W. Hoops Tames Terriers in OT

BOSTON--How does the Harvard women's basketball team replace the 28.5 point scoring void left by the graduation of All-American Allison Feaster '98?

Have senior Rose Janowski score 29.

Janowski's career-high 29-point, eight rebound effort led Harvard (1-0) to an 81-74 overtime victory over Boston University (0-1) last night at Case Gymnasium. Junior forward Laela Sturdy poured in 19 points and pulled down nine boards, while freshman swingman Katie Gates inaugurated her collegiate career with a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds). HARVARD  81 BOSTON UNIVERSITY  74

"I love everyone in our frontcourt," Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. "We are legitimate forwards that can score. I said it before, and I will say it again: We are riding Rose's back. She's on a mission."

Janowski was aggressively driving to the basket and effectively using a beautiful up-and-under move in the paint all night long. The only weakness in her game was her free throw shooting, but even from the charity stripe, she came through for the Crimson when her team needed her most.

With 1.1 seconds remaining in regulation, Harvard trailed B.U., 65-63, and Janowski stepped to the line with a one-and-one opportunity. The senior, who was 1-for-5 until that point in the game, hit both shots to knot the score and send the game into overtime.

"I was concentrating on my legs because all of my foul shots were short," said Janowski, who actually played only 26 minutes due to foul trouble. "I just had to concentrate on getting down and using the legs more."

"I would like to step up when [my coaches and teammates] need me. I think I'm definitely a strong enough player to do that. I'm ready for the job. I'm primed for the season," she added.

Harvard had trailed for the majority of the contest, but the Crimson owned the Terriers in the extra period. Harvard opened overtime with a 9-0 run and outscored B.U. 16-9 in the final five minutes to run away with the win. Co-Captain Suzie Miller led the way, scoring all seven of her points in overtime.

Janowski started the scoring four seconds into overtime with a strong lay-up. Miller followed that with a three-pointer, and sophomore point guard Lisa Kowal added a pair of free throws before Miller drained another jumper to give Harvard a 74-65 advantage.

Things did not look as promising for the Crimson early on. After Harvard jumped out to a 7-2 lead, B.U. responded with an 18-2 run to seize control of the contest. In the midst of the Terriers' run, just 6:12 into the game, Janowski picked up her second personal foul and went to the bench for the remainder of the half after having scored all nine of Harvard's points.

Harvard's triangle offense looked sloppy without Janowski on the blocks, but Sturdy helped remedy that situation by scoring seven points in the half in relief of Janowski.

"I felt pretty good and confident in the post," Sturdy said. "The guards were doing a good job of getting us the ball, and that seemed to be the option that was working. When I got the ball felt like I could score."

Despite shooting 65 percent from the field in the first period, Harvard was betrayed by 15 turnovers while B.U. committed just five and the Crimson had to play catch-up for the entire half.

"We tried to start strong, and we did for a minute," Delaney-Smith said. "But we are not making adjustments. [B.U.] beat us to a lot of loose balls."

Gates' uncanny ability to follow missed shots and co-captain Sarah Russell's effective passing helped Harvard narrow its deficit. Gates scored nine of her 11 points in the first half, and Russell ended the period with five assists as the Crimson went into the locker room at intermission down 35-31.

The margin would have been larger if not for Gates' timely shooting. B.U. senior Jaime Nicholls nailed a trey with 19 seconds remaining in the half to put the Terriers up by seven. But on the Crimson's next possession, Gates answered Nicholls with a three of her own.

"Katie's a gamer," Delaney-Smith said. "She does that in practice too. She's very athletic, and she has a great shot. Katie's a great player; I loved the way she played [last] night."

In the second half, Harvard came out in a zone defense after playing man-to-man for the first 20 minutes, and the strategy paid off. While the Crimson gave up easy jumpers in the half-court set and lay-ups in transition during the first half, the Terriers had a much harder time getting to the basket in the second. B.U. junior forward Gina Powers burned Harvard for 16 points in the first half but was held to just seven in the final 25 minutes, including overtime.

"I put the zone in two hours ago, just about," Delaney-Smith said. "We practiced the zone once, but it was very effective. The zone went in late to keep us aggressive and to keep us attacking. Now that it's in we'll probably use it a lot."

Harvard scored the first four points of the second half on jumpers by Janowski and Russell to tie the game. The Crimson even managed brief two-point leads at 39-37, 41-39 and 43-41 before the Terriers opened up a seven-point advantage with 8:30 remaining.

But buckets by Sturdy and Janowski on nifty passing from Kowal and a couple of free throws by Gates cut B.U.'s lead to one with 5:39 remaining. The differential was no larger than four points for the remainder of regulation, leading up to Janowski's clutch free throws. Janowski scored Harvard's final 10 points in regulation.

"I don't like that we adjust so slowly, so I'm not happy with this game," Delaney-Smith said. "I'm glad we won, but I thought the first half was horrible. I'm glad we were able to play through being horrible; 15 turnovers in the first half is unacceptable."

Although the Crimson had difficulty running its offense early on, the triangle led to easy shots from the paint later on. Janowski shot 13-of-15 for the game, Sturdy was 9-of-12 and Harvard shot 55 percent as a team.

"I think the reason we had a lot of success in the post is because their posts were in foul trouble, so we could really go at them," Sturdy said. "But on any given night our guards can be the big scorers as well because we have some excellent shooters."

The Crimson won the battle of the boards as well, 48-30, looking most impressive on the defensive glass, where Harvard hauled in 36 rebounds to B.U.'s 11 offensive boards.

Harvard also displayed the tremendous depth it has boasted of throughout the preseason. Atypically, Delaney-Smith went 12 players deep into her bench--including four of her five freshmen--and nine players recorded double-digit minutes.