W. Cagers Regroup After Brown Loss And Prepare for Tough Road Weekend

The Harvard women's basketball team is stepping back to take a deep breath and think about the second half of its Ivy season.

The Crimson finished its first round of league play with a distressing 77-64 loss at Brown last Saturday--a loss that booted Harvard to second place and left Brown to grin and Bear its 1-1/2 game lead in the Ancient Eight.

Harvard can control its destiny, though--a win against Brown at home next weekend will give the Crimson a piece of the Ivy title.

Still, the loss shook the team's confidence. And with two tough road games--Pennsylvania and Princeton--on tap this weekend, confidence can be all-important.

And what builds confidence best? Focussing on the short run, especially when the opponents are weaker than you are.

"Brown was definitely hyped up, but we've always tried to take it one game at a time," Harvard's Tammy Butler said.

Coaches, naturally, take this talk to extremes:

"I'd say we're not even taking it one game a time anymore," Head Coach Kathy Delaney Smith said. "We're taking it practice by practice--we want to feel good when we leave Briggs every day."

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Daily Affirmation: Maybe Crimson players should crowd around the mirror in the locker room and say, "We're good enough, we're strong enough, and gosh darn it, people like us!"

Butler is definitely good enough--the sophomore forward leads the league in scoring (16.2) and rebounding (12.0).

Senior Co-Captain Debbie Flandermeyer is certainly strong enough--she's first in the Ivies in free throw percentage (.863) and blocked shots (2.8).

And gosh darn it, you've got to like senior Co-Captain Erin Maher, who has pumped out a consistently stunning performance this season.

The guard is second in the league with a 15.6 scoring average, and her .457 three-point percentage is untouchable at first place.

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Greetings From Philadelphia, Pa.: Harvard can lose nothing by taking things a little slow now, but the Crimson will undoubtedly still be geared for this weekend's contests on the road.

Harvard faced both teams at Briggs early this season, downing Penn 92-69 and Princeton 68-59.

"Penn hasn't fared well record-wise this season," Delaney Smith said, "but they're deep and scrappy."

Harvard's first encounter with the Quakers this season may have resulted in a shattering 23-point victory, but the Crimson wants to get more than just a win from Penn this time.

"Our focus has to be on our game--we need to run hard, attack in transition and pressure them," Delaney Smith said.

The Quakers, who broke a seven-game losing streak last with a win over Cornell, feature two big girls that the Crimson needs to keep off the boards.

6'4" center Katarina Poulsen became a Penn starter mid-season, and 6'1" sophomore Natasha Rezek had an incredible 17-point, 17-rebound game at Cornell Saturday.

Harvard opened its Ivy season against Princeton in early January, and had no trouble disposing of the Tigers.

"Princeton played well, but we dominated the game," Delaney Smith said.

In the preseason, Princeton was dubbed a possible candidate for the league title, but now the Tigers (3-4 Ivy) are holding on to fourth-place with sharpened claws.

"We both opened the Ivy season eying the championship," Delaney Smith said. "I really wonder what their mindset is going to be this time. Being the underdog might change things for Princeton."

Tigers Tina Smith and Kaaren Andrews are one and two in field goal percentage in the Ancient Eight, with .567 and .563 respectively, and junior Laura Leacy garnered 30 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 8 steals in her last two Ivy performances.

And as always, the state of the league can fluctuate easily.

"Anything can happen on any given night," Butler said. "Having a loss handed to us really reminded us that every game matters." WOMEN'S BASKETBALL IVY LEAGUE STANDINGS Team  Conf.  Overall  Memo  Away  Streak Brown  8-0  14-6  8-1  6-5  Won 8 HARVARD  6-1  10-7  9-1  1-5  Lost 1 Yale  4-4  11-9  6-3  5-6  Won 1 Princeton  3-4  9-10  5-2  4-8  Won 1 Dartmouth  3-4  5-14  5-5  0-9  Lost 2 Cornell  3-5  9-11  6-3  3-8  Lost 1 Pennsylvania  2-5  4-14  0-6  4-8  Won 1 Columbia  1-7  7-13  3-3  4-10  Lost 1