Women's Basketball Team Outshoots The Crimson

When the Harvard women's basketball team finished the season ranked second in the nation in three-point field goals per game (7.6), some people were impressed. But not we here at The Crimson.

Being the skeptics we are, we wanted to see Harvard perform under real pressure--none of that game stuff. So we challenged the team to a three-point shooting contest--smart move, Crimson--and last Monday we faced off against Harvard's sharpest shooters at Lavietes Pavilion-the Lav Pav.

The format was simple: five shooters from each team took three shots per round from one of five spots along the three--point arc. Each shot was worth one point, and the third shot in the second round was worth three points--the infamous money ball.

The shooters for Harvard were sophomore Courtney Egelhoff, seniors Alison Seanor and Megan Basil, junior Suzie Miller and freshman Jill Zitnik. Team Crimson included Sports Editor emeritus Becky Blaeser, Sports Editor Jamal Greene, Associate Sports Editor Ed Perez-Giz and two shooters who were supposedly running late.

Egelhoff started things off by draining two of her treys, while Perez-Giz could only muster one. Seanor hit one and Greene matched her to keep pace.

Basil got goose eggs--ha, ha--on her first-round attempts, and Blaeser connected on one to tie the score at 3-3. Team Crimson then unleashed its secret weapons, much to the displeasure of Harvard's players and coaches--well, most of them.

Senior forward Karun Grossman, a Crimson editor and senior guard Sarah Brandt, a Crimson contributing writer, were both eligible to shoot for Team Crimson, and since they weren't shooting for Harvard, we thought, "What the hell?"

Grossman and Brandt each knocked down one shot while the hostile crowd--their teammates--berated them with boos and hisses. Miller matched Grossman, and Zitnik doubled Brandt's output to put Harvard ahead, 6-5, after round one.

Team Crimson thought it was well positioned to make its move, but that's when things got ugly.

The trio of Editors combined for a stellar zero buckets in the second round, while Egelhoff and Miller each hit a pair, including their money balls. Seanor and Basil connected on one shot each to give Harvard a commanding 16-5 lead as Grossman stepped to the line.

The seasoned veteran quieted the raucous Harvard squad by calmly hitting all three shots to add five points to Team Crimson's tally. Zitnik was unable to convert on any of her attempts, and Brandt hit two of three, including the crucial money ball, to make the final score respectable at 16-14.

Even with the aid of two of Harvard's best outside shooters, Team Crimson was outgunned by Harvard. The moral of the story: if you're setting up a shooting contest with the nation's best, make sure you can get five of their players on your side instead of just two.