W. Cagers Hit the Road Seek a .500 Ivy Season

Last weekend, the Harvard women's basketball team broke the century mark in scoring for the first time with a 105-74 victory over Penn.

The Crimson will be attempting to break another barrier this weekend--the .500 mark in its Ivy League record.

After finishing as Ivy co-champions last season, Harvard (9-12 overall, 4-5 Ivy) has been struggling in the league this year. This weekend, Harvard travels to Yale and Brown to complete its road schedule--and try to slip over .500 for the first time all season.

The Crimson will have a lot to prove in New Haven, Conn., tonight. When Harvard face Yale in Briggs Athletic Center two weeks ago, the Elis came away with a 71-64 victory that left the Crimson stunned and disappointed.

Perhaps it was Yale's fast-break offense, led by guard Randi Meberg--who netted all of her team-high 15 points in the second half--which subdued the Crimson. Or maybe it was fatigue from a drawn-out road schedule and a home game against Brown the night before that shook Harvard.

Whatever the reason for the loss, Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney Smith isn't ready to let it happen again.

"We're going to change our defense a bit," Delaney Smith said. "They have a secondary fast-break that we should be able to handle better than we did last time."

Delaney Smith has been relying more heavily on her bench in recent games, and plans to use her reserves a great deal over the weekend.

"Fatigue played a big factor last time," Delaney Smith said. "I'm going to be subbing more so we can play both games tough."

Over the past week, the Crimson has had solid play from sophomore Nicole Anderson--who leads the team in field goal percentage at 56 percent--and freshman Sandra Springer, who scored a career-high eight points against Penn. Junior Hanya Bluestone, a strong defensive player, saw nearly 50 minutes of combined playing time in the past three games after seeing only limited action before then.

Dominance

In Providence, R.I., Saturday night, the Crimson will hope for a repeat of its performance against the Bruins two weeks ago. In that game, the Crimson shot a blistering 61 percent from the field and dominated the Bruins with its strong inside game to snatch a 88-75 victory.

Sophomore center Sarah Duncan scored a career-high 24 points as high-post in the match-up, and junior forward Sharon Hayes--who leads the team in scoring with 12.9 points per game--chipped in 18 points.

"Brown runs the ball up the floor and dishes it off to fine shooters," Delaney Smith said. "If we can stop Kerry Kelley, we will take out a major part of their offense."

Kelly, Brown's point guard, leads the Ivy League this season with 121 assists, and is averaging 11.7 points per game.