W. Hoopsters Lose Ivy Title To Brown

The Harvard women's basketball team did not go gentle into its good night.

Last Saturday evening the Crimson raged and raged, but came up short in the end.

Brown defeated Harvard, 81-70, and left Briggs Cage with sole possession of the Ivy League title.

With the victory, the Bears ended the best season in their history, finishing an impressive 22-4 overall, 13-1 in the Ancient Eight.

Harvard, meanwhile, fell to 13-12 (10-3 Ivy) and was forced to settle for a disappointing second place.

The Crimson, however, has nothing to be ashamed of.

As always, the team played 40 minutes of hard-nosed basketball--diving for loose balls and struggling for rebounds.

For a while, it even looked like the Crimson might win. Down 31-25 at the break, Harvard stormed back to take the lead in the second half.

Sophomore guard Kelly Morrison hit key three-pointers in the opening minutes of the second frame and junior guard Debbie Flandermeyer nailed a one-handed baseline jumper at the 14:33 mark to give the Crimson a slim 41-38 advantage.

But Brown was determined to win it all.

Despite the Crimson's repeated challenges, the Bears maintained the cool veneer of a team that had already wrapped up the title.

"They were relaxed and confident," Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney Smith said. "It's a great combination. You can't lose."

The night before Brown had guaranteed itself at least a share of the championship by beating Dartmouth. Ousting Harvard was simply a matter of pride.

"We didn't want to share the title with anyone," Brown's sophomore guard Michelle Pagliaro said. "We'd worked too hard for it."

Brown successfully controlled the boards, out-rebounding the Crimson 38-22. The Bears held Flandermeyer, one of top rebounders in the Ivy League, to only four rebounds.

Freshman Tammy Butler hauled in a game-high 11 rebounds, but 10 of those 11 came in the first-half.

The second half belonged to Brown's 6'5" freshman center Martina Jerant.

Jerant, who had sat out most of the first half with foul trouble, returned to haunt the Crimson. She grabbed six boards and tallied 17 points down the stretch as Brown shot a scorching 64 percent from the field.

Jerant almost single-handedly blew the game wide open.

When Flandermeyer took a break at 9:55 with Brown up, 50-47, Jerant stepped up her game and scored six straight points in two minutes.

Jerant's heroics swung the momentum in Brown's favor, and Harvard was unable to recover.

The problem was compounded by Delaney Smith's decision not to call a time out until the game was out of reach.

With 4:15 remaining, Brown commanded a ten point lead that it would never relinquish.