Desperately Seeking a Win

All they want right now is a reason to be optimistic again. All they want is to regain the confidence in which they should be basking.

All the players and coaches on the Harvard women's basketball team want is a good, solid win.

And call them the Real Live Immediate Gratification Players, but the Crimson wants it this weekend.

After opening the season with two disappointing losses, not to mention a slew of injuries that have disabled the team's confidence as well as key players, Harvard is looking for a positive, morale-building performance this weekend.

Harvard will have several opportunities as it hosts Tulane, Hofstra and Colgate in the 13th annual Harvard Invitational at Briggs Cage.

Tulane battles Hofstra while Harvard meets Colgate in first-round play.

Although Harvard hasn't faced Tulane since 1988, hasn't seen Hofstra since 1986 and has never met Colgate on the floor, word of mouth around the East gives the Crimson some idea of what it'll see.

Pennsylvania Coach Julie Soriero has said Tulane is a tough team, and the grapevine seems to indicate that Hofstra will be the underdog of the tournament.

But don't forget the fact that Harvard isn't even concerned about that second-round match-up yet.

Short-term goals here, remember?

"We're not looking ahead of Colgate," Delaney Smith said. "We need to scout the first game and then go on from there."

Colgate, under the guidance of a second-year coach, is "scrappy, fast, and aggressive defensively," Delaney Smith said.

The Red Raiders are part of the Patriot League, which also includes the Army squad that squeaked past Harvard Wednesday night, giving some indication of the caliber of play the Crimson will face again.

Also, earlier this season, Colgate fell to Cornell, who finished in the bottom half of the Ivy League last year.

Regardless of reputation and hearsay, however, this should be an intense contest: "Colgate lost their first two, and so did we," Delaney Smith noted.

And it's no secret that there's a sense of urgency around Briggs Cage these days.

"We have to win this weekend, and that's it," co-captain Cara Frey said bluntly. "Morale and spirit are kind of low."

What's the big deal, you ask? The Crimson only lost its first two games, and one of those defeats came in overtime. Plenty of time to bounce back, right?

Wrong. This team doesn't want to waste any time in healing its spirits when there's more important work to be done.

The Crimson will take its time in rehabilitating senior co-captain and starting forward Katie Phillips, freshman forward Kelly Black and freshman center Allison Keith, to name a few of the casualties.

But as it is, Harvard isn't concentrating on any other long-term goals, and it doesn't want to just mope around and wait for the loaded version team to reemerge.

This weekend, Harvard aims to pull together the healthy remainder of the adroitly athletic, extremely talented squad and get the win that everyone seems to need.

Hofstra and Tulane face off today at noon, and the Colgate-Harvard contest begins at 2:30 p.m.