Maher Designated Player of the Week

Who said reading period and exams are bad for athletes?

Harvard Co-Captain Erin Maher's performance this week proved that taking finals and not seeing any action for 16 days are just what every basketball player needs.

Maher was named Ivy Co-Player of the Week for her scoring, passing and stealing against New Hampshire, Cornell and Columbia.

Although the Crimson lost to the Wildcats 87-84, Maher scored 16 points with four assists and three steals.

Against Columbia Maher tallied 17 points and seven assists.

But she really caught fire against Cornell. The Davenport, Iowa native burned the Big Red (she sure did make 'em bleed) for a season-high 31 points. And Maher asserted her dominance in the Ivy League and the country from behind the arc. She hit five of the six treys she put up and knocked down all 10 of her freethrows to boot.

Maher's hands here after the game, and she almost set off the gymnasium's sprinkler system.

But she better not cool off any time soon because Harvard has a tough road trip coming up this weekend. Next two stops. New Haven and Providence.

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The Crimson men and women are not having very similar seasons this year.

The men currently anchor the Ivy League with an 0-6 record and no easy wins in sight.

The women (5-0 Ivy, 9 6 overall) have not dropped an Ancient Eight game yet this season and are in second position in the league, behind Brown (who is in first because it has played one more game and is 6-0).

But the two teams do have one thing in common. Both squads boast Ivy League Rookies of the Week. Freshman Mike Gilmore and Elizabeth Proudfit received the honors for their performances against New Hampshire, Cornell and Columbia.

In three losses, Gilmore put up Shaquilesque (OK, maybe that's going a little too far) numbers. This week the Fiedwoods City, Calif., native scored 47 points, pulled down 11 rebounds, dished out five assists, picked two pockets, blocked a shot, cooked a spaghetti dinner, wrote a novel...

On the women's side, Proudfit didn't do too badly herself and her team went two for three. Proudfit hit double figures in all three games and put together 12 assists and five steals, shooting an incredible 15 of 19 from the field and three of three from international waters.

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In addition to getting player-of-week honors, Maher moved a little closer to breaking Harvard's all-time scoring record.

Maher took over third place this week with 1,213 points. Sharon Hayes '88 holds the record with 1,301, but most likely will not by the end of the season.

Third in the Ancient Eight with a 15.9 points-a-game average, Maher needs roughly six games to break the record, and the Crimson has 10 left in the regular season. Co-Captain Deb Flandermeyer is currently in fifth place on the all time scoring list and will also probably surpass Hayes' mark. She has 1,171 and is averaging 15.3 points a game. With two of Harvard's most prolific scorers on this team, and one who is sure to join them by the end of her career (sophomore Tammy Butler), this Crimson can definitely light up the scoreboard.