W. Cagers Prep for Season

Despite a changed philosophy and diminishing numbers, the Harvard women's basketball team is confident and playing well in preparation for its season opener November 27 at William and Mary.

The Crimson has installed a new pressing defense and running offense, and the team is working hard to decrease its turnovers. This past Monday, Harvard played Lee Strand, an Irish club team, in an exhibition game. The Crimson won, 75-62, despite 28 turnovers. Junior center Tammy Butler paced the team with 23 points, 23 rebounds, and 5 steals.

The team pressed well, gathering 15 steals, but its play was inconsistent.

"We played well but sloppy (versus Lee Strand). Taking care of the ball and making better decisions will come with more games. We've already worked on it in practice," said sophomore Crimson point guard Elizabeth Proudfit.

Harvard Coach Kathy Delany Smith agreed with Proudfit's assessment.

"For an exhibition game two weeks in to the season, I'm not terribly unhappy," Delaney Smith said.

However, the short Irish team did not test the Crimson's lack of height, a factor that has the potential to be the team's Achilles heel. Against taller teams, Harvard hopes to make up for its lack of height (no starter is over 6'2") through speed, strength, atheleticism, and aggressiveness.

"The whole idea of the press is to eliminate the height factor," said senior tri-captain Cara Frey. Along the same lines, Delaney Smith has described this year's addition as the most athletic group she has had during her 12 year tenure.

The team's practices have been somewhat hampered by a lack of able bodies.

Freshmen center Allison Keith recently joined her classmates Cara James (out all year with a knee injury) and Kelly Black (out until January with a stress fracture) on the injured list, missing significant practice time because of a stubborn knee injury from the summer.

In addition, three point specialist junior Nicole Kronk, who tallied 12 versus Lee Strand, was forced to leave the team because of an academic scheduling conflict.

"Practice has been a little frustrating because of all the injuries," said Harvard forward Elizabeth Gettelman.

Nonetheless, the team's transition to running and pressing has been progressing smoothly, partly because of the team's work ethic.

"This team has the best work ethic of any that I've had at Harvard. The leadership of our tri-captains (seniors Frey, Kat Crissera, and Katie Phillips) has been great," said Delaney Smith.

`Grunge Time'

The team is attempting to overcome the monotony of practice by focusing on learning their new offensive sets and improving their press and break.

"Now is grunge time, the toughest time of year, because we're practicing and practicing, but have no games. We're trying to get all our offenses in, and we're trying to clean up the press, cut down the turnovers, and get down all the rotations," said Frey.

"We're trying to improve our communication on the court. The turnovers against Lee Strand (28 in all) were the whole team's fault, not just the guards," added Butler.

Sophomore Amy Reinhard has been very impressive in practice, especially on the defensive end, where she often is at the point of attack in the press. She was the first person off the bench versus Lee Strand, and will probably get a lot of minutes in the season.

In other developments, Delaney Smith tentatively named a starting line-up of Butler, Crissera, Phillps, Frey, and Proudfit.