W. Hoopsters Tackle Lions, Big Red

In the Harvard women's basketball team's quest for a third consecutive Ivy League Championship, this weekend's opponents represent little gnats--they should be easily swatted aside but could be annoying if they are not exterminated quickly. The Crimson will battle Columbia (4-7, 0-0 Ivy) at Lavietes Pavilion tonight at 6 p.m. before hosting Cornell (3-7, 0-0) tomorrow at the same time and place.

Although it is still early in the season, Harvard (10-2, 1-0) knows that every conference game is important--especially since each league victory adds to the Crimson's record for consecutive Ivy victories, currently at 27.

"[This weekend's games] are very important, but we want to be undefeated [in League play], so we don't want to lose any game," said Harvard co-captain Megan Basil.

Last season, en route to the Ancient Eight's first-ever undefeated women's basketball season, Harvard defeated Cornell and Columbia by a combined average margin of 18 points. However, the Lions did come within eight points of defeating the Crimson when Harvard traveled to New York City, and the Big Red handed the Crimson its only Ivy loss of the 1995-96 season.

The truth, though, is that either Cornell or Columbia will have to play a near-flawless game to have a chance to knock off Harvard. The Crimson is talented and deep, and the team has demonstrated its talent for finding a way to win throughout the season.

In its last game against Dartmouth on Saturday, the Crimson struggled to get into any kind of rhythm during the first half while the Big Green shot phenomenally from the floor. In the end, however, Dartmouth came back down to earth and Harvard found a way to pull off the 74-69 victory.

"Dartmouth played a near-perfect game against us," said Basil, whose three key free throws in the final 16 seconds of Saturday's game helped ice it for Harvard. "We let the fact that they were playing so well shake us up and take us out of our game. We have to be ready for that from other teams."

In addition to Basil's poise, two big reasons that Harvard was able to defeat Dartmouth were the outstanding play of co-captain Allison Feaster and the hot shooting of junior Suzie Miller. Feaster has been a dominant force for the Crimson all season long, taking control of games seemingly at will.

Miller, who has been a solid contributor over the past two years, has raised her level of play in the last few weeks. She is shooting a torrid 65 percent from the floor since December 20, and she earned a spot on the Ivy League's Honor Roll this week.

Feaster, meanwhile, was named the league's Player of the Week for the fifth time in six weeks. The All-American forward is just 70 points shy of becoming the Ivy League's all-time scoring leader. She also needs only 24 rebounds to reach 1,000 for her career.

Priority number one for Feaster and her teammates, though, is winning, which has become more of a habit than a task for the Crimson. Harvard is 39-4 in the Ivy League over the past four seasons and has not lost a league contest at home since the 1994-95 season finale against Dartmouth.