Women Cagers Nip Springfield, 54-53

Things are going well these days for the Harvard women's basketball team.

And last night was no exception.

The cagers (6-3, 1-1 Ivy) travelled to Springfield College's Blake Arena and managed to sneak away with a 54-53 victory--their second in a row and third in their last four outings.

The Crimson, which now has captured all four of its contests that have been decided by five points or less, again shot miserably from the floor, connecting on only 36 percent of its field goal tries.

But it was free throws--not field goal attempts--which decided this one, and Springfield was only half- good enough.

With Harvard ahead 54-52 and one second showing on the clock, the Maroons' Michelle Bufa stepped up to the charity stripe, the victim of an Anna Collins foul.

The Cantabs, in an attempt to break Bufa's concentration, called time out.

And then another.

"We were all prepared to call a third," Crimson Coach Kathy Delaney Smith said, "but then we decided to hold onto it, just in case the game went into overtime."

There was to be no overtime, however, because Bufa made the first but missed the second, as Harvard's Nancy Cibotti (six points, seven rebounds) grabbed the loose ball to secure the victory.

"She just fell to the floor with the ball and wouldn't get up for about 10 seconds--until she was absolutely sure it was over," Delaney Smith said.

Freshman standout Sarah Duncan led the way for the Crimson with 16 points (on 7-for-11 from the floor, 2-for-2 from the line), five rebounds, four blocks, and four assists. Duncan now has 16 blocked shots on the season, which is 11 better than Cibotti--her closest competitor.

The hoopsters led almost the whole way, but were never able to extend their lead to more than a half-dozen points. Springfield trailed by six points with less than two minutes remaining in the contest, when it came up with back-to-back steals and lay-ups to cut the deficit to two.

That set the stage for Bufa's big miss, which lifted the Crimson to its fourth road victory of the year.

Aside from the addition of Duncan, this is essentially the same women's basketball team that stumbled through all of last season without capturing a single game outside of Briggs Athletic Center.

There were also several bright spots amid the cagers' continued poor field goal shooting:

* Sophomore Beth Chandler--who last year averaged 6.5 points per game and 4.9 rebounds per game and is still recovering from a pre-season injury--had two points and four rebounds in limited playing time.

* The Crimson won when its two leading scorers, Sharon Hayes and Co-Captain Trisha Brown both had off-nights.

* Harvard, averaging roughly 25 turnovers per game, committed only 15 last night against the Maroons.

The cagers return home Saturday night to open an eight-game homestand against the University of Vermont.