early in the game as they controlled the boards at both ends, keeping the smaller Bates team from moving into the lane. Sophomore center Leslie Greis led the way for the Harvard attack, pumping in a game-high of 28 points as she continued her streak of high-scoring performances which have helped the women's team over the past few weeks.

Relaxing

For the rest of the Harvard team, it was a relaxed 40 minutes with every player breaking into the scoring column. Crimson coach Carole Kleinfelder used her bench freely, and also used the game as a chance to experiment with her team.

"When you play a team like that," Kleinfelder said, "you should take the opportunity to work on discipline--on the things you have trouble with."

Kleinfelder experimented with different defenses as she did on Friday night, and also tried to work a controlled offense. She said the team ran the patterns "fairly well, but we were still not getting inside as much as we should."

The 12-9 women will take on Tufts tonight at 8 p.m. in the Jumbos' arena in what looks to be another less-than-strenuous contest. The women then close out their season Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the IAB against a very strong Boston University contingent.

Problems, Problems

In their first year in Division I of the MAIAW, the Harvard women did not participate in the division tournament because of a scheduling conflict. The tournament was originally set for the weekend of March 3, 4 and 5, but in late October, MAIAW officials rescheduled the tournament for this past weekend.

"We already had scheduled games for this weekend," Kleinfelder said, "and we didn't feel we should break a contract. It would have been nice to play in the tourney, but we've played enough Division One schools this season to know where we stand--about fifth or sixth, maybe fourth or fifth in Massachusetts."