BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK

PALO ALTO, Calif.--If Saturday night's victory by the Harvard women's basketball team was not the greatest upset in the history of college basketball, it was right up there. Harvard not only becomes the first 16 seed to win a game in NCAA Tournament history--men's or women's--but its victory also snaps Stanford's 59-game Maples Pavilion win streak.

The Cardinal's loss also marks the first time Stanford--which has made the Final Four in six of the last eight seasons--has lost in the first round of the Tournament since the 1981-82 season, and the first time a Stanford team coached by Tara VanDerveer has ever lost in the first round. VanDerveer has coached at Stanford for 12 seasons.

The win was also the first Tournament victory in Ivy League women's history. Harvard has lost in the first round in the previous two seasons, to Vanderbilt and North Carolina. Dartmouth lost to Virginia by three points in 1995, and Brown fell to Connecticut by 19 in 1994, the first appearance by an Ivy women's team in the Big Dance.

The Folkl Factor

Stanford clearly missed the inside presence of junior All-American Kristin Folkl and the outside threat of senior All-American Vanessa Nygaard, both of whom were sidelined by knee injuries. Nygaard and Folkl entered the game averaging a combined 14.2 rebounds per game, but the Crimson badly outre-bounded the Cardinal in the first half, 22-12. The final rebound tally was 41-37 in Harvard's favor.

Folkl's defensive presence was sorely lacking for the Cardinal as well, as most of the smaller Crimson's points were scored on the inside. Many expected that Harvard's lack of physical size would make it impossible for the Crimson to stick with the Cardinal without hoisting a slew of three-point shots, but Harvard buried just six threes overall in the game.

On Harvard's first possession of the game, junior center Rose Janowski hauled down a rebound from a crowd of Stanford defenders on an errant three-point attempt by co-captain Allison Feaster and laid it in unmolested. Feaster and junior forward Sarah Russell (nine first-half points) were repeatedly able to have their way down low throughout the first half.

With Folkl out the lineup on offense, the Crimson was able to collapse on All-American forward Olympia Scott inside. Scott, who entered last night's contest averaging 17.5 points-per-game, looked noticeably distracted by Harvard's triple-team in the paint, and did not get into the scoring column until she canned a jumper from the top of the key with 8:59 to go in the first half. Both of Scott's two first-half field goals came on long jump shots.

When asked whether she had ever experienced defensive pressure like Harvard's before, Scott responded, "I guess not."

"We have been doubled down low before this season, but they even tripled us a couple of times," she said. "They did a good job of keeping the ball off the low block."

Stanford had its trouble from outside as well, hitting just 7-of-27 shots from beyond the arc. Two of Stanford's first three three-point attempts were air balls.

Hungry for Dim-son?

With Nygaard's injury, there was some question before--and obviously during--the game as to who would defend Feaster, who led the nation in scoring at 28.2 points-per-game. The difficult task initially fell into the hands of freshman guard Sarah Dimson.

It was evident early on that, although Dimson had a one-inch height advantage, Feaster's physical strength allowed her to dominate in any one-on-one situations. Feaster's rebounding and ability to draw fouls was on of many keys to Harvard's upset. Feaster went to the line 21 time last night, sinking 13 free throws.

In the first one-on-one opportunity of the game between the two, Feaster easily evaded Dimson to grab an entry pass from senior Alison Seanor. Her lay-up gave the Crimson a 7-3 lead.

VanDerveer had Scott guard Feaster after the first TV timeout, but she too was unable to contain the All-American. Feaster--who poured in a game-high 35 points and corralled 13 rebounds--clearly outplayed Scott, who finished with 18 points and eight boards in her final collegiate game.

Home, Sweet Home?

Stanford lost at Maples for the first time since the final game of the 1993-94 season when the Cardinal lost to the Purdue Boilermakers.

When the Stanford players first stormed onto the court to the rebels' theme from Star Wars, the Cardinal was greeted with a deafening ovation from the audience. Just prior to introductions, the Stanford band led the crowd and the players in hand-clapping, feet-stomping melodies that reached a level of synchronization foreign to Ivy League audiences.

The Crimson calmly performed its usual pre-game routine, gathering at midcourt for a huddle at the height of the stomping. Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith tried to ready her team for the noise level by playing blaring music during practices.

"We tried to prepare for it all week, but [the music in practice] was nothing like it was really like," Feaster said. "I mean the floor was rattling!"

The crowd of 5, 137 is the largest Harvard has played to this season, breaking the previous high of 1,636 for the Feb. 20 win over Princeton at Lavietes Pavilion.

Shake, Rattle and Roll

The court at Maples Pavilion is unusually bouncy, so much so that the entire gym rattles on a fast break.

The buoyancy of the court is such that 5'9 forward Katy Davis '96 was able to grab the rim in practice during Harvard's last visit to Stanford on Dec. 18, 1992.

"No one on my team has dunked a ball yet, but I'm expecting it," said Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith jokingly during Friday's pre-game press conference. Co-captain Megan Basil, seated next to Delaney-Smith and listed generously at 5'6, raised her hand confidently in response.

Basil did not dunk during the game.

Mascot Mayhem

The Cardinal may have edged the Crimson in the battle of the mascots. Stanford featured its notorious pine tree and three instigators in pink shirts, khaki shorts and white hats.

Harvard's "mascot" sported a loud, rainbow-striped outfit; he was draped in a red cape with a big "H" on it. He was actually a hanger-on from the earlier game between Hawaii and Arkansas--the Hawaii team is nicknamed the Rainbow Wahine.

Hog Heaven

Arkansas won the first game of the evening, 76-70 over Hawaii. The game was close throughout the first half, and the Wahine entered the locker room with a 36-31 lead.

Arkansas was able to claw back with a 12-4 run to open the second stanza. The Lady Razorbacks controlled the game for much of the second half, holding a 71-65 lead before the Wahine mounted a mini-comeback in the final minutes.

A long three-pointer from the right wing by Australian standout Kylie Page brought Hawaii within three, 71-68. When Arkansas guard Christy Smith missed a jumper on the other end, the Wahine had a chance to tie.

But it was not to be, as Arkansas junior forward Treva Christensen intercepted a sloppy Hawaii pass; the turnover turned into a bucket by sophomore forward Karyn Karlin for a 73-68 lead with 0:58 to go.

A ferocious block by Karlin on the other end sealed the Hawaiians' grim fate.

Karlin led all scorers with 24 points on 12-of-17 shooting. The Lady Razorbacks shot 59.3 percent from the floor in the second half.