W. B-Ball Vies for Sweet 16 Berth After Historic Upset of Stanford

PALO ALTO, Calif.--By beating top-seeded Stanford, 71-67, Saturday night in the first round of the NCAA womens basketball tournament, the Harvard women's basketball team pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the history of collegiate hoops.

But its biggest challenge may still lie ahead. When 16th-seeded Harvard (23-4, 12-2 Ivy) locks horns with the ninth-seeded Arkansas Lady Razorbacks (19-10, 7-7 SEC) in a second-round matchup tonight at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, it will face a quicker, more athletic and perhaps more confident team than the one it faced Saturday night--and this time the Crimson has just two days to prepare.

"Arkansas is very athletic, they have great quickness and the ability to shoot the three," Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith said. "I am very confident in my staff and their ability to scout, so I am confident that we will go on the floor tomorrow and know Arkansas as well as any of our other opponents."

The Lady' Backs finished sixth in the Southeastern Conference, but the fact that sixth place and seven conference losses led to an at-large bid in the Big Dance is testament to the overwhelming competitiveness of the SEC. Conference-champion Tennessee, which finished the season 33-0, is the odds-on favorite to win its third straight national title, and the conference received six bids to the Tournament.

Arkansas entered the Tournament in no position to be over-confident. The Lady'Backs lost four of their previous five games and six of their last eight before the Tournament began. The team even began last night's 76-70 win over Hawaii lethargically before picking it up in the second half.

"All our ballgames are close," Arkansas coach Gary Blair said. "I don’t think people fear Arkansas. we are still working on that Consistency."

The Crimson was able to prey on the Cardinal by collapsing on senior forward Olympia Scott, forcing the 6'2 All-American away from the post through aggressive double and triple teaming. But Arkansas is a much smaller team than Stanford and poses problems to aggressive double and triple teaming. Arkansas' three tallest players all stand at just 6'I--but it compensates for its lack of height with quickness.

Arkansas senior point guard Christy Smith (10.9 ppg, 4.6 apg) made First TeamAII-SEC by using her 5'6 frame to dart around theSEC goliaths and making good decisions. Herbackcourt comrade, 5'8 junior Sytia Messer, is anexciting player who loves to run the floor.

When teams seal middle and prevent penetration,none of the Arkansas guards is afraid to hoist itup. Smith and Messer have each taken over 100three-point shots, and freshman guard WendiWillits led the team with 45 threes on the season.

Arkansas took 514 treys during the regularseason, although freshman guard Wendi Willits ledthe team with 45 threes on the season.

Arkansas made just 166 (32.3 percent) of those514 treys.

"We have to try to contain their guard,"Delaney-Smith said. "We're going to have to changethings up."

Arkansas' biggest weapon may be sophomoreforward Karyn Karlin. Karlin led the Lady' Backsin scoring this season at 15.5 points-per-game androasted Hawaii Saturday night for 24 points on12-of-17 shooting.

The task of guarding Karlin, who is primarily aninside player but has a consistent mid-rangejump-shot, may very well go to Feaster, whosephysical strength could easily eliminate Karlinfrom the Arkansas equation.

Eliminating Feaster from Harvard's may not beas easy for the Lady 'Backs as eliminating Karlinfrom the Arkansas equation, Feaster, the nationsleading scorer dropped 35 points worth ofknowledge on Stanford despite being guarded by themuch taller Scott for most of the game.

"You do not stop Allison Feaster," Blair said."She presents a severe matchup problem for us. Doyou call her a forward, or do you call her a post?I call her a basketball player."

Even if the Lady'Backs can stop Feaster--whichseems unlikely--Harvard showed Saturday night thatits second and third options can step up whennecessary. Junior forwards Sarah Russell and RoseJanowski had their way at times down low andjunior Suzie Miller hit two big three-pointers,including the one that put Harvard up by four with46 seconds to go.

"What makes Feaster so good is that is not justa set option player--she's just one of theoptions," Blair said.

[Miller] reminds me of [Kate] Starbird. She'sgot Starbird's build, and she does a great job ofmoving without the basketball," he added.

Harvard enters tonight's game against Stanfordwith something it did not have entering Saturday'sgame against Stanford--the certainty that it canbeat the best teams in the nation. That type ofconfidence may be Arkansas' biggest obstacletonight.

"We are so pumped to play Arkansas," Feastersaid. "We want to be in the Sweet Sixteen as muchas they do, and I think we deserve it."

The game will be broadcast tonight on ESPNstarting at 12:00 a.m. EST.Associated PressEMOTIONAL WIN: SUZIE MILLER fallsinto the arms of a teammate minutes after droppinga back-breaking three-pointer in the Crimson'slandmark victory over Stanford on the Cardinal'shome court.

When teams seal middle and prevent penetration,none of the Arkansas guards is afraid to hoist itup. Smith and Messer have each taken over 100three-point shots, and freshman guard WendiWillits led the team with 45 threes on the season.

Arkansas took 514 treys during the regularseason, although freshman guard Wendi Willits ledthe team with 45 threes on the season.

Arkansas made just 166 (32.3 percent) of those514 treys.

"We have to try to contain their guard,"Delaney-Smith said. "We're going to have to changethings up."

Arkansas' biggest weapon may be sophomoreforward Karyn Karlin. Karlin led the Lady' Backsin scoring this season at 15.5 points-per-game androasted Hawaii Saturday night for 24 points on12-of-17 shooting.

The task of guarding Karlin, who is primarily aninside player but has a consistent mid-rangejump-shot, may very well go to Feaster, whosephysical strength could easily eliminate Karlinfrom the Arkansas equation.

Eliminating Feaster from Harvard's may not beas easy for the Lady 'Backs as eliminating Karlinfrom the Arkansas equation, Feaster, the nationsleading scorer dropped 35 points worth ofknowledge on Stanford despite being guarded by themuch taller Scott for most of the game.

"You do not stop Allison Feaster," Blair said."She presents a severe matchup problem for us. Doyou call her a forward, or do you call her a post?I call her a basketball player."

Even if the Lady'Backs can stop Feaster--whichseems unlikely--Harvard showed Saturday night thatits second and third options can step up whennecessary. Junior forwards Sarah Russell and RoseJanowski had their way at times down low andjunior Suzie Miller hit two big three-pointers,including the one that put Harvard up by four with46 seconds to go.

"What makes Feaster so good is that is not justa set option player--she's just one of theoptions," Blair said.

[Miller] reminds me of [Kate] Starbird. She'sgot Starbird's build, and she does a great job ofmoving without the basketball," he added.

Harvard enters tonight's game against Stanfordwith something it did not have entering Saturday'sgame against Stanford--the certainty that it canbeat the best teams in the nation. That type ofconfidence may be Arkansas' biggest obstacletonight.

"We are so pumped to play Arkansas," Feastersaid. "We want to be in the Sweet Sixteen as muchas they do, and I think we deserve it."

The game will be broadcast tonight on ESPNstarting at 12:00 a.m. EST.Associated PressEMOTIONAL WIN: SUZIE MILLER fallsinto the arms of a teammate minutes after droppinga back-breaking three-pointer in the Crimson'slandmark victory over Stanford on the Cardinal'shome court.